Eye, Robot: Calibration Challenges and Potential Solutions for Wearable Eye Tracking in Individuals with Eccentric Fixation

Loss of the central retina, including the fovea, can lead to a loss of visual acuity and oculomotor deficits, and thus have profound effects on day-to-day tasks. Recent advances in head-mounted, 3D eye tracking have allowed researchers to extend studies in this population to a broader set of daily tasks and more naturalistic behaviors and settings. However, decreases in fixational stability, multiple fixational loci and their uncertain role as oculomotor references, as well as eccentric fixation all provide additional challenges for calibration and collection of eye movement data. Here we quantify reductions in calibration accuracy relative to fixation eccentricity, and suggest a robotic calibration and validation tool that will allow for future developments of calibration and tracking algorithms designed with this population in mind.