MuVR is a mobile, multi-user virtual reality system, prototyped with Android phones, Razer Hydra controllers, and early versions of the Oculus Rift head-mounted display. It was primarily a research venture, aimed at building upon previous literature on untethered VR systems and on designing mobile solutions for immersive copresence.

The main challenge for this project was tracking the user’s position – without cameras or cables. We did it by using accelerometer data from a phone strapped to the hip, and creating an algorithm which applies the user’s real-world movement to their virtual avatar.

This graph shows accelerometer data recorded while walking with a phone attached to the hip. The areas with high-frequency fluctuations mark individual steps.

Images

Details

• Team: 3
• Role: Designer/Developer
• Type: Virtual Reality, Product
• Tools/Platform: Unity/C#, Android, Prototype HMD
• Date: Summer 2013
• Location: Los Angeles, CA

Recognition

• Presented as a poster at the IEEE VR conference.

Links

• Prezi Presentation for the Institute of Creative Technologies