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New 'Umoove Experience' iOS Game Demos Face and Eye Tracking Technology

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Umoove, an Israeli startup developing mobile-based face and eye-tracking technology, today released a new game that demonstrates its current work on tracking using the iPhone's front-facing camera.

Umoove Experience: The 3D Face & Eye Tracking Flying Game is a simple app that allows users to fly through a village using gentle head movements that are detected by the camera. The goal is to collect potion bottles scattered throughout the landscape by turning and moving up and down with head movements. The game also incorporates touch gestures at the same time for an all-encompassing gaming experience, with the touches used to control flight speed.

umoovexperience.jpg
Enjoy the 3D flying experience and test your skills by collecting the purple magic potions, which will give you more energy to continue exploring the village.

The Umoove Experience is only the beginning! Think about the potential of this technology on other app and gaming experiences such as first person shooters, driving games, and other flying or running gaming experiences.
Click to expand...
Umoove has been developing its head and eye-tracking technology since 2010, and the current game serves as a simple demo highlighting the ways the system could be used in other apps and games in the future. As in the game demo that combines head movements with touch, Umoove's goal is to supplement traditional touchscreen controls rather than replace them.

In an interview with TechCrunch, Umoove CEO Yitzi Kempinski notes that the addition of head-tracking to standard touch controls is meant to mimic real-world experiences.
"We're talking about adding another layer on top of touching, similar to what the mouse did with the keyboard -- they didn't throw out the keyboard, it actually added suddenly the ability to have another layer of interaction, so it's the same sort of thing here," says CEO Yitzi Kempinski.

"It's supposed to be something that mimics real-world experience. I'll give you an example... if you think of a first-person shooter, those games you play and you have to shoot, and then you have the joystick to move around and you have to drag the screen to move around the room. Basically what we do is simple: based on where you face that's where you're aiming."
Click to expand...
Umoove is currently offering indie developers a free SDK to incorporate face-tracking into their own apps and games. According to Kempinski, Umoove is also talking with OEMs about adding the technology into future devices.

Motion tracking using the iPhone's camera has been explored in the past, with two French researchers detailing a system for head tracking using an iOS device's camera back in 2011. Apple has expressed interest in similar technology in the past, with a 2009 patent detailing face-controlled 3D displays, and it has implemented accessibility options in iOS 7 allowing iPhone users to control their devices using head movements.

Umoove Experience: The 3D Face & Eye Tracking Flying Game can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Article Link: New 'Umoove Experience' iOS Game Demos Face and Eye Tracking Technology
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/01/14/umoove-experience/
M

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
Useless gimmick.

Oh wait, this isn't Samsung? Then, it's the most revolutionary thing ever existed!!
 
jrswizzle

jrswizzle

macrumors 603
Aug 23, 2012
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Menneisyys2 said:
Useless gimmick.

Oh wait, this isn't Samsung? Then, it's the most revolutionary thing ever existed!!
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It's a game - by definition, relatively gimmicky.

But of course, gotta make sure to get in a defense of Samsung and shot at Apple and its fans huh? :rolleyes:

Seems like it could be cool for games. Surprised that its so software dependent. I guess I just assumed there was some hardware involved in the tracking stuff.....

Interesting.
 
jayducharme

jayducharme

macrumors 601
Jun 22, 2006
4,529
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The thick of it
Well that was completely underwhelming. I went through the setup screens and calibrated the camera on my iPhone. Then I spent about 30 seconds apparently scraping my head across the ground, with no way to re-orient myself.
 
nagromme

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
jrswizzle said:
It's a game - by definition, relatively gimmicky.

But of course, gotta make sure to get in a defense of Samsung and shot at Apple and its fans huh? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

And Apple's not involved.

I'm trying to imagine why anyone would expect people to have great loyalty to some company called Umoove that nobody ever heard of--and then be offended in advance by that loyalty?

Really? Anti-Umoove trolling? All over a cool little tech demo with some future potential?

Samsung trolls have gotten increasingly bizarre.
 
pgiguere1

pgiguere1

macrumors 68020
May 28, 2009
2,167
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Menneisyys2 said:
Useless gimmick.

Oh wait, this isn't Samsung? Then, it's the most revolutionary thing ever existed!!
Click to expand...

Right. Samsung features are only called "gimmicky" because people have double standards, but in reality, something like Smart Pause or Smart Scroll are just as functional and polished as Touch ID.

They're also so similarly useful that a similar proportion of those respective phone users must use them.

Right?

Oh, never mind that every possible review is trashing those Samsung eye-tracking features, mentioning they work like 10% of the time and wouldn't even be that useful even if they worked, whereas they're praising Touch ID everywhere. The whole tech media has a bias, but fortunately there's people like you who don't.
 
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dec.

dec.

Suspended
Apr 15, 2012
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Toronto
Menneisyys2 said:
Useless gimmick.

Oh wait, this isn't Samsung? Then, it's the most revolutionary thing ever existed!!
Click to expand...

Not really, even the non-Samsung version looks like a useless gimmick (btw. is it a new record to mention Samsung in the first reply to a news topic?).
 
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B

Bare

macrumors regular
Jun 17, 2008
182
6
There is no way the current front-facing camera on the iPhone is accurate enough to be used for pinpoint-accurate aiming in first-person shooters. Maybe one day, they'll have the technology to put a dot on the screen at exactly where you're looking that can be as accurate as a mouse, but IMO, we're a long way away from that.
 
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pgiguere1

pgiguere1

macrumors 68020
May 28, 2009
2,167
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Montreal, Canada
Small White Car said:
One is a game and one is pausing a video.

It's only a double standard if it's the same things being treated differently. Those features are in no way the same thing.
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Not just that, but it's also not like this "game" (more like tech demo) is preinstalled on new iPhones and marketed by Apple as a major selling point of their new phone.

It seems like a bunch of MacRumors readers have switched to a Samsung phone and will upvote any positive comment about Samsung, no matter how dumb, to validate their purchase.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like the community here is going downhill. We should of course not blindly defend Apple either, but at least try to stay on-topic and rational, and not upvote those who aren't. But you'll often see a totally illogical, off-topic comment about Samsung in top comments instead...
 
Dr McKay

Dr McKay

macrumors 68040
Aug 11, 2010
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Small White Car said:
One is a game and one is pausing a video.

It's only a double standard if it's the same things being treated differently. Those features are in no way the same thing.
Click to expand...

I think it's because ALL of Samsungs eye gestures are called Gimicky, I feel that some are, but there are a few I actually use.

I use smartstay because I like that my phone stays on when Im reading a page, and will turn off if I've fallen asleep and dropped my phone.

I also use SmartRotation or whatever it's called, it detects the orientation of my eyes and won't rotate the screen if Im laying in bed reading on my side.
 
U

username:

macrumors 6502a
Dec 16, 2013
707
365
I tried the game in a dark room and it didn't work. I often play games at night in bed or with the lights dimmed so maybe that's something the technology needs to account for.
I prefer to use my hands... Unless somehow moving my head around adds an amazing experience that is worth all the neck pain.
 
dec.

dec.

Suspended
Apr 15, 2012
1,349
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Toronto
SAIRUS said:
Apple will just buy it, call it innovation.
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Maybe it's just my personal perception but I find it kind of funny to always see the same people jumping right onto the "slightly" irrational google critics like in the recently closed Nest thread, but pretty "simple" posts like these don't seem to bother them at all. :D
 
Klae17

Klae17

macrumors 65816
Jul 15, 2011
1,227
1,577
Menneisyys2 said:
Useless gimmick.

Oh wait, this isn't Samsung? Then, it's the most revolutionary thing ever existed!!
Click to expand...

Troll alert. Who said it wasn't a useless gimmick? Plus this is some random small company, not Apple. Fail.
 
V

vomhorizon

macrumors 6502a
Sep 24, 2013
952
68
I use smartstay because I like that my phone stays on when Im reading a page, and will turn off if I've fallen asleep and dropped my phone.
Click to expand...

Thats actually smart..I drop my phone so many times that i really wished the iphone had the ability to turn off the screen..Its specially helpful when your 5 year old tosses the phone to the other side of the room !
 
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