Monthly Archives: September 2016

Room Scale Virtual Reality with a Smart Phone

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Innovate LINK

If you are like me, the first time you used Virtual Reality, you probably ran into one of the more painful problems with VR: you can’t see real life obstacles with a device that blocks your view. While it might seem that mapping an entire room into VR would be incredibly expensive, Occipital has found a way to bring that price down to $500. Occipital’s Structure Sensor can apparently scan the room around you in 3-D, and bring the physical world into your virtual one. So now, instead of being a passive participant basically watching a VR movie unfold, you could possibly roam around in simulations with real movement (instead of moving virtually with a controller pad or awkwardly with an omni-directional treadmill). And while $500 is not cheap, its still less expensive than other options.

Creating Touchable Holograms through 3-D Printing

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ub7JyVDsTw

Anyone that watches SciFi knows that the big downfall to holograms is that you can’t touch them. You just pass right through them, ruining the illusion. However, in real life there are several projects working on creating touchable holograms. The problem with these projects are – of course – the cost and availability of tools. But the general idea is that you use focused sound waves to create resistance at various points in mid-air to mimic the feel of virtual objects. New work is going into creating cheaper ways to do this, including printing tools that help shape sound waves in 3-D printers. Of course, this only works for static objects, but its still a new idea that will get more sophisticated over time. The video above really doesn’t make much sense outside of the article, but it is pretty interesting at the end where they make drops of water levitate in mid-air.

Turning Virtual Reality Into Simulator Rides

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaUtH87hBAE

One of the biggest problems with Virtual Reality that I keep coming back to (other than cost and ethical concerns) is the lack of interaction in most VR simulations. There are many ways around this, but many of them still involve tracking hands or movements. If you want to go sit on a virtual horse, you can’t. Until now it seems. FutureTown has created a device that converts into a motor bike, a mechanical horse, and a standing ski/surfing simulation board (see the promo video above). Connect this device to your favorite VR headset, and its like you are almost there! Well, not really, but it probably does bring us closer to Holodecks. But it also highlights the problems with the whole idea: how expensive is it going to get to create a new set-up for every way you could use this? Cars, boats, biking, etc all have different contexts for motion. Will this be useful for education anytime soon? Not really. But I did get to play in something like this in a mall – basically, an eggshell that worked like a space ship while I fought off an alien invasion. It was pretty cool, bur practical? We will have to see.

Artificial Intelligence Meets Instant Messaging in Google Allo

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXEkoXgb4bI

One thing you have to give Google – they are always willing to try new things. Of course, I can’t remember what the last new Google “thing” was that I read a few months ago, so that could be good or bad. But today Google announced Google Allo, a new messaging app. Its basically another version of testing or iMessage or (insert an messaging predecessor here). So nothing to get excited about there. However, they are combining it with a new Google Assistant to add some artificial intelligence to the mix. Basically, you don’t have to leave the app to look up directions (or whatever the task may be) – you can tell the AI to look it up and it will display in the app. It will also give you some suggested responses based on the messages you get. Basically it lets the AI do the Googling for you (the video above covers the more cutesy aspects, but the linked article includes more interesting ideas and details on things like Incognito mode). Interesting ideas, but do I have to get all my friends on Allo to use it? That seems to be the downfall of so many new Google ideas. Its hard to get people in new apps that don’t go viral like Pokemon Go.

Will the Future of Augmented Reality be AR Contact Lens Connected to Your iPhone?

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The headline pretty much says it all: “Apple to meet with augmented reality contact lens firm EPGL, discuss possible iOS support.” Articles like this are a sign that innovations are going mainstream. Or at least attempting – many still don’t make it there. The biggest problem with augmented reality is that you have to hold a phone in front of you to experience it, turning your body into a wandering, distracted safety hazard (see Pokemon Go). or you have to buy an expensive pair of AR glasses like Google Glass (or not anymore – oppps). But would AR contact lens be more or less distracting? Probably depends on the design of the user interface. Or maybe they are just a temporary step towards having computers implanted in our heads? See the first few minutes of the H+ video above for what that would be like, and then the rest of the video see how scary it could become.