Immersive Cocoon: The Answer for the 3-D Internet?
As some vendors struggle to define the 3-D interface within the confines of today’s tools, visionaries are moving beyond conventional boundaries.
The Immersive Cocoon is a carbon fiber shell that surrounds the user in a 360o display. Users enter navigate the virtual spaces on the display through body motions based on technology from John Underkoffler, a former fellow of MIT’s media lab. Underkoffler’s research inspired the interface popularized by the movie “Minority Report” and allows users to move objects through hand and arm gestures or alternative speech commands.
Explore the Mayan temples. Travel to distant galaxies or just workout back at home. The applications for the Immersive Cocoon are numerous. Online book shoppers will be able to grab a book in a virtual space instead of having to click on it. Gamers will walk through a space instead of clicking on keyboard. Teleworking would become even more immersive than today’s Telepresence.
Initially the technology will be targeted at corporations for internal use. NAU is said to be looking at developing a line for executive airport lounges. Users will be ultimately able to buy time in a public Cocoon via their laptops or smart phones.