Surgery simulation is another branch of medicine where virtual reality is used to great effect. This technology is used to train surgeons in a range of surgical procedures, e.g. knee arthroscopy but without any risks. The trainee surgeon can be taught new and potentially dangerous techniques in an environment where they are able to make … Continue reading Surgery simulation
Motion tracking, the process of digitising your movements for use in computer software, is incredibly important for virtual reality. Without it your virtual self is paralysed, unable to move its head or move around. At best you’d have to use an abstract control system like a gamepad instead which, while functional, does your sense of … Continue reading Virtual Reality Motion Tracking Technology Has All the Moves
Head mounted display technology has become pretty adept at immersing us as observers in virtual worlds. We really feel as if we are standing in that imaginary space, looking at events and objects that seem so real that you can reach out and touch them. If you did try to touch them however, you would … Continue reading The Leap Motion: Putting you into the virtual world
TrackIR is an optical motion tracking device that used an infrared (IR) camera to track head motion manufactured by NaturalPoint. The user wears a hat or other rigid structure on the head with dots that reflect infrared light. These are used as reference points to generate motion data for the software. With the correct configuration … Continue reading TrackIR
Our smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices are pretty ordinary looking from the outside, but on the inside they are packed with tiny, sophisticated sensors. The three most likely to be in your average device are magnetometers, accelerometers and gyroscopes. These devices have also been essential for the development of modern consumer virtual reality, as … Continue reading Understanding Sensors: Magnetometers, Accelerometers and Gyroscopes
When Valve Corporation and mobile phone manufacturer HTC jointly announced the SteamVR virtual reality ecosystem, it certainly caught many who’ve been following consumer virtual reality off-guard for one simple reason: you could get up and walk around. Other virtual reality solutions such as the Oculus Rift are explicitly “sit-down” experiences. After all, since you can’t … Continue reading SteamVR Lighthouse
What is Magic Leap? You may have heard of Magic Leap before (not to be confused with the Leap Motion), but what exactly is it all about? Magic Leap is a company that was launched in 2010. Quietly, without anyone taking much notice, they raised over $540 million from high-profile investors such as Google and … Continue reading Magic Leap Motion Tracking
The PrioVR is an in-development motion capture suit intended for mainstream use, mainly video games. Unlike many professional motion capture systems the PrioVR is not a cumbersome full body unit, but a series of sensors strapped to the body that allow for skeletal movement to be accurately digitised. This means that your skeleton can be … Continue reading PrioVR the full body motion tracking suit
The STEM by Sixense is a wireless motion tracking system that provides precise motion tracking and control for virtual reality experiences. The system is still in development, but is slated for a December 2015 release. The system is in many ways a successor to the Razer Hydra, a licenced product also developed and produced by … Continue reading The Sixense STEM
When the Nintendo Wii video game console was released in 2006 it ushered in a new paradigm for video game interfaces. To many even the humble gamepad represents a complex control system abstracted from what’s happening on-screen. If you grew up with a gamepad in your hands this isn’t something that seems to be an … Continue reading The Microsoft Kinect
