Submission 265
Eye-Tracking in Virtual Reality – Current Advances and Sustaining Challenges
SymposiumTalk-05
Presented by: Judith Josupeit
Using virtual reality (VR) as a research tool offers several advantages: head movements and controller input tracking data can be accessed directly in-game, eliminating the need for additional equipment. It further allows for a high level of reproducibility, controllability, and transparency through open-source code in both applied and basic research. When eye tracking is used, gaze-contingent modification of the scene (e.g., foveated rendering) becomes possible. This talk addresses current advances and sustaining challenges from a practitioner perspective. Eye tracking in VR combined with the vergence information, allows for automatic labelling of areas of interest in the 3D space. With modular and customizable eye tracking hardware, the ideas for applications are augmented. However, the technical limitations in accuracy and precision of state-of-the-art eye tracking software and VR headsets remain challenging. In addition, eye tracking in VR is facing issues (e.g., slippage due to movement artifacts), known from head-mounted eye trackers. Current algorithms try to mitigate the problem with the help of artificial intelligence, reducing the transparency of the data logging.