Using a single camera and a 3D-printed dodecahedron decorated with binary square markers, the so-called ‘DodecaPen’ achieves submillimeter-accurate 6DoF tracking of a passive stylus. Lead by National Taiwan University PhD student Po-Chen Wu during his internship at Oculus Research, the work presents a low-cost tracking and input solution with many potential applications in virtual and augmented reality.
As shown in the video below, the ‘passive stylus’ in this case is an actual ball-point pen, allowing for a quick visual demonstration of the impressive accuracy of the tracking system, with the real and digitised drawings being almost indistinguishable from each other. Although the project focused on stylus applications, the video also highlights how the dodecahedron could be attached to other objects for virtual tracking, such as a physical keyboard.
