Meta Quest 3 brings with it new ‘Touch Plus’ controllers that do away with the tracking ring that’s been part of the company’s 6DOF consumer VR controllers ever since the original Rift. But that’s not the only change.
Editor’s Note: for some clarity in this article (and comments), let’s give some names to all the different 6DOF VR controllers the company has shipped over the years.
Rift CV1 controller: Touch v1
Rift S controller: Touch v2
Quest 1 controller: Touch v2
Quest 2 controller: Touch v3
Quest Pro controller: Touch Pro
Quest 3 controller: Touch Plus
6DOF consumer VR controllers from Meta have always had a ‘tracking ring’ as part of their design. The ring houses an array of infrared LEDs that cameras can detect, giving the system the ability to track the controllers in 3D space.
Image courtesy Meta
Quest 3 will be the first 6DOF consumer headset from the company to ship with controllers without a tracking ring; the company is calling new controllers ‘Touch Plus’.
Tracking Coverage
In a session at Meta Connect 2023, the company explained it has moved the IR LEDs from the tracking ring into the faceplate of the controller, while also adding a single IR LED at the bottom of the handle. This means the system has less consistently visible markers for tracking, but Meta believes its improved tracking algorithms are up to the challenge of tracking Touch Plus as well as Quest 2’s controllers.
Note that Touch Plus is different than the company’s Touch Pro controllers—which also don’t have a tracking ring—but instead use on-board cameras to track their own position in space. Meta confirmed that Touch Pro controllers are compatible with Quest 3, just like Quest 2.
Meta was clear to point out that the change in camera placements on Quest 3 means the controller tracking volume will be notably different than on Quest 2.
The company said Quest 3 has about the same amount of tracking volume, but it has strategically changed the shape of the tracking volume.
Notably, Quest 3’s cameras don’t capture above the head of the user nearly as well as Quest 2. But the tradeoff is that Quest 3 has more tracking coverage around the user’s torso (especially behind them), and more around the shoulders:
This graphic shows unique areas of tracking coverage that are present on one headset but not the other
Meta believes this is a worthwhile tradeoff because players don’t often hold their hands above their head for long periods of time, and because the headset can effectively estimate the position of the controllers when outside of the tracking area for short periods.
Haptics
Photo by Road to VR
As for haptic feedback, the company said that “haptics on the Touch Plus controller are certainly improved, but not quite to the level of Touch Pro,” and further explained that Touch Plus has a single haptic motor (a voice coil modulator), whereas Touch Pro controllers have additional haptic motors in both the trigger and thumbstick.
The company also reminded developers about its Meta Haptics Studio tool, which aims to make it easy to develop haptic effects that work across all of the company’s controllers, rather than needing to design the effects for the haptic hardware in each controller individually.
Trigger Force
Touch Plus also brings “one more little secret” that no other Touch controller has to date: a two-stage index trigger.
Meta explained that once a user fully pulls the trigger, any additional force can be read as a separate value—essentially a measure of how hard the trigger is being squeezed after being fully depressed.
What’s Missing From Touch Pro
Meta also said that Touch Plus won’t include some of the more niche features of Touch Pro, namely the ‘pinch’ sensor on the thumbpad, and the pressure-sensitive stylus nub that can be attached to the bottom and used to ‘draw’ on real surfaces.
At GDC 2022 this week, VR glove creator Manus revealed its new Quantum Metagloves which the company says delivers significantly more accurate finger tracking than its prior solutions. Though priced for enterprise use, the company says it one day hopes to deliver the tech to consumers.
Manus has been building motion gloves for use in real-time VR and motion capture for years now, with prior offerings being based on IMU and flex-sensor tracking.
The company’s latest product, the Quantum Metagloves, moves to a new magnetic tracking approach which purportedly offers significantly more accurate finger tracking, especially when it comes to self-contact (ie: fingers touching other fingers or the palm of the hand).
Revealed at GDC 2022 for the first time, Manus showed off a demo of the Quantum Metagloves using a realistic real-time hand model that mirrored the wearer’s finger movements. Though the gloves are designed to work in conjunction with 6DOF tracking (via a SteamVR tracker or other motion tracking tech), the GDC demo didn’t employ 6DOF (which is why the visualization of the arm rotates in place). The latency reflected in this setup is also purportedly not representative of the actual tracking latency.
The Quantum Metagloves have a magnetic base positioned on the back of the palm while each finger has a module on the tip that is sensed within the magnetic field. Manus says this means the gloves can detect absolute finger length and width (once calibrated), which enables more accurate hand-tracking when combined with an underlying skeletal model of the hand that is scaled dynamically to the user.
Photo by Road to VR
In the video I asked the demonstrator to make a handful of different poses. Indeed, finger-to-finger and finger-to-palm contact looked impressive with no obvious clipping or stuttering. The company told me the demo wasn’t specially programmed to make clipping impossible and that the behavior was purely thanks to the positional data of the sensors which was described as “very clean” compared to alternative approaches to finger tracking.
Manus says the Quantum Metagloves are unique in this way, as other finger tracking technology tends to break down in these sorts of close-contact and self-contact scenarios, especially when both hands are near or touching each other. Even expensive optical tracking systems (with markers on the tips of each finger) can be foiled easily by self-occlusion or one hand occluding the other. Similarly, purely IMU-based finger tracking is prone to drift and requires regular recalibration.
But magnetic tracking is by no means perfect. In other magnetic tracking systems we’ve seen challenges with latency and electromagnetic interference.
Manus admitted that holding metallic or electronic items could throw off the tracking, but says it worked hard to ensure the gloves don’t interfere with each other; up to eight gloves can be active near each other without interference issues, the company says.
While self-contact looked generally quite good with the Quantum Metagloves, other poses didn’t fare quite as well—like a completely clenched first. The demonstrator suggested this would be improved easily with a more robust calibration process that included similar poses; whereas they say the calibration used for the demo at GDC was designed to be quick and easy for purposes of the show.
Photo by Road to VR
While the finger tracking did look great in many of the demos I saw, some of the other demo gloves on display showed much less accuracy. This was chalked up to “calibration,” though a big question for such systems is how much said calibration drifts over time and whether the periods between recalibration are practical for a given use-case.
In any case, use-cases will be deeply constrained by price; Manus says a pair of the Quantum Metagloves will cost $9,000, with pre-orders opening in April and shipments expected by the end of Q3. The company says it also plans to launch a haptic version of the Quantum Metagloves which will include per-finger haptics to enhance immersion in VR.
Manus maintains that it would like to bring its gloves to consumers one day, but says the number of custom parts and manufacturing makes it difficult to get the price down to a reasonable level.
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.
Image courtesy HTC
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.
The original design for the controllers (seen below) featured Oculus Touch-like tracking rings, but the new design seems to have removed them. The Tweet doesn’t get into specifics about how the controllers will now be tracked by the four cameras mounted on the headset itself, but there are two new orbs protruding out the bottom of the controller. Could the devices perhaps use these to relay your position to the headset?
Megadodo also points out that a new menu button has been added to the face of both controllers, sitting under what looks like a slightly refreshed analog stick. There hand straps are still attached to both grips, though, and the same two face buttons are still on both controllers.
As we reported last October, the original controllers were meant to take after the Valve Index with 5 finger capacitive sensing and could tell how hard you were squeezing the grip. It’s not clear if these features are still included in this redesign.
The company says more details will be revealed soon but, presumably, these controllers will still be included in the proposed $450 bundle that includes the DecaGear headset itself. It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything too concrete from Megadodo, though the DecaGear website still says the first batch of headsets will be shipping in Q4 of this year. That said, the website hasn’t yet been updated to show the new controllers, so this could be outdated information.
Earlier in 2021 we did get the chance to try out Megadodo’s first piece of hardware, the DecaMove. The smaller device rests on your hip to detect the direction in which you want to move in VR. Though not nearly as ambitious as shipping a full VR headset, we noted that it was at least a positive first step in suggesting the company could deliver.
In their weekly developer update, Asobo posted the usual ‘Virtual Reality Feedback Snapshot’ list which shows the top ‘wishes’ and the most important bugs as voted on by the community, along with their development progress. For bugs, the team notes whether the bug has been reproduced and report the progress on fixing it. For top wishes, Asobo marks some as started, some as under investigation, etc.
‘VR Controllers Support is Missing’ is currently the top trending wishes post in the feedback snapshot, with 482 votes. The status of VR controller support is now marked as ‘Started’, with a SU7 release date. This of course refers to to Simulator Update VII (or 7, depending on how you like to stylize), which the development roadmap has set for release in mid-November.
While that might be a few months out, there is some content set to land before then as well. On September 28, Asobo are adding a new plane to the mix — the Junkers JU-52 — and next month in late October the Simulator Update VI will release.
According to the feedback snapshot list, SUVI will includes fixes for VR users include missing anti-aliasing on VR menus and broken VR reflections, present since the last update. No doubt a larger list of changes will be available closer to release.
SenseGlove, a Dutch-based producer of VR haptic gloves, has revealed an early prototype of their second glove, the SenseGlove Nova. We recently visited the company to see how it works and feels.
Cas and Chary VR is a YouTube channel hosted by Netherland-based duo Casandra Vuong and Chary Keijzer who have been documenting their VR journeys since 2016. They share a curated selection of their content with extra insights for the Road to VR audience.
SenseGlove’s first glove was called the DK1 and were tethered haptic gloves that use an exoskeleton attached to each finger for the force-feedback.
SenseGlove DK1 | Image courtesy SenseGlove
The first significant difference you’ll see in the SenseGlove Nova compared to the prior model is that the newer model has a futuristic design that’s much more like a glove and designed to be put on in just five seconds, according to the company. This time it’s designed for ease of use; it’s wireless and is compatible with standalone VR headsets like the Oculus Quest, Pico Neo, and Vive Focus.
The SenseGlove Nova can simulate the feeling of shapes, textures, stiffness, impact, and resistance. This is made possible with the company’s trifecta of touch: force-feedback, vibrotactile feedback, and motion tracking.
Force Feedback
Image courtesy Cas & Chary VR
The Nova uses a passive force-feedback system; instead of actively pulling the fingers back, the gloves allow you to feel virtual objects by ‘stopping’ your fingers from moving. The gloves use one magnet per finger that’s attached to pulleys and wires. Once a user grabs a virtual object, the magnets will exert power to ‘stop’ your fingers. By determining how much force it applies, you can feel the difference between hard and soft objects.
Vibrotactile Feedback
Image courtesy Cas & Chary VR
The force-feedback is enhanced by vibrotactile feedback. Both the thumb and the index finger have their own vibrotactile actuator, while an advanced voice coil actuator is located at the bottom of the glove. The voice coil actuator allows the Nova to render the feeling of realistic button clicks and impact simulations. Developers can do this by recording sound, converting it to a vibration waveform, and then bringing it inside the virtual environment to be played back by the glove.
Motion Tracking
As for motion tracking, the Nova combines sensor-based finger tracking with computer vision hand tracking algorithms. With this combination, there’s no need for external tracking devices on headsets that offer third-party access to the tracking cameras. On a more closed-off system like the Oculus Quest, the controllers are mounted on the gloves to make motion tracking possible.
During my visit, SenseGlove showed us a demo inside a zero-gravity space station where I had to do a simple repair mission. In front of me was a table with objects of different densities that I could touch and grab.
Image courtesy Cas & Chary VR
I have to note here that the Nova gloves didn’t come in the right size for my hands, so the haptic feedback wasn’t optimal. Still, like the first glove, I was able to feel the difference between, for example, a soft, squeezable ball and a battery made of glass. When I touched an object, I felt vibration. When I grabbed something, I could feel a slight resistance on my fingers, which, combined with seeing the object, made me automatically stop my fingers from moving further. It felt natural, real and I thought it was impressive, especially given the wireless freedom of movement without much latency. I did have a greater wow-factor when I demoed the DK1 as it felt more precise since the first glove had twice the strength (40 Newton instead of 20N).
SenseGlove told us that the Nova will be sold alongside the DK1 as both gloves have their pros and cons. If you’re looking for accuracy, the DK1 is a good option. The Nova is here if ease of use is more important.
The SenseGlove Nova primary use case is for commercial purposes and costs €4,500, which is about $5,300. Consumer plans are not in the works, but I think it is interesting to watch this space as it gives us a good idea of what is in store for consumers in the future.
Facebook today revealed some of its latest research and vision for a wrist-worn input device that the company expects to form the basis of AR and VR interactions and haptics in the future. The device, still in a research prototype phase, senses electrical signals in the user’s arm to detect intentional inputs. In addition to functioning as a simple ‘button’ input, the company says the device can even enable accurate, keyboard-less typing, and more.
In a media briefing this week, researchers from Facebook Reality Labs Research shared some of their latest work in developing new input technology which the team believes will form the foundation of interactions for XR devices of the future. The group shared a concept video of what it believes will be possible with the technology.
Beyond the concept video, the researchers also discussed the work happening to bring it to fruition.
Input on the Wrist
Image courtesy Facebook
The Facebook researchers seem increasingly convinced that a wrist-worn controller is their best bet as an ‘always on’ wearable input device that can enable “ultra low friction” interactions for XR experiences.
The heart of the wrist controller is electromyography (EMG) sensors which can detect the electrical signals which control the muscles in your hands. Rather than just course movements, the researchers say that EMG can be used to sense individual finger movements with precision down to one millimeter. In a video shared by the company, Facebook says the movements of the hand shown below are detected entirely with EMG:
While the near-term use-cases of this kind of technology could be to enable an ‘always available button’ which you can use to confirm choices presented to them through contextually relevant AR systems, the researchers say, further out it will be used for manipulating virtual interfaces and objects, and even to type without a keyboard.
“It’s highly likely that ultimately you’ll be able to type at high speed with EMG on a table or your lap — maybe even at higher speed than is possible with a keyboard today. Initial research is promising,” the company writes. “In fact, since joining FRL in 2019, the CTRL-labs team has made important progress on personalized models, reducing the time it takes to train custom keyboard models that adapt to an individual’s typing speed and technique.”
The researchers shared what is purported to be a live demo of this personalized keyboard model in action, using the wearable prototype to enable reasonably fast typing without a keyboard:
Beyond typing, the researchers say that being able to read finger movements from the wrist could also allow users to manipulate objects. Another purportedly real demo shared shows this in action:
Further in the future the team suggests that users may be able to train themselves to do some of these commands without any physical movement at all.
Although the company says it’s wrist-worn device is a “neural” input device, it draws a distinction between neural input and “mind reading.”
“This is not akin to mind reading. Think of it like this: You take many photos and choose to share only some of them. Similarly, you have many thoughts and you choose to act on only some of them. When that happens, your brain sends signals to your hands and fingers telling them to move in specific ways in order to perform actions like typing and swiping,” the company writes. “This is about decoding those signals at the wrist—the actions you’ve already decided to perform—and translating them into digital commands for your device.”
Always-on Haptics
Image courtesy Facebook
For a device which may be comfortably worn all day, the researchers say, a wrist-wearable is also a great place to deliver haptics.
To that end, the company has been experimenting with different types of haptic technologies for the wrist.
One prototype, called ‘Bellowband’, lines the inside of the device’s wristband with quarter-sized bladders which can lay flat or be inflated to put pressure on the user’s wrist. Different haptic effects can be achieved by using different combinations of the bladders or by pulsing them at different rates.
Another prototype, called ‘Tasbi’ (short for Tactile and Squeeze Bracelet Interface), uses six vibrating actuators around the wrist, along with a sort of tension-based, wrist-squeezing mechanism which can dynamically tighten and put pressure on the user’s wrist.
The researchers say that prototypes like these help the company find out which kinds of haptic feedback technology may be worth pursuing.
Contextual AI
A major part of Facebook’s vision for AR and an “ultra low friction” input approach necessitates AI which can deeply understand the user’s context.
“The underlying AI has some understanding of what you might want to do in the future. Perhaps you head outside for a jog and, based on your past behavior, the system thinks you’re most likely to want to listen to your running playlist. It then presents that option to you on the display: ‘Play running playlist?’ That’s the adaptive interface at work,” writes FRL Research Science Manager Tanya Jonker. “Then you can simply confirm or change that suggestion using a microgesture. The intelligent click gives you the ability to take these highly contextual actions in a very low-friction manner because the interface surfaces something that’s relevant based on your personal history and choices, and it allows you to do that with minimal input gestures.”
That’s largely conceptual for now. While today’s smartphones or smartwatches are able to leverage some clues like, time, location, and connected accessories to infer what actions might be relevant to you, the sort of contextual AI suggestions that Facebook is envisioning will require both an advance in AI as well as the sensor-laden peripherals that can get a real-time understanding of the user’s immediate environment.
More Questions Than Answers on Privacy
Facebook says its goal in building the far future of XR is to build technologies where “the human is the absolute center of the entire experience.”
Achieving the company’s vision will require hardware and software with an intimate understanding of both the user and their environment.
Facebook maintains that it’s committed to transparency throughout the development of these technologies, but admits that it isn’t equipped to asses the broader questions.
“Understanding and solving the full extent of ethical issues [raised by these technologies] requires society-level engagement,” says FRL Research Science Director Sean Keller. “We simply won’t get there by ourselves, so we aren’t attempting to do so. As we invent new technologies, we are committed to sharing our learnings with the community and engaging in open discussion to address concerns.”
Indeed, the company says that a major reason why it’s sharing this information today is to engage the broader tech community on these questions before it moves to take the technology out of the lab and into the market.
“[…] we support and encourage our researchers to publish their work in peer-reviewed journals—and [that’s] why we’re telling this story today. We believe that far before any of this technology ever becomes part of a consumer product, there are many discussions to have openly and transparently about what the future of HCI can and should look like.”
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.
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.
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.
1 of 3
Image courtesy Striker VR
Image courtesy Striker VR
Image courtesy Striker VR
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.”
– – — – –
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.
Cybershoes for Oculus Quest give you the means to move convincingly in VR using your actual legs without ever needing to physical stand up from your chair. And, believe it or not, it actually does a pretty good job. Here are our first impressions of the Cybershoes for Oculus Quest. The Kickstarter campaign for Cybershoes on Quest is fully-funded at over twice their goal with an end date of December 31.
Cybershoes on Oculus Quest
Over two years ago I wrote about my experience using the original iteration of the Cybershoes, which were designed to be used with a PC VR headset tethered to a PC. This newest model supports both Quest and PC VR.
The most intrusive part of the previous setup is that you had to dangle the HMD wire above your head with a little fishing rod-style contraption that was a pain to setup and took up lots of space. That’s no longer the case with the wireless, standalone Oculus Quest headset.
While it might seem redundant to use a device that lets you move around in VR with your legs since you could just, you know, stand up and move around in VR with your legs using a Quest already, but there are some unique advantages with Cybershoes. Not only does it mean you don’t need to worry about your Guardian boundaries and room size constraints, but it also should help tremendously for those with motion sickness concerns.
The act of swinging your feet and twisting around in a chair adds that physical element most VR is missing that can, for many people, alleviate the VR sickness woes. Personally, I don’t get motion sick or VR sick so I cannot confirm nor deny the effectiveness, but many users have reported results after using these and the previous PC VR version.
The concept here is very simple. You strap on these open-style shoes that slide on the ground and simulate actual movement. The bottoms of the shoes have sensors that tell your VR headset which direction you’re moving.
If the game has analog stick / gamepad movement support at all, then it should work with no problems. For Oculus Quest many of the top games, like Arizona Sunshine, Myst, and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners all work great right out of the box.
Thankfully setup is dead simple. All you have to do is strap the Cybershoes onto your feet, attach the little box to the front of your headset, which is incredibly light, and plug that in the side. There are no wires to worry about at all.
At first it takes some getting used to. Rubbing your feet across the floor to move isn’t exactly a natural movement nor is it super intuitive, but it starts to click after a while. The concept is the same as you see in other movement solutions, such as the treadmill-style options from Omni, but you’re seated instead.
Admittedly I don’t think I see myself using Cybershoes for Quest very often even though they absolutely do work as advertised. To me, the physicality of standing up and moving around a room is far more immersive and important than rubbing my feet on the ground. However, I can see some use cases for this.
If you get motion sick easily and traditional artificial locomotion in games like The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners always makes you uncomfortable, then you could totally try using Cybershoes as a way to circumvent that side effect. Alternatively, if you have a disability that prevents you from standing for long periods of time but you can still move your legs, then this is an excellent middle ground.
So to be perfectly clear: yes, Cybershoes works as intended and removing the wire from PC VR makes it far more user-friendly and compelling, but, just like the 3DRudder, I fail to see a compelling reason to use this instead of just moving around a room. Even if you don’t have enough space for roomscale and would just be standing in one spot and leaning around I’d still rather do that than be restricted to sitting in a chair while in VR — especially when using a standalone, wireless, roomscale headset like the Oculus Quest or Quest 2.
Maybe that will change once more developers add support, but as it stands it’s hard to imagine a world where sitting down with sensor shoes is the ideal way of enjoying otherwise roomscale VR.
The company said Quest 3 has about the same amount of tracking volume, but it has strategically changed the shape of the tracking volume.
Meta explained that once a user fully pulls the trigger, any additional force can be read as a separate value—essentially a measure of how hard the trigger is being squeezed after being fully depressed.
