It is not entirely surprising proper VR headsets can be built for far less money than they cost right now. Leap Motion is making a lot of inroads in this regard. The company not only designed a $100 AR headset, but it also as working hand tracking. Quite a milestone, and some much-needed competition for existing companies.
Leap Motion Continues to Make Waves
There has been a lot of commotion regarding Leap Motion and their upcoming hardware. It is evident the company aims to tackle AR rather than VR, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Even so, the company has unveiled a very bold plan that will help put them on the map once and for all.
As of right now, the company is focusing on Project North Star. This has nothing to do with the daughter of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, but rather revolves around $100 AR headset with hand-tracking support. It includes the Leap Motion Sensor which allows for a better degree of immersion altogether.
This is not a new consumer headset, though. Nor is there a developer preview kit as of right now. The hardware specifications, as well as the software, will be open sourced next week. It is a remarkable decision, albeit one that will pay off in spades. We do know this AR headset features two LCD displays supporting a resolution of 1600×1400 per eye. Users have a field of view between 70 and 95 degrees.
How this new venture will play out, remains to be seen. Leap Motion has no intention of becoming a headset company, which is a rather intriguing development. Even though this new AR unit will certainly attract a lot of attention, it is still up to manufacturers to make everything click Even at-home DIY fans could put together such a unit, assuming you can get the parts at affordable prices.
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