VR Accessories – Page 2 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

March 20, 2023

HTC Announces Inside-out Tracker for VR Accessories & Body Tracking

HTC today announced a new Vive Tracker accessory which is the first in the industry to use inside-out tracking, meaning it doesn’t require any external beacons. The device can be attached to props to bring them into VR or to the user’s body for enhanced body tracking.

HTC’s existing Vive Trackers are a popular accessory for anyone interested in VR full-body tracking, but they use SteamVR Tracking technology which requires external beacons for use.

Now the company has announced a new Vive Tracker, and while it doesn’t yet have a name, HTC confirms it is their first standalone tracker based on inside-out tracking which uses on-board cameras to track its own position in space. That means no external beacons or cameras need to be set up for use.

HTC says that up to five of the new standalone Vive Trackers can be used at once, which could be used for body tracking in VR by attaching two trackers to the elbows, two to the feet, and one to the hips. Combined with the user’s head and hands (which are already tracked by the headset and controllers), the trackers can be used to represent the user’s movements more fully—which allows people to do some pretty incredible things in VR.

Details are slim right now; HTC hasn’t announced the price or battery life, and the release date is far off in Q3 2023. Though the company says the device will support standalone Vive headsets, PC VR, and a fully self-contained mode for those wanting to use the trackers for non-VR uses such as object tracking. The tracker is also based on OpenXR, and HTC says this will make it possible to use the tracker with other headsets from other vendors.

The base of the tracker has a quick-release system for removing it from its mount, as well as a standard camera tripod thread for connecting various standardized mounts and holders. The units are small too, with HTC saying they come in at just half the height of the latest Vive Tracker 3.0.

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Developers interested in experimenting with the new tracker can contact HTC here to register their interest.

Although the device will support PC VR, HTC says it recommends that anyone already using SteamVR Tracking should stick with the existing Vive Tracker 3.0 for its precision and compatibility.

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While this is the first dedicated inside-out tracker to be release by a major VR vendor, the device is fundamentally similar to the Quest Pro and Magic Leap 2 controllers which also use on-board cameras to track their position.

Assuming HTC’s new inside-out tracker works well, the company may not be far off from releasing its own inside-out tracked controller.

January 5, 2022

HTC Announces Wrist Tracker for Vive Focus 3, Releasing in Early 2022 for $129

HTC unveiled a new VR tracker device at CES 2022 today, this time targeting its $1,300 enterprise-focused standalone headset, Vive Focus 3. It’s slated to go on sale sometime early this year, starting at $129.

Unlike its SteamVR-compatible Vive Tracker, the new Vive Wrist Tracker is a wrist-worn device which hooks into Vive Focus 3’s inside-out tracking system. It does this essentially the same way the headset’s controllers are tracked in room-scale space, i.e. through infrared LEDs that are tracked optically through the headset’s onboard camera sensors.

HTC says in the announcement that the tracker allows users to either strap it to their wrist for what the company calls “advanced hand tracking” in addition to using controllers, or to objects like gun controllers, Ping-Pong paddles, or tools.

Below you can see a Nerf gun has been rigged up with Vive Wrist Tracker, making for a 6DOF-tracked virtual weapon:

The company says Vive Wrist Tracker is 85% smaller than Vive Focus 3’s controller, and 50% lighter at 63g. It boasts up to four hours of constant use, charged via USB-C. HTC says it includes a simple one-button pairing feature for wireless connection, and also features a removable strap for easy cleaning.

As for its more accurate hand tracking, this is what the company says in Vive Wrist Tracker’s announcement:

“When user wears the tracker on the wrist, we can predict the tracker’s motion trajectories even when the tracker is out of camera’s view in a while by using high-frequency IMU data and an advanced kinematic model. With this technology, we can predict their hand position when the hands leave the tracking camera view.”

Road to VR skipped the physical bit of CES 2022 this year, however we’re very interested to see the wrist tracker in action to see if it makes a material difference in terms of hand tracking.

Likely its biggest appeal is the ability to track objects, giving location-based entertainment venues and enterprise users the ability to avoid the typical mixing and matching of hardware ecosystems, such as OptiTrack or SteamVR base stations. To boot, HTC says its releasing CAD files so prospective owners can build custom docking solutions or harnesses around the tracker.

HTC is initially launching Vive Wrist Tracker in the US starting early 2022, priced at $129/€129/£119. Although they haven’t said as much, that pricing means it will very likely roll out Vive Wrist Tracker to the UK and EU at a later date.

In addition to Vive Wrist Tracker, HTC unveiled a few other Vive Focus 3 accessories, including a new charging travel case and a multi-battery charging dock. It’s not clear when either of those will go on sale, or for what price. We’ll be keeping an eye on the Vive accessories product page in the meantime.

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March 30, 2021April 28, 2021

Tundra Tracker Passes $1.1M in Funding with 1 Month Left in Kickstarter

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.

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.

The post Tundra Tracker Passes $1.1M in Funding with 1 Month Left in Kickstarter appeared first on Road to VR.

March 16, 2021

Vive Facial Tracker Can Work with Index and Other PC Headsets, If You Can Mount It

Last week HTC announced a new accessory, the Vive Facial Tracker. Though the device is designed to mount to the Vive Pro, it turns out it’s technically compatible with other PC VR headsets, provided you can find a way to mount it in the right spot.

HTC’s new Vive Facial Tracker accessory, set to launch later this month, promises to track “38 facial movements across the lips, jaw, teeth, tongue, chin, and cheeks.” When the company introduced the device, it only announced compatibility with its Vive Pro line of headsets.

Apparently that’s only half the story. The headset can technically work with any PC VR headset, according to host Mike from YouTube channel Virtual Reality Oasis who tested the Vive Facial Tracker with the Valve Index headset:

A little clip of the new Vive Facial Tracker working with the Valve Index… pic.twitter.com/fjbq4PigpF

— Mike – VRO (@vr_oasis) March 15, 2021

According to Mike, the Vive Facial Tracker ought to work with any PC VR headset as long as you can find a way to mount the tracker to offer a good view of your mouth. Of course, it’ll work best with headsets that have an on-board USB port (like Vive Pro, original Vive, Valve Index, and Pimax), though on some you’ll need an adapter for the Vive Facial Tracker’s USB-C port.

Clearly the Vive Facial Tracker will work best with the Vive Pro because its mount is specially designed to fit the headset, but pulling together a DIY solution seems straightforward enough. And we wouldn’t be surprised to see 3D printed mounts for other headsets start to pop up after the March 24th release date of the Vive Facial Tracker.

As far as HTC is concerned, the company isn’t guaranteeing the product will work well with other headsets. Shen Ye, the Sr. Director of Hardware Products at HTC, says the camera’s computer vision model was trained specifically from the vantage point of the Vive Pro, so any mounting that deviates from that perspective could impact tracking performance. He also says that USB-A (male) to USB-C (female) adapters are “against USB-IF specs,” and notes, “these adapters have no spec to conform to, so attempt this at your own risk.”

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March 11, 2021

Tundra Tracker Pricing Revealed, Here’s How it Compares to Vive Tracker

Tundra Labs, the company developing the Tundra Tracker SteamVR Tracking accessory, has revealed pricing for the device starting at $95. Previously planned for earlier in the year, a Kickstarter campaign for the tracker is set to launch on March 29th with the first deliveries expected in July.

Tundra Tracker is an upcoming SteamVR Tracking tracker designed as an alternative to HTC’s Vive Tracker; we previously revealed many details of the tracker here.

Compared to the new Vive Tracker 3.0 revealed this week, Tundra Labs says the Tundra Tracker is still the smaller of the two, though it isn’t clear yet how the improved battery life of the Vive Tracker 3.0 will compare to the Tundra Tracker (Tundra Labs previously said its tracker would have better battery life than the Vive Tracker 2.0).

This week has brought the first look at the official pricing for the Tundra Tracker. Pricing is slightly confusing because the company is actually selling three different dongles, all of which connect via one USB connection, but are capable of connecting a different number of devices. We’ve labeled them A, B, and C for clarity:

Tracker	Dongle	Price
1x	–	$95
1x	Dongle A (up to 3 devices)	$130
3x	Dongle A (up to 3 devices)	$300
5x	Dongle B (up to 5 devices)	$460
7x	Dongle C (up to 7 devices)	$630
–	Dongle A (up to 3 devices)	$43
–	Dongle B (up to 5 devices)	$60
–	Dongle C (up to 7 devices)	$80

Tundra Labs is positioning its multi-device dongles as a unique advantage over the Vive Tracker dongles.

Vive Trackers need one dongle per tracker, so if you want to use 5x Vive Trackers for body tracking, you’d need connect 5x Vive Tracker dongles to your computer (each on their own USB port, or with a third-party USB hub).

All of the Tundra Tracker dongles, on the other hand, use a single USB port but can connect multiple devices. Tundra Labs says its dongles are also capable of connecting Vive Trackers, controllers, and other peripherals which use SteamVR Tracking (including the ability to mix and match), and its dongles are designed to fit inside the ‘frunk’ USB accessory port on the Valve Index. (Vive Tracker dongles can also connect any SteamVR Tracking peripherals, but only one device per dongle.)

Tundra Tracker prototype next to Vive Tracker 2.0 | Image courtesy Tundra Labs

Tundra Labs told us at the outset that it was aiming for “slightly cheaper” pricing than the Vive Tracker 2.0; here’s how pricing compares between Tundra Tracker, Vive Tracker 2.0, and the new Vive Tracker 3.0:

Tracker Count	Tundra Tracker	Vive Tracker 2.0	Vive Tracker 3.0
1x	$130 (Dongle A)	$100	$130
3x	$300 (Dongle A)	$300	$390
5x	$460 (Dongle B)	$500	$650
7x	$630 (Dongle C)	$700	$910

Tundra Labs said this week that it’s still on track for a March 29th Kickstarter. Assuming the campaign succeeds, initial delivers are expected to begin in July.

The post Tundra Tracker Pricing Revealed, Here’s How it Compares to Vive Tracker appeared first on Road to VR.

March 10, 2021

HTC Announces Face-tracker for Vive Pro and Vive Tracker 3.0, Launching This Month for $130

HTC today announced two new VR accessories: a consumer version of its face-tracker and a new version of the Vive Tracker which is said to bring a large jump in battery life alongside being smaller. Both accessories are priced at $130 and will launch in the US starting on March 24th.

Vive Facial Tracker

HTC’s new Vive Facial Tracker is a face-tracking add-on for the Vive Pro headset. While the company had announced a development kit of the Facial Tracker back in 2019, now the company is selling a version of the device straight to consumers.

The company says the Vive Facial Tracker uses dual cameras running at 60Hz to track “38 facial movements across the lips, jaw, teeth, tongue, chin, and cheeks.” The unit includes an IR illuminator to ensure the area around the user’s mouth stays well lit for the computer-vision tracking to stay at peak performance in any lighting conditions. HTC claims 6ms of latency for the Facial Tracker.

The company revealed two videos of the Vive Facial Tracker in action, though admittedly they don’t do a great job of showing off the unit’s accuracy—granted, it looks like this may be the result of poor 3D model rigging more than the Facial Tracker itself.

We won’t have to wait for long to see for ourselves how the unit performs: the Vive Facial Tracker is set to launch on March 24th for $130.

Vive Tracker 3.0

HTC is also announcing a new version of the Vive Tracker. The company says it is 33% smaller than its predecessor and has 75% more battery life, offering up to seven hours on a single charge.

Functionally, the Vive Tracker 3.0 is the same as the previous model, supporting SteamVR Tracking 1.0 and 2.0. It is also backwards compatible with the same pogo pin and mounting layout, which uses a standard 1/4 tripod screw.

As the only commercially available SteamVR Tracking tracker available, the Vive Tracker has become the de facto standard over the years for tracking additional accessories or limbs inside of VR; some users are even using them to breakdance in VR. However, the Vive Tracker is expected to see some competition later this year.

While weight and size have gone down, unfortunately price is going up. The Vive Tracker 3.0 is priced at $130 (compared to $100 for the 2.0 version) and due to launch on March 24th.

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February 12, 2021

Exclusive: Striker VR Raises $4M to Bring Its Haptic VR Gun to Consumers – First Look

Striker VR, maker of high-end haptic VR gun peripherals for the out-of-home market, announced today it has raised a $4 million investment and plans to use the funds to make its first move into the consumer VR space.

Striker VR’s Arena Infinity VR guns packs perhaps the most powerful haptic punch you’ll find in any VR gun peripheral. They’ve been deployed at VR attractions from the likes of Spaces, Nomadic, and more. VR experiences are able to take advantage of versatile haptics which can create sensations that mimic a wide range of virtual objects, all the way from a ‘charge up’ sci-fi gun to a chainsaw. But with prices in the thousands of dollars, the consumer VR segment hasn’t been part of the company’s strategy, until now.

The company exclusively revealed to Road to VR that it has raised a $4 million investment and plans to bring its technology to the consumer VR space. Striker VR described the investment as “strategic funding,” but didn’t disclose additional details on the participants of the investment.

With the cash infusion, the company says it plans to double its staff over the next year as it ramps up to launch a new version of its gun peripheral for the consumer VR market. While details on the device itself haven’t been fully revealed, Striker VR has shared a first look at the unique industrial design the company is aiming for, which appears to include trackpads on either side of the foregrip and possibly two additional capacitive inputs above the trigger.

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Striker VR tells us it plans to support both PC VR and Quest, though it’s unclear exactly how they’ll handle tracking. The company’s prior VR guns have supported tracking via the high-end OptiTrack system or with SteamVR Tracking via and attached Vive Tracker.

On the PC VR side, it’s possible the company will choose to integrate SteamVR Tracking directly into the peripheral, or expect the end-user to supplement the device with a Vive Tracker. As for Quest support… it’s less clear how the company will approach it. Oculus has not opened its tracking system to third-parties, though we’ve seen some other VR peripherals attach the Quest controller itself to function as a tracker.

With full details not yet released, we don’t know exactly what haptic technology the Striker VR consumer product will use. The haptics in company’s high-end products are based on a large linear actuator (and large batteries), though ostensibly some sacrifices will need to be made in the name of price. The company claims that the consumer version will have “more haptics than any controller ever produced,” and says that more details are due in a future announcement.

Speaking of price—Striker VR isn’t ready to reveal pricing, but confirmed it’s targeting a sub-$500 price point, further stating, “depending on the final build, it might be significantly less.”

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Figuring out how to attract developers to support the consumer haptic VR gun is likely to be Striker VR’s biggest challenge in entering the consumer VR segment.

In the PC VR space, no single haptic VR gun peripheral has found significant traction. Over on PSVR, however, the PS Aim accessory is generally well regarded and has seen support for more than 20 games, including some fairly major titles like Arizona Sunshine, Borderlands 2 VR, Farpoint, Firewall Zero Hour, and Doom VFR.

While PS Aim includes a joystick and nearly full input mapping to the PS4 gamepad, Striker VR’s consumer peripheral so far looks like it will rely on large trackpads and a fewer number of other inputs. This could make it more difficult for developers to build consumer games for the device, and perhaps less likely that existing games with PS Aim support could be ported to work with it.

The post Exclusive: Striker VR Raises $4M to Bring Its Haptic VR Gun to Consumers – First Look appeared first on Road to VR.

February 6, 2021

Tundra Tracker Kickstarter Pushed to March, First Deliveries Expected in July

Tundra Tracker, the upcoming SteamVR tracker alternative to the Vive Tracker, was originally expected to hold a Kickstarter in January, but the company behind the project, Tundra Labs, says the crowdfunding campaign has been pushed back in light of delays in component sourcing.

In the latest official update on the project, Tundra Labs notes, “Right now the semiconductor industry is going through incredible supply shortages due to a ‘double whammy’ of dropping factory capacity due to COVID-19 and skyrocketing demand also due to the pandemic. For this reason, since November 2020, we have been tracking components used in the Tundra Tracker and many are showing 26 to 30 week lead time for high volume deliveries. This means that If we place orders today, components may not be delivered until August. Thankfully we already started placing component orders in Q4 of 2020. We are also working directly with vendors to ‘pull in’ deliveries as much as possible and pay expedites when available.”

Given the long lead time, Tundra Labs says it has opted to delay the Kickstarter campaign to “shorten the time between when crowdfunding ends and when all backers receive their orders.”

The company now plans to launch the Kickstarter on March 29th for 30 days, and expects the first units to start shipping to early-bird backers starting in mid-June, while the bulk of backers can expect shipments in mid-September.

Beyond Kickstart plans, the company also revealed some more details on the Tundra Tracker’s design, including a closer look at how the swappable base plates will work.

“The rendering above demonstrates the production product design, especially about the swappable baseplates for Tundra Tracker. Based on feedback there will (at minimum) be options for an integrated strap loop baseplate as well as a backwards compatible with 1/4-20 mounts.” The company says it’s investigating additional base plates for other uses.

Tundra Labs also shared the first look at a functional prototype in action:

In addition to being smaller and lighter, Tundra Labs is aiming to make the price of the Tundra Tracker slightly less than the Vive Tracker, though pricing hasn’t been finalized yet. “We are still resolving the pricing question,” the company said in its latest update.

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January 4, 2021

Oculus Quest 2 Elite Strap With Battery And Case Now In Stock At Best Buy

Ever since the Oculus Quest 2 launched the official Elite Strap with Battery and Carrying Case has been basically impossible to find. As of the time of this writing though, you can buy one from Best Buy for $129.

The Elite Strap with Battery and Carrying Case is still out of stock elsewhere and simply shows a “Notify Me” button on the official Oculus website. Personally I had my own pre-order paused and then eventually canceled after “quality reports” from early shipments. They eventually resumed shipping and instituted a two-year replacement offer.

Jamie received an Elite Strap with Battery for review and came away with basically nothing but praise for the accessory, despite the price tag:

The question on your mind is probably this: is the Oculus Quest 2 Elite Battery Strap worth the $80 difference from the original Elite Strap? It’s definitely a steep increase in pricing, but my answer is a pretty confident yes. For that extra money, not only will you get roughly double the battery life out of Quest 2 — which will come in handy for long play sessions of Population: One and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners — but the added weight serves as a counterbalance to improve comfort even further, and the excellent Carrying Case is thrown in to sweeten the deal too.

You’ll want to move fast if you’d like to grab one of these while they’re still available! If you manage to get one or spot it in stock anywhere else let us know in the comments, on Twitter, or via email at tips@uploadvr.com.

h/t: Wario64

December 29, 2020

Exclusive: Tundra Tracker Aims for Smaller, Cheaper Alternative to Vive Tracker for SteamVR Tracking

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

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

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

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.”

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

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.

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The Tundra Tracker represents a growing list of devices and use-cases enabled by Valve’s open SteamVR Tracking system, from high-end headsets and third-party controllers to styli and programming of industrial robots.

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