At the Sundance Film Festival, the Swiss start-up Imverse presented a camera system that records VR users in three dimensions and integrates their bodies into the VR experience in real time.
If you put on VR glasses, your own body disappears: Your legs, torso and arms are no longer visible or are replaced by a simulated body. The same applies to the surroundings: people and objects become invisible and only virtual reality exists. This has an isolating effect and can be distracting if you want to keep an eye on what is happening around you. Being able to see real people or objects in virtual reality is not only practical, but could also increase immersion, especially as, unlike bits and bytes, they have a physical quality.
The aim is to miniaturise the technology
For the head of Oculus' research department, Michael Abrash, the first step in this direction is a VR system that can capture real objects in three dimensions using internal or external cameras and conjure them up in the VR glasses. Virtual reality is thus enhanced or enriched with real objects. Abrash calls this concept "augmented virtual reality".
A team of engineers from the start-up Imverse has been working on the basic technology for five years. The setup is still very complex, as several external 3D cameras are required. These film the user and their immediate surroundings and display them in virtual reality.
VR users suddenly see their own arms, hands and legs as well as objects and people in close proximity. The visualisation of real objects is still pixelated and faulty, but demonstrates the principle quite well. The team is currently looking for investors.
The long-term goal is to miniaturise the technology so that the cameras can be integrated into the housing of the VR glasses. A lot still needs to happen in terms of sensor technology and computer vision before that happens.
The following video was produced by Techcrunch recorded at the Sundance Film Festival.
Source: Vrodo / Youtube
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