The last post had a basic description of the 1st Gen Haptic Rig, HR1. I left out a few components that should be considered as my version of the 2nd Gen Haptic Rig, HR2. These added components would be like butter cream frosting on a Fun-fetti cupcake.
So far, the mobility of HR1 concept had been bothering me a bit. I mean phones are powerful these days and perhaps could allow for a decent HD video out and some mild 3D processing but that isn't going to do. Not for next level game immersion as the HR1 would be. I also wanted to add a basic starter edition that would be more inline with the early adopters market on a budget, like me, that could be added to along the way.
The HR2 and HR2b, the HR1 with a few add ons and changes.
Some of the listed items are fresh off the press and have had no real world testing for this type of application, but the specs add up to fill needs in the set.
HR2
3D Visuals - Oculus Rift Dev Kit $350
Haptic Chest Gear - KOR-FX $150
Cognitive Controls - Emotiv Headgear - $499
Stationary Motion - Virtuix Omni Platform - $499+ Keyboard Tray $79
Audio - Bose noise canceling headphones - $300
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The extras
Haptic Gloves
Advanced 3D mobile platform
Mobile motion capture
Mobile power capture and storage
External cameras safe use
Directional mic upgrade
Haptic Gloves - v .10 designs and schematics in hand, ha, pun! $150
These glove designs fleshed themselves out just after posting last week. Inspired by a recent diy project that a friend of mine is having great success with, the design and actual build of the gloves look to be viable for general keyboard functions. To get the grip feel and the 3D tracking much more research is needed but some great innovations out of xsens.com and others seem to be in the right path.
3D capable mobile device with display outputs running @ 120 hrz - $1000*
The latest and greatest from Nvidia, The Tegra X1 mobile super chip will likely run the next years smartphone market based on its performance, 4K video, 3D rendering and low power consumption, not to mention that looks to be smaller than an oyster cracker. This chip is slated to run the newest car kits to the market claiming to auto park and maybe even drive your car for you. In a completely custom aspect, this chip could be running the HR2 and all its components with full motion capture, in real time with decent power consumption.
Mobile motion capture. Suits by xsens.com - $$$
This is essential to mobile, as the user is tends to be disorientated by the changes in viewing angle without actually moving. A swivel chair and a head position tracking camera are good remedies at home but while moving about the landscape in 2 different planes of view a sync of motion would be without it multiplied by some crazy factor causing the user to fall down or other discomforts.
A suit made of body sensors for mobile motion capture by xsens.com or something similar could solve some of this internal conflict with virtual movement display. The longer people work on it the less latency there will be in the suits and the detail would jump significantly along with the visual rendering and framerates.
Mobile power solutions: Good batteries, better with energy capture.
Energy capture from motion - Ampy - $125 each or $500 for a 4 pack.
Ampy is a small device that contains a 1,000 mAh battery and charges in under 30 mins while running, 1 hour while biking or walking the daily average of 10,000 steps. The mAh of a standard laptop these days is around 5,600, which is probably what you would have to have running this at the very least without needing to charge up every 2 hours. To that end the Ampy would have to be multiplied to handle the power needs of the suit and could even be used as replacement batteries of the devices in production on the list as an after market mod. $125 each (1,000 mAh) need much more for gaming applications say 8,000 mAh all depending on how much inactivity and devices being ran. Given that most of the products have a power source of their own, 4X Ampy’s would be the starting point.
Energy capture from motion - SolePower - ~$35
SolePower shoe insoles $35 harvest power from any shoe with these insoles and power the rig further. The mAh generated from this device is not as flexible in its applications. Power is generated simply through the heel strike while walking or running. This is a simple add on to the power packs total punch but not a sole means of charging.
Dual real world and game world streams - Giroptic’s 360 camera - $499
The need to see your real world surrounds while immersed in gam world has its advantages, safety the biggest one. With a non transparent screen strapped to your face for long durations, theres no telling what might be right in front of you. This would solve that and give stunning real world visuals while wearing the headgear allowing for uninterrupted use. Adding to the mobility of the HR2, you can now just walk around and have both feeds up on your display and interact in-between them seamlessly. Plus a HUD for real world will be really slick, allowing the user to super zoom in with the camera increasing the long range vision of the user, for example. Or perhaps a night vision filter applied. Perhaps tracking your fitness progress while running through the park with a skin applied to the surface of the road that made it look like you were running on a beach on a sunny day no matter the weather conditions, and having a challenger being projected just in front or behind you in the sim layer to motivate, all while maintaining the real world layer as the base so you dont trip over something. I’m so siced!
A great Mic upgrade - $100
The Bose audio should work as a decent mic if you have the earbud option but if not you'll need to pick up a good directional mic with noise cancellation functions to filter out the background noise.
It all adds up to one hell of a package and would likely be the touted by professional gamers and those who take immersive reality programing to the next level.
