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Birdly and HTC Vive let you fly like a bird over Manhattan
Nope, we're not quite done yet with the HTC Vive demos at Computex. In addition to the three VR titles we tried yesterday, there was one more that we managed to hop onto after the show floor cleared. Yes, it was that popular. Birdly is a full-body simulator ride that uses multi-hinged flaps and motion feedback to give you a taste of flying like a bird. Better yet, there's a fan in front of the user to simulate headwind which gives you a better sense of flying speed. The visuals and head-tracking are offered by an HTC Vive, which allowed me to enjoy a nice bird's eye view while gently flapping my way through the skyscrapers in Manhattan. Well, I say gently, but it got intense once I started climbing my way back up -- it's definitely a fun alternative to working out in the gym.
Oculus gives Sundance attendees a literal bird's-eye view
"People dream about flying." That's what Max Rheiner, creator of Birdly, a virtual reality experience that lets you feel what it's like to fly as a bird from a first-person perspective, said about the inspiration for his project. Rheiner, who's head of the masters program in interaction at the Zurich University of the Arts, is showcasing Birdly at Sundance 2015, as part of the festival's New Frontier exhibit, which brings creators utilizing unusual mediums to express their narratives under one roof, each with a different story to tell. In Birdly's case, that medium would be an Oculus Rift headset paired alongside a plastic surface (think of it as an inverted dentist chair) and a fan for the wind effect, creating an embodiment that's meant to spawn a full-body VR experience.
Birdly VR rig invites users to soar like an eagle, look like a lazy mole
Mankind has long dreamed of soaring through the clouds like the majestic albatross. That feat remains firmly in the realm of comic books and sci-fi novels, but thanks to students at the Zurich University of the Arts and the Oculus Rift VR headset, we can now fake it pretty well. Dubbed "Birdly," the contraption seen in the above footage offers users a bird's-eye view of their virtual flight, while a fan provides faux headwind and scent emitters waft the surrounding smells directly into a the would-be bird's all too human nose. Motors in the apparatus shift a user in relation to what the Oculus Rift headset is depicting, and sensors translate arm movements into the flapping of an bird's wings. Granted, it's not actual flight, and will probably cause a number of people to vomit from vertigo or simple sensory overload, but you take the good with the bad. A few puke stains are a small price to pay to glimpse the future of virtual reality. [Image: Birdly]
Fly like a bird with this VR-powered, scent-emitting machine
Current technology and human anatomy may prevent you from soaring like a bird in real life, but a team at the Zurich University of the Arts may just have the next best thing. Their Birdly machine lets you flap your way through the air much like the Red Kite it's modeled after. Motors translate your hand movements to the virtual avian's wings, and an Oculus Rift VR headset gives you an all-too-literal bird's eye view of the scenery -- you probably won't want to look down very often.
