You have a history of developing innovative game controllers and accessories, but the Roto VR is on a whole other level. How did it come about? Virtual reality is a passion of mine and always has been, so when Facebook acquired Oculus on my birthday in 2014 it was written in the Stars. I’d actually set up the factory in China that made the Oculus DK1 and DK2, so I had a natural affinity for VR. More importantly, I recognised when Mark Zuckerberg said that he was going to get a billion people into VR as quickly as possible, that there would be an opportunity to solve what I felt was a big problem, which is that in VR you have to physically move in the real world to have a comfortable experience.
…To avoid motion sickness? If you’re standing up and walking around unencumbered, no problem. You move forwards and backwards with a stick because you have finite room, but rotating while standing isn’t an issue. But if you’re sitting down in VR, that’s when the problems occur. Because you use artificial controls to rotate and that’s an issue because the inner ear is a rotational sensor and it needs to match your brain with what your eyes see. If there’s any disconnect the brain assumes you’ve
“The head tracker makes Roto VR compatible with past, present and future content. Out of the box it works with and enhances everything”
ingested some poison and that makes you want to throw up, so if you use a stick to artificially rotate the world around, then that’s the worst thing you can do. Often what happens is a game snaps you 30 degrees, and whilst it doesn’t make you sick, it breaks the illusion every time you touch that joystick. Our solution might be rather excessive,
but we add a lot to the experience beyond solving how to move around in 360 degrees. The big picture is that most people sit down to work, to chat, to watch a movie, to browse and shop online, and if VR is going to be the medium that we hope it can be, then
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