The Virtual Body project allows users to 'step into the shoes'’ from someone else

A group of researchers from the Ikei Laboratory of the Tokyo Metropolitan University Graduate School of System Design has been working on the Virtual Body project for some time., a new technology that tries to recreate the experience of the five senses through a complex system of actuators, tactile feedback vibrators, fans that distribute different aromas, 3D monitor, helmets with sound also in 3D and a chair in which to simulate human movement when walking or running.

In an effort to provide a more immersive sensory experience, The Ikei Laboratory at the Tokyo Metropolitan University Graduate School of System Design is developing what it calls 'virtual body technology', which uses all five senses to provide a virtual experience similar to getting into another person's body, according to DigInfo.

The system is more virtual than virtual reality itself with the user passively experiencing the predefined stimulus – which the creators compare to inhabiting the body of another. But giving someone a virtual body still requires more than putting on a headset with stereo screens inside.. It means being able to smell, feel the wind and have the sensation of walking on the ground. That implies a very elaborate team.

The Ikei Laboratory project consists of a 3D monitor, headphones, a fan for breeze and smells, a chair that tilts back and forth and vibrates, and pedals to provide a walking and running sensation. Professor Yasushi Ikei has explained that “the chair will move to provide direction and vestibular sensations. Legs move to create a sensation of real walking or running and a sensation of parallel or up and down movement, or to create a sensation as if the feet are touching the ground. Great vibrations are felt when running, so it is possible to create vibrations from the shins to the knees. When you walk through the city there are different smells and breezes, and these are also recreated.”

The Ikei Laboratory is developing the Virtual Body project thinking about users who are getting older and who want to travel, but they are no longer able to do it.

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