:00:00. > :00:00.Now on BBC News, it's time for Click.
:00:07. > :01:13.It's fun, but it's not going to change the world...
:01:14. > :01:15.It's not going to change the world...
:01:16. > :01:19.It wouldn't fit in as much as, say, my phone would.
:01:20. > :01:25.Not really what you want to hear when you are talking about VR.
:01:26. > :01:28.Especially since the technology has actually been around
:01:29. > :01:32.This helmet is from the mid-1990s but it wouldn't be the first bit
:01:33. > :01:34.of amazing looking tech to simply fade into novelty.
:01:35. > :01:38.One of the problems is the media goes mad over it and then everything
:01:39. > :01:41.gets overhyped - not that we would be guilty of course...
:01:42. > :01:45.But the truth is, sometimes stuff gets overblown and the people
:01:46. > :01:51.who buy the thing end up getting disappointed by the thing.
:01:52. > :01:54.Well, this week, the BBC, in partnership with Ipsos Mori,
:01:55. > :01:57.has published research into the reality of virtual reality.
:01:58. > :01:59.16 ordinary people were given Samsung Gear VR headsets for three
:02:00. > :02:06.months, and asked to use them in their free time at home.
:02:07. > :02:09.And for any long-term observers of tech, the results
:02:10. > :02:19.Actually finding your headset in the first place, it might be
:02:20. > :02:23.shoved in a drawer or somewhere, under your bed, dust it off,
:02:24. > :02:25.it might be dirty, it might not be totally clean.
:02:26. > :02:28.Getting your phone and putting it into the headset,
:02:29. > :02:31.if you have a mobile driven VR headset, and making sure
:02:32. > :02:34.that the phone has high battery because that will often be
:02:35. > :02:38.Finding the content to watch, the phone might overheat
:02:39. > :02:49.You might fear family, friends or flatmates pranking
:02:50. > :02:52.you as you are doing it so you will feel self-conscious.
:02:53. > :02:55.Your hair might be messed up, or your make up, whatever.
:02:56. > :02:58.And all of those various barriers come to be quite significant
:02:59. > :03:02.behavioural hurdles to get people to do this.
:03:03. > :03:05.These things just aren't ready for prime time yet.
:03:06. > :03:11.They are not easy to use and they are not easy to share.
:03:12. > :03:14.For example, as soon as I take this off my head,
:03:15. > :03:18.it switches off to save power which means I cannot get something
:03:19. > :03:20.going and then give it to someone else to enjoy.
:03:21. > :03:24.It will switch off and they had to navigate to the content
:03:25. > :03:29.That means I've ended up putting a sticker over the sensor so it does
:03:30. > :03:31.not know when it's been taken off, which is stupid!
:03:32. > :03:35.There's really no argument that VR can blow your mind.
:03:36. > :03:44.But after those initial experiences, keeping people interested
:03:45. > :03:48.Once they are exhausting the key experiences,
:03:49. > :03:50.the novelty experiences around the roller-coaster rides,
:03:51. > :03:54.and the horror experiences, those kinds of things,
:03:55. > :03:59.then their enthusiasm ebbs away quite quickly.
:04:00. > :04:03.And one of the reasons why people get bored is that there was not much
:04:04. > :04:09.With VR content, I think there is a bit of a chicken
:04:10. > :04:12.Obviously, to encourage more people to buy VR headsets,
:04:13. > :04:19.it would be good to have more and more VR content.
:04:20. > :04:23.But, it costs a lot of money to make and you don't necessarily
:04:24. > :04:26.want to invest in making the content unless you are confident a lot
:04:27. > :04:31.So, it is difficult to put a lot of money into something
:04:32. > :04:35.if you do not know that people will buy the headset but then
:04:36. > :04:38.to convince them to buy the headset, maybe you have to do that?
:04:39. > :04:40.It's a problem that's also beset Blu-ray, 4K,
:04:41. > :04:46.We've moved incredibly far in the last two is in terms
:04:47. > :04:48.of what has been produced, but there was a lot
:04:49. > :04:56.There is consumer uptake of headsets, technology needs to be
:04:57. > :04:58.better for production tools to produce that.
:04:59. > :05:01.All of these things are happening at once and incredibly fast,
:05:02. > :05:05.This might explain why last week Facebook cut the price
:05:06. > :05:07.of their Oculus headset for the second time.
:05:08. > :05:11.It's a lot to shell out for something that might just end up
:05:12. > :05:19.By reducing its prices, oculus will probably appeal to more
:05:20. > :05:21.people who were already considering buying the headset,
:05:22. > :05:24.but I'm not sure it will convince many people to buy it,
:05:25. > :05:29.It still costs about the same as a games console.
:05:30. > :05:32.And it's not just the price of the headset itself,
:05:33. > :05:35.you need to have a pretty high-end machine to run these things on.
:05:36. > :05:39.And even Sony, the company that provides a high-end PlayStation 4
:05:40. > :05:41.with its VR headsets, which has sold 1 million
:05:42. > :05:45.of the things, told us not to get too excited about it.
:05:46. > :05:48.I think that, in the last six months to a year,
:05:49. > :05:50.we have seen a little bit of overhyping of
:05:51. > :05:58.We saw this as the start of a very long process of bringing VR
:05:59. > :06:02.You will see a lot more technology innovation.
:06:03. > :06:05.I think content makers, game makers, and others,
:06:06. > :06:08.including folks making television programmes,
:06:09. > :06:12.they are really only just starting to learn what the tools are to make
:06:13. > :06:18.Everybody knows it will take some time before we produce really good
:06:19. > :06:20.and compelling content, but we are inventing a new medium
:06:21. > :06:24.here and that is obviously going to take time.
:06:25. > :06:27.But unless we start somewhere, we will never do it.
:06:28. > :06:31.So we need to wait a few years while you guys get it right,
:06:32. > :06:34.so there is something worth watching?
:06:35. > :06:41.You cannot develop anything unless it is in conjunction
:06:42. > :06:43.with the audience too, say if we have no audience,
:06:44. > :06:47.we would never be able to create something and make it really
:06:48. > :06:50.It certainly seems that VR is struggling to become commonplace
:06:51. > :06:53.in the home at the moment, but that is not the end
:06:54. > :06:59.Mark has been to Hollywood to see VR that has been given
:07:00. > :07:06.Here in Los Angeles, a company with a pedigree in movies
:07:07. > :07:14.If the living room is not the best place for virtual
:07:15. > :07:27.IMAX are most famous for giant cinema screens,
:07:28. > :07:30.which is probably why the foyer in its new virtual reality
:07:31. > :07:33.experience centre looks a bit like a cinema.
:07:34. > :07:35.Here, players purchase tickets to try out a variety
:07:36. > :07:41.Each one of these pods has got more than enough space in it for any
:07:42. > :07:44.virtual reality experience that requires the player to move around
:07:45. > :07:50.This space is, in effect, a modern version of a video games arcade.
:07:51. > :07:54.Cables connecting the headset to a computer are fed overhead
:07:55. > :08:01.to avoid the player tripping up on them.
:08:02. > :08:05.So the game I am playing here is basically a wave shooter,
:08:06. > :08:07.there are just waves and waves of robots attacking me,
:08:08. > :08:14.From what I am wearing on my back, I can feel a little bit of rumbling
:08:15. > :08:17.So far, so straightforward, but are some experiences
:08:18. > :08:23.What they have built is a little bit of set here.
:08:24. > :08:32.It is a tie in with the new Tom Cruise Mummy movie.
:08:33. > :08:35.So I am sat on the side of the chopper, and it feels
:08:36. > :08:39.like the helicopter has a little bit of movement to it as well.
:08:40. > :08:48.There's a little bit of rumble underneath the seat.
:08:49. > :08:51.So, it feels like the rumble of the helicopter blades.
:08:52. > :08:53.While the helicopter effect is convincing,
:08:54. > :08:57.the rest of the gameplay is a bit samey.
:08:58. > :09:00.Spaces like this one at least allow people to try VR
:09:01. > :09:06.without all of the mess of having VR kit in the living room.
:09:07. > :09:09.But, taking this experience to the next level need even more
:09:10. > :09:12.room, and for that, we have to travel to a state
:09:13. > :09:15.which is all about wide-open spaces...
:09:16. > :09:28.Scottsdale's Octane Raceway is the home of the first large-scale
:09:29. > :09:34.VR space in America, from a company called Zero Latency.
:09:35. > :09:37.The key with this next level VR is in here.
:09:38. > :09:42.The thing is, when you put on a VR headset, this empty space becomes
:09:43. > :09:45.a gigantic virtual canvas, on which you can paint
:09:46. > :09:53.64 cameras track the player's movement, with the grid on the floor
:09:54. > :09:56.assisting and allowing the computer running the show to know
:09:57. > :10:09.So, I'm suited up and ready to go, I've got my virtual reality headset
:10:10. > :10:13.on, which has got tracking balls on top of it so be system
:10:14. > :10:16.in there will actually know where I am in the virtual space.
:10:17. > :10:19.On my back is a computer, with all of the cables
:10:20. > :10:23.between the headset and the computer hidden so that I will have total
:10:24. > :10:25.freedom of movement when I am in the room.
:10:26. > :10:45.Zero Latency is the brainchild of a team based in Melbourne,
:10:46. > :10:48.It's almost a brief escape from reality, but in the sense that
:10:49. > :10:50.you are transported to a different place.
:10:51. > :10:52.We find that the more games incorporate walking,
:10:53. > :10:55.and the sense of moving through a much larger virtual space,
:10:56. > :10:58.than the physical space, that seems to ramp up the immersion.
:10:59. > :11:01.The game I'm playing today is called Zombie Survival,
:11:02. > :11:04.and I'm equipped with a rifle which will provide the physical
:11:05. > :11:06.sensation of being fired when I pull the trigger,
:11:07. > :11:08.as I try to ward off hordes of zombies.
:11:09. > :11:13.I'm supposed to repair barricades, preventing the undead from getting
:11:14. > :11:16.close to me as I wait to be rescued by a helicopter.
:11:17. > :11:18.Unfortunately, I get a bit carried away.
:11:19. > :11:24.I can see zombies coming at me from every single direction!
:11:25. > :11:30.So, it's time to recruit extra troops.
:11:31. > :11:32.Up to six people can play in here at once.
:11:33. > :11:35.You cannot do this in your living room at home.
:11:36. > :11:38.Moving around with this much space with a whole bunch
:11:39. > :11:56.OK, so attempting that with a whole bunch of people made it
:11:57. > :12:07.I got by with a little help from some friends.
:12:08. > :12:26.This little fellow is called Sea Turtle.
:12:27. > :12:32.Facebook revealed it will lodge a new service in October. Allowing
:12:33. > :12:38.publishers to create a pay wall to their content. If you've still got a
:12:39. > :12:47.MySpace account lurking around, it might be time to think about
:12:48. > :12:56.deleting it. A massive security flaw might mean others may be to get
:12:57. > :13:03.access. Steps, long the enemy of the Daleks, have claimed another victim.
:13:04. > :13:23.So, humans took the only logical next step. This one sent first
:13:24. > :13:34.picture. And you will soon be able to visit the ISS for yourself. And
:13:35. > :13:36.Google announced it will be available on Street view. Or is that
:13:37. > :13:40.space view? This little fellow
:13:41. > :13:42.is called Sea Turtle. Designed to move, like,
:13:43. > :13:49.you guessed it, a sea turtle, his arms are shaped
:13:50. > :13:51.like the fins found in nature. He has been developed by researchers
:13:52. > :13:54.at Arizona University to detect landmines, and sadly
:13:55. > :13:56.for him, detonate them. Unsurprisingly, current deep
:13:57. > :14:04.mining bots on the market, cost a pretty penny,
:14:05. > :14:07.but Sea Turtle has been made Powered by a Raspberry Pi Zero
:14:08. > :14:10.computer, this disposable device Not bad for a machine
:14:11. > :14:20.that learns as it goes. And every time a robot makes a move,
:14:21. > :14:25.it essentially gives itself some positive reinforcement, in terms of,
:14:26. > :14:30.maybe I should try that again. If it gets negative,
:14:31. > :14:33.or it does not do very well, in trying a new type of control,
:14:34. > :14:36.then it is set negative reinforcement, then it does not try
:14:37. > :14:40.that type of motion again. In reinforcing it, by giving it
:14:41. > :14:43.good or bad feedback, it was able to learn
:14:44. > :14:46.to walk upon its own. Not only could the lightweight
:14:47. > :14:51.robot, potentially save lives here on earth, it could also
:14:52. > :14:54.potentially be used to further One of our goals is to use this
:14:55. > :15:00.in order to manufacture The idea is, rather than altering
:15:01. > :15:06.the design of the robot here on earth, where we do not
:15:07. > :15:08.have the environment, in which it is going to be deployed,
:15:09. > :15:12.we can actually just ship the materials into space
:15:13. > :15:15.and manufacture the robot Currently battery-powered,
:15:16. > :15:30.Sea Turtle is fairly powered after about three hours of charge,
:15:31. > :15:44.so researchers want to add solar cells to his back so that
:15:45. > :15:46.he can charge himself. They also plan to manufacture
:15:47. > :15:49.loads and alternate them, so swarms of bots working together
:15:50. > :15:52.could quickly cover large areas. This robot is really good
:15:53. > :15:54.at powering through sand, so not just landmines detection,
:15:55. > :15:57.but applications such as farming, for anywhere where you do not want
:15:58. > :16:00.a very expensive robot, interacting with very dirty
:16:01. > :16:02.environments, this robot is very Back to virtual reality now
:16:03. > :16:18.and I find myself in the immersive VR lab, in University
:16:19. > :16:19.College London. Where the object is projected
:16:20. > :16:22.onto the walls and floor, From the point of view
:16:23. > :16:30.of my motion sensitive specs, though, the perspective is correct
:16:31. > :16:35.and it actually looks, to me, like moving
:16:36. > :16:37.through a 3-D world. Now, this research, actually
:16:38. > :16:39.concerns how the environment feels, specifically if it really feels,
:16:40. > :16:42.like this imaginary ball, It just feels, it is bouncy,
:16:43. > :16:56.so as the ball hits the wall, I can feel it kind of
:16:57. > :17:03.bounce back slightly. The secret is in the superfast
:17:04. > :17:06.response time in the control. Although video generally looks
:17:07. > :17:09.convincing if it runs at about 60 frames a second, your sense
:17:10. > :17:12.of touch, is accurate to 1000th Any less and it will feel
:17:13. > :17:26.like everything is spongy. As it is, the wall feels rock hard,
:17:27. > :17:30.the walls in the foreground feel lighter, because I can
:17:31. > :17:32.knock them over. This is great, because this
:17:33. > :17:34.is one more step towards Where I will feel like I really am
:17:35. > :17:39.in this virtual world. An alternative approach, of course,
:17:40. > :17:42.is to use virtual reality technology in the actual world
:17:43. > :17:44.that is around you. This is called augmented reality
:17:45. > :17:51.and that is what Lara Lewington has I know many of you are eager to get
:17:52. > :17:55.started with augmented reality, but let's show you
:17:56. > :17:58.just how easy it is. Launched at Apple developer's
:17:59. > :18:01.conference in June, the Apple AR kit It aims to make it easier
:18:02. > :18:05.for creative coders, to get AR into their IOS apps
:18:06. > :18:08.and games and developers have not wasted any time
:18:09. > :18:11.in trying to kit out. There is the mouthwatering,
:18:12. > :18:14.the mundane, the magical and a whole host of other amazing things,
:18:15. > :18:28.prototyped on the platform. Apple says the AR kit could make it
:18:29. > :18:32.the biggest AR technology platform After all, there are a lot of Apple
:18:33. > :18:41.fangirls and boys out there. Nowhere more so than at Apple's
:18:42. > :18:43.developer conference, where the audience were
:18:44. > :18:45.suitably wowed by a hearty The director, Peter Jackson,
:18:46. > :18:48.Peter Jackson, the Lord of the Rings, he is now really
:18:49. > :18:52.excited about AR and to show you what he has in the works,
:18:53. > :18:56.I am thrilled to introduce Wingnut Since this augmented reality,
:18:57. > :19:05.you folks are in the shot too. Peter Jackson and his partner,
:19:06. > :19:08.Fran Walsh, they had seen some AR demos of the hardware
:19:09. > :19:11.and they were really excited about the creative possibilities,
:19:12. > :19:16.and AR it is like a medium like no other, it offers so many
:19:17. > :19:18.creative possibilities, Traditional storytelling
:19:19. > :19:29.and entertainment concepts, and rolls around camerawork
:19:30. > :19:31.and everything else, they don't necessarily work in AR,
:19:32. > :19:34.so for the last year, we have been exploring that
:19:35. > :19:37.and figuring out what is fun And of course, the question every
:19:38. > :19:41.Lord of the Rings fan is asking right now, how long before
:19:42. > :19:44.we have an augmented reality Lord I think it is an amazing
:19:45. > :19:48.idea, there are so many I think, people would probably
:19:49. > :19:51.love that experience, I don't know when we will see that
:19:52. > :19:54.in people's living rooms, it is hard to judge how fast AR
:19:55. > :19:58.will be, but we all know that it is coming over the next few
:19:59. > :20:02.years and it will be exciting, These are the offices
:20:03. > :20:06.of Amplified Robot, a London based studio specialising in VR and AR,
:20:07. > :20:10.and they will be one of the first to get their hands dirty
:20:11. > :20:13.with Apple's AR kit. There we go, yes, that looks
:20:14. > :20:16.like a man who is walking around There are hundreds of areas that can
:20:17. > :20:25.be brought to life with augmented reality, the medical field is one,
:20:26. > :20:28.education for kids, entertainment, real estate, this is the promise
:20:29. > :20:30.of augmented reality. These are some of the AR experiences
:20:31. > :20:34.that Matt and his team have already created here without
:20:35. > :20:36.using Apple's AR kit. Each app has to figure out
:20:37. > :20:40.on its own how to attach its 3-D thing to the real world,
:20:41. > :20:46.so lots of extra programming for developers and a consistent AR
:20:47. > :20:49.experience between apps. Many of those apps rely on markers
:20:50. > :20:52.to make the magic happen, that is either a special
:20:53. > :20:59.image or normal pictures, like the images in this book
:21:00. > :21:02.which the app then recognises Apple's AR kit uses a new technique
:21:03. > :21:09.that does away with markers meaning Clearly this is still very early
:21:10. > :21:14.days for AR as we know it, but with so many big
:21:15. > :21:19.players like Google, Microsoft and now Apple
:21:20. > :21:23.putting their weight behind the tech, our realities could be set
:21:24. > :21:35.to get a whole lot weirder. I have had a stutter ever
:21:36. > :21:57.since I was 16 years old. I don't let it get in my way,
:21:58. > :22:08.in the way of things. Although a stutter is incurable,
:22:09. > :22:11.Gareth has dedicated his Masters degree, to finding a way
:22:12. > :22:14.to treat it as best he can I am creating a virtual
:22:15. > :22:22.reality exposure therapy, and we are able to benefit
:22:23. > :22:25.people who stutter and to Gareth is using a headset,
:22:26. > :22:29.which has the ability to track eye movement, something that can
:22:30. > :22:31.be severely affected The eyes can close, flicker
:22:32. > :22:36.or fixate on a certain place and adjusting one's eye movement
:22:37. > :22:40.is part of established speech By analysing the eye
:22:41. > :22:52.movements of his subjects, Gareth is able to suggest similar
:22:53. > :22:54.exercises and techniques and in the future, he hopes his
:22:55. > :22:58.research might be used by speech I am a person who is in
:22:59. > :23:02.the environment, if they see an animated avatar and can talk
:23:03. > :23:06.to the avatar about a certain topic, their favourite holiday,
:23:07. > :23:08.and over that time, I will be tracking their eyes and behaviours
:23:09. > :23:11.and seeing what they do when they stutter, I will be
:23:12. > :23:15.advising them what to do and how Gareth has previously used a more
:23:16. > :23:30.basic headset to improve people's confidence, emulating a whole
:23:31. > :23:32.audience for them to speak And although he is only addressing
:23:33. > :23:43.the eye movement and not speech element directly, he hopes that this
:23:44. > :23:47.research will be able to improve the confidence of those who stutter
:23:48. > :23:50.and indeed those who do not. It is stories like Gareth's that
:23:51. > :23:54.remind us that VR might not live or die just on its'
:23:55. > :23:57.entertainment values. That is it from our VR Cave
:23:58. > :24:05.here at UCL, don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter
:24:06. > :24:07.throughout the week. Thanks for watching,
:24:08. > :24:34.and we will see you soon. Although you may view that
:24:35. > :24:38.as a somewhat hollow greeting once