You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Oculus Rift’s Tuscany demo was built with a good ol’ fashioned keyboard and mouse setup in mind, but now it’s unofficially scored support for motion controls. Sixense, the outfit behind Razer’s Hydra, has cooked up a custom version of the Italian-themed sample for use with their controller, and it gives gamers a pair of floating hands to pick up and manipulate objects. Originally shown at GDC, the tweaked experience is now up for grabs, and can even be played by those who don’t have a Rift — albeit with just the controller’s perks.
Booting up the retooled package offers users a new 3D menu, giving them options for arm length, crouching, head bobbing and a crosshair. It’s not the first project to combine Rift with Hydra, but it certainly helps illustrate the potential of such a setup. Sixense says it plans to release updates and the source code, and it recommends folks sign up for their project-specific email list and keep an eye on their forums for word on availability. Hit the source links below for the download, or head past the break to catch Road to VR’s hands-on with the Hydra-friendly Tuscan villa.
Filed under: Gaming
Via: Road to VR
Source: Sixense (1), (2)
The team behind Project Holodeck has a daunting task ahead: it has to combine a virtual reality headset, two PlayStation Move controllers and a Razer Hydra into a unified VR input system that somehow feels natural. From what we’ve seen in Road To VR‘s hands-on with the system, the group might just pull that off. There’s no mistaking the sheer amount of equipment strapped to your head — not to mention the Lenovo laptop on your back — but the effort does create an immersive virtualization of the player’s body where walking, arm movements and body lean all work more or less as you’d expect. Although significant stretches of development lie ahead, including fully fleshed-out games and the eventual use of an Oculus Rift, there’s already teases of potential commercialization and a second generation that would include lighter, sleeker components. Those curious enough to watch two grown men stage a living room swordfight (and provide insightful answers afterwards) can watch the battle after the break, and head to the source for more details.
Filed under: Displays, Gaming, Wearables
Source: Road To VR
Often the stuff that gets press attention from Kickstarter tends to focus on the consumer market, but the Hydra is a new project on the crowdfunding site that could make big waves in everything from hobby electronics, to home robotics, to industrial manufacturing. It’s a compact power supply with three outputs, each with completely configurable voltage. Put simply, the Hydra is almost like a Raspberry Pi for the power supply industry: small, customizable, and relatively inexpensive at $200.
Power supplies are required for any electronic device that needs to plug into a wall outlet or battery pack in order to function. They’re responsible for converting electrical power from one form to another, and making sure that the voltage out to devices matches their requirements. The Hydra can handle voltage in of anywhere between 5V and 14V, and push it back out via its three outputs to a range of 3V and 12V, with each of the outputs individually configurable via USB, Bluetooth (and a smartphone app) or serial connection.
According to the Hydra project creators, the Hydra serves essentially as a full-featured replacement for a bench-top power supply, which, as you can see from the picture above, is a much, much larger device. It can be configured to work as a battery charger for most types of rechargeable batteries, and it can also power high-power LEDs, electronics and wireless transmitters. You can use it for mobile devices by connecting it to a battery pack, or build an entire industrial robot for a factory production line with it, depending on your needs.
The project is the brainchild of Caleb Chamberlain, who holds a Master’s degree in electrical engineering from BYU, and founded CH Robotics to design and create inertial and orientation sensors for different kinds of robots. The Hydra is already a functional prototype, and Chamberlain says there’s a production process in place to start creating them at volume once they get the startup capital, which is likely why he’s only looking for $10K to fund the product. The Hydra is available for $160 through pre-order, or $212 for a Bluetooth-enabled version, both of which have an estimated delivery date of April.
The Hydra may not be as consumer-friendly as an iPhone case or a Bluetooth speaker, but it’s a Kickstarter project that could have considerable impact in amateur, small business and industrial markets, and as such it’s definitely one to watch.
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