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Rift Body Tracking Suit: PrioVR Back for CES 2014

GraveHorizon

poop meter feature creep
cnet: Gaming exoskeleton to pair with Oculus Rift headset at CES 2014

Real-time Mocap and VR in UDK (demo video)
Original (failed) Kickstarter

PrioVR, the full-body tracking suit, rebounds from its failed Kickstarter with a fully-functional prototype at CES 2014 that will pair with the Oculus Rift headset.
CES_UNVEILED_EXO_SUIT_CES_2014-6613_1_610x407.jpg

Sailing toward the far-off sci-fi future of those powered exoskeletons in "The Matrix" or the video game series Crysis, the PrioVR hardware is a string of strap-on sensors extensive enough to make anyone look like an actor in a motion capture studio. Its half-body system includes sensors for a user's head, elbows, and wrists that can be expanded into a full-body suit that tracks one's shoulder, waist and leg movements.

"That allows you to drop on the ground, roll around, shoot under your leg, curl up into a fetal position," said Paul Yost, YEI's chief of R&D. "We have this collection of inertial sensors that combines with a software that ties all that together into this skeletal model. All that happens on the system itself, so there's no computational load on the PC other than the communication."
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So on February 14, YEI will again launch a Kickstarter campaign, this time with a more impressive showing of its final product and a lower goal of less than $100,000. Ultimately, Yost said, the full-body version of the suit will sell for roughly $400, while the torso half of it will go for around $270.

Yost stressed that the system is modular, meaning those who buy the half-body PrioVR set can add more sensors and functionality, for sections like the waist and shoulders, onto their suit incrementally.

By August, Yost is confident that the PrioVR will be in mass production and that every Kickstarter backer will have their very own PrioVR suits. Its a bold goal, and its success hinges on the relationship YEI builds with VR superstars like Oculus Rift, which will include full-body suit demos at CES starting Tuesday.
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And I already funded the STEM Kickstarter...

So what do y'all think about that? Is it the true way to "be in the game", or the next motion control flop? Is the STEM already dead, or will the two control systems be used in tandem
by the super rich
for maximum immersion?

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kyser73

Member
Finally a way of combing non-fitness gaming with fitness routine!

Nice idea, but pretty limited in market I reckon. Looks like a lot of effort & space required...
 

GraveHorizon

poop meter feature creep
Not officially linked to Occulus in any way, right?

I can't tell, the wording could mean anything from they're just using Rifts to demo like everything else (they'd have to), they have a deal with Oculus for promotional purposes, or just that they're appearing at the same event as Oculus. Can't find any official sources for an official partnership.

Why would the mass market come into this? It's stepping stones to something the mass market may use in the future.

Then the STEM is much more a "stepping stone"

Realistically, any technology in such early stages (i.e. not super popular and/or absolutely perfect) is already a stepping stone to the better models. My friend hates on the Rift; he claims anything not Matrix-level quality isn't good enough and not worth being made, without acknowledging the necessity of the Rift and any stepping stone technology in order to reach his throwaway dream.

Finally a way of combing non-fitness gaming with fitness routine!

Nice idea, but pretty limited in market I reckon. Looks like a lot of effort & space required...

Add Omni to this and OR and you've got a complete VR experience going. God I want to try that combination out.

I put Oculus Rift around the mid-high range PC user market, STEM on a tier above that, and the PrioVR and Omni a tier above that. Factoring in price, complexity and intended use.
 
Realistically, any technology in such early stages (i.e. not super popular and/or absolutely perfect) is already a stepping stone to the better models. My friend hates on the Rift; he claims anything not Matrix-level quality isn't good enough and not worth being made, without acknowledging the necessity of the Rift and any stepping stone technology in order to reach his throwaway dream.

Amen, many people (GAF included) trash on the 3D resurgence and boom. But if it wasn't for that then the technology to develop the Oculus Rift wouldn't have existed.
 

Chris_C

Member
The Kinect point is valid, but I don't get the 'looks like shit' part. :/

Get with the program. It's the 21st century, if something isn't incredibly ground-breaking and jaw-dropping, the hard work and effort that was put into it must be ridiculed.
 

GraveHorizon

poop meter feature creep

Why not?

The Kinect point is valid, but I don't get the 'looks like shit' part. :/

This looks much better than the Kinect, but maybe that's just because I've experienced how faulty and inaccurate it is at detecting bodies. It's weird how these new
ly available to the general consumer) body tracking technologies are getting me excited to really have control in a game, despite the Kinect claiming to deliver on that a couple years ago.

Wow this looks really embarrassing. Reminds me of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyvOMtLI6xY

I'm sure it feels much cooler than it looks. I can't imagine how anyone can see someone doing that and not think "Ooh, I wanna try that out!" (unlike the guy in that video). Other than non-gamers, of course.

Amen, many people (GAF included) trash on the 3D resurgence and boom. But if it wasn't for that then the technology to develop the Oculus Rift wouldn't have existed.

Anyone who thinks VR is just some stupid fad that's going away in a couple years is in serious denial, or just plain hatin'. The only thing that I see rivaling VR at all is AR, if they can easily overlay interactable stuff onto the real world with simple glasses or contact lenses, such as in the book Daemon.
 

Please explain how full-body VR would work without the player being inside some kind of hamster ball-like thing. You can't just stick someone in a room and not expect them to run into walls or stumble on objects. If a hamster ball is the solution, who can afford to buy such a device, let alone has the room for it? Even if you limit it to just the upper body tracking, how are you going to hold a gun-like peripheral and control all the other player actions such as walking, crouching, jumping etc? And yet, if you can't move your hands in front of your face and see them in the game, it seems too limited. I don't know, it just seems like until we have developed the technology for the Matrix, VR will remain something of a novelty.
 

Alx

Member
That's a cool device, but any solution that requires the user to strap himself with different sensors before a session will always be a niche one. Wearable technology has to be worn all the time (see Google Glass), or not at all.
 

flak57

Member
Please explain how full-body VR would work without the player being inside some kind of hamster ball-like thing. You can't just stick someone in a room and not expect them to run into walls or stumble on objects. If a hamster ball is the solution, who can afford to buy such a device, let alone has the room for it? Even if you limit it to just the upper body tracking, how are you going to hold a gun-like peripheral and control all the other player actions such as walking, crouching, jumping etc? And yet, if you can't move your hands in front of your face and see them in the game, it seems too limited. I don't know, it just seems like until we have developed the technology for the Matrix, VR will remain something of a novelty.

I know the cabela's hunting games have a gun that lets you aim/move and all that, has a joystick and all the standard controller buttons on it. The tech for aiming in it was shit but the movement worked okay. And since full body VR knows where your arms are, they could represent them in game I'd think.
 

Seanspeed

Banned
This looks much better than the Kinect, but maybe that's just because I've experienced how faulty and inaccurate it is at detecting bodies. It's weird how these new
ly available to the general consumer) body tracking technologies are getting me excited to really have control in a game, despite the Kinect claiming to deliver on that a couple years ago.
I guess what I mean is that a Kinect/camera-type of technology would seem preferable option to wearing a full suite of sensors all over your body.

This may be accurate and it looks like it'd be pretty cool, but is it really the right tech avenue to go down?
 

Durante

Member
If those comparisons aren't altered, it already looks much better than Kinect simply by virtue of there not being any visible delay.
 

ido

Member
I'll buy it. Anything VR has my attention. Patiently waiting for dev kit version 2.

Shit I've bought HMDs in the past that triple this price, and they sucked.
 
Full body tracking is completely impractical. How do you solve the simple act of walking? How do you design a game system to support it? Designing A.I around it seems a fools errand too.

Premature idea.
 

Thrakier

Member
This is to much wires for the mass market...

HEY GUYS SOCCER MOM WON'T USE IT LET'S STOP THE PRODUCTION!

Seriously, sometimes I do not understand GAF. Most people are rather talking about what the market likes and casuals want or not want instead of talking about WHAT THEIR HEART DEMANDS. And my heart demands VR because seriously, we need a true revolution, XB1 and PS4 are super lame products.
 
HEY GUYS SOCCER MOM WON'T USE IT LET'S STOP THE PRODUCTION!

Seriously, sometimes I do not understand GAF. Most people are rather talking about what the market likes and casuals want or not want instead of talking about WHAT THEIR HEART DEMANDS. And my heart demands VR because seriously, we need a true revolution, XB1 and PS4 are super lame products.

Look at what GAF has done to this user.
 

Zabant

Member
I want it but you would have to have an omni with it.

Omni + Rift + This + High End PC + Game

I'll never afford it :'(
 

red731

Member
Slenderman or Outlast with this tracking suit, VR HMD and electro shock responses.

Future is bright and scary.

I seriously don't understand the benefits of this. Like, at all.

Crouching, jumping, ARMA III positions realtime, but yeah, you would like to have the scrolling floor too.
I would use this in a room with a lot of space and as I said, preferably with that scrolling floor of cylinders - as was in that BF3 real gadget(?) video.
 

Brohan

Member
Who is actually planning to use this in their living room or office? I just don't see how this should work for consumers.

To me this is even worse than the wii mote or kinect.
 
God, I'm seriously laughing right now. Imagine this being used in a multiplayer session and you see one of the avatar's mimicking getting hit by a wall or crashing on the floor at the open space since it tracks the other player in real-time. That would be hilarious in epic proportions.

EDIT: Now I'm imaging the player kicking a table and grabbing his knee in the process. Hahahahahah, this is too much.
 
God, I'm seriously laughing right now. Imagine this being used in a multiplayer session and you see one of the avatar's mimicking getting hit by a wall or crashing on the floor at the open space since it tracks the other player in real-time. That would be hilarious in epic proportions.

EDIT: Now I'm imaging the player kicking a table and grabbing his knee in the process. Hahahahahah, this is too much.

Or imagine you are in a group in, say, an MMO, and you all have to keep stopping because some out of shape guy/girl has to keep stopping for a breather. You'd hear them huffing and wheezing into the mic the whole time...
 

Donnie

Member
I seriously don't understand the benefits of this. Like, at all.

I don't understand your lack of understanding.

With just a headset in a game you're simply a floating head. With this device you can interact with things, punch/kick an enemy, reach out and pick something up, aim a gun ect.
 

McHuj

Member
I don't think this has potential for gaming (at least sales wise), but it looks cool enough and sounds cheap enough for a motion capture development alternative to the expensive setups used by many developers.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
That's a cool device, but any solution that requires the user to strap himself with different sensors before a session will always be a niche one. Wearable technology has to be worn all the time (see Google Glass), or not at all.

People spend thousands on racing setups with cockpits,custom instrumentation and multiple monitors. Sure, it's niche, but people do it. Same with this. Not many people will have this kit, plus a rift, plus an omni thing. But some will.
 
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