A brand new VR startup desires to make a fitness-focused glove, and ultimately a fitness-focused headset too.
Vi is being based by XR entrepreneur Cix Liv, who beforehand cofounded the VR livestreaming instrument LIV and the VR health tracker YUR. Liv was engaged on a blended actuality esports sport referred to as REK since 2022, however canceled it final 12 months citing low viewers curiosity in addition to the technical and sensible points inherent in utilizing headsets outside.
Becoming a member of Cix at Vi is engineer Eugene Nadyrshin, who designed a VR glove with haptic suggestions again in 2018, and product designer Marcus Kane, who has expertise with client electronics and beforehand produced renders of Quest Professional and Quest 3 earlier than they had been introduced primarily based on leaked CAD schematics.
Vi health glove prototype being examined with Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional.
The Vi glove is designed for resistance coaching. It includes a stress sensor that may sense the load of dumbbell you are lifting, and an IMU (a chip with an accelerometer and gyroscope) that may sense the variety of reps. Vi claims the aim is to have the ability to observe resistance bands, push ups, pull ups, dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, and extra. It should help Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional first, speaking by way of Bluetooth as demonstrated within the video above. Vi says it is exploring Quest help, however that it might not be doable on account of how Meta has locked down the Bluetooth stack.
The Vi headset however appears extra of an aspiration than a solidified plan, at the least for now. Liv tells UploadVR that it’ll primarily based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 reference design headset, with a (non-lenticular) entrance show and a small battery within the rear strap to realize a slim and balanced design. Vi is focusing on 60-90 minutes of battery life, matching what Liv claims is the utmost typical VR health session. Liv tells us the headset should not be anticipated till late 2025 or early 2026.
Vi’s plan is to promote the {hardware} at value and make the cash on a subscription to its health service, which the headset will boot into, and the one software it’ll help at launch.
As at all times, we must always be aware that mass producing and transport client electronics is extraordinarily difficult, and lots of (if not most) startups fail to ship.
