Google unveils DIY virtual reality goggles for your smartphone

Who says you need to shell out a fortune to experience virtual reality on your computer? Google has figured out how to do that with a cardboard box and some components and software.

 

Aptly dubbed "Cardboard," the project aims to let people "experience virtual reality in a simple, fun, and inexpensive way."

 

"It's kind of like a cardboard Oculus Rift," said TechCrunch's Greg Kumparak:

 

 

"By making it easy and inexpensive to experiment with VR, we hope to encourage developers to build the next generation of immersive digital experiences and make them available to everyone," Google said on its developers site.

 

It said one needs a corrugated cardboard sheet, lenses that have a 40 mm focal distance or preferably biconvex, magnets, velcro, rubber band, and an NFC tag.

 

However, there may also be some tricky parts, with Google indicating one may need access to a laser cutter.

 

Google said David Coz and Damien Henry at the Google Cultural Institute in Paris built the cardboard smartphone housing to prototype VR experiences as part of a "20% project."

 

"The results elicited so many oohs and ahs that they inspired a larger group to work on an experimental SDK," it said.

 

Google said Cardboard works with most modern Android phones, but they need Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) or above and should support NFC.

 

When asked if users can use a pizza box for the cardboard, Google said: "Yes. Make sure you order an extra large."

 

A separate report on tech site Gizmodo said the product "is not exactly the Oculus Rift, but who cares what the outside looks like if the virtual reality experience is any good?"

 

"The Cardboard app lets users watch YouTube, virtually carouse on Google Street View or virtually scale the Himalayas with Google Earth, among other immersive demos," it said.

 

"To scroll back and forth, you just turn your head. Oh and you see that little washer that's held to the side? That's how you click on things! You slide it down in its little cardboard slot and it pops back up. It feels like a old school view-finder," it added. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News