A headset that harnesses all five senses will create such a convincing virtual reality that it will be indistinguishable from real life, designers promised. The Virtual Cocoon, unveiled today, will enable users to go on safari from the comfort of their own front rooms. The headsest will enable users to experience the smells, heat, sounds and sights of places such as Kenya’s Masai Mara. A team of scientists from universities across the UK are working on the project. It is hoped that the device will be available in three to five years time.
The technology, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (ESPRC), is described as a ‘step change’ in virtual reality. Professor Alan Chalmers from Warwick University is working on how smells will be generated electronically in the device. He explained: ‘The idea is to produce a portable virtual reality device that you can use in the comfort of your own home. ‘This will be a huge step forward in comparison to today’s virtual reality devices. Combining the use of all five senses will make the experience feel totally real – it will be unlike anything previously available.’
You could sit on the couch with this thing on your head, or maybe get your butt off the couch and experience reality!
Where do I plug in the fleshlight?
I’m sure Omama will buy one for each voter in the US. That way we can see how well the economy is responding to his policies…
The five senses includes taste. Does it come with bag of safari flavored cheese doodles?
Yeah, indistinguishable except for the twenty pounds pulling your face down.
They won’t need any for the right wing nut crowd. They are all already in a virtual world of President Boss Limpdick.
Woo Hoo! A new field of opportunity for the “Pull My Finger” guys!
“You could sit on the couch with this thing on your head, or maybe get your butt off the couch and experience reality!”
But why? It has better resolution than the real world.
#5 Does everything have to be about politics to you? Get a life.
#8 – Actually I believe Fusion was riposteing on Paddy-O’s #2 statement. At the very least, you could tell them both to shut up with the politics.
Also I am curious where the “Omama” thing came from. I mean, other than the fortunate aligning of letters. It’s really kind of, at this point anyhow, cheap and childish. Two months in office and he hasn’t yet done anything I would consider particularly cowardly or mama’s boyish. Or perhaps his policies are such that elicit an exasperated “Oh mama!”, but… who says that anymore? Or maybe you think he’s sexy. And a woman. In which case….
All you have to do to experience its awesome output is spend multimillions of dollars on each production you play back on it.
Amortized over the install base of purchasers for the next five years, that works out to …erm… $26,507 per copy of the media. No pirating allowed.
Cheap!
This is certainly mighty handier than a big old wide curved screen in a room that might be experienced by a dozen people at once.
http://www.metavision.com/MVimages/imcpicsm.jpg
The best part is that it is free (if it’s free (which it’s not))!
#1: I was gonna say! 😉
The headsest will enable users to experience the smells, heat, sounds and sights of places such as Kenya’s Masai Mara.
When the experience of a strip club becomes an option, gimme a call… but not before.
#8, Tired of being an Idiot,
#5 Does everything have to be about politics to you? Get a life.
Eat Boss Limpdick’s shorts.
No, everything does not have to be about politics. BUT, you’ll find most of it is.
“The technology, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (ESPRC)”
Ah yes, we’re back to the days when science doesn’t have to have any real purpose, to blow millions of bucks. So it was funded by who, taxpayers? And the results ends up where? As the property of some major electronic entertainment brand? Government subsidies for the gaming industry? Sweet, huh?
Well there’s already talk that the internet and electronic readers, are responsible for the death of newspapers. So here we have this possible replacement for tourism. Instead of actually going to Kenya or Europe. Just don one of these things, and visit Virtual Venice, without getting your feet wet. Or your pocket picked. Won’t that do wonders for the foreign travel industry. And won’t the major Airlines scream when their ticket sales drop off sharply? I can just see the virtual sightseeing agents being hounded by the locals for “stealing their souls” and their quaint mom and pop businesses. Just because something can be done, technically. Doesn’t mean other countries will stand for it.
This is just dead end research, which hasn’t found a practical purpose for itself, yet. And one doesn’t end up screwing things up a lot worse for uses its put to. Can you imagine someone trying to drive a car, while wearing this? Well, who would have thought that people would be driving around with cellphones clamped to their heads, 20 years ago?