Insert Coin: NUIA's eyeCharm brings Kinect-assisted eye tracking (video)

In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line.

While there are countless eye-tracking devices in various stages of research, development and speculation, few so far have shown what you'd call a wallet-friendly consumer face. NUIA intends to fix that with eyeCharm, a new Kickstarter project that would give you gaze-control of your computer with a software suite and Kinect-attached device. We saw similar tech from the company earlier that used the Tobii motion detector, but to work with the more consumer-friendly (and widespread) Kinect, NUIA created the eyeCharm clip-on that adds special optics and illumination to its infrared camera. A suite of apps will get you started with Windows 7/8 functionality, while an included SDK will let developers create extensions for apps --which will also work with other eye-tracking devices, according to NUIA. For $60 you'll get the hardware (a prototype is shown above), along with existing apps developed by 4tititoo and the NUIA SDK, with delivery estimated by July. To see it in action, check the video after the break or hit the source to pledge.

Previous project update: LifeBeam, a bike-helmet sensor that beams your heart rate and other vital stats to your smartphone via Bluetooth, has netted $37K toward its $50k goal to date on Indiegogo with a goodly 51 days left on the calendar.