Adding Virtual Reality to Reality

When Virtual Reality Collides with Reality, It’s Surreal

A Portland startup called Wild is combining virtual reality with elements of the physical world.

Rachel Metz | August 26, 2015

In 1962, cinematographer Morton Heilig patented his Sensorama Stimulator—a bulky virtual-reality machine that showed 3-D films on a personal display while pumping in smells, sounds, and the sensation of wind.
Heilig was never able to popularize the sensory-immersive Sensorama; it remains a curious footnote in the history of virtual reality. But a small startup based in a Portland, Oregon, garage could have better luck.

Source: http://www.telepresenceoptions.com/2008/09/theory_and_research_in_hci_mor/

Since March, Wild has been building an experience that combines virtual reality with elements of real life. Visitors wear a virtual-reality headset and headphones, so they’re surrounded by 3-D virtual images and accompanying sound effects and music. 

<more at http://www.technologyreview.com/news/540841/when-virtual-reality-collides-with-reality-its-surreal/; related links: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/16/morton-heiligs-sensorama-simulator/ (The sights and scents of the Sensorama Simulator. February 16, 2014) and http://www.telepresenceoptions.com/2008/09/theory_and_research_in_hci_mor/ (Theory and Research in HCI: Morton Heilig, Pioneer in Virtual Reality Research. September 19, 2008)>