The K-ICT Born2Global Centre, a major Korean government agency under the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP), announced that the VR eye-tracking technology of member company Visual Camp will be mounted on Samsung Electronics’ next-generation all-in-one-type Exynos VR HMD (head-mounted display).
Eye tracking is crucial to both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies. When applied to VR and AR, the resolution of the part of the display screen being viewed by the user’s eyes at any given time is sharpened, while the resolution for all other parts is reduced; this process is called “foveated rendering.”
Several other technologies will be applied to the Exynos 3, in addition to the company’s eye-tracking technology, including hand tracking, voice recognition, and facial expression recognition.
Visual Camp attracted significant attention for its VR eye-tracking technology at the Samsung Electronics booth at Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2017 (MWCS 2017), held from June 28 through July 1 in Shanghai. At the event, Samsung Electronics revealed its new Exynos 3 and VR reference platform.
With its mobile HMD-optimized eye-tracking technology, Visual Camp has now truly become a global player. Because its technology can be applied to both smartphone-connected and all-in-one HMD devices and features lower electricity consumption and prevents smart phone CPUs from overheating, Visual Camp has a clear comparative advantage over its competitors.
A measurement of the CPU power consumption of Samsung Electronics’ Exynos 8890 chip resulted in the relatively low (average) figure of less than three percent, proving the product’s outstanding performance.
Visual Camp CEO Suk Yunchan said, “By collaborating with Samsung Electronics, our technology was internationally recognized at MWCS 2017, enabling us to secure a bridgehead for future global marketing efforts. Now, we will continue promoting the high quality of Korean startup technologies and products overseas.”
Chief Executive Director Kim Jong-kap of the Born2Global Centre said, “The recent buyouts by Apple, Google, and Facebook of companies that possess eye-tracking technology show that this technology is receiving a great deal of interest within the VR industry. We therefore have high expectations for the future of Visual Camp, which has demonstrated its highly promising VR-related technology.”
The company is already widely recognized for its technological competitiveness and growth potential. After its inclusion on the 2015 Red Herring Asia 100 list, which has featured prominent industry names such as Google, Facebook, Alibaba, and Kakao, Visual Camp was also included on the G-Startup Seoul Top 15, which is a ranking which involves the participation of over 200 outstanding startup companies from all over the world.