Virtual Reality Headset Lets You See, Hear, Smell, Taste, and Touch!
Posted on May 3, 2009 by admin Under Technology · 1 Comment
One can hardly imagine what it must have been like living in Egypt in the Ancient times? What did the streets look like, and what the crowd sounded like along with the essence? For over centuries, virtual reality has given us the hope that some day, one may practically be able to tour such places and periods of time as a virtual tourists.
Till date none of the virtual reality devices designed yet have been able to stimulate these five senses to a much high degree of reality.
The Engineering and Physical Research Council or better abbreviated as EPSRC funding programs has enabled an umber of scientists from the Universities of York and Warwick to believe in the fact it is indeed possible to pinpoint all the necessary expertise to make this a reality in a project that is called by them as ‘Towards Real Virtuality’.
The term virtual reality is simply framed by the team of professionals to highlight their aim that they can actually provide a real like experience in which all of the senses may in fact be stimulated in such a pattern that the user may have a fully immersive experience which may create such an environment for them that they can hardly differentiate between reality and virtuality.
The teams at York and Warwick are aiming to line up with other experts from Universities of Bradford, Brighton and Bangor in order to develop the device known as the Virtual Cocoon which is also one of the most newly developed real Virtuality device that can actually help stimulating all the five senses in a much more realistic pattern as compared to any other device of present day.
The device is expected to be containing a number of specially developed electronics and computing capabilities in a headset that could in fact help to unfold the potential benefits of Real Virtuality in a number of different fields like education, environmental protection and the business.
A mock device of the Cocoon shall be on display at the Pioneers 09’, which is an EPSRC showcase event that will be held in the London’s Olympia Conference Center on Wednesday on 4th of March.
Professor David Howard, who is from University of York and is one of the leading scientists said that Virtual Reality projects specially focuses on one or two of the senses like the sight and hearing. He also stated that no other group anywhere in the world had ever worked in any project that would have been similar to this one.
The sense of smell shall be developed electronically using the new technology that is being pioneered at the Warwick by Alan Chalmers and his team, which would have an ability to deliver a pre-determined recipe on-demand. As taste and smell were very much closely related to each other so, they also intended to provide a texture sensation that would more likely be like tasting something in your mouth. Touch would be provided by the tactile devices.
The key to success would be to interact the working of all the senses together as in real life. The team is also aiming to make the device much lighter weight more comfortable and cost efficient than the existing device with the help of computing and electronics they had developed.
A number of public debates have been organized on this topic related to health and safety measures surrounding the Real Virtuality, as the technology involves inviting users in a virtual experiment that would in fact separate them from rest of the world.
With the development of the new Virtual Cocoon, they also aim to relate this technology in reaching the economic and other implications of the real world to benefit the society as a whole was also added by Professor David Howard.
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