Quantitative analysis of the Oculus Rift S in controlled movement

Purpose To assess the translational and rotational tracking performance of the Oculus Rift S using controlled robotic motion and a gold-standard motion tracking system.Materials and Methods An Oculus Rift S headset and controller were each placed in an industrial robot arm and had Vicon passive markers placed on them. The robotic arm was then translated in three perpendicular directions and performed three orthogonal rotations about three orthogonal axes while the spatial position of the headset and controller were recorded by Vicon motion capture cameras as well as Unity. Positional data was analyzed to determine the difference in tracking between Unity and Vicon to establish the accuracy of the Rift S’ tracking capabilities.Results It was determined that the translational accuracy of the system was 1.66 ± 0.74 mm for the head-mounted display and 4.36 ± 2.91 mm for the controller, and the rotational accuracy of the system was 0.34 ± 0.38° for the HMD and 1.13 ± 1.23° for the controller.Conclusions The high level of accuracy and precision combined with the low cost of the Oculus Rift S and its use of inside-out tracking make it a viable candidate for clinicians looking to incorporate virtual reality.Implications for RehabilitationThe Oculus Rift S can report the position and orientation of the user’s headmounted display and controllers during gameplay.The Oculus Rift S provides a more portable VR system which does not require external sensors to track motion, allowing it to be used in a variety of rehabilitation scenarios while still providing adequate motion tracking.