b<>com creates “sickness free” VR
November 20, 2017
b<>com, an Institute of Research and Technology, has developed what it claims is a “sickness free” Virtual Reality Platform.
In July of this year, the marine theme park Océanopolis in Brest and b<>com tested a new VR dive into the Arctic Ocean, entitled the Virtual Arctic Expedition. Five key takeaways and developments from the project included:
1) 90 per cent of users felt like they were really on the ocean floor
2) 79 percent of users felt free to interact with items in their VR environment
3) 78 per cent felt free to move within the environement
4) 4 users were able to experience the environment simultaneously
5) 350 beta testers tried the experience in real-world conditions
The attraction will be adapted according to these results and will open in 2018. Equipped with VR masks and audio, volunteers spent 10 minutes 20 metres down in the Arctic Ocean, moving around in the hyper-realistic marine environment, interacting with the flora and fauna and sharing their experience on social media in real time.
Ludovic Noblet, Hypermedia Director of b<>com, said “The expertise that we have developed in the field of virtual reality, immersive interaction, cognitive sciences, artificial intelligence, and audio/video/graphics formats allow us to offer engaging virtual reality experiences. The potential is enormous for content creators and distributors. Our work with Océanopolis allows us to apply our technologies to “edutainment” content, but we are also looking at several professional sectors, like health and industry.”