Lecture 23: Virtual Reality (73)
noah-ku

Photodiodes on the headset detect signals, measuring the time difference between the LED pulse and the laser's arrival to calculate their position in the x and y coordinates within the Lighthouse's field of view. This allows the system to determine the precise location and orientation of the headset in 3D space. Essentially, the Lighthouse acts as a virtual camera, mapping the photodiodes' locations in the environment. This precision tracking is what enables users to move naturally in VR, with the virtual environment responding to their real-world movements.

dhruvchowdhary

How do big or weird-shaped rooms change how well it works? Also, what happens if light bounces off something shiny like mirrors? Could that mess it up?

MillerHollinger

It seems to me like this process should be sufficient for tracking -- why do most lighthouse-based tracking headsets have two lighthouses? For increased precision, or is there a more specific reason?

GarciaEricS

This duality idea that Professor Ng was talking about is very interesting to me. It makes sense that you would only need the same amount of cameras as you do lights in the two systems and vice versa because we are still fundamentally trying to solve for the same 6 degrees of freedom. I wonder if we could view the scenario through the perspective of linear algebra. If we could, I bet the duality would come through as a change of basis.

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