Virtual Reality made real!
In 1938, French dramatist, poet, essayist, actor, and theatre director Antoine Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud, is widely recognized as one of the major figures of twentieth-century theatre and the European avant-garde. He described the illusory nature of characters and objects in the theatre as “la réalité virtuelle” in a collection of essays, Le Théâtre et son double. Antonin Artaud took the view that illusion was not distinct from reality, advocating that spectators at a play should suspend disbelief and regard the drama on stage as reality. Since then Virtual reality has become to be understood as the computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors.
Since 2010 Virtual reality has had a major boost through the reduction of computing power costs required by VR as well as mass commercialization of VR headsets and VR accessories.
Although initially VR was generally associated only with the gaming industry, it is now being used in many different fields as the ideal simulation and training tool. In October 2018, as part of a COST Action (TD1406 Innovation in Intelligent Management of Heritage Buildings) scientific Mission in Turin Italy, I was guest of Prof. Massimo Miglorini at SiTI — Istituto Superiore sui Sistemi Territoriali per l’Innovazione to study VR and AR experiences. During my stay, I could experience firsthand how VR was being used to simulate civil protection training specifically in the area of fire fighting.
VR is now being used effectively in medicine, therapy, military, safety, recruitment. I am particularly interested in VR applications for cultural heritage as a means of improving visitor engagement. VR allows visitors to become actors and not just spectators. Immersive Virtual experiences take visitors to different periods of history and allow them to experience history as a participant rather than just a spectator. VR is becoming even more realistic as can be seen from the full-body instrumented suit developed by Teslasuit.
Teslasuit is the world’s first highly integrated smart clothing apparel that includes haptic feedback, motion capture, climate control, and other systems. The technology allows users to touch and feel through the digital environments over the entire body, be touched and become the natural full-body controller at the same time.
