The wireless motion controllers, designed for virtual reality input, the Sixense STEM system has had a rocky road since its hugely successful Kickstarter campaign concluded. Design issues and seemingly insurmountable FCC certification problems meant the date which backers could look forward to receiving their units kept being pushed back. Now it seems there is light at the end of the tunnel, in a new Kickstarter update sent to backers.
Sixense, makers of the Razer Hydra and inventors of the promising motion controller tech STEM, have had a tough couple of years since their hugely successful Kickstarter campaign finished at over $600k, 241% of their original $250k goal, back in October 2013. The technology has come a long way but, beleaguered by strict FCC regulation testing and design problems, the systems have yet to ship to backers.
The company has now released a new road-map and stated that “We’re just about three months from shipping now and we’re still making positive headway.” They do however, add a not of caution, as is probably prudent given the project’s history thus far – including the remaining steps on the road to the STEM’s release.
Note the still remaining certification for compliance, which has this far been the bugbear of this project, but the final date for shipping does currently fall within this year – which means STEM system backers could receive an early Christmas present in December.
See Also: Hands-on: IMU Added to Sixense STEM VR Motion Controller Underscores Impressive Performance
STEM remains a hugely interesting piece of input technology and our time with the device has impressed us in the past, but the last 12 months has seen the VR input space expand and change rapidly with the unveiling of Valve’s Lighthouse tracked SteamVR controllers at GDC in March and Oculus’ Touch, which we saw at E3 this year. It’ll be interesting to see where STEM, once the only game in town fits into this competitive landscape.