The internet of the human condition: A new era in VR
Imagine a device that could tell you what your real response to a given situation is using data from your body, getting a glimpse into your mind without introspection. Virtuleap have developed an app which uses a VR algorithm to do just that.
The use of games and simulations in neuroscience, teaching, and corporate settings, amongst others, is not new. However, while we can learn from these, we cannot directly gauge how we truly respond to various scenarios. We only know what we think; our interpretation of the scenario, and rationalization of our actions or responses as it relates to our interpretation. The team at Virtuleap have bypassed this thinking and found a way to pull this information directly from our autonomic nervous system and the subliminal movements we are not entirely aware of using VR.
Virtual reality simulating science
Virtuleap offers an entirely different perspective to AR and VR, built on the core premise of creations that maximize the comfort of the user. While relatively fast, Virtuleap’s success was gradual. Their earliest work explored how analytics could be reinvented in VR and AR. The idea was seeded during Virtuleap co-founder and CEO, Amir Bozorgzadeh’s time in the THNK Executive Leadership Program. As part of his Endeavor, Amir and his class teammates ran hackathons with Google, Mozilla, and Samsung. After two years exploring the opportunities, he took his ideas to a Silicon Valley accelerator, his initial ideas were scratched there — happily failing, as any great innovation should, to emerge with an entirely new human-centered approach.
“With VR and AR, you’re talking about a medium that has an additional dimension which imitates the real world. The interesting opportunity there is that VR and AR don’t just serve as a convergence point for machine learning, artificial intelligence, and all these cool things like robotics, but it also serves as an intersection point for sciences,” Amir explained. “VR and AR are like the ultimate facilitator for that because finally these devices are actually aware and listening and conscious of certain unconscious and subliminal aspects of the human condition.”
User-centric (r)evolution
Virtuleap hit on the vast possibilities of VR to revolutionize education, design, and any field which can benefit from human-centric design. Virtuleap’s algorithm taps into these body signals by collecting a multitude of data points accessible through standard VR technology. The most common and basic Oculus headset and controller have 16 data points receiving signals from your body. Virtuleap created mathematical models that reference behavioral studies to translate that subliminal body language into emotional states. The algorithm can be used in a variety of immersive VR experiences to gauge user response to products and services, tuning into and truly matching user needs at the core.
Virtuleap is set to release its first app, Attention Lab, a futuristic R&D lab where you can play the first game in which you’re deserted on an island. We won’t give away the rest, but we will tell you the rules of the game are not arbitrary. Having tested responses using EEGs, eye tracking tests, and a variety of existing technologies in combination, the rules are geared to trigger specific responses and measure your reactions. The results will reveal an aspect of your personal psychology to you, stored in the Attention Lab for you to reference.
Attention Lab and the first VR game will be available in the Oculus store May 2019. The algorithm is applicable in different content categories and contexts, if you’re interested in running pilot campaigns using neurotech, reach out to Virtuleap via their website. Angel investors that share Virtuleap’s vision: it’s not too late to get in! The company is expanding its base of brainy neuroscientists and developers gearing up to develop more awesome neurotech.
Follow @Virtuleap for the latest updates.
This article was originally published on our blog.
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