Zeiss and Dacuda Cooperate to turn your Smartphone into a Room-Scale VR Headset
Technology leaders Zeiss and Dacuda team up to provide an entry-level room-scale VR headset based on your smartphone. Already existing SteamVR titles can be played in a truly immersive walking or sitting experience at a fraction of the cost of current high-end VR headsets.
With the first big wave of high-end VR headsets on the market, several great VR titles are now available. One of the biggest platforms for VR titles is Steam which provides immersive experiences and games for room-scale VR and interaction. “Until now, these games were only accessible with a significant investment into a dedicated VR headset,” said Franz Troppenhagen, VR Product Manager at Zeiss. “The VR ONE’s compatibility with a wide range of mobile devices makes it a perfect accompaniment to the Dacuda platform, and we look forward to giving virtual reality enthusiasts an affordable entry into high-level VR with this bundle.”
Accurate tracking of the head position is important in creating the feeling of presence in the virtual world and to reduce the risk of motion sickness. Current mobile tracking solutions provide only tracking of rotational movements. “This is usually good enough for enjoying 360 degree videos but it does not allow for moving around in space or looking around a corner” says Dr. Peter Weigand, CEO Dacuda.
While high-end VR headsets solve this problem with expensive external devices, Dacuda’s six degrees of freedom (6-DoF) tracker uses the phone’s built-in camera to determine a precise head position and rotation more than 60 times per second. It is the world’s first solution that enables mobile 6DoF tracking at a <20ms motion-to-photon latency on Daydream-ready phones.
The Zeiss and Dacuda solution features a wide angle field-of-view of over 100 degrees providing a fully immersive user experience. The optics, specially designed by Zeiss, are superior to any other headset’s in the market. For example, due to the innovative design, there is no need for any adjustment to one’s own inter-pupil distance and even the corner areas look sharp.
The solution builds on the Zeiss VR One and will feature a full plug and play experience for consumers including SteamControllers for interaction. The solution requires a recent smartphone and a VR-ready computer running Valve’s Steam platform. A first prototype of the solution will be showcased at the E3 in Los Angeles from June 14-16 at the Zeiss booth in South hall, booth 501.
About Dacuda
Dacuda is a computer vision company that redefines the capabilities of cameras with real‐time 2D and 3D algorithms. As the leading pioneer in software 3D camera technology, Dacuda’s mission is to bring 3D experiences to every consumer by making 3D sensing as common as taking a video. Dacuda’s software 3D camera helps scale existing 3D use cases to consumers with app-based scanning and novel experiences for Augmented and Virtual Reality headsets. Dacuda is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, with locations in Palo Alto, California and Shanghai, China.
