Almost anyone who has tried virtual reality can appreciate the “floating hands” phenomenon. You may be performing virtual tasks, even intricate ones, with your hands — but you don’t necessarily have arms, legs and other important body parts to go with them.
But for users of the globally popular platform VRChat, a full body tracking experience is possible thanks to a consumer product pioneered by Greater Green Bay-based Tundra Labs and supported by a 2021 Kickstarter campaign. The Tundra Tracker and its related accessories are currently flagship products for Tundra Labs, which employs three people full-time in Hobart, engages contractors internationally and also has representatives in Japan and China, where Tundra Tracker is made.
The Tundra Tracker adds incredible value to the experience of VRChat users, many of whom have physical disabilities or live in isolated communities where social interaction with like-minded individuals can be challenging, says Tundra Labs Founder Luke Beno. It’s not a video game, he says; it’s critical technology for those customers.
“For a lot of people who use VR for like eight-plus hours a day, they’ll say that it’s one of the most compelling things they’ve added to their gear,” he says.
A foldable circuit board is a key to Tundra Tracker’s magic. Beno — a former semiconductor chip engineer — says the Tundra Tracker started as a reference design for his consulting business before he came to fully understand the specific demand for a VRChat product.
Beno is realistic about the long-term prospects for the Tundra Tracker technology, he says, given that behemoths including Apple and Meta have entered the VR space and are taking product development “very seriously.” So Tundra Labs is always eyeing new technologies and markets. In fact, Beno says the company is poised to launch a new product this year — one that “is completely not VR related and will increase Tundra Labs’ focus on local manufacuring.”
“I always like the process of how things are designed, how they look, how they’re built … really fun engineering problems,” Beno says. “So that’s what really drives me.”
