vive focus 3
VR Simulation Allows Police To Train Using Real Tasers
VR technology and wrist trackers combine to offer a next-level training program.
Axon, a weapons technology company based out of Arizona, today launched a new VR simulation designed to train law enforcement officers in de-escalation tactics by immersing them in realistic scenarios they may face out in the field. Not only that, but trainees can actually bring their TASER energy weapons and training firearms with them in VR.
Axon’s simulator training is powered by the Vive Focus 3, HTC’s all-in-one VR headset in combination with the company’s Vive Wrist Trackers, which track the position of the user’s hands in VR. 1:1 replicas of these devices are recreated in VR to provide officers with the most realistic experience possible. Users can even hold Axon’s TASER 7 with two hands without the headset losing track thanks to the aforementioned wrist sensors.
“Axon’s VR Simulator Training works together with VIVE Wrist Tracker to bring safer law enforcement one step closer to reality,” said Dan O’Brien, GM Americas at HTC Vive in an official release. “Officers can now use the exact same objects in VR training sessions that they would out in the field. This makes VR training more natural, and ultimately more effective. We’re proud to be working together with Axon to help protect officers and civilians alike with effective VR training solutions.”
The platform is composed of three primary components (as provided by Axon):
- Axon Academy
- Axon Academy houses a library of supplemental e-learning content and training materials designed to strengthen the skills learned in the Community Engagement and Simulator Training scenarios. For trainers, after-action reports stored on Academy provide performance and progress metrics, insight into an officer’s decisions, and new opportunities for coaching and program development.
- Community Engagement Training
- Community Engagement Training focuses on developing skills, empathy, and communication for engaging with individuals in scenarios involving mental health, trauma, peer intervention, and more. Through these experiences, trainees get to understand the perspectives of both the officer and the civilian and see how different modes of communication can result in de-escalation, which can influence calls for service.
- Simulator Training
- Firing Range – Basic: In this scenario, trainees learn safe and effective deployment of weapons. Trainees learn to operate TASER 7 energy weapons and replica training firearms in VR within an indoor range environment, then practice their skills on stationary targets from varying distances to improve accuracy, speed, tactical knowledge, and critical thinking skills.
- Firing Range – Intermediate: In this scenario, trainees deploy the TASER 7 energy weapon from various distances on moving subjects in an outdoor, nighttime setting. This fast-paced exercise helps trainees utilize safety features, recognize proper spread and probe placement on moving subjects, manage clothing disconnects, and achieve higher effectiveness when deploying TASER cartridges.
“We’re thrilled to be HTC’s exclusive partner for incorporating the VIVE Wrist Tracker into Axon’s latest training platform,” added Chris Chin, Axon VP of Immersive Technologies. “Accurate hand tracking is essential to training true-to-life and increasing learning retention, which carries over into the field and ultimately helps make our training more effective.”
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen VR technology used by law enforcement for training purposes. In 2020 we talked about how the Strasburg Police Department in Strasburg, Virginia was using VR technology for crisis de-escalation training. The supplemental training allowed officers the unique opportunity to experience confrontation from the perspective of a civilian.
Axon’s VR simulation training is already being used by the Phoenix Police Department. The company hopes that its technology can provide effective training solutions to law enforcement agencies while reducing the overall cost. Not only that but the platform can be used anywhere at any time and even conducted remotely between trainees and their instructors.
For more information on Axon’s VR simulation training visit here.
Image Credit: Axon
VR Attraction Zero Latency Ditches Backpack PCs in Favor of Vive Focus 3 & Wireless Rendering
Zero Latency, one of the longest running VR attractions in the out-of-home VR space, is dropping the backpack PCs that were once the backbone of the platform. Now the company says it’s moving to standalone Vive Focus 3 headsets with wireless delivery of PC-rendered VR content.
Unlike a VR arcade, which lets customers play consumer VR content, Zero Latency is a VR attraction offering totally unique multi-user VR experiences designed to be played in a large, shared arena.
The company, which offers up its platform and experiences to franchisees, has steadily upgraded its VR tech as the space has developed.
Early on the system relied on a custom backpack PC paired with OSVR HDK 2 headsets and an optical overhead tracking system. Eventually the company moved to purpose-built VR backpacks and first-gen WMR headsets from HP, which allowed it to streamline the system considerably by dropping the overhead tracking in favor of WMR’s inside-out tracking. Later versions of the system moved to the more modern HP Reverb headset.
Now Zero Latency has announced its latest upgrade to the system, which further streamlines the setup by opting for the standalone Vive Focus 3 and streaming PC-rendered content wirelessly to the headsets. The company says it’s streaming over a local Wi-Fi 6E network which purportedly offers lower latency than prior Wi-Fi revisions.
That means dropping the VR backpacks entirely, which not only reduces the cost of the system, but significantly reduces complexity for both operators and users; operators don’t need to clean, charge, and maintain the backpack units, and it’s one less step during onboarding which means more playtime for users.
And while other standalone headsets like Quest 2 might have been an option, HTC’s Vive Focus 3 has a couple of unique advantages for out-of-home use. Especially its swappable battery which reduces the number of headsets needed on hand as the batteries can be charged independently and swapped on the fly.
On the content side, Zero Latency locations continue to offer the same experiences as before, which span cooperative and competitive multiplayer experiences with up to eight simultaneous players. Though, given the company’s knack for innovation in their in-house content, it’ll be interesting to see if the move to a more simplified system will unlock potential for experiences that wouldn’t quite work with the bulkier setup.
Given today’s announcement, it’ll likely be some time yet before the upgrade rolls out to existing Zero Latency locations, but it seems the company will be offering this upgraded version of the system to new franchisees going forward.
HTC Brings OpenXR Public Beta to Vive Focus 3
HTC announced this week it is making available an OpenXR public beta for the Vive Focus 3. OpenXR is designed to make it easier for developers to create a single app that’s cross-compatible with multiple OpenXR-supporting headsets.
OpenXR is a royalty-free standard that aims to standardize the development of XR applications, making hardware and software more interoperable. In the best case scenario, an app built to be compliant with OpenXR can run on any OpenXR-supporting headset with no changes to its underlying code.
OpenXR has seen a slow but steady adoption since reaching version ‘1.0’ in 2019, and picked up significant steam in 2021 with official support on SteamVR, Meta going “all in” on OpenXR, “production-ready” OpenXR support in Unreal Engine, and more.
And now HTC’s latest enterprise-focused standalone headset, Vive Focus 3, has moved significantly closer to the finish line. The company announced this week that it’s ready for developers to test out the headset’s OpenXR support through a public beta.
“We’re committed to enabling the developer community to build the content and applications that power experiences across the spectrum of reality,” said Dario Laverde, Director of Developer Relations at HTC Vive. “With OpenXR, more developers will be able to bring their content to Vive Focus 3, and users will benefit from an expanded app library and more flexibility in terms of how they consume content. We strongly believe it’s a win for the XR industry as a whole.”
Now that doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to buy Quest applications and run them on Vive Focus 3… but it does mean that developers should have a much easier time porting their apps to run on Vive Focus 3, if they choose to offer their apps on the headset.
Developers interested in using OpenXR on Vive Focus 3 can find instructions for joining the public beta and using the standard in Unity at HTC’s developer forum.
VR Restores The Notre-Dame Cathedral To Its Historic Glory
The 45-minute interactive tour takes you back 850 years to explore the incredible architecture in its prime.
On April 15th, 2019, a massive fire that started under the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral caused extensive damage to the historic structure. By the time the last flames were extinguished there was almost nothing left of the roof and upper walls, with the spire having collapsed entirely.
Eternal Notre-Dame, a new VR experience developed by Orange and Emissive in association with the Mayor of Paris and the Church, returns the extraordinary edifice back to its former glory through the use of immersive technology.
In this interactive VR experience, audiences use HTC’s Vive Focus 3 VR headset to explore a historically-accurate recreation of Notre-Dame painstakingly crafted using high-res scans of the interior and older images as a reference. The visually-captivating simulation allows you to walk the halls of the historic structure, explore the roof, listen to stories from the original builders, watch glazers install an intricate stained glass window, and discover the cathedral’s many secrets.
The Eternal Notre-Dame experience also includes “Notre-Dame hors les murs” (history and art) and “Rebuilding Notre-Dame de Paris: the work of the century” (presentation of the different trades), two additional exhibitions featuring a model of the cathedral (provided by the Diocese of Paris), a detailed reproduction of its arrow (masterpiece produced by the Compagnons du Tour de France), and a 12-minute film evoking the restoration site (produced by the public establishment responsible for conservation and restoration).
Orange turned to Emissive to put together the 45-minute VR experience because of the incredible VR experiences they’ve built in the past. In the past, the company has worked on projects for major organizations such as Adidas, The Enemy, and Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass, which was the Louvre’s first-ever VR exhibition.
In an official press release, Fabien Barati, CEO of Emissive, said, “We are delighted to show the great potential of immersive expeditions to the general public. Our teams are proud to contribute, through their expertise, to the reconstruction, preservation, and enhancement of this unique monument, so rich in symbols that is Notre-Dame de Paris.”
In the same press release, Cher Wang, Co-founder and Chairwoman, HTC Corp, added, “Allowing people to experience in fantastic detail the awe-inspiring beauty and history of Notre-Dame cathedral is an outstanding example of how virtual reality can ensure that history lives on. Our compact, all in one VIVE Focus 3 headset enables people to absorb the atmosphere and admire the marvelous architecture and precious relics as if they were there.”
She added, “We’re particularly proud of this work by our content partner Emissive, which has led the world in creating extraordinary and unique VR-based cultural experiences.”
The Eternal Notre-Dame will open to the public in Paris starting on January 15, 2022, at the Espace Grande Arche in la Défense. In September 2022, the VR experience will move to the Parvis de Notre-Dame – the main square in front of the cathedral. Eternal Notre-Dame will then embark on a tour of France and Europe before making its way to the rest of the world.
Feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive.
“Eternal Notre-Dame, an extraordinary immersive experience! Cutting-edge technologies allow this 45-minute sound and visual stroll through the 800-year history of Notre Dame. To discover urgently!” – Le Bonbon
“The rain falls on the pavement of this dark Parisian alley. In the background, the shadow of Notre Dame, majestic … From the first seconds, I am thrown back in the Middle Ages which invented Gothic art, for a journey in the bluffing time.” – Le Pèlerin
“I am impressed by the evocative power of this tool. I feel, I believe, the same feeling as the spectators who saw the first talkie film!” – Franck Ferrand from Radio Classique
Tickets for Eternal Notre-Dame start at € 20.99 (or roughly $20 US dollars) and can be purchased here starting on January 15th.
Feature Image Credit: Orange
HTC Vive Unveils new Hardware Solutions at CES 2022, Including a Wrist Tracker & Charging Case
HTC Vive had quite the 2021 releasing not one or two but three virtual reality (VR) headsets, the Vive Pro 2, Vive Focus 3 and Vive Flow. As part of CES 2022 today, the company has just unveiled a bunch of accessories specifically for the standalone Vive Focus 3, a wrist tracker, charging case and multi-battery charger.
The Vive Focus 3 is HTC Vive’s all-in-one (AIO) solution for businesses, whether that’s companies looking to conduct training sessions and meetings in VR, or location-based entertainment (LBE) venues after the latest cord-free technology. And it’s the latter that could benefit the most from these latest gadgets. The Vive Wrist Tracker provides a tracking solution specifically for the headset, 85% smaller and 50% lighter (63g) than the Vive Focus 3 controllers.
Worn either on the wrist or attached to objects so they can be tracked in VR, the Vive Wrist Tracker has LEDs that are picked up by the headset tracking cameras. Whilst the Wrist Tracker can aid hand tracking, HTC Vive says it can also improve tracking from your fingertips to your elbow, even when out of sight of the cameras. It does this by: “using high-frequency IMU data and an advanced kinematic model,” predicting a users hand position.
Offering four hours of continual use out of a single charge (charged via a USB-C connection), the Vive Wrist Tracker has a one-button pairing feature to the Vive Focus 3 as well as a removable strap for cleaning. It’ll arrive early in 2022 for US customers first, priced at $129 USD, €129 EUR, £119 GBP. HTC Vive has confirmed it’ll release the CAD files so that owners can build their own docking solutions for attaching the tracker to guns, sports equipment or other objects.
Then there’s the Vive Focus 3 Charging Case, ideal for when you want to take the headset out and about whilst keeping it fully charged. With an outer splash-proof rigid shell design, the charging case features lockable zips for security and an in-built storage area for chargers and cables. As for that charging capability, the original Vive Focus 3 charger plugs into the corner of the case to juice up the headset and both controllers.
There’s an additional feature that businesses and other organisations may find useful if they have multiple devices, auto-pairing. When placing the headset and controllers inside the case, all devices will pair instantly, ensuring no awkward mismatching of components if sets get muddled together.
Finally, there’s the Multi Battery Charger. The Vive Focus 3 features the ability to hot-swap batteries for continual use but in a busy setting like a classroom, operators will need to continually charge batteries. The Vive Focus 3 Multi Battery Charger can charge up to four batteries at once, all at full speed with LED indicators showing the charge status.
Currently, HTC Vive hasn’t said when the Charging Case or Multi Battery Charger will be available or how much they’ll cost. When those details are available VRFocus will let you know.
HTC Announces Wrist Tracker for Vive Focus 3, Releasing in Early 2022 for $129
HTC unveiled a new VR tracker device at CES 2022 today, this time targeting its $1,300 enterprise-focused standalone headset, Vive Focus 3. It’s slated to go on sale sometime early this year, starting at $129.
Unlike its SteamVR-compatible Vive Tracker, the new Vive Wrist Tracker is a wrist-worn device which hooks into Vive Focus 3’s inside-out tracking system. It does this essentially the same way the headset’s controllers are tracked in room-scale space, i.e. through infrared LEDs that are tracked optically through the headset’s onboard camera sensors.
HTC says in the announcement that the tracker allows users to either strap it to their wrist for what the company calls “advanced hand tracking” in addition to using controllers, or to objects like gun controllers, Ping-Pong paddles, or tools.
Below you can see a Nerf gun has been rigged up with Vive Wrist Tracker, making for a 6DOF-tracked virtual weapon:
The company says Vive Wrist Tracker is 85% smaller than Vive Focus 3’s controller, and 50% lighter at 63g. It boasts up to four hours of constant use, charged via USB-C. HTC says it includes a simple one-button pairing feature for wireless connection, and also features a removable strap for easy cleaning.
As for its more accurate hand tracking, this is what the company says in Vive Wrist Tracker’s announcement:
“When user wears the tracker on the wrist, we can predict the tracker’s motion trajectories even when the tracker is out of camera’s view in a while by using high-frequency IMU data and an advanced kinematic model. With this technology, we can predict their hand position when the hands leave the tracking camera view.”
Road to VR skipped the physical bit of CES 2022 this year, however we’re very interested to see the wrist tracker in action to see if it makes a material difference in terms of hand tracking.
Likely its biggest appeal is the ability to track objects, giving location-based entertainment venues and enterprise users the ability to avoid the typical mixing and matching of hardware ecosystems, such as OptiTrack or SteamVR base stations. To boot, HTC says its releasing CAD files so prospective owners can build custom docking solutions or harnesses around the tracker.
HTC is initially launching Vive Wrist Tracker in the US starting early 2022, priced at $129/€129/£119. Although they haven’t said as much, that pricing means it will very likely roll out Vive Wrist Tracker to the UK and EU at a later date.
In addition to Vive Wrist Tracker, HTC unveiled a few other Vive Focus 3 accessories, including a new charging travel case and a multi-battery charging dock. It’s not clear when either of those will go on sale, or for what price. We’ll be keeping an eye on the Vive accessories product page in the meantime.
Vive Focus 3’s Latest Update Improves Hand Tracking Feature
HTC Vive launched its latest all-in-one (AIO) virtual reality (VR) headset, the Vive Focus 3, back in June, and since then has been introducing new features whilst improving others. The latest update enhances the hand tracking capabilities of the device, making it more accurate and stable in the process.
Vive Focus 3 comes with its own controllers as standard with the hand tracking only introduced after the official launch. In this week’s free firmware update (v3.0.999.284), users should find that hand tracking now feels more natural, keeping up with quick movements while actions like pinching are more accurate when interacting with virtual objects.
HTC Vive’s hand tracking engine uses a 26-point skeletal hand modelling system to track all your individual finger movements, now used right from the room setup process thanks to the update. You can simply pop the controllers down and the Vive Focus 3 will automatically detect your hands.
Developers working on Vive Focus 3 compatible projects are able to integrate six predefined hand gestures for easy accessibility, ideal considering the headset is aimed towards the enterprise end of the market. This sector tends to lean towards training and development uses cases as well as design, all of which can benefit from hand tracking.
Retailing for £1,272 GBP, the Vive Focus 3 is based around the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Platform – like so many AIO headsets – sporting dual 2.5K displays (2448 x 2448 pixels per eye), a 90Hz refresh rate, a 120-degree field of view (FoV), adjustable IPD range from 57mm to 72mm and a rear-mounted battery for even weight distribution.
It’s been quite the hardware year for HTC Vive. Alongside the Vive Focus 3, there’s the new Vive Pro 2 for PC VR gaming and then there the Vive Flow. A slightly different tangent to Vive’s other offerings, the Flow is a smartphone connectable device that’s lightweight and for media consumption, with a strong focus on mental health.
As HTC Vive continues to improve its hardware lineup, VRFocus will keep you updated.