A Test Automation Framework for User Interaction in Extended Reality Applications

Extended Reality (XR) technologies deliver immersive user experiences across diverse application domains but pose unique testing challenges due to their spatial interaction paradigms. Existing approaches test XR applications through scene navigation and interaction triggering, yet they fail to synthesise realistic spatial input via specialised XR devices. These devices include 6 degrees of freedom controller gestures and are essential for modern XR experiences. To address this gap, we present IntenXion, a test automation framework for validating user interactions in Unity XR applications. We develop a taxonomy of XR user interactions to inform the design of IntenXion, ensuring it supports a diverse range of XR interaction types. We conduct a case study to demonstrate IntenXion’s capability, using eight representative interaction object types selected from industrial XR interaction design guidelines. IntenXion provides support for developing intuitive interaction test scripts, including both action sequences and assertions for expected behaviours. Our results demonstrate that IntenXion can cover the intended functionalities of all eight object types.