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Oculus explains the battles against latency and motion sickness in VR
Current VR just can't match our natural experiences -- real life doesn't have much lag, for example. However, Oculus has just published a pair of research posts showing the ways that it's closing the gap between simulation and reality. Steve LaValle, Oculus' Principal Scientist, explains how prediction minimizes the latency inherent to head tracking; coder Tom Forsyth, meanwhile, has advice on what developers can do to reduce motion sickness. Both studies dive deep, and may not be for the faint-hearted. If you're willing to follow Oculus down the rabbit hole, however, you may learn a thing or two about VR's future.
Valve's Tom Forsyth and robotics scientist Steve LaValle join Oculus team
The Oculus team just got bigger by two, with software engineer Tom Forsyth, formerly of Valve, and robotic scientist Dr. Steve LaValle of the University of Illinois both jumping on board. Forsyth previously worked alongside Joe Ludwig and Michael Abrash on Valve's Team Fortress 2, which has a VR mode specifically designed for the developer version of the Rift. Valve's developers were some of the first to get their hands on dev kits, and Forsyth's considerable experience will be put towards the Rift SDK and a few secret R&D projects. LaValle also has some history with Oculus; he's had a hand in developing VR hardware and software with the company since last September. As Oculus' full-time principle scientist, LaValle will be working on things like sensor fusion, magnetic drift correction, and kinematic modeling. Though the Rift is still a long way off from being ready for consumer use, this savvy collection of industry talent could be a sign that big things are afoot for the VR company.
