Valve engineers discuss VR headset development process and show prototypes Vive

Valve Software conducted interviews about the development process leading up to the final design of the Vive VR headset. This offers an exclusive look behind the scenes and reveals multiple VR and AR prototypes of the company.

Valve Software decided to give Make Magazine reporters access to the US company’s workshop. The result of this is an interview with Valve engineers Alan Yates and Monty Goodson, who walk together through the development history of the Vive headset. In the video, among other things, a coarse headset that has to be grabbed with the mouth is reviewed. The two talk about exploring the connection between vision and balance, motion sickness, position and motion tracking with lighthouse constructs and more.

Over the course of the video, the guys can be seen using parts from old Xbox controllers, hard drives, monitors, Steam Controllers and more to eventually hack together their own working VR headset design. According to them, it is ‘nothing that the ordinary user could not do in his own garage’.

At the end of the video, the two emphasize the openness of the Vive platform. They demonstrate how easy it is to remove various parts from the Vive headset to customize the user experience. They also reveal that there is a hidden USB port on the front that users can use to add additional sensors or other hardware. The lighthouse stations can also be taken apart and the firmware can be adjusted freely.

The full story will appear in the next issue of Make Magazine at the end of July. A subscription is required for this, but this is also available in the form of a cheaper, digital version. An extensive photo series can also be seen in the article on the Make website.