The Oculus Rift has certainly made waves in the VR world. But what if you could control VR simulations with your mind? One Aussie developer is making exactly that happen, right now.
I’ve written about the work of Chris Zaharia previously, back when he was using a Sony HMZ-T1 to play Skyrim in a VR way.
Now he’s gone quite next level, developing a prototype that uses the Oculus Rift for visuals, Razer Hydra for hand gestures and an Emotiv EPOC for reading brainwaves to create a complete VR environment.
You don’t flick a stick or slide around on a touchpad to move, instead training yourself so that the EPOC can pick up the brainwaves and translate that into meaningful onscreen motion.
It’s seriously impressive stuff, and as Chris notes over on his site, it’s really just early days; the hardware is still developing with some parts — most notably the EPOC — still at a relatively primitive stage.
If you’re particularly keen and have that kind of gear lying around, he’s made the prototype software available for download.
Gaming is really the sideline for this kind of equipment, given its potential to assist those with movement difficulties, change the way that business, design or medicine work, or any of a myriad of possibilities.
Source: Chris Zaharia