Favourite MR Hardware: HoloKit by Amber Garage

“Amber Garage, a Silicon Valley based creative art & tech studio, on June 1st at Augmented World Expo launched HoloKit, the low cost open source mixed reality experience, which includes the HeadKit cardboard headset and TrackKit software. With your smartphone and Mixed Reality apps, HoloKit provides you access to the world of Mixed Reality right in your hands, affordably.” (From, https://holokit.io/)

HoloKit is the MR equivalent for Google Cardboard; an extremely low cost way for users to experience augmented reality. What I like about HoloKit is that developers do not have to spend thousands of dollars to begin to try develop augmented reality applications. With the HoloKit, development of augmented reality applications could potentially be faster and more widespread solely based on the fact that it’s immensely more affordable than other devices that provide an augmented reality experience such as the Microsoft Hololens or the Magic Leap One.

Favourite VR Hardware: Oculus Go

The Oculus Go is the first truly cordless VR headset which allows for a truly immersive experience. Other headsets in the market such as HTC Vive, Oculus Rift or Windows Mixed Reality headsets all require tethering to a PC and having all the computations and rendering done by the PC. The problem with corded setups is that the entire immersive experience trips up when you’re reminded that you’re still fundamentally in the real world by the fact that your experience is bound by the length of the connecting wires.

What I like about the Oculus Go is that it is the fact that its extremely easy to setup; this lowers the barrier to entry to the realm of virtual reality. To the uninitiated, virtual reality seems something right out of science fiction but the Oculus Go brings this experience to the everyday consumer. Further, the experience isn’t bound by cables which allows for a more immersive experience. However, the Oculus Go does not have any hardware to detect surfaces and as such despite its portability, it is still not entirely suitable for use in games that require movement.