Intel is working on a standalone VR headset with RealSense cameras

Intel is working under the name Project Alloy on a wireless VR headset that can be used without a smartphone. The device contains a soc, sensors, screen and battery and is equipped with RealSense cameras. Manufacturers will be able to make their own Alloy devices from next year.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich announced Project Alloy at the Intel Developer Forum keynote. The Alloy headset would be a complete system for VR, where a separate PC is no longer necessary: ​​the headset contains a Skylake processor from the i5 or i7 series. It is not known which screens and resolution are used, but it is likely that these are controlled by an Iris Pro GPU.

On the outside are Intel RealSense cameras, which should also enable augmented reality applications. In addition, the wearer of the Alloy glasses can view the real world on the screen, with virtual objects projected over it. The cameras can map the environment, so that the wearer of the glasses does not bump into anything. In addition, hands are recognized and digitally visualized, so that they can be used as ‘controllers’. Each finger is mapped individually and it must be possible to interact with objects from the VR world, or to use real objects in the virtual environment. The hardware can work with the Microsoft Holographic platform, which Microsoft opened to developers in early June.

The prototype that Krzanich showed on stage has two RealSense cameras and many other sensors on board, but which soc is used and what resolution the screen has is not yet known. Project Alloy should be available as an open development platform in the second half of 2017. Manufacturers can then market their own VR headsets with the technology.