HTC Vive - Virtual Reality Headset Demo

It was a great opportunity to try on the HTC Vive – Vive virtual reality headset, last night at Melbourne Virtual Reality Meetup this week. The HTC Vive is an upcoming virtual reality headset that is soon to be released in Australia. This VR Headset was developed by HTC and Valve Corporation and has been positioned as one of the best, if not the best in the world.

The immersive experience was unlike anything I had been in before and has certainly set the benchmark for me for in terms of Virtual Reality experiences. With gaming being the key driver at the moment, I was still keen to ask the network how they saw Virtual Reality being used in Education. I was impressed by the answers.

Visit places that are now no longer around
Visit places that are too dangerous
Virtual Demonstrations – like pulling apart a motor and showing the parts
Having the chance experience world class lectures
Meet up with other people from around the world in Virtual Environments – discussions, classes etc

I learnt a lot about how the technology works (as described in the video), most notable was the infrared lasers that shoot out from the sensors and pick up the spatial location of the headset and handsets.

I took a couple of 360 photos using my ThetaS and uploaded them to Around.me.

I also created a 360 video, this is best watched via the Youtube App on a mobile device or VR Headset. It’s also avaialable on my Tim Gentle VRideo Channel.

It was also great to spend time with other VR enthusiasts, of which there were several from regional towns, including Roger Anthony Essig from Ballarat who generously provided his Vive on the night and Sean from Bendigo, a VR (Tech) Guru and just a genuine nice guy. I had met Sean a few times before and enjoyed sharing the ride home in the train with him. In particular, our discussions around Google’s Magic Leap and the impact that will have and also being introduced to the Virtual Social world of AltspaceVR. Looking forward to future explorations with Sean – stay tuned.