Technology companies are putting more emphasis than ever before on accessibility features that make products easier to use, with Amazon’s latest offering being Alexa Eye Gaze.
The latest Amazon announcement has brought in a batch of new hardware and software. One of the most interesting concepts to come from this event is Alexa Eye Gaze.
If you want to learn more about this new Alexa feature, including what it is and which devices it comes with, then make sure you keep reading, as we’re going to be running through everything you need to know.
What is Alexa Eye Gaze?
Alexa Eye Gaze is an accessibility feature with the aim of helping individuals with motor or speech impairments. Alexa Eye Gaze allows the user to use their gaze to perform preset actions, negating the need to use their fingers to control the touchscreen.
Amazon has not developed or implemented eye-tracking features before, making this a first for the company.
Alexa Eye Gaze works with pre-installed presets. These include home controls, media playback and calls. While we don’t know the full extent of Alexa Eye Gaze just yet, we expect that users will be able to control any smart home devices that are connected to the Alexa hub – such as smart lights, heaters or thermostats.
During the event, Amazon claimed that this is “still day one” for the technology. Nothing has been mentioned about implementing Alexa Eye Gaze on future devices, but we can hope that it will make an appearance on future Fire products.
Which devices support Alexa Eye Gaze?
As far as we know, Alexa Eye Gaze is only supported on one device at the moment, the latest Amazon Fire Max 11 tablet.
Alexa Eye Gaze will be coming to the Fire Max 11 tablet later in the year at no additional cost, according to Amazon.