An Affordable,Wearable Stereo-Eye-Tracking Platform

2026-04-27

AI Summary

This work addresses the limited flexibility in algorithm development and method comparison inherent in existing wearable eye-tracking systems by presenting a low-cost, modular, and extensible binocular eye-tracking platform. Built from off-the-shelf components and 3D-printed structures, the system integrates four infrared eye cameras, infrared illumination, and an optional scene camera, accompanied by calibration and synchronized data acquisition software. Designed to prioritize research adaptability over end-user robustness, the platform supports multiple eye-tracking paradigms—including stereo, glint-based, and binocular approaches—within a single hardware configuration. Feasibility is demonstrated through a functional prototype, and all hardware designs and documentation are openly released to facilitate reproducibility and further innovation.

Technology Category

• Computer Vision: Motion & Tracking
• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion
• Machine Learning: Hardware-aware ML

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments
• Security and Privacy: Tracking, profiling, and countermeasures against them
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Economics and fairness of platforms and recommendation systems

Abstract

Research on video-based eye-tracking has long explored stereo and glint-based methods, yet existing wearable eye trackers - both commercial and open-source - offer limited flexibility for algorithm development and comparative evaluation. We present an affordable, wearable stereo eye-tracking platform built from off-the-shelf and 3D-printable components that explicitly targets this gap. The system combines four infrared eye cameras, infrared illumination, an optional scene camera, and software support for calibration and synchronized data acquisition. By design, the platform supports multiple eye-tracking paradigms, including stereo, glint-based, and binocular approaches, within a single hardware configuration. Rather than optimizing for end-user robustness, the platform prioritizes modularity and extensibility for research use. This paper focuses on the hardware architecture and calibration pipeline and demonstrates the feasibility of the approach using a prototype implementation. All hardware designs and documentation are made openly available.

Problem

• wearable eye-tracking
• algorithm development
• comparative evaluation
• research flexibility
• eye-tracking paradigms

Innovation

• wearable eye-tracking
• stereo vision
• modular design
• open-source hardware
• glint-based tracking