Laval Virtual, the advent of the Oculus Rift

Echangeur went to one of its favorite shows, Laval Virtual the show of the virtual reality and the increased reality which takes place every year to Laval. On the previous editions, numerous Japanese or Korean universities were very present, bringing a wind of freshness and a little of poetry. This year, they made unfortunately very discreet. This edition 2015 of the show abounded in demonstrations around the helmet of virtual reality ” Oculus Rift “. This way it was necessary it’s a pity to see such a concentration of companies positioned on a rather similar offer.

Nevertheless a demonstration distinguished itself from others. It is about the flight simulator of bird Birdly of the Swiss company Somniacs. This simulator integrates a helmet Oculus Rift, an audio headset, a ventilator (to give the sensation of the wind) and a system onto jacks on which the user is going to stretch out and to position the hands on the wings of the machine. The perception of flight is very well remitted in this complex simulator. Its success is understandable because Birdly touches several senses without leaning only on the contents broadcasted in the helmet. This avoids the sensation of loss of balance which we can feel sometimes.

A logistic use of increased reality was presented on the stand Robocortex. It is a question of using this technology to help the teams of the shipping department. This solution indicates the best layout of the parcel and so improve the stability of pallets and the distribution of the weight.

With regard to the present demonstrations on many stands, it is clear that the car, aeronautical industry and the maintenance are the first users of the technologies of virtual reality proposed by companies such as Immersion.

On the other hand, the same technologies can offer new perspectives for the people handicaped with simulators of cars for blinds (Blind Karting project), a trackeur of the look allowing to write for the tetraplegics (as offered by the Tobii company).

Our crush goes to the project of a student with its connected and automated lamp which evolves according to the interactions with the social networks. This prototype could mean notifications tomorrow retranscribed on a lamp (change of color or movement of the lamp) to notify the inhabitants of an accommodation of the reception of a message on Facebook or an e-mail for the follow-up of the delivery of their last order … Certainly this solution stays very gadget for the moment but this prototype also opens the way to a new generation of connected objects and to new methods of piloting home automation by means of a tweet simple.

To follow thus …

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