After having checked out the first PrioVR prototype the other week, I had a chance to sit down with YEI Technology’s Head of R&D, Paul Yost, to learn more about the VR motion tracking system. Yost talks VR gloves, vests, and Post-Kickstarter plans.
The PrioVR Kickstarter didn’t reach its goal, but the team is committed to making PrioVR a reality (11:51). Yost told me that the end of the Kickstarter is “…certainly not the end of the road for [PrioVR]….” This was YEI Technology’s first attempt at a crowd-funding project and that they learned much from the experience, Yost said. The latest Kickstarter update from the project tells us that they’ll be relaunching:
We also want to assure you that we’re not done. We’re going to take these comments, questions, suggestions, advice, jokes, and criticisms, combine with some beer and pizza, and regroup, reevaluate, and relaunch an even better PrioVR.
Yost told me (13:04) that development on the system is continuing regardless of the Kickstarter’s success and that “…the technology and the idea is too good for us to give up on….” He also mentioned that they were looking to relaunch their PrioVR funding campaign sometime in the Spring of 2014.
Yost also talked about using the PrioVR technology for an oft-requested ‘VR glove’ with full finger tracking (15:13).
Actually that’s in our formal development plan as we’re planning on adding a PrioVR-compatible glove; as soon as we get this project up and running, we want to start working on those accessory items, like the glove, and it would be relatively easy. We’ve actually done some finger-tracking with our sensors previously…
There was some confusion regarding what the final PrioVR system would be, likely because YEI demonstrated their prior wireless 3-Space sensor system in their Kickstarter video rather than showing the more suit-like design that PrioVR is aiming for. Yost talks about this at 10:28 and clears up what the final system will look like. I got to see the first prototype PrioVR vest which allows players to get the bulk of the sensors on quickly, rather than strapping them on one-by-one as with 3-Space.