This August Pico Interactive released an innovative all-in-one virtual reality headset, Pico Goblin. Initially, it was on sale on the USA and China markets and recently became available for the European users as well.

We, at 3D Architettura, had an opportunity to test and to work with the Pico dev-kit and, believe us, it’s impressive.

What’s new (and cool) about Pico Goblin?

All-in-one stand-alone wireless virtual reality system. Designed to be superior to phone-slotted solutions such as Gear VR and Google Daydream, the Pico Goblin does not need to connect to any external hardware to provide immersive VR experiences.
For VR arch-viz it means a simple way to organize events and presentations without any need of extra-devices: no phones, no PCs, no cables, just a VR headset – and you are ready to demonstrate your virtual reality walkthrough.

Rendering Power. Pico Goblin is powered by a Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 820 processor, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Snapdragon VR SDK and utilizes two high-resolution VR displays for a 2.5K picture. We all are already used (and spoiled) by certain visual quality standards that can be achieved with static renders and pre-rendered animation, from this point of view real-time rendering on portable devices is a compromise – textures, lights, polygons, everything is important for a decent framerate. Finally, with the powerful processor, we can create real-time visualizations comparable to offline rendering.

Moving flexibility. The headset also features built-in three degrees of freedom (3DoF) head-tracking to enable a greater range of motion within the virtual environment. This one does not require any comments – why else do we need VR if not for immersion? Just can add that we are waiting for the release of Pico NEO with 6DoF (and that will be completely another story).

And last (but not least) after a working day is over you can play. The device’s “grab-n-go” approach allows anyone to quickly experience VR without extensive setup and connections to expensive equipment. At launch, the Pico Goblin features more than 50 games including five unique to the all-in-one headset: among them explorative walking simulator Abyssus with stylish and colorful low-poly 3d graphics, Attack of the Bugs, Wands and Starship Disco.

More information on Pico Interactive website