Untethered VR is what will possibly unlock the potential of this technology from its current state of stagnation. When first introduced the world was in awe of the capability of VR becoming the next great innovation of all time only to see that vision slow down in past years. Things are again getting excited as more manufacturers looking at making VR and AR work in a way that its suppose to, leading the charge includes smartphone processor maker Qualcomm.
During the ongoing Game Developers Conference (GDC), the San Francisco based company announced a new virtual reality development kit consisting of a wireless, standalone VR head mounted display (HMD), and a new software development kit (SDK) for its Snapdragon 845 Mobile VR Platform.
“In virtual reality, content is important to an immersive experience, so we’re excited to grant developers access to our new Snapdragon 845 Mobile VR Platform through development kits that will help them create truly immersive experiences,” said Hiren Bhinde, director, product management, Qualcomm Technologies.
The new Snapdragon 845 Virtual Reality Development Kit is designed with many improved features for developers to work on. Among them the room-scale 6DoF SLAM, room-scale six degrees of freedom (6DoF) with “inside-out” simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) that allows users to move around freely without tethered wires or cables. Eye tracking is also possible with Tobii AB collaboration, which can help developers create content in the virtual world that can be operated by gazing.
Issues with current head mounted AR devices is the boundary between the virtual works and the real world. With Boundary system, the design assists application developers to accurately visualise real-world spatial constraints within virtual worlds, so that their applications can effectively manage notifications and play sequences for VR games or videos, as the user approaches the boundaries of the real-world play space.
The Snapdragon 845 Virtual Reality Development Kit’s hardware HMD and companion SDK are expected to be available in the second quarter of 2018.
