Story

Everyone got very excited about new VR possibilities after Oculus Rift was first introduced. but for me it was more than obvious that this meant new possibility for shooting 3D documentaries(with two gopro cameras u can make amazing airsoft videos in 3D), for 3D photos... and for 3D skype conversations...

after a while I found out that there are virtually no devices for 3D webcam chat(and almost no software). there are couple fixed "two cameras pared" - that have some sophisticated software to provide u with "red/cyan", analygraph 3D.

so being a software developer my self and an enthusiast engineer - I decided to build one my self.

The Device

and this is what I ended up with - two web cameras, placed roughly as our eyes are, three servo motors (which. luckily, I've had bought for my other robot project and had available right a way) and a Arduino controller

it took some time connecting everything together, developing software, getting into oculus API... and some experimenting with different web cameras to get nice 3D view and good frame rate for two simultaneously working web cameras.

but the result is what u see - You move your head around, wearing oculus - the device repeats ur head movement

jerking movement is the result of experimenting with different values of precision.

as it turned out - "smooth" movement of "head" causes it to make really small corrections all the time, since a person wearing oculus can't really keep his/her head really still this gets annoying really fast. so this "roughing out" of movement (every 5 degrees)  allows u to maintain a stable viewpoint in real life environment.

after that the camera data is constantly uploaded to a server and can be viewed both in a web browser(with any number of clients viewing it) or with a client software (which same time can remotely control the device).

anyone can check out live video on web (or last two images, if the cameras are offline) at: http://design.ge/video/ - and of course it becomes whole another story if use oculus to check it out.

what this device needs - is a "market" shape(both of the device and the app), we're planing to make it look like a "cat", cartoon cat. and I'm also trying to reach Microsoft, anyone, plz

also there is a plan of developing a wheeled platform, so that one on the other side of the internet cable could not only turn the head around - but also move around freely.

Applications

1. this is absolutely amazing for online conversations, especially when communicating on conferences with a round, or a big table - device allows u to look at anyone, they know u are looking at them and u have very realistic feel of presence

also this is really gr8 device to chat with your loved ones(say family), for example for military personnel serving in far away locations - as said above, it allows u to look around, kinda have a feeling of being there with them, and also the fact that it actually turns around - let's u sensation that u are having a conversation with a live person.

2. wheeled and tracked devices - like military robots, it's 100 times easier operating a robotic hand when u have 3D vision.

3. manipulating different devices - remotely (with notebook connected)

4. porn business - obviously...

Love and Support

yeap, looking for it.

anyone can participate, any ideas, enthusiasts or just warm hugs - are welcomed.