Fitness

Google video shows why WorldSense mobile VR tracking could be a game changer

May 18, 2017

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Image: Google

Google’s virtual reality announcement Wednesday at Google I/ O was a big deal.

But that might not be readily apparent to those still get their feet wet in VR, so Google made a video to help you get a better idea of what WorldSense does.

Current mobile VR headsets like the Samsung Gear VR and Daydream View have 3DoF( three degrees of liberty ), only allowing you to look around in VR from a set level( as if your chief is on a tripod in the middle of a panoramic bubble ). In that dynamic, you can’t get a truly immersive sense that you’re in another environment.

To get to 6DoF, where you can move more freely and have your chief positionally tracked in three dimensions, beyond mere rotational motion, most people employ higher-end VR machines like the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift. Both of those machines are tethered to powerful information technology and work in conjunction with external sensors for tracking( Lighthouse and Constellation, respectively ).

What Google’s WorldSense does is bring 6DoF to mobile, untethered VR headsets applying inside-out tracking. A more detailed explainer on how this works was posted online last year by Google’s WorldSense development partner Qualcomm.

And while bringing 6DoF tracking to mobile, tetherless VR headsets won’t replace the Vive or Oculus in terms of quality of experience, it is a major step a little bit closer to get us to that point.

Google’s video is short and not at all technological, but it does demonstrate how important 6DoF inside-out tracking is when it comes to truly immersive VR. The girl indicated dodging virtual objects in preparation for a real play of dodging ball can’t do what she’s doing applying current mobile VR headsets.

Whether or not WorldSense will be a game changer in terms of boosting mobile VR remains to be seen, but with partners like HTC and Lenovo, and Google’s Daydream platform, mobile VR content is set to become a great deal more immersive, and perhaps even addictive.