Occipital AR/VR headset for iPhone
The startup Occipital created its Structure Sensor iPad accessory specifically to take detailed, real-time scans of a room. It occurred to the creators that if they built the sensor into a VR headset, that headset would have room-scale VR powers along the lines of the HTC Vive, where virtual objects are not only mixed with the real world, but can also interact with the viewer and the environment on the fly.
Enter the Bridge. ...Then you see the oblong sensor array protruding from the front. That, of course, is the Structure Sensor, which powers the augmented-reality experience. I got a chance to try out the Bridge at Mashable's offices, and it was definitely the best AR/VR headset demo I've ever seen on an iPhone.
Occipital has created a robot character, named Bridget that can interact with you and the room. Tell Bridget to fetch a virtual object and she'll go get it, avoiding real-world furniture along the way. You can tell her to seek out a power outlet for recharging (she doesn't really recharge, of course), and she'll get sad if physical objects get in her way.
One of the more thrilling things to do with the Bridge is go full virtual. If you click on Bridget, she'll display a menu of five 3D objects, and if you pick the one that looks like a person escaping, a huge virtual doorway will open in front of you. Step through it and you'll suddenly be in a fully virtual environment; the one I was in looked like a futuristic observation deck.
See the full story here: http://mashable.com/2016/12/09/occipital-bridge-vr-iphone/#99VmpfMfJaqa