VIRLD

What do you get when you put five fun-loving electronics geeks with an expertise in robotics in a team and give them time to work on things other than robotics? A whole new level of amazing innovations in Electronics and Robotics, of course! This was exactly the case with Prashant Choudhary, Sriteja Gadamsetti, Anjali Asar, Karl Vacili Breitkopf Jr. and Aakrit Kumar, all of whom are second year members of RoboManipal. Their project, VIRLD, provides (quite literally) a new dimension to virtual reality as we know it. Or don’t know it, as was the case with complete laymen like myself. So, naturally, I decided the best course of action was to interview them about it!

Rahul: “VIRLD”. Let me take a guess. “Virtual World”?

Teja: …oh, is that what it stands for? (Looks at the other three gleeful faces in the room) I literally hadn’t even thought of what the name possibly meant until now.

Anjali: (Still laughing) we tried matching every letter to something meaningful, but eventually gave up and stuck with VIRLD, because why not?

Rahul: Fair enough! So how did the whole concept of VIRLD come about?

Karl: Prashant had this ingenious idea of trying to make virtual human interactions completely immersive and almost real. For example, if you were standing here and you were speaking to someone in Paris, it should feel like you’re standing right next to them. This was the original inspiration anyway. Of course, that level of immersion is incredibly hard to achieve and requires years, maybe even decades of serious R&D and work. So we’ve scaled it slightly down, but that’s the general idea of what this is all about.

Rahul: Let’s talk about the technical details. How are you guys implementing this?

Anjali: We’re using already existing 3D technology. The screen is split into two and the image on the second half of the screen is slightly shifted.

Teja: Yeah, that’s how general 3D works. We’re using it to form the utmost basic interface in our prototype.

Prashant: Let me show you. The Avengers trailer on YouTube can be seen in 3D. If you put this (hands me one of the prototype lenses) on, you can watch it in 3D.

Rahul: Yep! I can indeed.

Teja: We’re working on making the image a lot finer.

Anjali: Yes, this is just the prototype.

Prashant: I’ve made this game with an environment in which you can move around. You can use the prototype to view it and the X-Box controller to move around.

(Hands me the game)

Rahul: Woah! This is incredible! The textures and the general rendering already look as good as it does in TES V: Skyrim. The movements are incredibly smooth as well. This is awesome!

Prashant: This isn’t even 25% of what the real deal is going to look like! This is just a very basic example of what we intend to do. In the near future, we’re going to be able to use the HMD to look around instead of the X-Box controller or a mouse.

Karl: What we’re aiming for is retina display. It should be exactly as though you were actually seeing it in real life.

Rahul: Neat! Which engine did you use to make this?

Prashant: Currently I’m using Unity, but we’ll soon shift to Unreal.

Rahul: I remember you guys were planning to make your own version of Oculus Rift. But this is a lot more than that, isn’t it?

Karl: Oculus Rift is primarily a gaming device. We’re focusing on a lot more practical applications than just gaming. Oculus was made by a bunch of geniuses who also happen to have a LOT more resources. So instead of trying to compete with them, we’re focusing on the applications of virtual reality.

Anjali: Applications like education, for example. A lot of homeschooled kids miss out on the experience of studying in a classroom environment. With VIRLD, this will be possible. If every “student” in the virtual classroom were to wear this, they’d be able to communicate with each other just as they would in a real classroom.

Teja: You know how you can whisper to people in class in a way that the teacher can’t hear you? You’ll be able to do that using this as well! We’re trying to make the virtual experience as realistic as possible.

Prashant: (trying to load the screen up)…and the video driver just crashed. Our laptops remain hopelessly incapable of producing the quality of rendering that we’re going for. Just….give me a second.

Karl: Moving on, this can even have applications in sports.

Prashant: What we’re thinking of is, using this device, we can interface the bat and create a practice environment for cricketers. Batsmen would be able to face any bowler, on any pitch, in any given lighting or weather conditions!

Karl: You’d be able to predict the length of the ball (short/long/full/Yorker) and the trajectory it’s going to take. Then after the ball is hit, you’d be able to calculate the speed of the ball and the probability of it crossing the boundary depending on the pitch and other factors.

Teja: And these are just a few of the multitude of applications it’s capable of.

Rahul: That’s incredible! From what it sounds like, this is a gigantic project. I imagine it’ll be at least as expensive as the Oculus Rift?

Anjali: Actually its estimated price at the moment is about 16k. The beauty of it is that we’re using resources that are currently available to us to make this and…let’s be honest; we don’t really have a lot of it.

Prashant: Depending on the additions we make, it’ll increase in price though, but it certainly won’t be as expensive at that. Hopefully.

Rahul: I’m too dazed and wonderstruck at the moment to formulate a cogent question. Just amaze me further with what else this can do/ might be able to do in the future.

Karl: (Laughs) Have you been to 4-D movies? This may a long shot, but we’re trying to get 4-D effects into it as well. We’re working on sensors that’ll detect what’s going on and react appropriately.

Teja: I also wanted to try and incorporate smells into it, but that’ll be really really hard and complex.

Prashant: Oh yes, you’ll also get 3D surround sound with this. You’ll actually get to know what’s happening where in the virtual world even without looking. I’ve already coded that. Check it out!

(Hands me the game and makes a few incomprehensible tweaks)

Rahul: It works! So this has got to be at a pretty advanced stage development right now, right?

Anjali: Not really. This still need a lot more modifications and tweaks before we can say that. But it did get through to the final round of Provenance ’14! We’re really proud of that.

Rahul: Congratulations! So when are you guys officially releasing your prototype?

Anjali: Very soon! Actually, our first prototype, the one you just used, is almost ready for display. It’s called Pak€t and we’re going to set up a stall at Revels ’15 so people can actually check it out for themselves.

VIRLD is:

Prashant Choudhary

Karl Vacili Breitkopf

Anjali Asar

Sriteja Gadamsetti