Cast AR hands-on with Jeri Ellsworth at Maker Faire 2013

When Valve's first hardware hire, Jeri Ellsworth, tweeted back in February that she was fired from the company, we were disappointed but also intrigued by what she meant by "time for new and exciting projects." Well we finally saw what she's been up to here at at Maker Faire 2013. It's called Cast AR, and it's a pair of 3D augmented-reality glasses that she and fellow co-worker Rick Johnson were developing at Valve before leaving.

The model we saw is still in the early prototype stages, but the concepts are already in place. Perched atop a pair of active shutter glasses are a couple of miniature LCD projectors, which bounce images from a connected computer onto a special reflective surface at a 120Hz refresh rate. A camera module sits on the eyewear's bridge and monitor an array of infrared LEDs embedded in the reflective surface. This allows for quick and accurate head tracking.

Unlike VR goggles like the Oculus Rift, putting on the Cast AR doesn't cocoon you in another world. Even though we were immersed in a full 3D environment, we could still see our surroundings and what was in front of us. We interacted with in a variety of environments, from a flying tour over a digital landscape, waving a wand around to throw a wrecking ball into a Jenga-style tower, to shooting up zombies.

Stay tuned for our video interview with Jeri Ellsworth and take a look at our hands-on gallery below.

Developing...

Gallery: Cast AR hands-on at Maker Faire 2013

Filed under: Gaming, Wearables

Comments