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This Bizarre VR Gas Mask Makes Breathing In VR More Difficult

From vrscout

The AirRes Mask can be used to simulate a variety of stressful and high-risk scenarios.

A research team working out of the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences in Austria has developed a unique accessory for the Meta Quest 2 VR headset that allows users to interact with the virtual world by simply breathing. The bizarre-looking peripheral can also be used to hinder the user’s breathing in order to simulate “adverse” environmental conditions, such as smoke caused by fire.

The AirRes Mask, as it’s referred to by the team, is composed of a standard half-face respirator equipped with a sensor and resistance disk. The device works by measuring the user’s breathing, allowing them to engage with the virtual world in a variety of unique ways.



In a video provided by the team, we catch a glimpse of the device being used to play the harmonica. Depending on the position of the virtual instrument and the force of the breathing, the user is able to trigger different notes. Later on, we see the user operating a virtual blowgun and blowing up balloons by carefully breathing into the apparatus.

As previously mentioned, the AirRes Mask can also be used to simulate breathing resistance in VR, allowing developers to safely immerse user’s in a variety of harsh environments. This is demonstrated with a firefighter simulator in which the user battles a raging inferno from within a confined space.

As the smoke begins to fill the room, the resistance disk restricts airflow through the mask to simulate smoke inhalation and a decrease in stamina. According to the research team, hindering a user’s breathing can increase their stress levels, further immersing the user in a variety of high-risk scenarios.

“Breathing resistance can provide feedback for simple actions such as blowing into wind instruments, or for more complex contextual information about environmental conditions or the state of the user’s virtual avatar,” said the research team in their full research paper.

“For instance, effects of virtual smoke or low stamina of the avatar can be expressed by the system as an increase in breathing resistance. We explore such action-based and context-based mappings of breathing interaction in a user study and investigate the system’s ability to precisely map a user’s breathing force to actions as well as its ability to provide noticeable variations in breathing resistance.”

We’ve seen our fair share of bizarre multi-sensory technology in the past, from a haptic feedback device that utilizes ultrasonic transducers to simulate the feeling of spiders crawling on your face to a location-based experience that lets you smell the inside of a tree. The AirRes Mask offers yet another way for developers to immerse VR users in their experiences via multi-sensory technology.

In addition to entertainment, the device could prove immensely useful for training purposes. The technology offers companies and organizations a way to efficiently simulate stressful and even potentially dangerous scenarios without risk to the trainee.

For more information on the project, read the team’s full research paper, AirRes Mask: A Precise and Robust Virtual Reality Breathing Interface Utilizing Breathing Resistance as Output Modality.

Image Credit: Salzburg University of Applied Sciences

Hands-On: JDI & Innolux New 3K LCD Panel For Compact VR Headsets

From uploadvr

At Display Week 2022 JDI and Innolux presented compact 3K LCD panels for VR headsets.

Japan Display Inc (JDI) is one of the world’s largest display providers, formed 10 years ago as a merger of the LCD manufacturing divisions of Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi. Innolux is Taiwan’s largest LCD producer.

Both new displays are roughly 2.27 inch diagonal, with a refresh rate of 90 Hz and resolution of 3240×3240 – equating to 2016 pixels per inch. The identical specs are likely due to a patent cross licensing agreement between JDI and Innolux.

This isn’t the first 3K LCD panel we’ve seen presented by display providers. At 2019’s Display Week AUO presented a 3456×3456 LCD panel with more than 2000 backlight elements to support HDR. However, that panel was larger (2.9 inch) and we haven’t heard anything about it since. In fact, AUO’s booth at this year’s Display Week didn’t feature any VR-sized panels at all.

JDI currently supplies the 2K (2160×2160) panel used in HP’s Reverb headsets. It’s 2.9 inches diagonal, so these new 3K panels are simultaneously smaller and much higher resolution.

The 2.27 inch size makes it suitable for use in compact headsets which use pancake lenses. At Display Week I tried Innolux’s panel paired with pancake lenses that appear to be identical to HTC’s Vive Flow. The clarity & sharpness was beyond anything I’ve tried before – even the Varjo Aero. While through-the-lens camera shots are far from representative of what’s seen by the human eye, here’s a short clip showing the demo imagery to give you a rough idea of the visual quality:

Neither JDI nor Innolux revealed if they have a customer yet, but if this does reach products we could be in store for a new generation of compact ultra high resolution VR headsets.

Watch: New Video Shows Mark Zuckerberg Using Project Cambria

From uploadvr

A new video posted by Mark Zuckerberg shows the Meta CEO using the company’s new Project Cambria headset.

Well, sort of.

Cambria (which is a codename for the device) was first announced at Connect in late 2021, and is intended for release later this year as a high-end headset for work use. But Meta still hasn’t fully revealed the device’s final design outside of an early, obscured render. To that end, the video below blurs out the actual headset from any camera shots, even when it’s on Zuckerberg’s head. Check it out below.

Mark Zuckerberg Demos Project Cambria

The video isn’t focused on specs or release dates for Cambria — there’s no price or launch date reveal — but it does show the headset’s mixed reality capabilities in close detail. One of Cambria’s big upgrades over the consumer-focused Quest 2 headset is the use of high-resolution color cameras for passthrough. This delivers a much more accurate version of the real world inside VR.

As a showcase, Meta is releasing an app called The World Beyond that will release on Quest 2 next week via App Lab, but you can also see it in this video. It’s designed to make use of a bunch of mixed reality features, as well as hand tracking.

Cambria will also feature improved ergonomics and sensors as well as face and eye tracking, but those details weren’t really touched on in today’s video. No doubt we’ll learn more about them as we move closer to the headset’s release later this year.

Meta To Reveal Project Cambria Mixed Reality Details Tomorrow

From uploadvr

Meta will reveal new details about its Project Cambria standalone headset tomorrow.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg just said as much over on his Facebook page. “Project Cambria’s color passthrough technology will enable developers to build a whole new level of mixed reality experiences,” he wrote. “More details coming tomorrow.” Included in the post is a new image of Zuckerberg wearing the device and using hand tracking features, which you can see below.

It’s possible that these details will only concern Cambria’s color passthrough capabilities but, then again, there’s plenty more we’re still yet to learn about the headset. For starters, the Cambria label itself is merely a codename, with the device being introduced at Meta’s 2021 Connect event. It’s billed as a high-end alternative to Meta’s affordable Quest headsets. Alongside the switch to color passthrough, Cambria will add face and eye tracking for more emotive social VR avatars, and features a revised form factor that employs a new type of lens.

We do know the kit’s due to launch this year but we don’t have a final release date, nor a price. Could these details be confirmed tomorrow?

Though the headset will be compatible with Quest, Meta has previously stated that Cambria is not a part of the Quest line, and is more designed for work use than gaming. In fact, Meta says it sees this headset eventually replacing devices like laptops and, at the beginning of the month, it suggested the device will cost “significantly higher” than $800 despite reports to the contrary in an article from The Information. Import logs also suggest the device will have 12GB of RAM.

What are you hoping to see from Project Cambria tomorrow? Let us know in the comments below!

Kat Walk VR Treadmill Returns With New $1,000 Model On Kickstarter This Week

From uploadvr

VR treadmill maker KatVR will return to Kickstarter for its next device, the Kat Walk C 2.

A new crowd-funding campaign for the device launches at 7am PT on May 14, with early bird orders starting at $698 (without shipping). The original Kat Walk raised over $1 million on the platform in 2020. As with other treadmills, the device consists of a dish that players stand on with a special pair of shoes and a harness they then strap themselves into. You can then lean forward and run to simulato walking in VR. Check out a trailer for the C 2 below.

Kat Walk C 2 Announced

The C 2 promises several new additions and improvements over its predecessor, including support for a wider array of movements like strafing and kneeling down and improved tracking of your feet’s movements. The device will also be compatible with the Quest platform as well as previously supported headsets like PSVR and PC kits. KatVR also says it’s throwing in improved shoes that will make it easier to walk on the dish.

Once the first early bird tier is gone there will be two more limited tiers increasing the price by $100 each time. The unlimited tier will offer the device for $998.

KatVR will also be offering a further upgraded version of the device called the Kat Walk C 2+ that includes haptic feedback with ‘Vibrate-On-Touch Step Simulation’ and compatibility with controller to offer more moments of haptic feedback. The C 2+ is available as a $200 upgrade to whatever tier you’ve pledged (so $898 for the first early bird tier or $1199 one all early bird tiers are gone).

Nvidia Uses Holograms To Shrink The Size Of VR Headsets

From vrscout

Hologram technology can greatly improve pixel details in VR.

One of the biggest barriers to getting more people into VR headsets is the headsets themselves. They can be bulky and uncomfortable to wear because of the technical requirements involved, such as display optics, cameras, and sensors.

The lenses can also have a major impact on the size and shape of typical VR headsets, such as those featured on the Meta Quest or HTC Vive. They use an eyepiece and a display panel that needs to be a specific distance from each other in order for you to have a fully immersive VR experience. One solution to reducing the size of a VR headset is by using pancake lenses to shrink the gap between the lenses. That said, this design and approach can only deliver a 2D experience.



Nvidia has solved this problem by using holograms to help overcome the issue of the necessary space needed between the eyepiece and display panel, creating a much thinner solution to accessing VR content.

A recently published report written by Jonghyun Kim, Manu Gopakumar (Stanford University), Suyeon Choi (Stanford University), Yifan Peng (Stanford University), Ward Lopes, and Gordon Wetzstein (Stanford University) takes an incredibly deep and detailed dive into Nvidia’s Hologram Glasses and explains how they work as well as the potential impact they could have on the future of VR technology.

To help you digest this relatively complex information, we’re going to break it down for you without getting overly technical.

Basically, by placing a hologram image (Virtual-mode Holographic display) between the eyepiece and a Geometric phase lens, Nvidia was able to reduce the gap between the two lenses, thus reducing the size of the headset, using a process called a pupil-replicating waveguide.

The results are Holographic Glasses designed for VR that can deliver digital content in 2D or 3D VR content to each eye. The device is composed of a pupil-replicating waveguide, a spatial light modulator, and a geometric phase lens that come together to create amazing holographic images in a lightweight and thin form factor.

Nvidia’s Holographic Glasses provide a diagonal field of view of 22.8°, a 2.3 mm static and 8 mm dynamic eye box, and support 3D focus cues. Not only are they less bulky, but they are also very lightweight, weighing in at just a tad over 2 ounces. The proposed design can even deliver full-color 3D holographic images using an optical stack of 2.5 mm thickness.

Through a process called Dynamic eye box with waveguide, the Hologram Glasses are able to follow your gaze and move the viewpoint of the content you are looking at. And thanks to the use of HOGD (High-order gradient descent), you are able to see it with better image quality in higher contrast than SGD (Stochastic gradient descent). What I’m trying to say is that this allows you to see pixels in more detail.

Nvidia’s Hologram Glasses are still in a prototype phase but the company is already looking forward to what their technology can do for the future of VR. Not only could have a major impact on consumer VR and everyday wearables, but it could transform how VR and AR are used for Enterprise solutions, digital twinning, automobiles, homes, aerospace, and more. 

Click here to learn more about Nvidia’s Hologram Glasses and dive into that detailed paper. 

Image Credit: Nvidia

The Information: New Quest Headsets Slated For 2023 & 2024 Release

From uploadvr

Meta is planning to release new versions of its Quest headset in 2023 and 2024, The Information reports.

A Four-Headset Roadmap

Meta plans to release four virtual reality headsets between now and 2024, according to an internal road map seen by The Information (subscription required), including two new Quest headsets.

According to The Information, the Quest headsets are code-named Stinson and Cardiff — both names that take after locations in California. This internal naming trend is one that Meta (formerly Facebook) have followed since 2014. Crystal Cove was the code name for what would become the Oculus Rift DK2, for example, and Monterey for the original Quest headset.

Meta also plans to ship its higher-end Project Cambria headset later this year, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg said will be more focused on remote work use cases. While The Information’s report suggested Cambria could retail for $799 or higher, Meta confirmed to UploadVR that the final price point will be “significantly” above $799.

The road map rounds out its four-headset plan with code-name Funston, a second version of Cambria, set for release in 2024.

All in all, that’s two new Quest headsets and two versions of the higher-end Cambria line releasing between now and the end of 2024. As noted in the report, these dates are all subject to change. The nature of developing such complex hardware, along with now-common pandemic and supply chain delays, means that targeted ship dates will often slip.

Quest 3 and 4?

In a March 2021 interview with The Information, Zuckerberg said Meta was already “working on the next few generations of virtual reality and what Quest 3 and 4 are gonna look like.”

It’s unknown whether Stinson and Cardiff are the Quest 3 and 4 that Zuckerberg referred to last year. While Quest 2 followed this numbered naming convention, releasing as the second generation of the Quest product line, Stinson and Cardiff may not be full generational leaps. There’s a chance either headset releases as a mid-generation refresh or as a variation of an existing Quest headset at a higher or lower price point, with different features.

Eye & Face Tracking On Quest

Zuckerberg Wants Face Tracking

Cambria (which, at one point, was referred to as ‘Quest Pro’ internally) is targeting launch this year and will ship with both face and eye tracking capabilities, alongside color passthrough for mixed reality. Zuckerberg previusly noted that his excitement to bring this eye and face tracking technology to future Quest headsets, when possible. Given Quest’s standalone hardware optimizes for low cost and currently starts at $299, Meta will face significant technological and financial challenges in bringing this technology to Stinson and Cardiff.

Leaked photos suggest that Cambria will feature controllers that ditch the traditional tracking rings, instead using built-in tracking cameras on controllers themselves. This would alleviate headsets of some tracking responsibility, allowing the controllers to track themselves using IR cameras instead.

Project Cambria Controllers

Zuckerberg told investors at his Q1 2022 earnings call that Meta will “share more details about Project Cambria in the months ahead as we get ready to launch it.” The headset will not replace Quest 2, which Meta reiterated will have a “long life” just a few months ago.

According to The Verge, Meta also plans to ship its first generation of true AR glasses, Nazare, in 2024, following by more advanced second and third generation models in 2026 and 2028 respectively.

Meta confirmed it will “share the latest on our VR, AR, and metaverse platform offerings” later this year at its annual Connect conference, which usually takes place around September.

Project Cambria To Have 12 GB RAM For Multitasking, Import Logs Suggest

From uploadvr

Meta’s Project Cambria headset could have 12 GB RAM for multitasking, import logs and a potential leak suggest.

Project Cambria was announced in late October at Connect 2021. Cambria isn’t Quest 3 – Mark Zuckerberg described it as an “advanced and high end product” positioned “at the higher end of the price spectrum” to be sold alongside Quest 2. At one point it was called ‘Quest Pro’ internally.

Cambria appears to have a more balanced design than Quest 2, with a smaller frontbox and a strap resembling Quest 2’s elite strap accessory. Meta says this is achieved through the use of pancake lenses instead of fresnel lenses. Whereas Quest 2 has grainy black & white cameras, Cambria will have high resolution color passthrough for mixed reality experiences. It will also include eye tracking and face tracking to drive avatars in social VR.

During Meta’s Q1 2022 earnings call yesterday Zuckerberg told investors Cambria will be “more focused on work use cases” than Quest 2, saying he sees it “eventually replacing your laptop”. Meta has been slowly adding productivity features to its VR operating system, branded as Infinite Office. If you have a Logitech K830 or Apple Magic Keyboard, they’ll show up in VR so you can type and use the trackpad to navigate. Triple window support was added to the web browser in August, with window resizing added in December.

Quest 2 handles triple windows fine most of the time, but the browser is only accessible in the home environment. If you want to look something up while still inside a VR app you need to close it first. This limitation may be down to the device having just 6 GB of RAM.

Import logs found by SadlyItsBradley, Reggy04, and Samulia reference a shipment sent to Meta in March of “SEACLIFFBCM” with “256GB / 12GB” in the description – Seacliff being the codename for the Project Cambria headset. Given Quest 2 is sold in 128 GB and 256 GB models that’s almost certainly the storage size, with 12 GB being the amount of RAM.

SadlyItsBradley (Brad Lynch) also says he has a source claiming the Quest OS will be “heavily optimized and separated into many independent systems” to enable 3 key features:

  • Suspending 2D and VR applications so you can launch another app and resume your progress “seamlessly” later
  • Anchoring windows to different areas of your Home space, with the other areas suspended
  • System Windows API (beta), letting developers put system dashboard windows (including the browser) in their applications.

It could be argued that Cambria’s extra RAM might be to handle the eye tracking, face tracking, and color passthrough – Pico Neo 3 Pro Eye has 2GB extra RAM. But it seems unlikely an entire 6 GB would be needed for these functions. Given 12 GB of RAM, Zuckerberg’s comments about work use cases, and Brad’s source; Cambria’s hardware may be much more capable of multitasking than Quest 2.

Is Mark Zuckerberg Teasing Physical Meta Stores To Demo Quest?

From uploadvr

Mark Zuckerberg shared an image that looks like it might be teasing physical Meta stores or retail displays for Quest demos.

The image was posted to his Facebook wall with the caption “Any guesses where this was taken? 👀“. It shows him wearing a Quest 2 in front of a video wall showing a mixed reality view of him playing Beat Saber. In the rear, shelves containing what looks like Quest 2, Quest 1, and Oculus Go, sit alongside what looks like the box for the Quest 2 Elite Strap and Anker’s charging station for Quest 2.

Back in November The New York Times reported Meta had been planning physical stores for more than a year. The purpose of the locations would be to introduce people to Meta’s hardware: headsets, glasses, and Portal video calling devices. The report didn’t mention whether products would actually be sold in-store, but it sounded like that wasn’t the focus of the plan. Discussions about physical stores reportedly “predated Facebook’s rebranding by many months”, with serious work on the initiative starting last year.

Facebook opened a few temporary pop-up stores for the budget Oculus Go headset at its launch in 2018 but has otherwise relied on partnerships with existing retailers. The original Oculus Rift headset had demo stations at Best Buy, and display cases for Quest can be found at a number of retailers.

Virtual, mixed, and augmented reality are technologies that need to be tried to be truly understood – and most people still haven’t. Factors like head shape, eyesight, and sensitivity to weight against sinuses can affect how comfortable a given person finds a head-mounted device. Headsets and glasses could be ideal for a physical retail strategy.

It’s also possible this is just a new area for employees within Meta’s HQ to relax and play Beat Saber while others watch. But then why is there a product box on the shelf? Let us know if you have any alternative theories in the comments below.

VR Air Bridge Wireless USB Dongle For Quest 2 Manual Leaks Online

From uploadvr

A manual for the previously leaked ‘VR Air Bridge’ USB wireless dongle for Quest, made by D-Link, was uploaded to Manuals+.

Two weeks ago software engineer ItsKaitlyn03 found code in the Oculus PC drivers referencing a ‘D-Link DWA-F18 VR Air Bridge’, and in verifying this claim we also found references to a “Set up VR Air Bridge” interface.

Manuals+ is an online collection of product manuals, guides, and instruction sheets. It’s unclear how VR Air Bridge made it onto the website – but it seems to confirm it’s a real product, not just an idea Meta and D-Link explored.

The existing Air Link is a Quest feature which lets the device act as a wireless PC VR headset via your Wi-Fi network. It was shipped as a software update in early 2021, but third party alternatives like Virtual Desktop and ALVR have been available since the release of the original Quest headset in mid-2019.

Using your home Wi-Fi network rather than a dedicated dongle presents several issues however. The signal can be degraded by the distance to the router or obstacles like solid walls, and frames can be dropped or delivered late if too many other devices are congesting the network.

In late 2019, before Air Link had even been announced, “Consulting CTO” John Carmack floated the idea of a USB Wi-Fi dongle running custom firmware for wireless VR. The headset would directly connect to it instead of your home network, offering a dedicated nearby connection. In an April 2021 conversation with Meta’s CTO, just after Air Link shipped, Carmack remarked “We may yet in the future make some extra Wi-Fi dongle or have some partnership with different firmware flashes for something that can let us get somewhat better performance in congested conditions“.

The manual shows an included ‘companion stand’, a USB extension cradle intended to help you position the dongle within line of sight of the headset for the best possible signal, uninterrupted by any solid objects.

Many households have basic ISP supplied routers unsuitable for Air Link, often located rooms away from their gaming PC, and Wi-Fi 6 routers have only recently become relatively affordable. VR Air Bridge could make wireless PC VR practical for significantly more people.