Reverse Engineering the Oculus Rift DK2's Positional Tracking Tech

An anonymous reader writes The Oculus Rift DK2 VR headset hides under its IR-transparent shell an array of IR LEDs which are picked up by the positional tracker. The data is used to understand where the user's head is in 3D space so that the game engine can update the view accordingly, a critical function for reducing sim sickness and increasing immersion. Unsurprisingly, some endeavoring folks wanted to uncover the magic behind Oculus' tech and began reverse engineering the system. Along the way, they discovered some curious info including a firmware bug which, when fixed, revealed the true view of the positional tracker.

Comments

40 years later, Twinkle Box makes a comeback.

[Animats]

The Oculus Rift tracking method, with various lights blinking at different rates, was first used in Twinkle Box, in 1974. It was really clunky then. They had to use rotating-disk cameras because vidicons had too much lag, and the wearer had to wear a big electronics box. Same idea, though.

Article mentions me!

[Jherico]

Never mind. They've corrected the article.