Eye tracking in VR refers to the technology that allows a VR headset to track the movement and position of a user’s eyes. This technology uses specialized sensors to detect and measure the position of the user’s eyes in relation to the VR headset. This information can then be used to adjust the virtual environment and improve the overall VR experience.
There are several benefits of using eye tracking in VR:
- Foveated rendering: the ability to render only the portion of the virtual environment that the user is currently looking at, improving the performance of the VR system.
- Gaze-based interaction: the ability to use the user’s gaze as a method of interaction within the virtual environment, allowing the user to select objects, activate buttons, and more simply by looking at them.
- Eye-based avatars: the ability to create more realistic and expressive avatars by replicating the user’s eye movements and expressions within the virtual environment.
- Eye-based research: Eye tracking technology can be used to study user’s behavior, cognitive processes and visual attention.
Eye tracking is still a relatively new technology in the field of VR and is not yet widely available in consumer VR systems, but some high-end VR headsets like Pimax and Tobii have this feature.