Impulse Reading is an experiment in making text responsive to the user's gaze. It displays a text search task to the user, and formats that text according to whether the user is reading, skimming, or scanning. Impulse Reading should be used with a Tobii 5. Other Tobii EyeX compatible devices will mostly work, but the code assumes a 33hz refresh rate that will differ for other eye trackers.
If needed, begin by installing Yarn. (https://classic.yarnpkg.com/lang/en/docs/install/#windows-stable) Once done, install dependencies using Yarn by executing the following in a command line in this directory:
yarn
Begin by:
- Calibrating your Tobii 5
- Running the eye tracker server, then
- Launching the app.
In the Tobii Experience app which should already be installed on your computer, calibrate your eye tracker using the "Improve calibration" button, or set up a new profile.
Run 'Tobii Server/TobiiServer.exe' - that is, the TobiiServer.exe file from the folder "Tobii Server" in this directory. You should keep this window open while using the app. I recommend minimizing the window while using the app to keep the text scrolling from being distracting.
This step commonly experiences issues on new computers. See "Eye tracker server issues" below.
In a command line, execute:
yarn start
After launching, follow the commands onscreen.
You need to install Tobii Experience to use the eyetracker. Usually this should happen automatically but sometimes it doesn't. I followed these directions and it worked fine: https://help.tobii.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009929118-Get-the-Tobii-Experience-app
If the TobiiServer.exe file gives you an error about Tobii.EyeX.Client.dll being missing, the issue might be with your Visual C++ redistributable. Install the latest versions of BOTH x86 and x64, then try again. Also, download the 2012 versions (both x86 and x64), linked here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-GB/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170#visual-studio-2012-vc-110-update-4
I'm not 100% sure why this happens, or what exactly is required to fix it. But installing both the most recent redistributables and the 2012 redistributables has fixed it both times I've had to do this. This should only have to be done once, and probably shouldn't happen unless you're on a new computer. Sorry!
If you run "yarn start" and get an error like "Invalid value type 1137:0", delete the file "yarn.lock" from this directory and try again.