From steak to roller coasters-Â
--and Botox to electric cars-Â
God, it's so fast! each week we showcase the new Irish science behind an aspect of modern life. I meet the team who are using virtual reality to question the veracity of 1916's famous Battle of Mount Street Bridge.
The interesting thing with VR is that we can ramp up and ramp down how fast it feels by changing the content. We thought that you had to have absolutely every exact movement and every exact speed element match one for one, and you actually don't. You can cheat things quite a lot in VR as long as you match the changes. So we can take a turn on a corner and make it into a 360, even though it doesn't actually it's not really a 360.
But we can turn you the full 360 and you would never know.
It's even the same with a corkscrew movement like you've just seen there. We can keep you going a little bit further because you detect the change of movement. But then we can roll you much further than you really move.
So there's huge creative potential there--not just in the visuals, but in how we use the movement.
For a lot of people the first thing they do when they get a VR is they will download a virtual roller coaster. And it's the worst thing you can do really, just because of something called the locomotion problem. Which in VR means that if your body isn't doing what your brain tells you it's doing, i.e. to disconnect between what you see and what you feel, then that can make you feel really ill. So it means your body can feel what your brain tells you you're seeing. And those two things marry up, and that means it shouldn't make you any more sick than a normal roller coaster would.
Virtual reality was promised to us for decades. And now it's finally come of age, delivering truly thrilling experiences. The possibilities are endless. 2016 was the year that virtual reality finally entered the mainstream. But at this stage, you might still be wondering what exactly is it? And other than video games, what can it be used for?
Virtual reality is basically the idea you're somewhere else or doing something else, and that's achieved by putting on a headset that tricks your eyes and your senses into making you think that you're somewhere completely
There is also virtual reality simulation program for the Irish Defence Forces.
I think there are a few reasons it has taken VR a while to enter the mainstream. The first is the pragmatic issues of what VR kit actually is. It's big. It's clunky. You have to plug it into a fast computer. You have to have space around you to use it.
The other reason is a question of pure technology. So for example, when you move your head with a virtual reality headset on, the system has to match, has to do millions of computations at the same time. Finally, we're starting to see technology for under 1,000 euro that can that.
What sort of industries will really benefit from using this sort of technology
In the property industry, for example, you have at least one real estate agent in Ireland which now for some high-end properties will take clients into their showroom and show them around that particular property.
When I'm moving and I'm not moving, it's just beginning to feel a little bit-Â That's because it's nicer than your own house. Yeah, it appears to be a lot nicer than my own house. Education is another very, very big one. The medical industry with surgeons and for training right up to, and including, the adult industry, for example. Most analysts suggest that within five years adult VR is actually going to be a $1 billion industry.
We're such a pathetic species, aren't we?
We really are, yes. Yeah, we could be curing cancer.
What this basically is is a sandbox. And that means that you will have a number of objects around you. You can pick them up.
Air drawing,here we can go around and draw.
The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland is developing several virtual reality applications to help train the medics of the future.
Well it's a few years since I trained. I mean, at that time much more training was on the job. We learned how to do things by watching others do it, and then you did it for the first time in real patients.
Because of the increasing complexity, because of our increasing awareness of risk to patients and reducing risk to patients, and because of the pressures of time, it's no longer acceptable to do that. So where things were relatively simple and relatively straightforward 20 years ago, the complexity now means that we just have to prepare people better for that environment. And we have to use the time we have in operating theaters more effectively.
The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland is creating virtual reality applications to train the next generation of surgeons and doctors.
We started looking at the VR technology a little over a year ago and some potential in it. And we've now tried to use it for two things. One is for kind of decision based learning, where you are put in a scene, for example--the one where you are in the middle of an emergency situation, and you have to make decisions on the And the second we're using for it is actually in surgery. So we can use 360 cameras to kind of put you in the scene of the surgery.
The advantage of having it as a virtual reality application
The first one is that you actually feel like you're there. Or you get the sens
The second one is, for example, if you're looking at anatomy, we have a demo where we're taking a look at the different systems in the body. And instead of just trying to look at it from the front on, you can kind of get right in around it, and you have a totally different way of navigating it.
One can do a laparoscopic cholecystectomy on patients
This will be no problem. Our virtual patients, For example if this is your gallbladder. This is what you're going to see inside, sitting up there under the deliver. And what you need to do is grasp this area here, and then we use the scissors in your right hand to just cut here behind this structure. And then we're going to open up a window there where we can see if you removed the gallbladder.
Its just simple
Virtual reality headgear transports the patient into an immersive environment where they become an avatar, a digital likeness of themselves. The patients imagine walking in a virtual world and even playing in a digital game of football.
This training re-inserts the representation of using their lower limbs back into the patient's brain, forcing them to create mental images of movement. The more the patients move, the more their bodies use any surviving nerves. To increase the sensory experience, the virtual reality device is attached to a pressure pad on the patient's arm which delivers the distinct sensation of walking on sand or grass.
After this training, the patients move on to using robotic walking gear. And while no patient can yet walk unaided, one has been able to walk using leg braces and crutches. And another has even been able to return to driving her car.
Virtual reality Continues..................