We present GlintMarkers, the first system to perform gaze-driven spatial perception using the inward-facing cameras on XR eyewear. Our key observation is that the cornea acts as a mirror that encodes both gaze direction and visual information about the environment in a small, low-contrast reflection. To extract spatial and semantic information from this reflection despite the camera's limited pixel budget, we present a passive retroreflective marker design that concentrates reflected near-infrared light onto the cornea, producing bright glint patterns. We develop a custom Perspective-n-Point (PnP) estimation framework adapted to corneal imaging and perform orientation and distance estimation of tagged objects, as well as unique object identification.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2604.12949,
title = {GlintMarkers: Spatial Perception on XR Eyewear using Corneal Reflections},
author = {Seungjoo Lee and Vimal Mollyn and Chris Harrison and Justin Chan and Mayank Goel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.12949},
year = {2026}
}