0:00:40 > 0:00:47This is absolutely stunning.
0:00:47 > 0:01:01You thought you knew virtual reality, well so did I.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03Then I came to NASA's jet propulsion laboratory.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06This is genuine images collected by the Mars Rover Curiosity,
0:01:06 > 0:01:15and the Mars orbiter.
0:01:15 > 0:01:16Over there, there is Curiosity.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18Hello, old friend.
0:01:18 > 0:01:24I can actually walk around the Mars Rover.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28Look at this!
0:01:28 > 0:01:30Destination Mars is opening soon as a tourist attraction
0:01:30 > 0:01:33at the Kennedy Space Centre, but it is already a collaborative
0:01:33 > 0:01:37experience that allows scientists to discuss the Red Planet
0:01:37 > 0:01:40while standing on Mars.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44Despite that view being very small at the moment,
0:01:45 > 0:01:46it really does work.
0:01:46 > 0:01:51With the HoloLens, there are no cables and no external sensors.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54This thing knows where it is and which way you are looking
0:01:54 > 0:01:56simply by the sensors that are in the headset,
0:01:56 > 0:01:58and that means there are no restrictions,
0:01:58 > 0:02:01which means I can keep walking over here, and walk all the way
0:02:01 > 0:02:04up this hill.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07Or if I really want, I can just disappear off this way
0:02:07 > 0:02:09and carry on trekking across Mars.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13Excuse me, everybody.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16Carry on about your work.
0:02:16 > 0:02:21I'm still on Mars!
0:02:21 > 0:02:24In theory, that means if you have the data and know
0:02:24 > 0:02:27what the landscape on Mars looks like 100 miles that way,
0:02:27 > 0:02:31I could just keep walking!
0:02:31 > 0:02:33HoloLens is actually an augmented or mixed virtual reality,
0:02:33 > 0:02:47which means real objects and virtual ones can be mixed.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50JPL is using it to take plans off the computer screen and think
0:02:50 > 0:02:55about them in 3-D at full scale before anything is actually built.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57We have to build this thing here on the ground,
0:02:57 > 0:03:01and people have to get around it.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04You have to be able to put your arm in and turn
0:03:04 > 0:03:05a screwdriver, for example.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08That is a time-consuming thing to check on a 2-D computer screen
0:03:08 > 0:03:09at a smaller scale.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13We can place pointers on the model, on the hologram, for example
0:03:13 > 0:03:16if we want to talk about that antenna, I can place a pointer
0:03:16 > 0:03:19there and you and I can both see it and everyone participating
0:03:19 > 0:03:25in the session can see it.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28These pointers really do get over the final drawback to the mixed
0:03:28 > 0:03:30reality experience, the fact that you can't actually touch
0:03:30 > 0:03:31the 3-D model.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34I dare you not to imagine this changing our world.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37Wow, wow, wow, wow.
0:03:37 > 0:03:50Mind equals blown.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52This is stunning and I am totally buying into virtual reality.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55But guess what, it gets even better.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58In Salt Lake City, Mark Cieslak has been having a fight of his life.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01In the shadow of Utah's peaks, cutting-edge virtual reality
0:04:01 > 0:04:09is being developed.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11Welcome to the Void, or to be more precise,
0:04:11 > 0:04:18the research and development facility.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Just inside here is one possible future for virtual reality
0:04:21 > 0:04:21technology.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23The Void is a virtual reality experience that takes place
0:04:23 > 0:04:27inside specially constructed sets.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29Kitting up requires a backpack, chest rig, and headset.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32What you see inside the headset, you feel and touch in
0:04:32 > 0:04:36the real world.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38Its creators call this setup hyperreality.
0:04:38 > 0:04:46OK, so I'm in a temple.
0:04:46 > 0:04:55I look up and I can see the stars, some ruins around me,
0:04:55 > 0:04:58and if I reach out and touch the walls and feel them,
0:04:58 > 0:05:11I can feel a throne in front of me.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14I think myself and my other two cofounders really wanted to create
0:05:14 > 0:05:17a holodeck, we are all Star Trek geeks.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19Magic and illusion design, film production and television
0:05:19 > 0:05:25production were in our background.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28I can see flames rising up.
0:05:28 > 0:05:34As I get closer to them, it gets hotter.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36Sensors trigger heaters, which makes me think the stone bowl
0:05:36 > 0:05:41in front of me has erupted in flames.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44Over here I can see a torch.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46Oh!
0:05:46 > 0:05:49I can feel it is well.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53I take it out of the hole in the wall, and I'm holding
0:05:53 > 0:06:00in my hand what seems to be some kind of Aztec torch.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04OK, so the headset again is prompting me to look for things
0:06:04 > 0:06:08inside the environment.
0:06:08 > 0:06:13To look around for clues as to where I have to go next.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15The ability to explore wirelessly massively changes virtual reality.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17One of the limiting factors of high-end virtual reality
0:06:17 > 0:06:20in the home is that the headset still needs to be tethered
0:06:20 > 0:06:35to a computer, which limits how far you can move from the computer.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38The guys here have thought about that and cheated a little bit,
0:06:38 > 0:06:40because the headset is still tethered to a computer,
0:06:40 > 0:06:49but the computer lives in this backpack.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52The rest of this rig is capable of doing a bunch of other things.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55It is equipped with pads which trigger a physical feeling
0:06:55 > 0:06:57when things are activated.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01The door has just shattered in front of me, and across my chest it felt
0:07:01 > 0:07:03as if the rocks from that door smashed into me.
0:07:03 > 0:07:09The current generation of this kit does have its limitations.
0:07:09 > 0:07:18There are definitely limits, going upstairs or climbing
0:07:18 > 0:07:22We can't see the headset view for the next bit as it is a bit
0:07:22 > 0:07:23scary for this time of day.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27As I stepped into what I thought was a huge cavern, I was attacked
0:07:27 > 0:07:28by a giant sea monster.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31This is the effect it had on me.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34Off camera, fans blast cold air at me, simulating a monstrous roar
0:07:34 > 0:07:43that was awful!
0:07:43 > 0:07:48I'm back in the real world, that was intense.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52The team here have collaborated with the moviemakers behind
0:07:52 > 0:07:55the new Ghostbusters film, creating an attraction
0:07:55 > 0:08:02for Madame Tussaud's in New York.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05But their ultimate goal is to create their own experience
0:08:05 > 0:08:07centres, a bit like VR arcades, providing a host
0:08:07 > 0:08:57of different virtual destructions.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59Back in Los Angeles, I am looking at something very sexy.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02It is sales data, some of the sexiest I've ever seen.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04The more information feels like a physical object,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07the more your brain goes to work and can easily understand it.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11I am in the company of a man who has devoted his life to developing user
0:09:11 > 0:09:13interfaces which turn data into visual things that our visual
0:09:13 > 0:09:15brains can understand and analyse.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17The idea is that you can spot patterns that you
0:09:17 > 0:09:18wouldn't be able to.
0:09:18 > 0:09:19That is exactly right.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21The human visual system is amazingly good at seeing patterns.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24We want to build large-scale interfaces to let people do that.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26We are inside the data right now?
0:09:26 > 0:09:27Inside someone's spending habits.
0:09:27 > 0:09:28I've been in worse places.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31This technology is already being used by large companies
0:09:31 > 0:09:33to visualise information on data that is usually impossible to get.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35The screens and animation are controlled by the wand,
0:09:35 > 0:09:38which can spin, zoom and fly through it.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41We can pull ourselves up to get a conference in view of the city.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45It is very reminiscent of kind of interfaces featured in the movie
0:09:45 > 0:09:47that has become a touchstone for this kind of thing,
0:09:47 > 0:10:00Minority Report.
0:10:00 > 0:10:01There is good reason for that.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04John is the man who designed the user interfaces
0:10:04 > 0:10:05in Minority Report.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07I had been at MIT for many years and I was building
0:10:08 > 0:10:11interfaces like this.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13The production designer for Minority Report visited,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16he said, I think this solves Stephen Spielberg's problem.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18I moved out to Los Angeles, spent a year designing
0:10:18 > 0:10:58the technical, architectural designs.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00John's newest project is an operating system that
0:11:00 > 0:11:02would allow different computer programmes to interact with each
0:11:02 > 0:11:05other by moving the devices they are running on closer together.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07The data is now flowing through the signals
0:11:07 > 0:11:08in our analysis module.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10It means any programme can talk to the other programme,
0:11:10 > 0:11:11just like people.
0:11:11 > 0:11:11Compatibility?
0:11:11 > 0:11:14That is a rude word when it comes to technology.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16It will be a brighter future, if it happens.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19For years, Minority Report has been to go to vision of the future,
0:11:19 > 0:11:21almost a cliche.
0:11:21 > 0:11:28And yet, it is actually happening now.
0:11:28 > 0:11:34That is it for this week, we will see you next week.
0:11:34 > 0:11:41In the meantime, you know where we live on Twitter.