Watch: This immersive VR technology allows users to interact in a remarkably novel way
Mutual human actuation lets users work together despite working on very different tasks.
A singular method of virtual reality allows users to share physical interactions despite performing very different tasks.
Innovators at the Hasso-Plattner Institute (HPI) lab for Human Computer Interaction in Germany came up with a technology known as mutual human actuation – which lets two users feel real physical feedback while using VR headsets.
The technology was created by Professor Patrick Baudisch and his PhD students Lung-Pan Cheng and Sebastian Marwecki.
“It provides users with a sense of physicality,” Baudisch told the Press Association. “Unlike traditional VR which allows users to see and hear, mutual human actuation allows users to feel.”
Baudisch said the technology “fits well” with games and virtual experiences which already exist, but is a way to “drastically increase” users’ sense of immersion.
“But suspension of disbelief fails whenever a user tries to touch an object in the virtual world. This is what needs to be fixed.
“Mutual human actuation is a big step in exactly this direction.”
Watch the full video of mutual human actuation in practice below.
