Ex-Valve VR expert, robotics specialist join Oculus Rift team

Oculus VR has announced it has brought on two more industry veterans to work on its Oculus Rift technology. The first, Steve LaValle, is a renowned researcher of robotics. LaValle has been collaborating with Oculus since last November, but now has taken leave from his research commitments to join Oculus full-time as lead scientist. "Steve's leading research and development on some of the toughest VR challenges including sensor fusion, magnetic drift correction, and kinematic modeling," Oculus says in its blog post announcing the hirings. LaValle has also started a development blog to coincide with his Oculus work. The team's other new hire is departed Valve VR expert Tom Forsyth. Forsyth previously collaborated with Oculus in bringing Valve's Team Fortress 2 to the device, alongside Joe Ludwig and Michael Abrash. "The Rift is a great bit of kit and combines a bunch of different technology together in a very clever package," says Forsyth. "It was amazing working with it on Team Fortress 2 and seeing the extra immersion people felt inside a game they already knew so well. I'm really looking forward to helping other developers work with this tech as we go towards a consumer version." You can learn more about the Oculus Rift's development from its official blog.