Eye tracking calibration for a surgical robotic system

A method for calibrating eye tracking in a surgical robotic system, comprising:

• generating a measured gaze by tracking a gaze of a user facing a user display of a user console of a surgical robotic system while the user is using a user interface device (UID);
• detecting a user action to the UID;
• determining an expected gaze position on the display of the user console as a reference gaze of the user at the time of detected user action;
• determining whether a mismatch has occurred, wherein a mismatch has occurred if the tracked gaze of the user is outside a first threshold and within a second threshold of the reference gaze at the time of detected user action;
• and
• in response to a determination of a mismatch, adjusting one or more parameters used by the eye tracking of the user gaze until the eye tracking produces the reference gaze.

A device for calibrating eye tracking in a surgical robotic system, comprising:

• a camera aimed at a user seat, wherein the user seat is facing a user display of a user console of a surgical robotic system having a user interface device (UID) that is to be manipulated by a user;
• a memory having instructions stored therein;
• and
• one or more processors to execute the instructions to
• detect a user action by a user to the user console or to the UID,
• based on the detected user action, determine an expected gaze position on the user display of the user console as a reference gaze of the user at the time of detected user action,
• track a gaze of the user using an eye tracking algorithm that receives as input image data from the camera and uses a plurality of eye tracking calibration parameters,
• determine whether the tracked gaze of the user is within an acceptable threshold of the reference gaze at the time of detected user action, and
• continuing to track the gaze of the user without changing the eye tracking calibration parameters, in response to a determination that the tracked gaze is within the acceptable threshold.