Just under a year on from more than doubling its Kickstarter crowd-funding goal, the Tundra Labs SteamVR Tracker is about to go on general sale, with some caveats.
The Tundra Tracker is a small, lightweight device that serves the same function as HTC’s own Vive Tracker pucks. You can connect them to real-world objects or your own body to bring virtual approximations of them into VR. Tundra’s solution is designed to weigh a maximum of 50g and offer seven hours of battery life. Already the company has shipped over 11,000 units to Kickstarter backers.
But, in a blog post from last week, the company revealed it will start its first batch of general orders for the device across the US, Canada, Asia and Australia on March 10th, with orders for Europe planned for March 15th. However, ongoing issues with component shortages have led the company to raise the prices of its bundles.
For example, whereas a bundle of three trackers costs $300 during the Kickstarter campaign, the set costs $360 through general sale. You’ll also be able to buy four trackers for $480. These will also be available in a limited capacity, with the next set of orders expected to go live between four to six weeks from now.
“We really wish that neither of these tactics were necessary,” the team said of securing more expensive components and thus raising the price, “but in the spirit of being transparent, this is what is needed in 2022 to deliver product to you and that is our number one priority!”
Will you be picking up the Tundra Trackers later this week? Let us know in the comments below!
Tundra Tracker, a SteamVR Tracking puck born out of a successful Kickstarter last year, was sold to the general public for the first time yesterday, March 10th. Tundra Labs says that all available stock was sold out in only three minutes after launch.
Tundra Labs announced in a tweet that their “very limited inventory” of trackers sold out in just three minutes yesterday.
Like many companies, Tundra Labs says it’s suffering from key component shortages, and as such has been forced to buy some parts from third-party brokerages instead of directly from the supplier, which it says is due to larger companies getting priority.
Tundra Labs says its first wave of orders will ship “approximately 8 weeks after purchase,” with inventory tentatively scheduled for May 10th, 2022. The company hasn’t mentioned when it plans to open up orders again for its pint-sized SteamVR tracker, however in a previous update a 4-6 week lead time was quoted, which would put the next availability window sometime in April.
Tundra Labs says it’s opening up sale of a limited number of Trackers starting March 10th. The company hopes to pace availability every 4-6 weeks thereafter.
Here’s the initial March 10th release schedule below:
Release on tundra-labs.com at 12:00 CST (local time here) for purchase in United States, Canada, Rest of World (not including European Continent)
Bundles have changed somewhat from the original Kickstarter. Now a three tracker bundle costs $360 and a four tracker bundle $480. Read more on Tundra Labs blogpost for additional details on pricing and availability.
Original Article (October 27th, 2021): The Tundra Tracker Kickstarter raised nearly $1.4 million earlier this year to bring to life a VR tracking puck for the SteamVR Tracking ecosystem which is the first direct alternative to the longstanding Vive Tracker. The device can be used to track arbitrary items inside of VR, with many aiming to use the tracker for full-body tracking to enhance social VR experiences.
Tundra Tracker (left), Vive Tracker 2.0 (right) | Image courtesy Tundra Labs
Though shipments for the Tundra Tracker have slipped from their initial estimate of September, the campaign has seen an incredibly quick turnaround compared to most hardware-based crowdfunding projects which often take years to complete; the latest estimate from Tundra Labs is that the first shipments should begin in early November, which would be just over five months from the completion of the Kickstarter campaign. Here’s the current shipping estimates from the company:
November 10th: Early Bird Shipments begin for Americas Region
November 22nd: Early Bird Shipments begin for Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand & SE Asia
November 29th through December 31st: Regular Backer Shipments
Tundra Labs says the delay from the original September estimate was in part caused by electricity shortages in China which impacted manufacturing. However, the company says that a “very small” number of Tundra Trackers have already been shipped to some ‘early bird’ backers in China.
Tundra Labs celebrated success back in March as Tundra Tracker, the company’s SteamVR-based tracker device, not only exploded past its Kickstarter goal in less than 24 hours, but went on to pass the $1 million mark. It’s proved to be so popular that it’s actually become a victim of its own success, as the company has drastically limited future orders through Kickstarter.
Back in late April, Tundra Labs founder Luke Beno announced that, due to supply limitations caused by ongoing global manufacturing disruptions, the company would need to put an upper limit on the number of Tundra Trackers it could sell. Now the company says it’s reached that limit with a majority of its hardware bundles.
Reward tiers featuring Super Wireless (SW) dongles ‘SW3’ and ‘SW7’ have “hit the limits,” Tundra Labs collaborator Jason Leong says in a tweet, leaving only bundles with the ‘SW5’ model available to purchase. The SW USB dongle is used to connect a variable number of trackers to the user’s computer: 3, 5, and 7 trackers respectively.
Image courtesy Tundra Labs
At the time of this writing, the only way to buy multiple Tundra Trackers now is to purchase a single tracker (either $95 without dongle, and $130 with) and then add a second tracker for $89 upon checkout. All other multiple tracker bundles are now sold out.
Many companies have faced similar supply issues throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, which is in large part due to a shortage in chips. Manufacturers of smartphones, cars, graphics cards—essentially anything with a microprocessor—are being affected currently. It’s possible the shortage could last into 2023, so with such uncertainty it makes sense why Tundra Labs wouldn’t put the cart before the horse and take orders it may not be able to fulfill.
It’s always difficult to gauge how well a crowd-funded Kickstarter will do, especially where hardware is concerned. Tundra Labs launched its campaign two days ago for its Tundra Tracker, instantly proving there’s an appetite for SteamVR compatible tracking solutions by smashing past its funding goal in the first day.
The team set out to raise $250,000 USD during the course of the campaign, already achieving just over $750k (£546k) in the past couple of days. That’s quite the haul considering it’s just a wireless tracker and that the first funding tier for a Tundra Tracker and Dongle is $130. The Early Bird x3 Bundle has sold out but the standard Tundra Tracker x3 Bundle – which includes three trackers and one dongle – for $300 (£219) has been the most popular with 1,126 backers so far.
Tundra Tracker is all about offering a small, lightweight solution for virtual reality (VR) enthusiasts to track their entire body within a digital space. As your hands and head are already tracked thanks to the headset and controllers, the trackers are attached to your waist and feet to make an entire virtual skeleton. It’s the sort of framework which is ideal for titles like Rezzil Player 21, a platform based around real-world football drills.
Tundra Labs’ system is modular should developers need it. While adding those three body points provides a basic structure, using the right Tundra dongle users can add a maximum of seven trackers to one system for even more accuracy. One of the benefits of this solution is that only one dongle is required for all the trackers. Compare that to the more widely known Vive Tracker which needs one dongle for each tracker, that’s a lot of USB ports.
The SteamVR tracking space has really begun to hot up in 2021. Not only do you have the Tundra Tracker which is slated to officially begin shipping in September, British firm TG0 has just launched its eteeTracker which looks significantly different, there’s the Manus Pro Tracker at the top end of the market and let’s not forget the third-generation Vive Tracker HTC Vive recently announced. So there’s no shortage of options.
The Tundra Tracker Kickstarter concludes on 28th May so the campaign has plenty of time to up that funding tally even further. As that happens VRFocus will keep you updated.
Tundra Tracker, the SteamVR-based tracker in development by Tundra Labs, exploded past its Kickstarter goal in less than 24 hours, securing the company well beyond the $250,000 it initially hoped for back at its late-March launch. The company has now made it well past the $1 million mark with one month remaining in the campaign.
Update (April 28th, 2021): Tundra Tracker previously inched past the $1 million mark on April 10th. In the meantime, Tundra Tracker has managed to push forward, albeit at a slower pace, and secure around $1,175,000 in Kickstarter funds.
Tundra Labs says in a recent update that, due to current issues in the supply chain, it will be limiting sales of trackers during the Kickstarter.
“You may have read about the crushing supply limitations that exist in the electronics industry right now,” says Luke Beno, founder of Tundra Labs. “This means that there is an upper limit to the number of Tundra Trackers that we think can produce by the dates discussed in this campaign. We have not reached this limit yet but want to be upfront with the community that there does need to be a limit.”
All funding tiers, save the $300 Early Bird bundle, are still available through the campaign, which you can find here.
Update (April 6th, 2021): At the time of this writing, Tundra Labs has secured $932,525, and is rapidly approaching $1M. The campaign still has 52 days to go, so there’s no telling how high it may go.
With the funds, the team has also announced it’s hired long-time VR developer Olivier JT, who will help manage the day-to-day in Europe. Tundra collaborator Jason Leong is also currently traveling to Asia from the company’s Wisconsin base to oversee production of both the developer and production versions of the tracker.
Original Article (March 30th, 2021): Backers of the Tundra Tracker Kickstarter today showed strong demand for a SteamVR Tracking compatible tracker that aims to be smaller and cheaper than the market incumbent, the Vive Tracker.
The initial $250,000 goal was crushed within hours of the Kickstarter campaign’s launch, and as of writing the project has exceeded $600,000. At present, the funds are from some 1,570 individual backers who backed tiers ranging from $42 to $630.
While the vast majority of backers so far have chosen the 3x Tundra Tracker bundle (67%), a surprising number of backers went for the largest 7x Tundra Tracker bundle (17%).
Ostensibly many users will be using the trackers for body-tracking in VR; with three trackers that typically means adding tracking points to the feet and waist (in addition to tracking of the head and hands provided by a VR headset). Seven trackers can enable even more accurate body-tracking by tracking the movement of feet, knees, elbows, and the waist.
The majority of the product’s tiers include “basic” elastic straps for attaching the trackers to the body, as well as a storage case. The Kickstarter versions of the trackers also include two base plates which offer different mounting options: a 1/4 tripod screw, or a strap loop.
Image courtesy Tundra Labs
Tundra Labs expects the earliest Tundra Trackers to be delivered to ‘early bird’ backers beginning in July, while the remainder are expected in September. The campaign currently doesn’t have any listed stretch goals.
As the only other SteamVR Tracking tracker on the market, the Tundra Tracker is naturally directly compared to the HTC Vive Tracker 2.0 and recently released Vive Tracker 3.0. The pricing comparison is broken down here:
Tracker Count
Tundra Tracker
Vive Tracker 2.0
Vive Tracker 3.0
1x
$130
$100
$130
3x
$300
$300
$390
5x
$460
$500
$650
7x
$630
$700
$910
For more on how the Tundra Tracker and Vive Tracker compare from a price and feature standpoint, so our previous article.
Tundra Labs, which makes chips and development kits for devices which use SteamVR Tracking, is building its own tracking accessory for the tracking ecosystem. The company is positioning its Tundra Tracker as a smaller, cheaper, and better alternative to HTC’s Vive Tracker. A Kickstarter campaign to fund the project and gather feedback is planned for next month.
The Open SteamVR Tracking Ecosystem
SteamVR Tracking Base Stations
Valve’s SteamVR Tracking is an open tracking system which allows any third party to build devices which are tracked by SteamVR Base Stations. Valve’s own Index headset, along with third-party headsets from companies like HTC and Pimax, make use of the shared system for high quality room-scale tracking. The flexible system allows users to mix and match devices (like being able to use an Index headset with Vive wand controllers), and also allows additional devices to be added into the mix—like HTC’s Vive Tracker, which is a general-purpose SteamVR Tracking device that can be attached to things like props or limbs to track those objects in VR.
As the only consumer-available device of its kind, the Vive Tracker has become the defacto general purpose tracker for the SteamVR Tracking ecosystem. It’s commonly used to augment VR motion capture by attaching to a user’s feet and hips, thus providing six points of body tracking (head, hands, waist, and feet) rather than the usual three (head and hands). This allows the movements of players to be captured and represented more accurately, giving VR avatars an impressively wide range of motion.
Friendly Competition
Image courtesy Tundra Labs
As the defacto choice, comparisons to the Vive Tracker are inevitable; Tundra Labs founder Luke Beno says the Tundra Tracker will best the incumbent in several ways.
Specifically the device is expected to be “60% smaller, consume about 50% less power, weight 50% less, and have twice the battery life,” compared to the Vive Tracker, he tells Road to VR. Beno also plans to deliver the Tundra Tracker at a slightly lower cost than the $100 Vive Tracker, along with additional discounts for tracker bundles.
But the Tundra Tracker isn’t purely a competitor, it can also work in tandem with the Vive Tracker, allowing users who have already invested in Vive Trackers to augment their tracking setup without needing to completely switch from one tracker to the other.
In fact, users will be able to pair Vive Trackers, Tundra Trackers, and even Index controllers to the Tundra Tracker’s USB dongle. “It’s the beautiful nature of SteamVR’s open ecosystem,” Beno says.
Placement & Mounting Options
Image courtesy Tundra Labs
With its reduced size and weight, Beno says the Tundra Tracker will also offer more flexible placement options.
“The tracker shape is also designed to fit in places that Vive Tracker cannot. The default baseplate has two loops where a user can thread though a strap or shoe laces. I’m also considering integrating magnets into the base so that it can snap onto a metal plate that can be embedded or sewn into clothing.”
Image courtesy Tundra Labs
Tundra Labs is also considering other base plates for different applications, but is waiting to lock down the options until gathering feedback from potential customers. “I’d like to sort of ‘crowd source’ ideas [for the tracker’s mounting options] such that it is not a ‘one size fits all’ solution like Vive Tracker,” he says.
Tundra Tracker Kickstarter
Image courtesy Tundra Labs
To that end, Tundra Labs will run a Kickstarter campaign for the Tundra Tracker, which is planned to start in January with units shipping later in the year.
While the Kickstarter details are still being finalized, Beno tells Road to VR that Tundra Labs will also offer ‘multi-port dongles’ through the Kickstarter, which will allow users to pair multiple trackers (Tundra Trackers or Vive Trackers) using a single USB connection.
The plan is to offer multi-port dongles capable of pairing up to three, five, or seven trackers, respectively. They will also be small enough to fit into the opening in the front of the Valve Index headset (AKA the ‘frunk’), which would ensure the dongles stay close to the trackers for a strong connection.
Beyond the consumer Tundra Tracker and the multi-port dongle, Beno says the Kickstarter will also offer a ‘Dev Edition’ tracker which includes a “very comprehensive expansion connector,” which could be used by other companies to build functional, tracked accessories like VR guns, gloves, and more.
Tundra Labs is releasing a new SteamVR Tracking hardware development kit. Featuring a tiny new module which condenses the necessary control, processing, and communication components into a mere 16mm × 10mm, the hardware development kit is smaller and cheaper, and aims to streamline the process of designing VR controllers and peripherals that use SteamVR Tracking.
Available for pre-order today, the new Tundra Labs SteamVR Tracking General Purpose HDK (TL448K6D-GP-HDK) is the next step in a continued evolution of smaller, simpler, and cheaper SteamVR Tracking hardware.
“Many companies and developers have recognized that SteamVR Tracking is excellent tracking technology,” said Reid Wender of Triad Semiconductor, a collaborator on the HDK. “Unfortunately, integrating SteamVR Tracking into a working product is a non-trivial task that involves a multidisciplinary team to pull off a polished product. Customers need SteamVR Tracking expertise, electronics prototyping, tracked object mechanical/tracking design, and last but certainly not least, SteamVR-specific firmware development. Even large companies have experienced difficulty pulling all of this expertise together under one roof.”
SteamVR Tracking is Valve’s room-scale tracking system which makes use of ‘base stations’ that sweep lasers across the room. Objects tracked by the system need two primary things: embedded sensors which detect the laser sweeps, and components which can process the data and communicate with a host device which will make use of the information.
The Tundra Labs SteamVR Tracking HDK aims to streamline things across the board by providing a cheaper and easier starting point for companies that want to build products with SteamVR Tracking.
Image courtesy Tundra Labs
The HDK includes a new module which condenses many of the necessary components into a tiny ‘system in package’ (SIP) measuring just 16mm × 10mm. The module contains the SteamVR Tracking firmware and handles all of the necessary data processing for the tracked object before it gets sent to the host device.
On the sensor side, the Tundra Labs HDK features 25 of the latest TS4112 sensors from Triad Semiconductor, another company which has worked closely with Valve on SteamVR Tracking. Triad says that its latest sensors are smaller, more power efficient, and offer improved tracking performance.
Flex cables tipped with SteamVR Tracking sensors allow for prototyping tracked objects of various shapes. | Image courtesy Tundra Labs
With shipping expected to start next month, the $130 Tundra Labs SteamVR Tracking HDK is significantly cheaper than a similar HDK previously offered by Triad for $350. Its core module is also much smaller, enabling new form-factors, like Logitech’s VR stylus.
Tundra Labs founder Luke Beno believes the cost and simplicity of the HDK opens the door for SteamVR Tracking development to go beyond large companies with expansive resources.
“The low cost reference designs also greatly lower the barrier of entry for startups, students, makers, and hobbyists to experiment with the SteamVR Tracking technology and share their ideas. Tundra Labs has created online communities at Hackaday.io and Hackster.io where innovative minds can experiment with new designs, share them and potentially connect these concepts and ideas with manufacturers.”
Beyond its SteamVR Tracking HDK, Tundra Labs also offers custom design services for companies who want to build products with SteamVR Tracking, and sells the SIP module for companies who need the component for mass production of tracked peripherals.
“The Tundra Labs [SIP] was created to make the design and manufacturing of SteamVR Tracked devices easier, lower cost and with significantly faster time to market,” Tundra Labs writes on its website. “For the first time these modules offer a fully scalable production solution to satisfy any volume. This scale spans from niche devices built in the 10s of units to mass market consumer devices with volumes of 100,000 or more.”
While the latest Tundra Labs SteamVR Tracking HDK is built for general purpose use-cases, the company also plans to release application-specific reference designs in the future.
“These could be used for body tracking or alternative controller form factors, ultimately the target use will be determined by customer interest and feedback,” said Beno. “The goal of all reference designs is to leverage the extensibility of [SteamVR Tracking] and the [SIP] to enable a diverse set of accessories into the ecosystem for both consumer and enterprise purposes.”
Earlier this month we took a look at Accell’s USB-C VR adapter for Rift and Windows. The kit allows existing headsets to take advantage of new USB-C DisplayPorts. HTC’s Vive, however, couldn’t use the kit due to its different setup. These new products from Tundra Labs don’t make Vive USB-C compatible, but they can simplify things a little bit.
The company recently announced two new offerings, a Power Kit for the HTC Vive and Vive Pro headsets and an equivalent for the new Pimax VR devices. Both require a bit of setup but, once assembled, should make getting into VR a bit easier. The main draw here is that both kits do away with the need to plug a headset into an external power supply. They both feature a SATA 2 DC barrel connector. This connects to a power supply port inside your PC. You then fit a custom bracket with a DCI port into the back of your rig.
With that installed you can switch out the power cables intended for wall sockets with a new one included in the kit. You’ll now be getting power directly from your PC, doing away with one of the more troublesome wires in your VR setup.
There are a few nice extras too. A nylon cable cover allows you to thread all three wires coming from the Vive’s power box into one space and then group them closer together with cable ties. Note that we haven’t tried these products for ourselves, so we don’t know if there could be any issues with the change in power supply etc.
Tundra’s Power Kits start shipping in February. The HTC Vive kit currently costs $15.99 and the Pimax alternative goes for $19.99.
