July-16.Indd

ANAND PARTHASARATHY TORY S OVER C The Judas Mandala by Damien Broderick;. The Science Fiction classic that coined the term “Virtual Reality” OMETIMES it takes two tries to getgeett it right. Virtual Reality (VR) is onene S In India, the National Informatics such example. The term fi rst popped upup Centre of the Department of Electronics, in fi ction long before it became fact... inin then headed by the charismatic scientist- a 1982 science fi ction novel, The Judasas administrator, Dr. N. Seshagiri, realised Mandala by Australian writer Damienn the potential of VR and set up one of Broderick. the world’s earliest VR labs in Delhi – Ten years passed before the fi rstt the Virtual Environment Lab of NIC VR systems were introduced in the early or VELNIC. It created simulation and 1990s – complex room-sized projection training solutions for many strategic systems, bulky head-mounted displays government departments. coupled with haptic (touch-sensitive) Flash forward to 2014, and the gloves. The starting prices were Second Coming of VR was preceded by Rs 100,000 (Rs 70 lakh in today’s money). complementary technologies like 3-D The systems were embraced by military systems like missile launchers, or fi ghter visualization and Augmented Reality agencies – as simulators that gave armed aircraft. But they remained out of reach of (AR). forces realistic training on costly weapon the mass market. ScienceS i Reporter,R JULY 22016016 14 COVEROVER STORYTORY It began as a high-tech corporate tool. Today Virtual Reality and its offshoot, Augmented Reality, have morphed into handy technologies for lay users – with a growing Indian ecosystem. Viewmaster & stereoscopic disks Virtual Reality, also known as increasingly offering such ‘walk-through’ camera and related to one theme – like Immersive Multimedia or Computer imagery for potential customers. All wonders of the world, wild life, etc. Seen Enhanced Reality, is an artifi cial leading online real estate marketers through the View-Master, the pair of environment created by computers and – CommonFloor.com, Housing.Com, images gave the illusion of 3-D. Larger software that allows the user to interact IndiaProperty.com – have launched desi versions of the stereoscopic viewer with it and by harnessing senses like mobile apps that harness technologies were a constant and popular feature of sight, touch and sound (and sometimes, like 3-D and VR to let you ‘look before fairs and jathras all over India for decades. smell!) creates the illusion that it is a real you leap’: immerse yourself in virtual The second, more people-centred, environment. realizations of the fully constructed avatar of VR occurred in the last 3-4 years, property, before leaping for your cheque on the back of a few other immersive Interactive 3-D book. technologies. In its simplest form, VR can be experienced In fact, adding a third dimension to by all of us with no special tools other a fl at image has long been the best way Google Street View than a PC or laptop with a mouse. Do a to give the illusion that ‘you are there’. Between 2007 and 2010, Google took the browser search for “Interactive 3-D” and In the 1950s, parents in India could buy 3-D experience of its Google Maps tool a you will fi nd hundreds of images where small viewing plastic devices for their notch higher with StreetView. This gave you can zoom in and out and move 360 children called View-Master – with sets users a very real experience of actually degrees around the object in the picture of circular cardboard-backed image disks. navigating streets, panning and zooming by manipulating the mouse. You will These were essentially Kodachrome to change one’s view point, glide along fi nd sites that sell cars or apartments, transparencies shot with a stereoscopic streets and diving into side streets and 15 Science Reporter, JULY 2016 COVER STORY Google glass Capturing Imagery for Google StreetView Google Glass is an optical head- mounted display, shaped like a pair of eyeglasses, which allows the wearer to access information in the Internet through voice commands, and displays such information in a corner of the glass. its use to corporates, especially in the medical profession. Surgeons at the Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai performed open-heart surgery while wearing Google Glass, which allowed them to access To navigate narrow Indian streets, Google designed a bicycle version of its 360 degree camera additional help in real time. At the Sir car to generate imagery for street view. (Seen with Vinay Goel, then Google India Product H N Reliance Foundation Hospital and Head) Photo: Anand Parthasarathy Research Centre, also in Mumbai, doctors lanes, much as one might do in a computer Augmented Reality wearing the Glass would get a feed of game – only this was the real thing. the patient’s entire medical history, A number of companies tried to deliver prior to an examination. At Lifeline To capture this imagery Google Augmented Reality, which unlike VR Hospital in Chennai, doctors performed deployed special vehicles equipped with does not create a new and artifi cial world a hernia repair while giving a running multiple stereo and 360 degree cameras. but adds additional digital information commentary to medical students through For India the company rolled out a bicycle into the users’ real world. the Glass. version to navigate narrower streets. A prime example is Google Glass, However StreetView remains a somewhat But Google has not pursued the an optical head-mounted display, shaped commercial development of the Glass and contentious technology in India, with like a pair of eyeglasses, which allows some states banning the capture of such it looks like this technology may never the wearer to access information in the gain wide public acceptance. 3-D imagery, citing security – while Internet through voice commands, and Microsoft’s own AR offering was the hospitality and tourism industry displays such information in a corner of the Hololens – head-mounted smart has embraced it to enhance travellers’ the glass. Regular spectacle users could glasses that worked with the Windows 10 experience. Oberoi Hotels and Resorts incorporate their prescription into the operating system to offer what is known was the fi rst hotel group to have all of its Glass. The product had the ability to grab as ‘mixed reality’: a combo of real and properties in India photographed using pictures or video of what the wearer was virtual worlds that the user can command Google’s Street View technology. Tourists seeing – and this raised some privacy using voice and gesture. The potential can now take a ‘virtual’ walk-through issues. all Oberoi hotels. Another good example applications are very similar to 3-D Google Glass became available is the Amarvilas Hotel in Agra whose viewing systems – but as of now, Hololens globally around mid 2013 – but the stiff 3-D walk-through can be experienced at: is still available only to developers as a $ asking price of $ 1500 (Rs 1 lakh) limited http://goo.gl/HHUzeo 3000 (Rs 2 lakhs) kit. Microsoft’s hololens… now in the hands of developers may have potential as an industrial tool Microsoft Hololens – still with developers Science Reporter, JULY 2016 16 COVER STORY Oculus Rift VR headset A set of wireless “base stations” need to be installed in the room to mark its HTC Vive edges – they send messages and images to prevent you from bumping into walls. AR is not about to go away – but You can roam around the room freely, to this country. It previewed the device in 2016, it has been challenged by the turn through 360 degrees and also make recently in India to allow the media to galloping pace of full function Virtual gestures using the hand controllers. follow live its annual product showcase Reality in a new consumer-friendly garb. Both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive in Beijing. are expected to be available in India in Oculus RiĞ & HTC Vive: the second half of 2016. Both of them Indian Challenger PC-assisted VR belong to a class of contemporary VR Early in 2016, three undergraduates – Hedging its bet on Hololens, Microsoft systems that are controlled by a PC with Shubham Mishra, Vrushali Prasade, in 2014, spent $ 2 billion to buy the most a powerful CPU and graphics card. If you and Harikrishna Valiyath – dropped promising brand in VR – Oculus – whose add the cost of such a PC, they both end out of their course at BITS Pilani-Goa VR headset, Oculus Rift fi nally went on up costing upward of Rs 1 lakh... clearly and decided to take on Oculus. Their sale in a few select global markets earlier not affordable by most of us. Bengaluru-based startup -- Absentia – this year. The Rift is a $ 599 (Rs 40,000) By October 2016, Sony will also join created a VR headset called Tesseract headset which is generally considered the this group with its most immersive product of its kind. But it own VR head set that has been challenged by the Taiwan-based needs a Playstation HTC which launched its own offering, 4 console to work. HTC Vive, at $ 799 (Rs 56000). Before that, the China- While Rift uses the XBox game based Le Eco, which pad as its controller (both are Microsoft has launched a series products), Vive comes with its dedicated of mobile phones in motion controllers which the user holds India, is likely to bring in his or her hands. A set of wireless “base its own VR headset stations” need to be installed in the room to mark its edges – they send messages and images to prevent you from bumping The creative Indian team of into walls.

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