Well.. it sounds like they want to "avoid bulky VR headsets"
But their alternative is even bulkier. A chair with a big screen, more like a personal holodeck box to sit in.
I totally believe this can be used to place better optics and avoid motion sickness, for better immersion.
The product vision is not clear for me - maybe as a better version of the single person privacy phone booths that can be found in shared office environments? At home? Rather not
I actually laughed out loud when I reached the end of the article decrying "bulky" headsets and finally saw their alternative. Reminds me of the giant egg thing that Darth Vader lives in.
I watched some VR videos of DJ sets that I found very immersive. I think the trick was that the camera was at audience level and I could turn around and see people dancing around me on all sides.
I watched another VR concert that was just the performer and no audience, and that was kind of dull.
The original design used two projector screens, one for each wall, alternating with left- and right- eye views, with the user wearing shutter glasses keeping the vision in sync, while wearing a head tracker.
I'm a millennial, and I've been using VR for the better part of seven years, ever since the Oculus Rift S. If you look at niche communities like sim racing, flight sims, or space sims, you'll find plenty of millennials and Gen Xers who use VR extensively because it offers a level of immersion that a screen (or three) simply can't match.
I suspect your perception of VR users is somewhat skewed by 12-year-olds playing Gorilla Tag on standalone Meta Quests. There's a substantial enthusiast community outside that demographic.
> The problem with non-wearable solutions is both space required and price
This is such a 2016/2017 problem. No offense but, a limited read of who you might be is someone who got into VR back then, found a number of legitimate reasons it sucked, and never tried it again?
I mean take the space argument. Most modern VR games can be played seated. If you have arms length space around you, you can play some truly excellent VR games. I can't even remember the last time I booted up a VR game and played it standing. Well, it was probably back around 2017.
This is not a head-mounted display, it's a chair-mounted display and as such totally unsuited for VR. The mirror system they are using for the display is autostereoscopic (the eyes receive different pictures), but this is not sufficient for VR, which also requires head tracking.
How the autostereoscopic effect is achieved isn't explained either, and it sounds as if this part isn't even new.
Their main innovation seems to be: they mounted the display to a rotating chair and attached an iPad to the chair in order to track the chair rotation.
Don't ask me why/how, but some people do in fact sleep with a VR headset on. I've managed to get my hands on the Steam Frame, so naturally I started developing native software for it, and also joined a bunch of communities, and learning about a lot of new stuff I wasn't aware of since before.
Apparently a bunch of people hang out in a VR application called "VRChat" which is essentially the "Metaverse" Zuckerberg wanted to and failed to build. It's basically "video conference call for friends group on steroids", with custom avatars, full body tracking and a bunch of stuff. Apparently, some of these people who use this a lot, also sometimes "sleep together" in the game, wearing the headset, sometimes in public places, or wherever. Other people also seemingly put some calm background + music/tones and sleep to that, while wearing the headset.
Again, I've never done this myself, have no idea about the long-term effects (psychological or physically [the eyes?!]), but at least I hope this explains what "sleep in VR" would mean for many of the ones that do that.
but they sleep with their eyes closed right? I mean I can maybe understand the body tracking in the VR world but why in the world would I keep the headset on if my eyes are closed?
Look I'm not perfect, I doom scroll quite a bit, play video games but compared to what you are saying apparently I'm only smoking cigarettes when others are on an IV of heroin.
I assume most people sleep with their eyes closed, yes. Just like "having your eyes closed in a sleeping bag on the ground" counts as "sleeping under the stars" even if you don't actively look at the stars while sleeping, I guess the same goes for "VR sleeping".
I guess it matters too what the first/last thing you see when waking up/falling asleep. But again, never done this, can't say for sure.
I understand the complaint about the bulk of the device shown, however they are mostly missing out the fact that the reason of the architecture is in the classical VR, bulk is carried on the head, pressing weight on the neck. Here body is free of any extra weight. Device’s bulk is of no concern.
Really? I didn’t seem to have too many issues with it, especially compared to my experience with the Oculus Quest (where I can get headaches after 10 or so minutes).
After longer sessions with it, sure, but I don’t remember 5 (or even 20-30) minutes giving me issues.
Phia, who hosts The Virtual Reality Show, tried sleeping in VRChat.[1]
People who are alone can have the feeling of sleeping in a room with others.
Not sex, just sleep. She was OK with it, but reported that, in the middle of the night, she lost her network connection, and the virtual room was set to not allow new entrants at night, so she couldn't get back in.
Phia's comments on cybersickness are worth reading. She has a good video on how to get past it.[2] She's a VR native. She started using VR as a teen, and has tried almost all the available hardware, including motion trackers and treadmills. She claims VR is not low-effort to get used to but is worth it. Like a sport.
Her thing as a Youtuber is that her outfits in real life match her outfits in virtual reality.
If you're sleeping you aren't going to be aware of your surroundings. You're just going to have a hard time getting to sleep with goggles strapped on your face. Probably wake up a lot too. I'll watch the video when I get home, out at a park enjoying nature and Hacker News haha yes I see the parallels and I should put the phone away.
Every five years or so, VR gets to be the next hot thing. My first VR ride was on SGI Indigo, so it's been a while. Believers say we're almost there; I beg to be skeptical at this point.
It is already here? I've played a bunch of games in VR and they were great, and great in a way that does not translate outside VR. That's as "here" as I need.
This isn't the first swivel chair setup. Someone had something like it a few months back. Large curved screen fixed to swivel chair, joystick turns chair.
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[ 0.31 ms ] story [ 28.9 ms ] threadBut their alternative is even bulkier. A chair with a big screen, more like a personal holodeck box to sit in.
I totally believe this can be used to place better optics and avoid motion sickness, for better immersion.
The product vision is not clear for me - maybe as a better version of the single person privacy phone booths that can be found in shared office environments? At home? Rather not
or back project for a CAVE system. sounds like a lot of work to get a gov grant to me - at least it wasn't US $
Would love to have it at home and watch a concert! I tried watching a VR concert at YouTube with goggles but the experience is not very relaxed
I watched another VR concert that was just the performer and no audience, and that was kind of dull.
This seems to be one of the few: https://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=11400
Over 9,000 matches for ""Cave automatic virtual environment" on Google Scholar, with over 400 from this year.
The original design used two projector screens, one for each wall, alternating with left- and right- eye views, with the user wearing shutter glasses keeping the vision in sync, while wearing a head tracker.
Full details at https://dl.acm.org/doi/epdf/10.1145/129888.129892 .
Later designs included displays on 4 walls plus floor for near immersive VR.
I suspect your perception of VR users is somewhat skewed by 12-year-olds playing Gorilla Tag on standalone Meta Quests. There's a substantial enthusiast community outside that demographic.
This is such a 2016/2017 problem. No offense but, a limited read of who you might be is someone who got into VR back then, found a number of legitimate reasons it sucked, and never tried it again?
I mean take the space argument. Most modern VR games can be played seated. If you have arms length space around you, you can play some truly excellent VR games. I can't even remember the last time I booted up a VR game and played it standing. Well, it was probably back around 2017.
How the autostereoscopic effect is achieved isn't explained either, and it sounds as if this part isn't even new.
Their main innovation seems to be: they mounted the display to a rotating chair and attached an iPad to the chair in order to track the chair rotation.
Its not just about price but it's also about comfort, some might feel packed in that chair.
ah, truly a problem that needs to be fixed.
wth does it even mean to "sleep in VR"?
Apparently a bunch of people hang out in a VR application called "VRChat" which is essentially the "Metaverse" Zuckerberg wanted to and failed to build. It's basically "video conference call for friends group on steroids", with custom avatars, full body tracking and a bunch of stuff. Apparently, some of these people who use this a lot, also sometimes "sleep together" in the game, wearing the headset, sometimes in public places, or wherever. Other people also seemingly put some calm background + music/tones and sleep to that, while wearing the headset.
Again, I've never done this myself, have no idea about the long-term effects (psychological or physically [the eyes?!]), but at least I hope this explains what "sleep in VR" would mean for many of the ones that do that.
I guess it matters too what the first/last thing you see when waking up/falling asleep. But again, never done this, can't say for sure.
I remember being blown away when I first saw it.
After longer sessions with it, sure, but I don’t remember 5 (or even 20-30) minutes giving me issues.
Why?
Phia's comments on cybersickness are worth reading. She has a good video on how to get past it.[2] She's a VR native. She started using VR as a teen, and has tried almost all the available hardware, including motion trackers and treadmills. She claims VR is not low-effort to get used to but is worth it. Like a sport.
Her thing as a Youtuber is that her outfits in real life match her outfits in virtual reality.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kI-d0lf1Z4
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixdNKc53VZQ
I also played a military SIM a few years later on a SGI O2 but it was really stupid, no immersive controls etc.
https://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/KeckCAVES/index....
https://youtu.be/Gnq-8iaOcXk?t=54
The second paragraph starts "In a paper published July 19, 2026", which was almost 3 months ago.
Not clear what they mean by "aerial imaging optics"? Are they using an optical setup to get the focus at infinity, like flight simulators?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_Chair