Can I integrate a heart monitor or a smartwatch with Oculus Quest 2?

baroquedubAnswer

Honored Contributor

There are expensive solutions from companies like iMotion but this research group has an open source solution that works really well with the PolarH10 https://sites.google.com/view/exciteometer/

I spoke to the lead dev a while ago and he did say that it would be possible to get a device like a Fitbit to work but it would need some additional coding

baroquedubAnswer

Honored Contributor

There are expensive solutions from companies like iMotion but this research group has an open source solution that works really well with the PolarH10 https://sites.google.com/view/exciteometer/

I spoke to the lead dev a while ago and he did say that it would be possible to get a device like a Fitbit to work but it would need some additional coding

joudoieAuthor

Participant

Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it. I think I should do more research on PolarH10 and Fitbit to find someone who has tried one of them before to make sure that one of them is working.

Honored Contributor

The PolarH10 totally works. I tried it myself and I can confirm that you can get synchronised data into Unity (as shown in the project's YouTube vid). It's the fitbit that isn't ready to go yet. It needs additional middleware (a tweak to the software interface between the wearable and the excite-o-meter library)

joudoieAuthor

Participant

Oh, really, that's great. Did you use Oculus Quest 2?

Honored Contributor

It's a while ago but pretty sure I didn't compile to a standalone apk. Just ran it on a PC with Link cable. The PolarH10 is wireless of course and connects via bluetooth. There is an Quest apk on the website (https://sites.google.com/view/exciteometer/#h.d948wgg9rkqh). I just ran through this and it all worked as expected https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JbLVmyvQhD2OOFPev4qzZBcKb5pOHjj8/view

joudoieAuthor

Participant

I really thank you for helping me 💙. I was really lost because I really needed this information for my senior project, and I wanted to be sure that it worked before buying it. I hope that when I reach the implementation phase, it works without any issues. Again, thank you for helping. Inshaallah, I can find you and tell you when it works.

Honored Contributor

No problem at all. Glad to be able to help. Biometric feedback influencing an application at runtime is something I'm very much interested in. As part of your research, you might want to check out the game Nevermind (not VR). They support a bunch of sensors to create a horror game that responds to the player's state of hightened anxiety.

btw. do mark one of my replies as an accepted solution - just to help others who might come through the forum with the same question

joudoieAuthor

Participant

Hi again, I found out that the Polar H10 is worn on the chest, so it is not the best option for my app goal. I searched for the ability to wear it on the wrist, but the result wasn't clear. From your experience, is there any other option that works with Unity and Oculus 2 too?

Honored Contributor

Yeah, sadly the H10 chest band is a little too 'invasive' for some users. That's why I contacted the dev about the possibility of extending the codebase to include the use of wrist wearables.

If you have the budget, you can use an EmpaticaE4 and a public library like this https://github.com/Munroe-Meyer-Institute-VR-Laboratory/Biosensor-Framework (there are others, and you could also roll out your own)

It's not something I've tried yet as for prototyping the H10 worked well enough, but just looking around now there do seem to be quite a few projects on github (e.g. https://github.com/ddorstijn/UnityHRM) and a handful of unity assets- some paid https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/input-management/heart-rate-variability-plugin-248474 and some free https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/input-management/heart-rate-plugin-for-hyperate-212796 (this last one seems to give free access for research and indie projects so might well be worth looking into: https://www.hyperate.io/api)

I don't have the time to try it out at the moment but do let me know how you get on 🙂

joudoieAuthor

Participant

Thanks 💙, I think HypeRate is the perfect one so far, but I am afraid that the HypeRate API and SDK do not work with the Oculus Quest 2 SDK, or may I face some issues? I asked them, and they said they had no idea about the Oculus Quest 2 SDK. So do you have any knowledge about that, or should I ask the Quest community?