S
MOST REVOLUTIONARY HEADSET
HOW A TEAM OF RESEARCHERS AT HP LABS CREATED THE HP OMNICEPT , THE MOST INTELLIGENT VIRTUAL REALITY SOLUTION ON THE MARKET .
BY SARA HARRISON
PHOTOGRAPH B Y SPENCER HEYFRON
I magine a virtual reality experience unlike any you ’ ve had before — one where the sophisticated hardware you ’ re wearing could sense your stress levels , your confusion , or even when your attention is beginning to wane — well before you ’ ve realized it .
That was the vision of Tico Ballagas , a senior manager at HP Labs , who led the development of the HP Omnicept Solution : the HP Reverb G2 Omnicept Edition headset and SDK ( software development kit ) for VR developers .
Together with an all-star team of researchers , Ballagas set out to change how humans and machines interact . But like all ambitious projects , it had many iterations before it was ready for prime time . After five years of development that spanned four countries and two reorganizations , HP Omnicept will hit the market this spring . Outfitted with a fleet of biosensors and sophisticated AI , the HP Omnicept VR headset can do what no VR hardware does — it measures how hard your brain is working and soon even will gauge your mood and emotions . It ’ s the next step in the future of computing that ’ s set to revolutionize every aspect of work , from how we train surgeons to preparing for public speaking to how we make and consume entertainment . Here ’ s how the Omnicept came to life .
TO MAKE A monumental leap forward in computing , Ballagas looked backward . He was inspired by
Doug Engelbart , a pioneering inventor and computer engineer who in 1959 posited that instead of replacing people , computers could work alongside them , augmenting intelligence rather than supplanting it . His ideas became the basis of tools we still use today like the mouse , hypertext , and videoconferencing .
“ Now we realize it ’ s not either / or ,” says Ballagas . “ We can use computers and we can use AI to augment human intelligence as well .”
But revolutionizing computing isn ’ t a one-person job . First , Ballagas had to assemble the right experts , starting with Jishang Wei , a top AI architect .