About: All five senses are appealed to with the new cocoon helmet, which allows the user to be in any location or historical event and actually have all their senses stimulated simultaneously. The Virtual Cocoon will consist of a headset incorporating specially developed electronics and computing capabilities. The project leaders are scientists David Howard from the University of York, Alan Chalmers and Christopher Moir from University of Warwick, along with experts from the Universities of Bangor, Bedford, and Brighton.
Virtual Cocoon Specs and Info…
Device: Virtual Cocoon
Manufacturer: VitoDiBari
Announced Date: December 2009
Release Date: Never Released
Launch Price: Unknown
Device Type: VR Headset (Other)
Display: Unknown
Diagonal Field of View(FOV): Unknown
Refresh Rate: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
CPU: N/A
GPU: N/A
Battery: N/A
Tracking: Unknown
Controllers: Unknown
Our Thoughts: It was said that the Virtual Cocoon headset could mimic all five senses and make a virtual world as convincing as real life. So could this headset virtually produce sights, sounds, taste, smells as well as touch? Well, no. But it did have a lot of potential for its time. With experiences like Kenya’s Masai Mara, and a Caribbean beach it wasn’t the software that was the problem.
Marketing a headset that the makers say can be used to “greet friends and family on the other side of the world as though they were in the same room.” was never going to be an easy task, nor was the rather extortionate price tag. While the idea might have sounded a little silly and far fetched at the time we are now entering a new era of virtual reality research that might well produce such a far fetched headset!
Sources used…
- https://web.archive.org/web/20091205133046/http://www.vitodibari.com/