Publication
GTK: A Gaze-Based Interaction Toolkit in XR
László Kopácsi; Abdulrahman Mohamed Selim; Michael Barz; Daniel Sonntag
In: 2026 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW). IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW) (IEEEVR-2026), March 21-25, Daegu, Korea, Republic of, IEEE, 3/2026.
Abstract
Gaze interaction is becoming increasingly common in Extended Reality (XR), with eye-tracking sensors being integrated more frequently into head-mounted displays. However, software support for developing gaze-based interaction remains fragmented, often forcing developers to reimplement common interaction patterns. In this paper, we present the Gaze Interaction Toolkit (GTK), an open-source Unity package that combines active gaze interaction and passive attention monitoring within a single modular framework. GTK extends Unity's XR Interaction Toolkit with components for multimodal selection, gaze-contingent displays, spatial menus, and structured onboarding. The toolkit was developed through iterative consultation with academic and industrial partners in robotics, education, XR research, and eye-tracking applications. To validate GTK's usability, we conducted a two-part user study situated in an industrial sorting task with guided onboarding. Pilot results (N=6) informed protocol refinements for the ongoing evaluation. We report on the toolkit's architecture, demonstrate its application through the sorting scenario, and discuss planned extensions.
Projects
- MASTER - MASTER: Mixed reality ecosystem for teaching robotics in manufacturing
- No-IDLE - Interactive Deep Learning Enterprise
