Truly immersive virtual reality requires more than just convincing visuals. Now a British startup has developed a neat way to inject feelings, too.
In the past, external cameras have been used to monitor the movement of facial features as a means of adding emotion to VR. The new system, developed by Emteq, uses small sensors embedded into a VR headset to measure electrical signals, heart rate, and muscle movement. According to Engineering & Technology, that allows the system, known as Faceteq, to capture a wider range of emotional response than visual approaches.
The detected emotions can then be applied to an avatar in the virtual world. That clearly has uses in game play and the workplace: observing another person’s emotions in the virtual world could add an extra layer of realism. Or, perhaps, even give away aspects of your play that might otherwise have remained secret.
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