VRXplorer solves tangling cables and more

[gametrak]

Hi Oculus community - please could you take a look at our solution to some fundamental issues and let us know what you think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4XottjkHzQ

Issues addressed:
Cables snagging
Camera tracking when turning 180
VR Movies - where to look?
Motor driven turns removes last physical link to real world (as per the video, you can't really feel like you're flying if your navigating your feet around a swivel chair)
Stick Yaw Control: we found that using the right thumbstick to falsely rotate the virtual world is experience-breaking.
John Carmack shares our view (recent tweets):-
@ID_AA_Carmack: Stick yaw control is such VR poison that removing it may be the right move -- swivel chair/stand or don't play.
@ID_AA_Carmack: @AndreTI Quantized snaps probably is the best default stick behavior, but I want to encourage users to rotate in reality when possible.

We also hope our "eco-system" can form the basis for haptic feedback - as we now have a stable platform which rotates together with the user, further devices could be added or bolted on. For example, we could realise the sensation of pressing our hands against a virtual wall, on the basis our hands can now push against something physical that's tied to our base (i.e. not simple motor vibration which could represent 'anything').

Please let us know what you think.

Elliott

[lmaceleighton]

Really nice! Good Idea with the slip rings! I am kind of hoping Slip-rings will make it into an Oculus Consumer Version at some point.

~B

[gametrak]

Thanks for the great feedback. It's been a hard slog to get to this stage. If you (or anyone) would like a notification when our crowd funding goes live, please email to elliott.myers@gmail.com with "register" as the header.

Thanks again!

[gametrak]

Thanks for the great feedback. It's been a hard slog to get to this stage. If anyone would like a notification as when our crowd funding goes live, please email to elliott.myers@gmail.com with "register" as the header.

Thanks again!

[kojack]

That looks pretty damn cool.

I wonder how rotation is going to affect the camera though. With the rift doing high speed orientation tracking (IMU based) that is then corrected by slower update (assumed to be) fixed position camera, is there going to be fighting? The IMU will see the chair's rotation then later be corrected by the camera that says there's no rotation. The two happen at different rates.

[gametrak]

Yes - we are hoping to work with Oculus to include some firmware for us, i.e. toggle the camera from desk mounted to VRXplorer mounted. The mod is pretty simple but do need official support.

[drash]

Wow, this chair absolutely needs to be a thing! Signed up for updates, and now I'm patiently waiting for an opportunity to throw some money at this.

When you have more detail on what the final product will be like, I also want to know about:

• Motor noise - not a huge deal if they aren't whisper quiet as I can just wear headphones, but still good to know.


• Chair rotation speed and acceleration characteristics - so that I can design around it.


• Room for butt haptics, like Buttkicker etc?

[gametrak]

Thanks Drash! We can't wait for the VRXplorer mod to Titans of Space! Awesome experience and thanks for your support!

Motor sound at the moment is super smooth - we are not trying to make a noisy simulator - we are just setting out to address the practical frustrations of VR - we certainly didn't set out to make a chair thingy, indeed was quite frustrated when we realised the solution HAD TO BE a rotating chair-base. I don't think there has ever been commercially successful gaming chair (I know, because my dad used to sell them - he ran Gamester, leading European accessories company, and I was the development guy). Having said all that, as it happens, the VRXplorer is great fun to use too:)

Chair Rotation - still working on it. At the moment the rotation is analogue, so after turning past the necessary dead zone, a small increment of the foot pad rotation = slow rotation. Full turn (only 25 degrees from straight - avoiding aches after lengthy play) = fast turn. Will get back to you ASAP on exact RPM. However, if you assume 30 rpm for now, that will allow us to play around our side.

Haptics - we have lots of plans for this space both short term and long term. Buttkicker could definitely feature at EGX Rezzed in March (our campaign launch). Would you use this in Titans?

Best,

Elliott

[drash]

"gametrak" wrote:
Motor sound at the moment is super smooth - we are not trying to make a noisy simulator

Excellent news. 🙂

"gametrak" wrote:
Will get back to you ASAP on exact RPM. However, if you assume 30 rpm for now, that will allow us to play around our side.

Sounds good. 30 RPM is actually faster than I expected, so that's pretty cool.

Haptics - we have lots of plans for this space both short term and long term. Buttkicker could definitely feature at EGX Rezzed in March (our campaign launch). Would you use this in Titans?

I would! When the cockpit comes to a stop or starts getting ready to move, I would have haptics kick in so that the player isn't caught off guard either way. Otherwise it's just to increase the effect of the more intense parts of the soundtrack. Not sure how it works really, but would be fun to play with.

[gametrak]

We have a pretty active thread running on Reddit concurrently, but don't want this thread to miss out on details, so will keep both up-to-date:

Laptop Vs Tower: VR absolutely needs a tower. We've been going to-and-fro on the design for some time - can you help us decide? Check out the photo just uploaded to Twitter and please comment on what you'd prefer: VRXplorer@Gametrak

Note: Sideways position (inside) means water cooler needs to be rotated 90 degrees. We will add appropriate vents. The "rear-basket" position would allow greater access, plus no potential heating issues, but someone in our office keeps arguing it's ugly. We would recommend solid state for the rear position, although we don't think it will be a problem as we are currently only turning 25RPM (see "rotation" below - btw Drash, we'd love to test your Titans with 30RPM as mentioned earlier). We are considering offering both Tower positions - but please help us decide.

Rotation: At this moment we are looking at 25RPM (variable speed), but using a belt and not direct drive - i.e. the VRXPlorer will not "jolt" you (or your computer) quickly. It is a smooth experience designed to resolve practical VR issues to deliver immersion, i.e. it is not a traditional souped-up (noisy) games simulator.

Angular Rotation: We are using a shaft encoder to determine where the VRXplorer is facing at any time. So slippage on the belt is wanted (for smoothness when changing direction full speed) and this works in tandem with our precision optics, so we never lose position. Our SDK will allow developers to turn the user any angle any time.

Camera: our positioning of the camera is an exciting development but accept the video is somewhat confusing as is.

The camera has two functions: 1) Stabilising the headset - we need 1st party firmware support to toggle the camera function from desk-mounted to VRXplorer-mounted. It's a pretty simple mathematical task, but need integration support.

2) Hand / controller mapping At this moment, we are not looking to re-creating what nimble et al are doing - but we could. The reason Leap Motion and others have struggled somewhat, is because they have to try and cater for huge unknowns, whereas the position of our camera makes life a LOT easier. Having said that, we hope Oculus will soon be confirming their camera interface soon (ish), so whether it's a desk-mounted or headset-mounted solution, we should be good with either. Thus, supplying our own camera & code, or simply support 1st party cameras & code, will be determined on a platform-by-platform basis.

Thank you all. Will keep responsive so please continue to be involved as we firm up our final design with your help.

From a couple of comments (on Reddit), I'm wondering if anyone want's to know more about my background. Among other things, I created the first force feedback steering wheel (winning an award from Immersion and others), the first 3D games controller Gametrak (for PS2), plus developed the Gamester brand (leading 3rd party games controller company in Europe with my father). I also founded games publisher In2Games which I ran for 9 years. We do know how to building things, and cost effectively, but this project is rather different - we really do need your feedback.

Thanks again - Elliott