Oculomatic: High speed, reliable, and accurate open-source eye tracking for humans and non-human primates

Background Video-based noninvasive eye trackers are an extremely useful tool for many areas of research. Many open-source eye trackers are available but current open-source systems are not designed to track eye movements with the temporal resolution required to investigate the mechanisms of oculomotor behavior. Commercial systems are available but employ closed source hardware and software and are relatively expensive, limiting wide-spread use. New method Here we present Oculomatic, an open-source software and modular hardware solution to eye tracking for use in humans and non-human primates. Results Oculomatic features high temporal resolution (up to 600 Hz), real-time eye tracking with high spatial accuracy (<0.5°), and low system latency (∼1.8 ms, 0.32 ms STD) at a relatively low-cost. Comparison with existing method(s) Oculomatic compares favorably to our existing scleral search-coil system while being fully non invasive. Conclusions We propose that Oculomatic can support a wide range of research into the properties and neural mechanisms of oculomotor behavior.