Sony to Unleash Pet Robot (and new VR tech)
Sony is also expanding into VR. The company said Tuesday that it has developed an experimental vehicle that eliminates windows and is packed with image sensors. The technology could enable drivers to steer without lights in the dark because the sensors can see better than human eyes, and theme parks could use a mixed-reality function to layer digital images over real-world scenery, Sony said.
See the full story here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/sonys-pet-project-a-new-robot-dog-to-be-unleashed-soon-1508830008
Learning To Design Virtual Reality For Accessibility
When Southern Rehab approached us to ask about researching how a player on the higher end of the disability scale would be able to handle such a game, we jumped at the chance to collect real user feedback as the design progressed.
Physical barriers were the first we needed to tackle. The Daydream controller’s design, with its simple three degrees of freedom, immediately makes the game more accessible for people with limited movement in the arms and hands especially. In that sense the hardware gave us the foundation to build the design on.
This then forced us to focus on the simplest way to control gameplay and move around within the game. This has required us to make some compromises to the traditional “big room” movement the wider public have come to expect of VR gameplay. In our game the player moves by clicking on a ground spot to move there. Similarly, clicking the controller left or right enables them to turn . This opened full body movement using just one hand with the controller through the environment. We felt the trade-off was worth it, if it meant the experience could be more widely accessible.
One tester who was a wheelchair user explained she suffered regularly from motion sickness when driving. She had played some VR and had experienced motion sickness there as well. So we looked at how the in-game movement was cognitively processed, compared to the experience of moving in the real-world, and made sure she wouldn’t get motion sickness.
We also looked at the sensory issues for a player on the autism spectrum to see if the VR audio triggered anxiety in the same way as real-world audio does.
It’s all too easy for us as developers to design for the world we are accustomed to living in, in the way we are used to experiencing it. It takes effort to go beyond that. We believe it’s worth it. Audiences will benefit and VR itself will benefit.
See the full story here: https://uploadvr.com/accessibility-vr-design/
VR As An Empathy Machine: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
I have no doubt there will be AR apps that will become literal rose-colored glasses to erase homeless people from view on the streets and make dilapidated dwellings appear to be sparkling, grand mansions, but we can’t let technology disconnect us from real societal issues; that’s not a cure, it’s a curtain. Technology can be fantastic and magical, but it can also be horrifying, and it’s the responsibility of creators to understand the implications of their designs.
See the full story here: https://uploadvr.com/vr-empathy-responsibility/
With Tiny Stereoscopic 360-Degree Camera, Live Planet Aims To Succeed Where Others Failed
Startup Live Planet plans to deliver its first cameras in December as part of an end-to-end stereoscopic 360-degree video platform aimed at making it easier for creators to stream live high-quality content.
Live Planet is led by serial entrepreneur Halsey Minor, who largely self-funded this company after a long track record at the start of businesses like CNET, Salesforce and GrandCentral (which later became Google Voice).
The Live Planet system starts with a tiny 360-degree camera equipped with 16 lenses capturing stereoscopic video, with NVIDIA silicon on board powering it. The system is aimed squarely at the professional market just vacated with Nokia’s decision to end development of the OZO camera. The Live Planet camera costs around $10,000, which is a fraction of OZO’s price. And because the Live Planet camera is so small — a little larger than a coffee cup — Minor believes it will be able to be placed in tighter spots closer to the action.
The camera stitches footage on-board and streams a finished stereoscopic file over Wi-Fi, ethernet or USB. It can be operated locally or through the Web, allowing for its settings to be easily adjusted through a Web page.
Live Planet’s cloud tools include adaptive streaming techniques...
The camera shoots at 30 frames per second and is said to provide a 4K stereoscopic view with USB to support accessories, an SD card slot, Toslink and HDMI.
See the full story here: https://uploadvr.com/live-planet-360-video-platform/
Swing and a miss: Why virtual reality is striking out with sports fans
I hate to say it, but even with all of its failings, VR still has immense potential to revolutionize how we watch sports. One way to do that is to truly leverage the immersive technology of VR to deliver engaging content you can’t get anywhere else. ...
The Fox Sports VR app took a huge step toward social VR by allowing people to watch a game in a virtual lounge while talking to floating avatar heads that represent people sharing the experience. In the app, you can virtually hang out with either Facebook friends of yours or complete strangers.
Mobile VR is also on the precipice of a revolution with the introduction of standalone VR headsets. Mobile headsets like the Gear VR and Google Daydream provide you with only three degrees of freedom (3DOF), allowing you to look horizontally and vertically, but not move in a 3D space. Standalone VR headsets that require no phone, such as the upcoming Oculus Go, offer six degrees of freedom (6DOF) allowing you to move up, down, left, right, backward, and forward in a 3D space. NextVR co-founder and CEO David Cole is bullish on the potential such standalone VR headsets can have on sports. “For instance, you are watching our center court camera feed and something obstructs the camera — like if a ref stands in front of the camera — you can physically move your body and look around it,” Cole told Digital Trends in June.
See the full story here; https://www.digitaltrends.com/features/virtual-reality-sports-failures/
Virtual Reality Makes Real Gains Across Africa
South Africa has already gotten a taste of what VR can offer in sectors like healthcare, real estate and tourism. Developers are optimistic that the technology will have a transformative effect in classrooms across the continent, too. “It’s such a natural way to bring things alive,” says Gillis.
“As proofs of concepts and well-funded VR campaigns have come out globally, we’re seeing a sustained interest from corporations,” he adds. “As a company we have quadrupled our staff base in the last year.”
That hasn’t necessarily trickled down to widespread adoption at the consumer level, where hardware is still out of the reach of most South Africans.
One of the goals in Johannesburg this week is “demystifying VR for filmmakers,” according to producer Steven Markovitz, CEO of Big World Cinema, which last year helped to launch “New Dimensions,” a pan-African narrative VR collaboration featuring artists from five countries.
“With VR, we’re right at the beginning of [creating] a film language,” he says. “The more people who are participating and experimenting, the more we can move that along.”
See the full story here: http://variety.com/2017/tv/festivals/virtual-reality-makes-real-gains-across-africa-1202596308/
ODG, Mastercard, and Qualcomm show off augmented reality shopping
Augmented reality may be a big part of the future of shopping. Mastercard, Osterhout Design Group, and Qualcomm have created a prototype retail experience that incorporates augmented reality glasses, iris authentication, and seamless mobile payments.
The tech showcase will be displayed with Saks Fifth Avenue clothing at the Money2020 event in Las Vegas from October 23 to 25. The exhibit is meant to show off the full shopping experience, from browsing inventory to making secure payments.
The demo uses photorealistic augmented reality, enabling the shopper to look at clothing on the racks and view digital details, such as the price. While looking at a physical item, you can view digital details on the display of your glasses. Mastercard’s Masterpass will authenticate the shopper, using the Qualcomm iris scan tech, which scans your eye to identify you. The shopper then selects a card from their Masterpass-enabled wallet and completes the purchase by selecting the Masterpass button on the screen. Items can be taken home from the store or shipped, depending on availability.
See the full story here: https://venturebeat.com/2017/10/23/odg-mastercard-and-qualcomm-show-off-augmented-reality-shopping/
See another story on this here: https://www.medianama.com/2017/10/223-mastercard-augmented-reality-iris/