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HalfDive VR Cancels Kickstarter After Hitting Funding Goal

From vrfocus

If you love the weird and wonderful ideas XR creators come up with then you’ll have likely caught wind of HalfDive, a virtual reality (VR) headset that’s used whilst laying down. Designed by Japanese startup Diver-X, the company launched a Kickstarter back in December to help fund the project. As unusual as the headset is this story gets even more bizarre, Diver-X canceled the campaign after hitting its initial funding goal.

HalfDive

Issuing a statement today to its backers, Diver-X CEO Yamato Sakoda gave three reasons for the sudden withdrawal of the campaign. The first was a “major change in product direction,” going on to say: “we came to the conclusion that HalfDive’s current specifications were not the best way to realize our goals of “completing life in-bed”.”

The biggest issue Sakoda mentioned revolved around the interface rather than the headset itself. Even focusing efforts towards gaming, this wasn’t enough to provide the innovative experience Diver-X was looking for. “We became skeptical of the current concept of HalfDive, our test-product, and its mass production,” Sakoda adds.

Reason two stems from the company’s own organizational structure, outsourcing the design of key components. This increased costs, especially where the optical system was concerned, attributing to around 50% of HalfDive’s cost. “We found out it would be extremely difficult to manufacture within an appropriate price range hardware components that meet our expected-quality.”

Halfdive

Lastly, as with a lot of startups, it comes down to cash flow. Even with the Kickstarter funds, Diver-X isn’t “in a financially stable position” to go into mass production. However, the company has sufficient funds to continue development so it’s not the end of HalfDive. Diver-X aims to address issues mentioned before coming back with an updated design.

The Kickstarter looked to raise ¥20,000,000 Yen (around $176,000 USD) and actually hit ¥24 million before the campaign was canceled. Due to the cancellation, the 248 backers weren’t charged so at least there’s no refund to chase and Diver-X has been honest about what’s occurred.

When gmw3 learns more about the future of the company and its unusual HalfDive headset we’ll let you know.

HalfDive VR Headset Takes Design Cues from ‘Sword Art Online’ NerveGear, Coming to Kickstarter in December

From roadtovr

Japanese startup Diver-X is looking to launch a SteamVR-compatible headset that seems to be taking a few ideas from popular anime Sword Art Online, which prominently features a fully immersive metaverse. While it’s not a brain-computer interface like the “full dive” NerveGear featured in the show, the heavy-weight hardware presents a pretty interesting approach to VR headset design.

Called HalfDive, the Tokyo-based company says its taking advantage of the sleeping position to “enabl[e] human activity in its lowest energetic state.”

Since it’s worn laying down, the creators say they’re freed from many of the design constraints that conventional VR headset makers are used to pursuing with the introduction of things like pancake optics and microdisplays. Since the weight isn’t on your neck, it doesn’t have to be light or slim.

Image courtesy Diver-X

Instead, HalfDive is perched on a base that allows it to include things like a 10 aspherical lens stack for a reported 134-degree field of view (FOV), and what Diver-X calls a “significantly improved image quality” out of its  1,600 × 1,440 pixels per-eye dual displays.

After all, HalfDive is meant to be a mostly stationary experience, so users really aren’t meant to physically move outside of turning their heads left and right, something the company calls “4.5DOF (degrees of freedom), further calling it “virtual 6DOF.”

The company says its including support the avatar movement simulation mentioned above in addition to SteamVR base station tracking, which may be used for its still to-be-revealed controller. We’re eager to see just how that’s supposed to work when HalfDive gets closer to its Kickstarter launch, which is coming on December 6th, 2021.

That said, Diver-X has revealed surprisingly little for such a unique design concept. So far we know the system’s locomotion method will be fairly passive too; locomotion is controlled by ankle-worn controllers which depend on the degree of tilt.

Image courtesy Diver-X

A hand controller hasn’t been completely revealed yet, although a blurred image released in late September suggests it will be something akin to Valve’s SteamVR controllers (aka ‘Knuckles’).

To immersive the other senses, HalfDive also features four speakers—that’s two more than basically all VR headsets out there. The company has also made mention of a “wire-based-force-feedback-module” which it says will give the user a sense of touch.

A concept image shows a lead connecting the user’s hand and the headset base, which may allow for a basic level of resistance when encountering digital objects.

Image courtesy Diver-X

Two fans integrated into the headset provide greater immersion via wind effects and also comfortability when set on low.

Another weighty inclusion to the headset: a vibration feedback system which syncs with audio to enhance things like enemy footsteps, gunshots, and environmental sounds.

The most expensive version of the hardware coming to a Kickstarter next month will include a custom varifocal optical stack, which allows the headset to more naturally replicate vergence and accommodation—something Meta (formerly Facebook) has been working on over the years too in various prototypes.

We won’t have to wait too long to see it in action hopefully. HalfDive is being pitched on Kickstarter starting December 6th, and is slated to offer the headset in three flavors: a basic model without varifocal lenses (~$700), some sort of bundled package (~$1100), and its varifocal lens version (~$3,900). You can check out the full specs below:

Specs

  • Degrees of Freedom: 4.5dof (Virtual 6dof)
  • Optical system: Original optical system using 10 lenses. Varifocal feature supported.
  • Field of view: 134 degrees
  • Resolution: 1600 x 1440 pixels per eye (3200×1440 pixels combined)
  • Refresh rate: >=90hz
  • Dial styled IPD adjustment: 58-82mm
  • Audio: Immersive sound system using 4 speakers
  • Controller: Two hand/foot controllers
  • Tracking: Lighthouse supported / Avatar movement emulation system using foot controller
  • Camera: Keyboard overlay system
  • Interface: DisplayPort 1.2 / USB3.0 / 3.5mm audio jack / 12V power source / I2C (module connection)
  • Platform: All SteamVR application supported
  • SDK: Unity (features dedicated to VRChat) / Unreal Engine