Intel’s annual Intel Developer Forum (IDF) is still two weeks away, but one of the would-be surprises has been revealed a little bit early. Intel has developed a depth sensing camera accessory that attaches to HTC’s Vive HMD.
Details are scarce for now, but this is what we know so far: An image of the accessory attached to a Vive was revealed on Twitter by Dimitri Diakopoulos, a product scientist and prototyping engineer working at Intel’s Perceptual Computing Lab.
Diakopoulos did answer a few queries about what it is. He confirmed that the attachment is a prototype depth sensor with six cameras. In response to a question about how much weight the device adds, Diakopoulos replied that “the camera themselves are like 10 grams. Trick here was not altering the center of mass with the ID.” It seems as though Intel has put a considerable amount of work into refining the prototype already.
Diakopoulos did not confirm or deny that the depth camera is built with RealSense technology, but there’s no reason to assume that it was not, especially after the company revealed two depth sensing RealSense cameras at CES earlier this year. Fortunately, we don’t have to wait long too find out, though. Diakopoulous confirmed that the depth camera Vive peripheral will make an appearance at IDF16 between August 16-18, where Intel will release further details about the device.
