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Though virtual and augmented reality technologies have long been available to phones running Android, as popularized by Samsung’s Gear VR product line, iPhone users looking to experience AR/VR are, somewhat ironically, relegated to Google Cardboard. That might soon change thanks to Occipital’s dev kit.
Demonstrated to Upload, the head-mounted system integrates specialized software called Bridge Engine with data input from an attached Structure Sensor to grant users six degrees of freedom positional tracking. In the case of iPhone, Occipital also incorporates support for Unity for iOS.
Small enough to fit on the back of an iPhone 6 series-sized device, the Structure Sensor works with Occipital’s SDK to create accurate color depth maps of a given environment. The technology allows for advanced applications like 3D scanning, large-scale SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) with and AR solutions. Apply the sensor to a smartphone headset cradle, add on a wide-angle lens adapter, and you have a viable VR rig with active object avoidance.
Powered by the host smartphone, Occipital’s VR kit is relatively power efficient, using only a single mobile chip core. Despite low energy overhead, the company touts a stable image platform with low jitter and latency less than 10 milliseconds. In its testing, however, Upload said the kit seemed less responsive than the advertised 10ms performance threshold. Part of the problem might be blamed on hardware constraints, as iPhone lacks low-latency screens.
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Source: Apple Insider