Mixed reality is here and it could better virtual reality

Intel unveiling of its Project Alloy all-in-one VR headset has opened up an untethered future for virtual reality

Intel, Intel projects, Intel developer forum, project alloy, virtual reality, mixed reality, IDF 2016, Brian Krzanich, all-in-one VR headset, VR headset, wireless VR headset, technology, technology, news

With no cords, users will get the six degrees of freedom with the ability to surge backward or forward, reach up or down, sway left or right (Source: Intel)

Virtual reality might well have changed on its head in the past 24 hours. When Intel unveiled its Project Alloy all-in-one virtual reality headset at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, it opened up an untethered future for virtual reality. That is a big jump in itself, but the possibilities this opens up are even bigger.

Welcome to the world of mixed reality. After augmented reality and virtual reality, we now have a new front where the virtual and real will merge. In the words of Intel CEO Brian Krzanich it is “a new way of experiencing physical and virtual interactions and environments through a suite of next-generation sensing and digitizing technologies”. So it will be more “dynamic and natural than before”, Krzanich wrote in his blog, mentioning how you could now pick up a tennis racquet and play in Centre Court at Wimbledon or make a trip of the Sistine Chapel without leaving your desk.

You can do that even now, at least to a certain extent. But what is revolutionary is that Intel’s mixed reality vision is devoid of the “cost — and creep factor” associated with fitting high-end sensors in the room where you want to experience VR. That is because this world of mixed reality that Intel is speaking about will leverage its RealSense camera technology.

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With no cords, users will get the six degrees of freedom with the ability to surge backward or forward, reach up or down, sway left or right. And Intel RealSense camera, which will be on the headset and other smart objects, will ensure you are not “you’re not colliding into real-world stuff”. And since you will not have to carry large HTC Vive-like rigs along, this should make VR more portable and feasible.

Krzanich talks about more natural manipulation with no need for nunchucks or other controllers and users using just their real hands to work their way around this virtual world and its objects.

Intel is also moving towards digitising real-world content, taking merged reality beyond computer-generated content. “It’s about bringing the real physical world into the digital world real time — and re-imagining it with computing power,” says his blog. So technologies like Intel’s Replay 360-degree technologies will use “encoded video and advanced composition algorithms captured from an array of cameras to digitise whole playing fields and venues — from any position, from any point of view, and with an enhanced ability to interact”. This ability to walk through or manipulate real world content virtually will be the next big leap we see.

Mixed reality is all set to augment our virtual future.

Nandagopal Rajan

Nandagopal Rajan writes on technology, gadgets and everything related. He has worked with the India Today Group and Hindustan Times. He is an alumnus of Calicut University and Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal. ... Read More