Lenovo launched its Mirage Solo standalone headset back in May, featuring inside-out tracking and support for the Daydream software platform. At the time it was somewhat disappointing that this advanced headset only came with a three degrees-of-freedom (3DoF) controller, limiting the interaction users could have. Recently though, Google has revealed work on experimental 6DoF controllers as well as several other advances for the virtual reality (VR) platform.
6DoF controllers allow for much more natural interaction in a virtual space – just like in the real world – so Google has begun adding APIs to support positional controller tracking alongside designing a ‘system uses machine learning and off-the-shelf parts to accurately estimate the 3D position and orientation of the controllers,’ states the blog. These new prototype controllers are already in the hands of several developers to begin testing with more to be included soon.
Those cameras on the front of the Lenovo Mirage Solo have a number of use cases beside the WorldSense inside-out tracking. The latest being a see through mode for the headset, allowing users to see the world around them. Particularly good for seeing where you are in the world without taking the headset off, the mode has even greater potential when considering augmented reality (AR) prototyping.
The combination of WorldSense and AR gives developers similar versatility to mobile, with users being able to see and know where they are whilst interacting with digital objects, for example interior design.
Last on the list of experimental features Google has been developing is the introduction to open any smartphone Android app on a Daydream device. This will allow owners to use their favourite videogames, tools and apps in VR. To make this possible for developers to add Daydream VR support into their existing 2D applications Google re-used existing 2D interfaces for Chrome Browser Sync, settings and more to provide the browsing experience.
US developers can apply for the experimental 6DoF controller developer kit here. As for See-through mode and Android Apps in VR, developers will be able to get their hands on them soon. For further updates keep reading VRFocus.