The FlyVIZ is an interesting visor whose sole purpose is to project a 360 degree panorama right on your eyes. A camera mounted at the top is able to see all around, and the resulting video feed is pumped to a pair of LCD screens that allow the wearer to see all around him. If he turns his head, so does the view, meaning that after an average of 15 minutes of initial nausea and disorientation, most wearers are eventually able to start navigating the world “normally.”
Presented at INRIA in Paris, the FlyVIZ is an exploration in “sensorial augmentation”, with some practical applications in mind:
In safety and security applications, soldiers, policemen or firemen could benefit from omnidirectional vision to avoid potential dangers or locate targets more rapidly. In less critical situations, some surveillance applications with a high visual workload, in all directions of space for instance, could also be concerned, such as for traffic regulation. Considering the novel perceptual experience proposed, FlyViz could also be transformed into entertaining applications and devices, as well as experimental materials for new perception and neuroscience studies.
This is clearly not a commercial application at the moment, but it’s interesting to know it exists.
Wanna know what it looks like from the wearer’s perspective? Hit the jump for a video, in French, as well as links.
[ FlyVIZ Paper (PDF) ] VIA [ NewLaunches ]
