The PlayStation VR2 headset can track the accompanying Sense controllers thanks to a bunch of infrared LEDs hidden inside the ball-shaped controllers, according to new teardown videos released by Sony on Tuesday night.
Under the hood of the Sense controller, the controller itself has a ring of 14 IR LEDs and three placed elsewhere for tracking, as shown in the Sense teardown video. “These infrared lights are used by the tracking camera on the VR headset to detect the position and orientation of the controller,” Sony’s Takeshi Igarashi, who also designed the DualSense controller, explains in the video. “The LEDs are placed in optimal locations to ensure they are accurately detected no matter which way the controller is facing.” And the controllers’ cover is even made of a material that “transmits the infrared light emitted internally to track movement on the controller,” he says.
The Sense teardown video also shows off the controller’s five capacitive touch sensors, a look at the adaptive trigger component (which works like DualSense), and even that there are little PlayStation button icons stamped on the controller.
And for the headphones themselves, this teardown is also pretty cool; I loved watching Takamasa Araki, the lead designer on PSVR2 (and the first PSVR!), expertly disassemble both the front of the headset and the headband. I’d especially recommend scrubbing to 6:07 or so, where you can see what it looks like from the inside of the headset when you turn the lens adjustment dial. Oh, and the headset’s eye-tracking feature? As shown by Araki, each lens has an infrared LED around it and an infrared camera that captures the light from the LED, and they work together to track your eye movements. Really cool.
I really recommend you watch both the headset and the controller teardown, they are fascinating. However, Sony cautions against attempting the disassembly yourself, noting that disassembling your hardware will void the warranty.