Mobile Video Communications System To Allow Eye Contact By Videoconference [Tokyo's University of Electro-Communications Develops Way To Make Eye Contact By Videoconference]

There’s something to be said about the power of eye contact, or so the public speaking gurus say. It conveys emotion like nothing else, and instills trust and consensus, among a whole bunch of other things that most any business student has probably already heard at some point. So enter the University of Electro-Communications to build a headset that lets you make eye contact by video.

Sounds a bit meaningless on the surface–how could you ever possibly tell the difference?–but the Mobile Video Communications System purports to provide that eye contact by dint of acceleration and position sensors on a head-mounted display so you and your conference partner can tell in no uncertain terms where you’re looking.

It’s been pointed out that, if you’re wearing a big face-sucker display unit, how could you make eye contact with anyone by video conference? And indeed, the naysayers have a valid point here, but either way, it’s still an awesome bit of hardware. It’s still pretty much in the development stages, so who knows when we’ll get them, or for how much? But it could be a development in video conferencing who’s time has certainly come.