The Guardian Boundary system on the Oculus Quest 2 VR headset is already pretty robust, but it seems to be seeing significant improvement soon.
A new feature called “Space Sense,” discovered by Twitter user Basti564 (via Upload VR), shows how soon the guardian, supposed to show players the edge of their safe space when wearing a VR headset, will be smart enough will be to show people, pets and other items that can enter a room-sized play area and cause accidents.
Guardian Intrusion Detection has been replaced by Space Sense in the v32 Oculus Quest update pic.twitter.com/2pNHrptX8PS11. September 2021
As shown in the video, those who enter the play area will appear with a pink, ghostly outline warning you to stay out of their way.
The video and feature are hidden in the Quest v32 firmware, but can be accessed through the command line settings. Although the menus can be accessed, the function will not work even if it is turned on in the hidden menus.
The text accompanying the function in the user interface is as follows:
“Activate Space Sense to see the outlines of people and things within your roomscale boundary. Knowing what’s around you in VR means you and others can stay safe.
“You can see outlines up to eight feet away, as long as they’re still within your limits and right in front of your headset. You can turn this feature off at any time in Settings.”
Analysis: AR ambitions and useful upgrades
There has been a lot of talk lately about Oculus’ forays into the world of augmented reality applications. That, of course, leads people to think about augmented reality games and apps that merge the real and digital worlds, as they do with mobile software like the mega-popular Pokemon Go.
But what is perhaps more interesting and useful are use cases like this one. It’s not about making a dinosaur appear in your living room through an Oculus Quest headset (although that would be cool too), but also improving the existing functionality of the device.
Just like Oculus recently added the ability to see certain keyboards in VR (like the Logitech K830), this Space Sense update improves the overall VR experience by reducing the friction of interacting with the real and digital world at the same time . As the proliferation of virtual reality begins to move towards the mainstream, it is thoughtful details like Space Sense that make it more appealing to first-time visitors. We can’t wait for it to be available to all users.
Comments are closed.