If you have ever wanted to fly like a bird, this new Birdly virtual reality machine, that has been combined with the awesome Oculus Rift virtual reality headset allows you to feel the sensation from the safety of your home.
The Birdly VR machine is an installation which explores the experience of a bird in flight, enabling users to control the simulator with their hands and arms. Watch the video after the jump to see it in action.
“Birdly tries to capture the mediated flying experience, with several methods. Unlike a common flight simulator you do not control a machine you embody a bird, the Red Kite. To evoke this embodiment we mainly rely on the sensory-motor coupling. The participant can control the simulator with his hands and arms, which directly correlates to the wings and the primary feathers of the bird.
Those inputs are reflected in the flight model of the bird and displayed physically by the simulator through nick, roll and heave movements. Visualized through HMD (Oculus Rift) the participant is embedded in a virtual landscape where his body is the body of a Red Kite. The whole scenery is perceived in the first person perspective of a bird.
To intensify the embodiment we include additional sonic, olfactoric and wind feedback. Soundwise you perceive only the roaring of the wind and the flaps of the wings. The olfactoric feedback is based on the location which the bird flies over in the scenery and ranges from the scent of a forest, soil, to several other odors of the wilderness. According to the speed of the bird the simulator regulates the headwind with a fan.”
For more information on the new the Birdly VR experience jump over to the website for details.
Source: Engadget
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