--The Walking-- Head mounted VR display that uses smart phones such as Samsung's Gear VR, all lacks the means to map user's walking into virtual world. The need of using mouse, keyboard or gamepad to navigate virtual avatar really took away the immerssiveness of virtual reality. More expensive VR display such as Oculus Rift DK2 or Sony Morpheus, uses a stationary camera to estimate distance traveled, but such system limit user to stand within the confined space determined by the camera's view angle.
We repurpose an bluetooth EMG muscle activity sensor called MYO, which was designed to measure arm muscle and recognize hand gestures, into measuring leg muscles and estimate walking. Combining this feature and head tracking, user is able to navigate their avatar just by walking naturally. Since there are no space restrictions like the camera systems, this feature can also be applied to indoor localization and positioning, where GPS is not reliable.
--The Time-- We use small 360 degree lens attachment designed for smartphone camera to record live event in panoramic video. User may stream their live recording to our server, so friends or strangers from around the world can join and share "the moment".
These video remain available after the live event has ended. Depend on privacy setting, friends or strangers may play these video by literally "walking" through it. When our client software detect walking pattern from Myo sensor, the movie will play. When the user stopped walking, movie play will pause, like the time has been frozen.
--Other Use Cases-- 360 degree real time video streaming can also be use in hostile environment such as fire rescue. With just one small camera, support team observers can telepresence into the field and alert the firefighter regarding potential hazards or locating rescue target. This technology is easy to scale, because it does not require additional cameras and servos as the number of observers increase.
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