Video Remote Vision Through a Virtual Reality Headset (Video) 44
Tim: Chris, what is Narvaro?
Chris: Narvaro is a company working on a three axis camera gimbal that is controlled by the Oculus Rift.
Tim: Let’s start out with, Chris, what is Narvaro?
Chris: Narvaro is a company working on a three axis camera gimbal that is controlled by the Oculus Rift.
Tim: Let’s start out with how did Narvaro come to be?
Chris: Narvaro came to be, we started as a student project this is our senior design project for our senior year as mechanical engineering students.
Tim: What school is that?
Chris: At Georgia Tech. So from there we entered a startup program which helped us sort of launch the company and so now we are currently in the prototyping phase, developing our technology further.
Tim: Tell us here, we have got one generation right here.
Chris: So this is the first generation. This was actually what we submitted for our senior design, so as you could see as I rotate the Oculus Rift the camera gimbal will rotate with that and will feed 3D video back into the Rift.
Tim: What is the intended outcome of this? How would people use it?
Chris: So the way we like to use this is we would like to distribute these cameras all across the world, to extremely interesting places, allow users to log in via our website and experience these awesome locations remotely. So if you want to go visit the Grand Canyon or go to Paris, we want to enable that.
Tim: You could do meetings at all times?
Chris: Yeah, you could also do telepresence applications as well as applications such as operating remote vehicles, so you would be able to drive from the point of view of the robot.
Tim: Talk about the hardware and the developments brought into the prototype that we look at here.
Chris: So the hardware here is pretty much it is really basic, it is what we could afford on our student budgets, it is three very simple servomotors powered by an Arduino which then controls the all three rotations. And then the video is provided by two webcams that we have.
Tim: And so did you 3D print that case?
Chris: And so this part and this part are all 3D printed, and this is laser cut. All of this was done in the Georgia Tech invention studio.
Tim: And these are not brushless motors you used here?
Chris: Sorry.
Tim: These are not brushless motors?
Chris: Oh these are not brushless motors, these are just simply servomotors.
Tim: There is a little bit of jerkiness to that as I stand over here.
Chris: And over here, as you can see, this is the next generation of our prototype. As you can see the optics are much improved. Additionally, we are using brushless motors which provide a much smoother rotation that is much better for end user experience.
Tim: Now the Oculus Rift is obviously a big thing right now, 3D personal head mounted viewing, so your same hardware works with other kinds of
Chris: Yes, yes, our goal is to be completely hardware independent. So we are currently looking at also exploring some options using the Google Cardboard and other iPhone other smartphones driven displays. We are also looking at other head mount displays that are currently in development.
Tim: If you’re using something like a Cardboard with the phone in there. What’s the Communication have from the display back to the actual cameras here?
Chris: So we are going to have to be over the internet. So our goal is to – that’s the technology we are currently developing, we are pretty close to that, but we think it will definitely work.
Tim: Somebody right now has not _____3:14 can they experience the sort of the visuals that you are creating.
Chris: So we can record a video and send it to you but currently we don’t have the remote presence working.
Tim: What is the next stage after the prototype, how do you get from this to being in someone’s hands, available?
Chris: So the first steps we are going to make is we are going to work with a bunch of what we are calling content providers, people who have really interesting views of places where these cameras would be really interesting, and try to get our cameras in those locations. So that anyone with an Oculus Rift can log in to those cameras and experience these really cool views.
Tim: If people want to learn more about it, what do they do?
Chris: They should go to our website it is narvaro3d.com. And sign up on our newsletter and they will be the first to know.
Tim: Who are the people working on it right now?
Chris: There are currently four of us working right now. We are working out of my basement. We are literally working out of the basement which is pretty fun.
Tim: And as a startup, what do you think about the hours you are keeping? Are you able to get your sleep?
Chris: (laughs) Sleep is for the weak!
another ad... (Score:2)
It turns out that for the vast majority of tasks a 2D remote camera is just fine and controlling it with a mouse or keyboard is ok too. There are very few tasks where the added cost of a 3D head mounted display with a head tracker is worth it.
Re: (Score:2)
It sounds more like extrasensory perception to me.
Next up: the fingerprint scanner in your iPhone can also do palm reading!
Quad copter... (Score:3)
Oh wait (searches)...it's done already:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... [youtube.com]
Hm, wonder if I can play GTA 5 etc... with the oculus rift (googles again before pressing preview)
http://www.nerdist.com/2014/06... [nerdist.com]
Hm...not quite conclusive, but we're getting there...
Latency (Score:5, Insightful)
On Saturn, really?
That will have a latency of 2,5 hours already.
Re: (Score:2)
That's still better than what I get from my ISP.
Oh, 2.5 hours you say? Sorry, I thought you said 2.5 weeks.
Posted on october 7th, 2014.
Re: (Score:1)
That's still better than what I get from my ISP.
This needs to be linked here: Living with Lag (IRL) [youtube.com]
Heinlein? Really? (Score:1)
The idea that one can compare artists and manual laborers in the same sentence is ridiculous. Don't believe me? Want to hit that -1 moderation button? Go ask the same question in any artists' colony.
Re: (Score:1)
How are we still giving this right-wing extremist good publicity? Is it because he had a few good books 70 years ago? Seriously...look at what he actually said! It's all like this:
The idea that one can compare artists and manual laborers in the same sentence is ridiculous. Don't believe me? Want to hit that -1 moderation button? Go ask the same question in any artists' colony. Anyone can learn plumbing, it isn't even an art, it is a trade. Ideas like Heinleins' are simply outdated.
Way to miss the point, which is more along the lines of "we can't have a society where everyone is an artist, someone has to make sure that the sinks and toilets keep working."
Re: (Score:1)
Anyone can learn art, it isn't even a trade.
Try to do your own plumbing. If something goes wrong and you're not a licensed plumber, insurances won't cover your damages.
Seems like a bad way to do it (Score:5, Insightful)
Wouldn't it be easier to have a video stream which contains the full sphere of video data at all times, and use the client-headset position to display a subset of that data?
That would allow infinite numbers of people to share the same virtual experience rather than create a silly 1-to-1 mechanized connection.
Re: (Score:2)
Not to mention I think you're gonna have some lag issues controlling a probe orbiting Saturn. Heck, you'd probably have latency issues with a submersible a few thousand feet down, enough to make you nauseous anyway.
Re: (Score:2)
yeah, doing that. (Score:3, Interesting)
There's conventions across the country I wanted to visit but couldn't, so I started working on a telepresence bot. Connects to the internet with wifi, has two cameras on its head, and is designed to have servos with head tracking so it can look around. With a decent battery and some friends in attendance you can make it truly mobile, have someone bring "you" to panels and stuff. Add microphone+speakers and make it adorable and it's an instant win.
(The head tracking works even through lag by reading from cameras and painting the output onto the inside of a sphere with the viewer at the origin; the viewer also looks from inside the sphere, but isn't tied to the actual camera angle. The bot head chases the direction you're looking in, but even if it's slow, the picture doesn't jerk around too bad...you just have black regions where it's not actually pointed at the moment.)
The algorithms are solid, but servos are not easy to do right when you don't have a good mechanical background, and the first gen Rift isn't the greatest piece of hardware so it's still a work in progress, but...yeah it's a thing.
Re: (Score:3)
so I started working on a telepresence bot.
Pics?
[If you mean Comicon-like conventions, have you "cosplayed" the casing as a SF/comic/video-game robot?]
painting the output onto the inside of a sphere with the viewer at the origin; the viewer also looks from inside the sphere, but isn't tied to the actual camera angle.
That is not just clever, but the more superior "obvious in hindsight" clever.
Re: (Score:1)
There's conventions across the country I wanted to visit but couldn't, so I started working on a telepresence bot. Connects to the internet with wifi, has two cameras on its head, and is designed to have servos with head tracking so it can look around. With a decent battery and some friends in attendance you can make it truly mobile, have someone bring "you" to panels and stuff. Add microphone+speakers and make it adorable and it's an instant win.
(The head tracking works even through lag by reading from cameras and painting the output onto the inside of a sphere with the viewer at the origin; the viewer also looks from inside the sphere, but isn't tied to the actual camera angle. The bot head chases the direction you're looking in, but even if it's slow, the picture doesn't jerk around too bad...you just have black regions where it's not actually pointed at the moment.)
The algorithms are solid, but servos are not easy to do right when you don't have a good mechanical background, and the first gen Rift isn't the greatest piece of hardware so it's still a work in progress, but...yeah it's a thing.
Those black regions are an awesome idea, should help with nausea if there's less jerkiness and lag.
captchca, freshens
FPV and Multirotors. (Score:1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Fatshark goggles and an RC helicopter.
There's just one problem (Score:3)
The problem happens when you lose one of them.
Seen this (Score:2)
Did you mean ... (Score:2)
Telepresence (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepresence)?
Why do I feel that whenever Oculus Rift is mentioned, the project has to be new and ground breaking, something that has never been done before, right? Never mind the decades of previous work and existing industrial applications (like telesurgery or underwater ROV operation ...).
Saturn --- NOT! (Score:1)
Let me just get one.. (Score:2)
Timing would be a major issue (Score:1)