CR Deck Mk.1 Is An Open Source AR Headset Based On Project North Star With Ultraleap Hand-Tracking

Today AR headset manufacturer Combine Reality revealed the CR Deck Mk.1, an open source AR headset based on Project North Star that utilizes Ultraleap hand-tracking. A Kickstarter campaign is coming soon.

Details are scarce so far, but Combine Reality unveiled images and short video clips of the new AR headset on Twitter. Utilizing the open source Project North Star program and Ultraleap’s hand-tracking, it aims to deliver an accessible development kit for AR developers that’s “easily remixable with off-the-shelf components & modules” according to the announcement tweet.

On the official Combine Reality website, it states this will be:

An open-source, community-driven AR hardware platform with Unity and SteamVR integration, built around the world’s most advance optical hand-tracking technology. Featuring brilliant 1440x1600px per eye displays at up to 120Hz.

cr deck mk.1 ar headset side view cr deck mk.1 ar headset front angle view

Combine Reality also showed colorized teaser images of a CR Deck Mk.2 prototype that are purely just sketches, not even actual renders, with an embedded Intel Real Sense SLAM module. Reportedly it’ll be included in some capacity in the upcoming Kickstarter campaign as well.

That’s everything we know right now. For more specs and details on the construction of the headset, check out this development blog.

If you want to learn more you can sign up for a newsletter that will let you know once the Kickstarter campaign goes live. The campaign appears to be for an “injection molded version of the Project North Star headset” that will bypass the need for 3D printing. They’ve also got details on how you can build your own Project North Star headset using from Smart Prototyping. The About Us page mentions it’s possible

The post CR Deck Mk.1 Is An Open Source AR Headset Based On Project North Star With Ultraleap Hand-Tracking appeared first on UploadVR.

Leap Motion Reveals First Extended Demo Shot Through North Star Headset

Back in April Leap Motion first revealed North Star, a prototype AR headset that’s designed to replicate the features of a future high-end AR headset, as a platform for experimentation. Today the company revealed the first extended look of a demo shot through the headset, offering a glimpse of its capabilities.

Leap Motion is best known for its markerless hand-tracking technology, but in the last few quarters the company has been increasingly showing of its design chops in both software and now hardware. Project North Star, which was recently open-sourced, cares not about form-factor; the headset was built purely to push the limitations of the end AR experience, and thus to serve as an experimental platform for what might be achieved with features that will hopefully one day fit into a compact and affordable headset.

Image courtesy Leap Motion

The company claims North Star has “best-in-class field-of-view, refresh rate, and resolution,” and today revealed a new demo designed to show it off, including the company’s hand-tracking tech. Below you’ll see through-the-headset footage of Leap Motion’s table tennis demo on North Star, which has the player facing off against an AI opponent. In the video, the table and the player’s paddle are real, while the ball and the opponent’s paddle are virtual.

The demo appears to use a professional motion capture system for tracking the headset and paddle, while the user’s free hand is tracked with a Leap Motion sensor on the headset. The user uses a pinch gesture to spawn a ball for each volley.

SEE ALSO
Toward Truly Glasses-sized AR: First Look at DigiLens' AR HUD Reference Headset

Leap Motion has no plans to manufacture the North Star themselves, but believes the device could be produced at $100 per headset at scale, which could make for a excellent AR development kit.


Disclosure: Leap Motion’s Barrett Fox and Martin Schubert have recently published a series of guest articles on Road to VR highlighting their experiments in AR/VR interface design. The latest piece is here: Validating an Experimental Shortcut Interface with Flaming Arrows & Paper Planes

The post Leap Motion Reveals First Extended Demo Shot Through North Star Headset appeared first on Road to VR.

Leap Motion Teases Prototype ‘Collapsible’ User Interface for AR Headsets

Leap Motion, the company behind the hand-tracking depth sensor, recently tweeted out another through-the-headset view of a prototype UI, this time centered on how some simple elements might work in the “augmented office” of the near future.

Using the company’s prototype dev kit, dubbed Project North Star, Leap Motion serves up another host of interesting design concepts. Keeping the user interface fairly muted until it’s needed, the company shows how a ‘minimized’ AR element like an event reminder could hide in plain sight.

By moving your hand closer to the small white bar, which is projected to appear on the edge of a desk, you can produce a 2D window, pick it up, place it in mid-air, and even lay it down flat on a desk. Notably, the windows appear to have a ‘weightiness’ about them that make them appear more natural in the environment.

The company says everything in the video “is filmed directly through the headset. Zero trickery.”

“Right now our work in AR is extremely early, and there are many steps between prototyping and product,” the company said in a follow-up tweet. “We’re interested in inclusive design and accessibility, but given that we don’t plan on releasing our own headset, in the context of this project it would be a dead end.”

Image courtesy Leap Motion

First revealed earlier this month, the Project North Star AR headset boasts a 100 degree field of view, low latency, and high-resolution. Leap Motion plans to open-source the design of the device, saying that such a headset could cost “under $100 dollars to produce at scale.”

The post Leap Motion Teases Prototype ‘Collapsible’ User Interface for AR Headsets appeared first on Road to VR.

Leap Motion und der Weg zur North Star AR-Brille

Es scheint ein Trend zu sein, dass Entwickler von AR-Brillen Prototypen präsentieren. Nach Magic Leap und Microsoft mit ihrer HoloLens veröffentlicht nun auch Leap Motion Bilder von Entwürfen und beschreibt den Weg zu ihrem Open Source Augmented Reality Headset mit dem Titel Project North Star.

Leap Motion Project North Star

Leap Motion und die AR-Brille North Star

Wie aus dem Nichts zauberten die Hand-Tracking-Spezialisten von Leap Motion ihre AR-Brille North Star aus dem Hut. Das Projekt weist einige Besonderheiten auf, die es von Konkurrenten wie Meta 2, Magic Leap oder der HoloLens teilweise deutlich unterscheiden. So will Leap Motion das Design als Open Source veröffentlichen, wodurch es jedem Hersteller frei steht, eine AR-Brille auf dieser Grundlage zu entwickeln. Dabei soll die North Star besonders günstig werden können und in der Massenproduktion unter 100 US-Dollar kosten. Das würde einen äußerst günstigen Preis für Endkunden ermöglichen. Das Design der North Star setzt zwei LCDs ein, die Bildwiederholrate liegt bei beeindruckenden 120 FPS. Das Sichtfeld liegt laut Leap Motion bei 100 Grad, was für eine AR-Brille viel ist und wahrscheinlich größer als bei der Magic Leap One und künftigen Generation der HoloLens.

Leap Motion Project North Star

Nun haben die Entwickler einen ausführlichen Blog-Beitrag veröffentlicht, auf dem sie einige Stationen auf dem Weg zum North-Star-Design festhalten. Alles begann mit der Entscheidung, 5,5-Zoll-Smartphone-Displays zu verwenden und Reflektoren zu entwickeln, die das räumliche Bild erzeugen. Diese kamen zuerst aus einem 3D-Drucker, bevor die Entwickler die Reflektoren aus einem Block Acryl fräsen ließen. Die Ergebnisse wurden dann mit einer dünnen Silberschicht überzogen, die zur Hälfte Licht durchlässt und die andere Hälfte reflektiert. Der Prototyp lieferte ein erstaunlich weites FoV von 105 x 105 Grad bei einer Auflösung von 1440 x 2560 Pixeln pro Auge. Vor allem die vertikale Ausrichtung faszinierte die Entwickler, war nach ihren Worten aber reiner Luxus.

Project North Star

Formfaktor vs. Sichtfeld

Denn man musste einen Kompromiss zwischen dem Formfaktor der Brille und der AR-Erfahrung finden. Das Team legte ihn bei 95 x 70 Grad fest. Ein weiteres Problem war die Framerate, die ursprünglichen Displays lieferten lediglich 50 FPS und Leap Motion musste eigene Bildschirme in Auftrag geben. Diese sind 3,5 Zoll groß, bieten 1600 x 1440 Pixel und kommen von BOE Displays. Wenig verwunderlich ist, dass North Star auch Hand-Tracking unterstützt: Dabei wird ein Feld von 180 x 180 Grad mit 150 FPS abgedeckt. Noch haben die Entwickler einige Punkte auf ihrer Liste, die sie umsetzen wollen. Dazu gehören beispielsweise Kopfhörer mit Spatial Audio sowie das Tracking der Augen, um beispielsweise Avataren direkten Blickkontakt mit dem Anwender zu ermöglichen. Man darf auf jeden Fall gespannt sein, wie sich das Projekt weiterentwickelt.

(Quelle: Blog Leap Motion)




Der Beitrag Leap Motion und der Weg zur North Star AR-Brille zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!