[sci.virtual-worlds] Cheap head tracking

mmachlis@athena.mit.edu (Matthew A Machlis) (05/20/91)

I just thought I would relate my experience with head tracking:

I was using a Polhemus system with VPL Eyephones helmet mounted display,
but decided that the delay with the Polhemus was unacceptable.  So I spent
about a month and a half designing and building a mechanical arm which is
fixed to a base at one end, with the other end attached to the person's
head.  It has six joints, the angles of which are measured by potentiometers
fed into an a-d board in a PC-clone.  This gives 6-DOF head state, with
virtually no delay.  If the arm is well-designed, it is almost unnoticable
to a person wearing the Eyephones.  One problem is calibrating it if you
need very high accuracy, but if not it seems to be a good solution.

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Matt Machlis
MIT Space Systems Laboratory
(617)253-2272