The Swiss provider of computer accessories, Logitech has partnered up with the HTC Vive team to introduce a new way of input in Virtual Reality. This input system, Logitech Bridge as the company calls it tracks down the Logitech keyboard and displays a digital precise representation of it in HTC Vive.
Typing in a VR headset has always been a problem even if you are an expert and know your keyboard layout so well that you don’t need to look at it. It can get difficult and frustrating to be productive in a virtual reality environment. There are many ways of input or typing in VR like virtual keyboard, motion controllers, joystick and voice controls, but nothing comes close to the input speed of a real keyboard.
Logitech and HTC aims to make typing efficient in Virtual Reality. They have introduced a system which tracks down your keyboard as well as your hand’s motion and movement and display a digital version of it in the Virtual World.
This all works by connecting a Vive tracker to the upper left corner of the Logitech keyboard using a cradle accessory, along with the Logitech Bridge developers kit (SDK). This combination of hardware will provide a fully real and natural typing experience enabling you to look down at your hands and at the keyboard in the Virtual Reality.
Best of all, the users can also customize the skin of the keyboard and can even remap buttons to perform a different function. It also displays animations like when a button is pressed.
This system is built into Steam VR so it can potentially work with any VR application on the platform.
However the companies are not ready to bring this product to the market, currently they are going to develop only 50 prototype kits for selected developers as a proof of concept. The Bridge Development Kit is priced at $150 and the company is accepting applications for the kit through November 16th.
Based on the level of interest of developers and how the testing goes the company might even produce more kits. Furthermore, with any good fortune, down the line, the item will be accessible for purchasers who need a more natural and efficient typing experience in the Virtual Reality World.
Virtual Reality is progressing day by day and will surely one day take the computer productivity to next level, it might replace physical monitors and other display devices and provide us with an infinite spatial desktop experience that will unlock the applications from flat windows and bring it into the virtual world providing an immersive experience.