Recently in technology is the uprise of virtual reality (VR) technology. With this technology, a consumer is able to swim without air among the sharks and fish of the Great Barrier Reef or race through and among planets in a video game that even the developers and creators of the game are unaware of.
Itan Chait, an Alfred University (AU) sophomore Astronomy/Physics major, stated that VR technology could be used in science classes to teach children in Upstate New York about volcanoes and whales.
VR is when a consumer places a mask-like device over the eyes and is able to see and interact with a three dimensional (3D) world on a two dimensional (2D) plane of existence. The wearer of the device can move through the world but cannot physically feel the world, yet.
The Oculus Rift is one of the first VR headsets and is being produced by Facebook Inc. The Oculus Rift is corded to a PC so the wearer doesn't have the freedom of mobility around a large space, but does have enough mobility to duck, jump and twist their body. The headset itself has two front-facing cameras that lock onto the wearer's eyes and follow even the smallest of movements, while a single forward facing camera assesses the room and alerts the user if they are in any immediate danger.
HTC, the mobile phone company, is also creating a headset called HTC Vive or just Vive. The difference from Oculus is that the Vive is cordless so the wearer can roam a large open room. Vive also comes with lasers that work the same as full room 3D scanners work in movies and are able to detect small changes in a room, like a soccer ball or animal, but not as small as coins or glasses.
Both headsets lack something extreme and that's full immersion into a world or universe. No Man's Sky is working on that. No Man's Sky is a video game that is fully compatible with VR headsets and will be released on PC and Playstation 4 (PS4) in August of 2016. No Man's Sky is different from every other VR video game in the world that it is procedurally generated, which means new worlds are constantly being created with completely different environments.
The developers at Hello Games say that it would take roughly 5 billion years to explore the entire game with no overlapping of explored worlds.
For AU, No Man's Sky and VR headsets could change a classroom environment, especially for tactile learners and impossible field research.
“No Man's Sky could open the door for possible life [on other planets],” said Chait. “But at present the algorithms and physics engines would have to be much more advanced and we wouldn't see that for another 30 or 40 years.”
Chait also went on to explain that VR headsets could be used for field research in places like Fukushima or Chernobyl where nuclear fallout created an uninhabitable wasteland.
We as humans have witnessed technology grow so fast that many astro-scientists are anticipating the final frontier finally being welcomed.
