Blake
How can I be able to fully immerse someone in the virtual world?
I want to create a 3D Virtual Reality World that feels exactly like the real one. I want to make it so that when you are in the virtual world, you can't move your body in real life. You can only move around in the virtual world. #virtual-reality #computer-graphics
3 answers
Leo Reyes
Leo’s Answer
This question has really two parts to it:
1. Can we read the neural signals from a computer and respond to them, and:
2. Can we inhibit those same signals so that they don't effect muscle motion.
The answer to #1 is "yes, kind of". Look up "Brain Computer Interface": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain%E2%80%93computer_interface. Also check this out: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/06/10/robotics-are-helping-paralyzed-people-walk-again-but-the-price-tag-is-huge/
The answer to #2 is "while this seems to be within the realm of possibility, we probably can't do it right now, and we probably don't want to anyway". Consider that this essentially amounts to being paralyzed temporarily. Unless there's a very good reason to do that, this would raise serious questions ("Are we *sure* this is only a *temporary* paralisys? What happens if something goes wrong?")
However, if you're willing to relax this restriction, there are reasonable alternatives that seem to work fine, like omni-directonal treadmills: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEhwLRX4m2s
If you've tried VR, you've probably found yourself trying to reach out and touch stuff in the virtual world, or ducking when you see something coming at you. You probably don't need a neural interface at all, just some nice graphics and an engaging environment.
Kelly LaBuff
Kelly’s Answer
Hi Blake,
Great question and idea!
Creating virtual worlds is really fun! You can check out https://unity3d.com/learn to create 3D and 2D games, including virtual worlds.
Unity has a great community and website for tutorials, including how to deploy your creations to VR headsets like Google cardboard or the Samsung GearVR. You can also find some unity tutorials on youtube to get you started!
You can also look into video game development and design if you are interested in learning more about virtual worlds!
Best,
Kelly LaBuff
Daniela Silva
Daniela’s Answer
Hi Blake:
This is called Second life. Here it is a link with a tutorial than can help you to creat a virtual world:
http://go.secondlife.com/landing/creator/
Good luck in this project!