It's a common problem: During video meetings, you look at the screen, but not in the eyes of the person you're talking to. The laptop cameras are to blame, which are installed on the upper frame – where hardly anyone looks during a call. The result: For other participants it looks as if the person speaking is looking down on them from above.
Screening effect in “The Lion’s Den”
For Carsten Kraus, this is a disadvantage that should not be underestimated. “The crooked perspective makes it difficult to correctly interpret facial expressions and body language and to build trust, especially in meetings with strangers,” says the entrepreneur from Pforzheim. The 56-year-old wants to use his AI expertise to solve the eye contact problem. To this end, Kraus founded the startup Casablanca.AI in Pforzheim in 2020. Under this name he developed software that corrects the perspective of the camera as if it were behind the eyes of the person you are talking to instead of at the edge of the display. He is now presenting this solution in the 15th season of “The Lions’ Den” and is hoping for an investment.
Kraus registered a corresponding patent for the software in June 2021. A year later, Markus Vollmer joined Casablanca.AI as Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer. Vollmer himself founded the startup Neo Cargo in 2021, a software for the digitalization of logistics for medium-sized companies. The two met at an accelerator in Karlsruhe.
Source: https://www.businessinsider.de/gruenderszene/technologie/casablanca-videokonferenzen-augenkontakt/
