Positional head-eye tracking outside the lab: an open-source solution

Simultaneous head and eye tracking has traditionally been confined to a laboratory setting and real-world motion tracking limited to measuring linear acceleration and angular velocity. Recently available mobile devices such as the Pupil Core eye tracker and the Intel RealSense T265 motion tracker promise to deliver accurate measurements outside the lab. Here, the researchers propose a hard- and software framework that combines both devices into a robust, usable, low-cost head and eye tracking system. The developed software is open source and the required hardware modifications can be 3D printed. The researchers demonstrate the system’s ability to measure head and eye movements in two tasks: an eyes-fixed head rotation task eliciting the vestibulo-ocular reflex inside the laboratory, and a natural locomotion task where a subject walks around a building outside of the laboratory. The resultant head and eye movements are discussed, as well as future implementations of this system.