To many, virtual reality seems like something only for gamers. The idea of immersing yourself in a virtual (or digital) environment can seem like a fun video game concept. But soon, we could see a leap forward from gaming alone to other business sectors that adopt the technology.
According to Business Insider and TechSci Research, virtual reality will have more than 25 million users by 2018, cementing it as a critical part of both gaming and communications.
Wheras Oculus Rift, the headset company recently purchased this year by Facebook for $2 billion, created a headset that allows you to look around and feel as if you are in a virtual reality environment, a new company and product called Control VR wants to take virtual reality even farther by allowing you to control the environment around you with a glove.
Their product would allow your fingers, hands, and arms to move within the virtual environment you see, and to move objects around within that virtual environment.
Control VR CEO Alex Sarnoff said, "There's a reason Oculus sold for $2 billion. The founders of our company saw the vision of virtual reality and what it could be 20 years ago. Now it's becoming reality. Gaming is just a start. Where can you take this beyond video games? When you think about social media and where it's gone, and imagine two different people across the world joining each other in a virtual environment. You can put two people in the Sistine Chapel together, and we can both be looking around, all while I'm still sitting on my couch in L.A."
"It allows social communication to go to that next level," he said.
The startup's goal, at present, is to make their new technology (which can cost $14,000 or more) affordable for average users and the developer community. This week the company is launching a Kickstarter campaign to help drive developers to the product. The glove and a developer’s kit will cost $350.
“We want to create an open source platform, and put this in the hands of real people and developers. We want to build a community of developers, and figure out what’s possible,” said Sarnoff.
The Control VR virtual reality glove will help to change the way users' interact with virtual... [+]
In an extended interview with Control VR, we learned how the company wants to push the bounds of what is possible with virtual reality, their plans for other markets, and how the technology has implications for health, education, robotics, and the military.
Lori Kozlowski: What sparked your interest in animation, in improving games, and in making a virtual reality glove specifically?
Alex Sarnoff: My time at major talent agencies, such as William Morris, exposed me to a changing media landscape, many new technologies and the importance of delivering compelling content through storytelling including animation, which is the backbone of gaming.
Every generation there are a few technologies that change the cultural landscape. The late 19th century brought us the telephone. The 20th century brought us radio, television and the computer. We are now witnessing the growth of the most important electronic innovation yet of the 21st century with virtual reality.
I saw such potential for world-changing consumer applications if the technology (inertial motion capture) could be paired with existing visual displays and sold at an affordable price. We decided now is the time to bring this previously exclusive technology to the public and created Control VR, which is an assembly of the leading minds in inertial motion sensor technology, motion capture software systems, as well as gaming, entertainment and military veterans from around the world.
We are about to witness the procreation of new systems and applications that will change the way the world communicates, entertains, and improves itself. Virtual Reality will change the way we play games, watch movies, socialize, and connect with others in foreign lands.
Kozlowski: With the purchase of Oculus Rift by Facebook, where is virtual reality industry headed?
Sarnoff: Timing is really important when it comes to the successful adoption of new technologies. The purchase of Oculus by Facebook expands the virtual reality marketplace, which can also be seen by
Kozlowski: In short, how does the glove work?
Sarnoff: It's advanced wearable tech. Control VR gives the user more presence in a virtual environment. It allows you to see an animated extension of your arms and body in the virtual world and to manipulate the environment around you with your hands, fingers, and arms. The glove allows you to put your body movements in a virtual environment.
Think of the glove as several Nike Fuel band sensors working together -- that all measure how your body is moving and crunches that data in real-time.
Using your body as a controller has huge implications. It will revolutionize the education, healthcare, robotics, and military industries.
Kozlowski: How would you most like to see the glove technology applied?
Sarnoff: Around 800,000 people in the United States each year suffer a stroke. To apply our technology to virtual rehabilitation by taking physical therapy into the virtual world where people can rehabilitate from the comfort of their own home and in an entertaining fashion really excites me.
Control VR will be offering an open source system that comes with an software developer kit. The glove is designed for virtual and augmented reality systems like
Kozlowski: How could animators use the tool specifically to enhance their work?
Sarnoff: Animators will be able to use it to enhance their creations and will now have an affordable way to capture the finger movements of their characters. Capturing accurate finger motions has been the bane of animators for years and requires enormous resources. Now animators will be able to use it to create animation sequences, which include hand and finger motions easily and affordably.
We also hope to see Control VR adopted by high school and college animations programs in the near future.
For more information on Control VR's technology and to see their Kickstarter campaign launch this week, see their site at: controlvr.com
