During our last visit to JPL, a few of our class members (me included) had the opportunity of testing out the Oculus Rift. This device is used for advanced motion tracking and has been utilized for years with video game platforms. I had to wear goggles that displayed the virtual reality and motion tracked my head movements. The combination between the goggles and the 9 motion capture cameras mounted on the ceiling placed me in a completely false, yet oddly believable, environment. JPL uses this technology to simulate Curiosity on Mars. So, the display that I saw with the goggles was a barren, red landscape.
The Oculus Rift was created in 2012 by a young inventor and designer, Sergey Orlovskiy. The company raised $91 million to fund their research, $2.4 million of which was gathered through the crowd sourcing site Kick Starter. A consumer version of the Oculus Rift will be available in 2015, with games that will be fully interactive and immersive.
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| Consumer version of the Oculus Rift |
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| the Oculus Rift at NASA (with treadmill) |
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