{"id":389,"date":"2008-01-12T01:17:14","date_gmt":"2008-01-12T00:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cb.nowan.net\/blog\/state-of-vr\/state-of-vr-devices\/"},"modified":"2018-01-27T22:00:48","modified_gmt":"2018-01-27T21:00:48","slug":"state-of-vr-devices","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cb.nowan.net\/blog\/state-of-vr\/state-of-vr-devices\/","title":{"rendered":"State of VR – Devices"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This article is super outdated !! ]<\/strong><\/p>\n

********<\/p>\n

Updates<\/h3>\n[25 Feb 2009: Updated CirculaFloor video]\n[23 Jul 2008: Added Optical Tracking video]\n[6.03.08: Added Magnetic Haptics text&video]\n[24.01.08: Added CirculaFloor video]\n[21.01.08 : Added Virtusphere video]\n

Index<\/h1>\n

– Computers<\/a><\/p>\n

– Tracking<\/a><\/p>\n

– Gloves<\/a><\/p>\n

– Haptics<\/a><\/p>\n

– Locomotion<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Computers<\/strong><\/em><\/h1>\n

Not so long ago, a VR system required a million-dollar supercomputer. Nowadays the top VR systems are using clusters of desktop computers, dramatically reducing the price and maintenance costs.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Tracking<\/strong><\/em><\/h1>\n

To be able to interact with a virtual world, the computer needs to know where your body stands through input devices called trackers. <\/span><\/p>\n

The most common trackers used to be magnetic trackers<\/strong>, (Polhemus<\/a>, Ascension<\/a>) but they require cables (except the new Polhemus Patriot Wireless<\/a>) and can lose precision as the magnetic field is perturbed by metal.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(c) Polhemus<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(c) Ascension<\/p>\n

The new trend is to use optical tracking<\/strong> (<\/span>A.R.T<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Vicon<\/span><\/a>, Motion Analysis<\/a>, IO Tracker<\/a>, Natural Point<\/a>) by putting inexpensive markers on your body and watching them through special video cameras. This technique has the advantage of being wireless and is becoming cheaper and cheaper, with motion capture solutions starting at 5\u00e2\u20ac\u2122000$<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(c) Natural Point<\/p>\n

Inertial tracking<\/span><\/strong> (XSens<\/a>) is another very interesting option: it is standalone and very responsive, but has the disadvantage that positional data are drifting very fast (even though a full body capture<\/a> is greatly improving the stability). Orientation data are pretty stable. But this solution isn’t (yet) ready for a precise head tracking required to generate a correct perspective. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(c) XSens<\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why some companies take the best of both worlds by combining an inertial tracker with an optical solution to continuously recalibrate the position (Intersense<\/a>, <\/span>Worldviz PPT<\/span><\/a>, and yes, the Wiimote<\/a> !)<\/p>\n

[youtube]http:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=sXqr6mkJmDc[\/youtube]\n

<\/a>Gloves<\/strong><\/em><\/h1>\n

\n

Data Gloves<\/span><\/strong> aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t used that much, except when you really need to know the position of each fingers. Immersion\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<\/a> Cyberglove<\/a> and 5dt Glove<\/a> seem to be the most common<\/span><\/a><\/span>. A.R.T Fingertracking<\/a> is a recent product with very precise positional data that works with their optical tracking system.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(c) S. Kuntz
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

(c) Immersion<\/p>\n

Some current research are focusing on markerless tracking<\/a>, which don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t require the user to put any specific apparatus.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Haptics, force feedback<\/strong><\/em><\/h1>\n

The Inca 6D<\/a> by Haption<\/a>, based on the Spidar system, is the only large scale haptics device commercially available. The Haption\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s devices<\/a> compete with SensAble\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Phantom<\/a> for desktop haptics. Immersion\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s CyberGrasp<\/a> exoskeleton gives force feedback to both your hand and your fingers. <\/span><\/p>\n

The ART Fingertracking is the one of the few products <\/span><\/span>that adds fingertips sensations<\/a>, and more researches<\/span> (CEA List<\/a>, <\/span> Laboratory for Intelligent Mechanical Systems<\/a>) are being conducted to improve the range of available sensations<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(c) Immersion<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(c) S. Kuntz<\/p>\n

The Magnetic Levitation Haptic Interface<\/a> is “\u00e2\u20ac\u0153levitated by magnets\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. \u00e2\u20ac\u009dIt offers things that other devices just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the high forces, low friction, low inertia, and six degrees of freedom.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n[youtube]http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=isu7r3Ywqp0&eurl=http:\/\/cb.nowan.net\/blog\/[\/youtube]\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(c) CEA List<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(c) LIMS<\/p>\n

<\/a>Locomotion<\/em><\/strong><\/h1>\n

How do you walk inside a virtual environment ? This is still a major issue and some answers begin to appear.<\/p>\n

The omni-directional treadmill<\/a>, part of the Cyberwalk project<\/a>, could be a near-ideal solution if it was affordable.<\/p>\n[youtube]http:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=BQw1tsgrJOs[\/youtube]\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(c) Virtusphere<\/p>\n

[youtube]http:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=qTnnJR-hS7k[\/youtube]\n

The VirtuSphere<\/a> is already a commercial product and much more affordable (50-100 k$).<\/p>\n

Some other research prototypes include the CirculaFloor<\/a> with moving tiles, and the VR Shoes<\/a>, both by the Tsukuba university.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

(c) Tsukuba University<\/p>\n[youtube]http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rYsvB2y2Ero[\/youtube]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This article is super outdated !! ] ******** Updates [25 Feb 2009: Updated CirculaFloor video] [23 Jul 2008: Added Optical Tracking video] [6.03.08: Added Magnetic Haptics text&video] [24.01.08: Added CirculaFloor video] [21.01.08 : Added Virtusphere video] Index –… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":382,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cb.nowan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/389"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cb.nowan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cb.nowan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cb.nowan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cb.nowan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/cb.nowan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1948,"href":"https:\/\/cb.nowan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/389\/revisions\/1948"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cb.nowan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cb.nowan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}