Virtual reality takes on a life of its own
I spent part of Thursday working in IE Business School’s Tech Lab with a device from HTC Vive, exploring the potential of VR.
I’m not easy to surprise: vver the years I’ve tried out a wide range of devices, from the first Oculus, Spain’s own vrAse, different versions of the Google Cardboard, along with some of the more minimalist models, as well as Archos and Samsung Gear.
Along the way I’ve been on roller coasters, big dippers, underwater, swum with whales, flown over volcanoes, played ping pong, and I once met somebody who told me about a VR porn film they saw :-P
But yesterday’s tests opened my eyes to a number of new possibilities, for example the microphone, immersive sound, the two base stations with sensors to stop you from bumping into things, along with the remotes for each hand that you see exactly as you would in real life. For the moment, the thinking seems to be to do with entertainment or content consumption, which is enough to be going on with.
Now, after having walked through an office with the base stations interacting with things, ordering a cup of coffee from a machine, making a photocopy, sitting at a meeting table or talking to a hyper-sensitive a tearful avatar (when is somebody going to invent a virtual handkerchief?) the feeling I have is that this really has potential. Digitalizing a class and then walking round it feels perfectly safe when you have green lines to prevent you falling down stairs or walking into a wall, and if the scan things at low res, the whole thing starts to look very surreal…
It’s possible to track by the millimeter using the remotes or the visor, allowing you to write, put something into your mouth, not that it tastes of anything, or peer right into somebody’s face, which can be challenging for those of us who tend to respect other people’s body space. In many ways, the limits are not strictly virtual, but a combination of virtual and real scenarios, along the lines of what Microsoft is working on right now with its HoloLens (they call it mixed reality).
At one point I sat down on a real chair, replicated in the virtual world, I moved it, and placed it in front of a virtual table, which then led me to lean on it, leaving my elbow comically hanging in mid air.
We also discussed the issue of facial expressions. For somebody who bases part of their communication on non-visual elements, wearing a face tracking device good enough to replicate facial expressions allows you to interact with people normally, without seeing them as a large black, rectangular object.
This is something that doesn’t come into play except for genuinely social purposes, and that while it has improved significantly over time, still has a long way to go in situations where facial expressions are important.
Moore’s law, the dynamism of some entrepreneurs, and the gradual spread of the virtual experience will all contribute to the growth of this sector and its application to new areas. I learned things, opened myself up to new experimental possibilities, and I had a great time in the process.
Soon, more news on this front…
(En español, aquí)
