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Show HN: DIY Position Tracking Using HTC Vive's Lighthouse

by ashtuchkin on 11/28/16, 3:19 AM with 38 comments

  • by ashtuchkin on 11/28/16, 3:19 AM

    Hey, author here. I used the system described in the link for indoor stabilization of a drone, plus precise landing, to support an automatic battery swap station project (have a video there). Worked pretty well, so I decided to open-source it in hopes this would help fellow hackers.

    Let me know if you have any questions!

  • by fest on 11/28/16, 8:34 AM

    Great project! When listening to an interview with Alan Yates[0] (main designer of the Lighthouse) I was thinking about an application like this.

    I recently did shop around for motion capture system (cameras tracking markers) and one of the cheapest systems with comparable performance to OP's came out to cost $5-8.5K.

    [0] http://embedded.fm/episodes/162

  • by emilburzo on 11/28/16, 4:37 PM

    A bit off-topic, but I was wondering:

    How was the base station visualization[1] done?

    [1] https://camo.githubusercontent.com/d9241f231a03d177d215f98bd...

  • by thenomad on 11/28/16, 12:58 PM

    Fantastic!

    Having been developing with the Vive for most of the last year for Left-Hand Path (http://store.steampowered.com/app/488760), and given I've got a lot of mocap experience before that, I can confirm that Lighthouse's tracking is ridiculously good.

    It's not just as good as something like an Optitrack system: it's significantly better.

    If this provides comparable tracking to what the Vive offers, it's an absolutely unbeatable price / performance combo.

  • by moron4hire on 11/28/16, 8:23 AM

    I actually just arrived in Seattle to take the official HTC course on using the Steam VR positional tracking system, and this was one of the first things I saw as I got off the plane.

  • by SuperPaintMan on 11/28/16, 5:58 AM

    I've been mulling a installation work based on exploring video solids[1] around using cheap phone-VR mounts. This project is exactly what I need to find the viewers position in the video/space. Any cheaper way to do this without the Lighthouse devices?

    [1] https://theblackbox.ca/blog/vector-video/