CarnEYEval

Introduction

CarnEYEval is a collection of carnival-themed VR games designed to engage players in a fun, interactive way targeted at the use of their eyes. Activities like tracking ball movement, shooting ducks, capturing objects in a basket, and buzz wire all rely on eye tracking to complete tasks. The games include progressive levels and built-in evaluations to encourage consistent participation and visual development over time.

Inspiration

The goal is to provide a interactive and motivative alternative for patients with amblyopia (lazy eye). Traditional treatments like eye patching or atropine drops often suffer from low compliance due to frustration and repetitiveness. CarnEYEval would be able to transform treatments into a playful and rewarding experience. The project is to ensure a more comfortable process for children (and even adults) to stick with their vision training and engage their weaker eye for active visual input.

What it does

Starting with a basic eye-focusing task on a bouncing ball, CarnEYEval includes four progressively challenging activities:

Basic Players focus on a bouncing ball for timed intervals to train sustained visual attention Evaluation: total time focused with each eye, initial data for future comparison
In the Bucket Players lock their gaze on a bucket to catch falling balls, with speed increasing as they progress Evaluation: # of balls captured
Duck Shooting Players aim at moving duck targets and must hold their gaze to knock them down Evaluation: # of target animals knocked down
Buzz Wire Players fix their gaze on the target/ball and guide it along a narrow path without touching the boundaries Evaluation: distance managed to get through without buzzing works by having small transparent sections that start false and turn true when looked at once.

Challenges we ran into

We didn’t have access to a laptop to run visuals or use with Silicon Labs, which limited real-time testing and development. We spent most time working on building visual presentation models of our concepts so we could quickly replicate or deploy them once we have the proper hardware to implement.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud to have developed a practical and accessible VR-based therapy concept that addresses real needs in amblyopia treatment. Despite none of us having prior experience with Unity or VR development, we made gradual progress in building the core gameplay using Unity.

What we learned

Through this project, we learned that VR-based therapy can offer valuable alternatives for different age groups with amblyopia. The use of real-time eye tracking in combination with interactive gameplay can offer significant benefits in a way that is both measurable and motivating. On the technical side, we gained hands-on experience in Unity and built foundational skills in VR development. We also had the opportunity to experiment with Niantic studio and implement simple animations, which helped us enhance the interactive aspects of our game design.

What's next for CarnEYEval

Moving forward, we aim to refine CarnEYEval into a more robust and clinically viable tool. One key focus is to complete integration with Silico Labs and Labo for full functionality and hardware compatibility. We also plan to improve our evaluation system by shifting from basic game metrics to more meaningful progress tracking—such as visual engagement patterns and eye coordination data—which can benefit both clinicians and researchers. Additionally, we envision a parallel development track tailored for hospitals or research settings, potentially including a simplified version that could be used in optometry waiting rooms or rural clinics. This would allow for basic treatment, screening, or diagnosis in locations where in-person vision therapy is less accessible.