AR/VR - Finally some decent and affordable gear?

[DrJustice]

Thinking about some VR discussions we've had here, I thought my fellow EM'ers should know about the latest developments in Augmented and Virtual Reality for us common folks.

First off the castAR. This is a combined lightweight AR and VR goggle incorporating some excellent ideas. Prototypes are being shown 'all around', and the commercial model is expected sometime next year. They have a Kickstarter going here.

Then there's the Oculus Rift. This is exclusively a VR device, with no AR facilities, and a bit more bulky, but it boasts a horizontal FOV of 90 degrees. They sell developer kits right now, and these have already shipped by the thousands. Oculus is also Kickstarter financed.

Thanks to the latest years developments in mobile displays and MEMS accelerometers, this is now becoming practical. Both of these devices have low latency head tracking, hi-res displays, and some other tricks, to give good real time response and help limit/eliminate nausea. According to tester/user reports, it may seem like we finally have reached a level of price and performance that makes AR/VR a reality (no pun intended!).

Although these devices were born in the gaming world, I reckon that the castAR, in particular, is very interesting for musical applications. You could make quite a few exciting things, from both hardware-based and hardware-less Reactable'ish stuff, through VR-anything and right up to the closest thing to a Holodeck.

If you're interested, go check out the links above, or watch some of the many videos on YouTube.

Oh, and the main force behind the castAR is none other than Jeri Ellsworth. Check out her YouTube channel - a goldmine for electronic and mechanic DIY'ers.