Influence of Depth Cues on Eye Tracking Depth Measurement in Augmented Reality Using the MagicLeap Device

Abstract

The eye-tracking technology is currently implemented in many mixed reality devices. However, eye-tracking measurements must be precise enough to permit correct localization in the environment; to allow, for example, linking such spatial positions to virtual objects. According to the human vision, major measurement issues would more likely occur in the depth axis rather than in the horizontal and vertical axes. In the literature, depth cues are known for improving human depth perception. In this study, our hypothesis is that, in an augmented reality environment, the more realistic virtual objects are displayed, thanks to depth cues, the more precise the eye-tracking device depth measures would be. Thus, using the MagicLeap device, we studied the effects of lighting and textures on eye-tracking depth measurement precision, by comparing the measures obtained under varying conditions of lights and textures, on both real and virtual objects. The results confirmed our general hypothesis, and we noticed a more significant influence of lights rather than textures on the precision of the measures. Moreover, we found that these depth cues reduce the measurement imprecision among observers, making the eye-tracking system more accurate when measuring depth.

Architecture of a Hybrid Video/Optical See-through Head-Mounted Display-Based Augmented Reality Surgical Navigation Platform

“…However, the point of view follows the real-time movements of the user's eyes and eye gaze. This fact determines that the spatial coherence between the digital content and the real scene, estimated in different ways [24][25][26], is still suboptimal; moreover, perceptual and technological limitations have to be addressed, as they preclude the employment of such devices when a high virtual to real registration accuracy is needed in peripersonal space (i.e., accurately guide and perform surgical manual tasks) [16,27,28].…”

Light‐field head‐mounted displays reduce the visual effort: A user study

“…In contrast, software‐based solutions based on eye‐tracking are potentially affected by latency or inaccuracies since sensor and processing loops are involved. While the varifocal devices of the companies Magic Leap (two depth planes, 22 ), Microsoft (one depth plane, 23 ), or nreal 24 achieve partially sufficient image resolution, the image depth is restricted to only few depth planes as for the devices of vuzix (one depth plane, 25 ), Google (one depth plane, 23 ), AVEGANT (three depth planes, 26 ) and LightSpace Technologies (four depth planes, 27 ) with reduced image resolution. On the other side, devices providing up to infinite depth resolution often provide low image resolution (VIVIDQ, 28 CYVISION 29 and SeeReal Technologies 30 ).…”