Step into the world of Volleyverse, where voice commands shape reality! Within a mere 24-hour hackathon, we manifested an enchanting “Making-A-Wish” experience exclusively for the Quest headsets.
By seamlessly integrating the Wit.ai voice AI engine, users express their desires vocally, unveiling delightful gifts seamlessly integrated into their surroundings via the headset’s passthrough feature. We presend our creation during the holiday season, serving as a conduit for spreading merriment and extending heartfelt Christmas wishes to all volley employees.
I want to make a wish and use the gifts to decorate my room.
The tangible world holds its allure, while the digital realm amplifies its fascination. Teaming up with two fellow VR enthusiasts during Volley’s internal hackathon, we embarked on an exploration of voice interactivity and its potential within a mixed reality landscape. Our overarching goal was to create a dynamic platform that recognize users’ wishes with their voices. These wishes would materialize as interactive gifts, manipulated through natural hand gestures like grabbing and pinching. Through this innovative endeavor, we not only unraveled the possibilities of voice interaction but also showcased its seamless integration into future mixed reality computing platforms.
Hackathon Team
Having conceived the idea prior to the hackathon, I rallied two like-minded VR aficionados at Volley to bring the prototype to life. Leveraging my background in product design, I led discussions to scope the experience, while also tapping into my expertise in Quest prototyping to lay the coding foundation.
Devlopment
Our team designed the interactive feature that allows users to express their wishes and receive virtual gifts in return. We integrated Oculus Voice SDK to capture users’ spoken phrases when they interacted with the treasure bag. The recorded phrases were then analyzed using Wit.ai to identify keywords such as “want” and “wish” and recognize the users’ wishes. Once the wishes were extracted, our system matched them with virtual objects from our library and presented the gift to the users.
To embrace the holiday atmosphere, we adorned the entire experience with festive decorations such as mistletoe and ribbons. We utilized Oculus Presence SDK to place the decorations on wall anchors, adding an extra touch of holiday cheer to the virtual environment.
Result
Our collaborative synergy thrived throughout the intense 24-hour sprint, culminating in a compelling live demo presented before the entire Volley team.