Goertek’s headset reference design supports high-quality hand and eye tracking, enabling OEMs to compete with Apple.
FACTS
Qualcomm yesterday announced a new premium chipset for VR headsets, the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2. The company also unveiled a new reference design being developed by headset manufacturer Goertek. The reference design supports Qualcomm’s next-generation XR chipsets: the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2, which powers the Meta Quest 3, and the aforementioned Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, which will be used by Samsung’s upcoming mixed reality headset.
The reference design serves as a blueprint for hardware manufacturers to build their own devices. According to Qualcomm, more than five OEMs are working on devices based on the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2.
Ultraleap has now announced that Goertek’s reference design incorporates its proprietary hand tracking technology. This gives OEMs access to high-quality hand tracking right out of the box.
“For the first time, Ultraleap’s computer vision and machine learning models allow hand tracking to run on the cameras used for SLAM and controller tracking with LED lighting. This reduces the cost of integration to OEMs and headset manufacturers substantially, while still delivering the highly differentiated tracking performance synonymous with Ultraleap hand tracking,” writes Ultraleap.
CONTEXT
If OEMs in the Android ecosystem want to compete with Vision Pro, integrated high-quality hand tracking is a must. Apple’s mixed reality headset doesn’t support controllers and relies solely on hand and eye tracking. Goertek’s reference design supports both hand and eye tracking and has integrated eye tracking technology from Tobii. Of course, OEMs do not have to integrate eye and hand tracking into their devices, but thanks to Goertek and its partners, they have an easy waay to do so.
Ultraleap CEO Tom Carter said of the announcement: “We believe natural hand interactions will be to VR what touch was to smartphones. Integrating Ultraleap’s hand tracking directly onto existing camera sensors makes it very easy for customers to design and launch new headset products. This outstanding collaboration means that companies looking to launch new VR headset products can now easily develop a headset built with the world’s best hand tracking from the world’s leading headset manufacturer.”
Maria Malik is your guide to the immersive world of Virtual Reality (VR). With a passion for VR technology, she explores the latest VR headsets, applications, and experiences, providing readers with in-depth reviews, industry insights, and a glimpse into the future of virtual experiences.
