During his opening keynote at the 2016 Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich unveiled Project Alloy, an all-in-one virtual reality solution.
The key difference between Alloy and existing virtual reality headsets such as Oculus Rift and HTC Vive is that it keeps its processing unit inside the headset itself, allowing for untethered VR experience. In addition to allowing six degrees-of-freedom movement, this also means that you won't have to shell out for a beefy PC or a high end smartphone in order to use the headset.
Alloy also leverages Intel's RealSense technology to introduce "merged reality" where you can see your hands, your friends and the walls around you inside the virtual reality world. All of this is done through a set of cameras attached to headset itself, with no need to set external sensors or cameras around the room.
Intel will open the Alloy hardware and provide open APIs for the ecosystem, allowing developers and partners to create their own branded products from the Alloy design in 2017.
