Microsoft is seemingly aiming to make "The Matrix" a reality in the nearest future. A recent report claims that the Redmond-based tech giant is currently tinkering tits virtual reality once again. With the help of technology, the company aims to change the idea of the daily commute by immersing VR users in a virtual world as they tread through real-world environments on their way to school, work, or shop, on foot.
The recently published paper made by researchers Andy Wilson, Jackie Yang, Eyal Ofek, and Christian Holz toys with the idea of a not so far future where people spend significantly more time in virtual reality even in times of walking between locations in the real world. To be able to achieve this, the team developed a VR system that enables users to travel the real world on foot while at the same time seeing themselves walking around a place of their choice in the virtual reality world.
The virtual reality system is named Microsoft DreamWalker. According to Ars Technica, the new VR technology is meant to fully immerse users in the virtual world despite the obstacles in the real world. To achieve this, Microsoft DreamWalker is crafted to discover a path in the selected VR environment that is somehow similar to the one the user is walking along in the real world. Additionally, the VR system is designed with a tracking system, which uses GPA locations, RGBD frames, and inside-out tracking to assist users so they could stay on the right track, as well as guide them to avoid obstacles and bring them to their destinations while keeping them fully immersed in a dynamic virtual reality world.
Microsoft’s #DreamWalker lets you see #VR cities during real-world walks https://t.co/I8S7hx5XUA @Microsoft pic.twitter.com/Otxs3hIWr2 — AWE @ AWE EU 2019 (@ARealityEvent) October 24, 2019
So far, the team has already tested the Microsoft DreamWalker on eight participants, as shown on a YouTube video shared by Microsoft Research. The participants were asked to walk across the Microsoft Campus in a 15-minute route while walking around Manhattan in the virtual reality world. The Microsoft DreamWalker VR system has still a long way to go before it officially reaches the consumers.
The latest version of Microsoft DreamWalker has VR scenes that are not more scenic alternatives to the real world, with unrealistic graphics similar to that of "The Sims" video game franchise. For now, at least, it is not yet as ideal as that we have seen in the movies.
