ZERO: A Generic Open-Source Extended Reality Eye-Tracking Controller Interface for Scientists

Virtual reality and eye-tracking technologies are nowadays standard research tools. A growing number of researchers from different disciplines are utilizing these technologies. Currently, access to eye-tracking hardware in virtual reality glasses is usually provided as APIs to call functions of the eye-tracking device. Proper implementation is device-specific and left to the user. Especially non-computer scientists are left alone with this problem, which impedes eye-tracking research in virtual reality for many scientists. This paper describes a generic open-source interface for everyone to efficiently and easily utilize common eye trackers in virtual reality. The interface is published under a friendly CC BY 4.0 license that allows for integration, modification, and extension of the code. It includes a standardized interface for several eye-tracking devices in virtual reality, is ready to be used out of the box, and allows easy addition of APIs from other manufacturers. The code is available at https://bitbucket.org/benediktwhosp/zvsl-zero