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Have you ever wanted to go to a concert but it turns out that it's sold out, attend FIFA because you couldn't get the seats you wanted, or you couldn't make it to your daughters recital because you're stuck in traffic? That's all soon to change thanks to Yifei Chai, a student at the Imperial College London, who has made this all potentially possible by allowing a person's movements to be controlled by another individual. Using virtual reality technology and 3D modeling hardware, we are now another step closer to the future of gaming, movies, and other forms of media entertainment.

It works by having one person wear a head-mounted, twin-angle camera with electrical stimulators attached to 34 arm and shoulder muscles, while the other person wears an Oculus Rift in front of a Microsoft Kinect 3D sensor to track the Rift wearer's movements. When the Rift wearer moves either his arms or head, the person with the stimulators movements do the same giving the illusion of inhabiting another's body. Because it is still in the prototype stages, there is a noticeable delay between action and reaction giving it a less then accurate feel of real-time body control. This also beneficial to Microsoft since the enhancements to the Kinect have made the sensors capable of detecting subtler movements allowing for a smoother feel or gameplay.



This will provide future game developers the tools to become more in-depth with their video games, allowing the gamer to experience all of the in game moments that making gaming so great. Wether you're shooting your way through a battalion of Storm Troopers on Hoth as visibility lessens by the moment, or making Kinect sports feel like you are hitting the tennis ball across the court, all you will have to do is suit up. Other benefits of this advancement is that we will now be able to experience how other people go through their daily lives. For instance, we can virtually step into the shoes of people with disabilities or the elderly and experience the day to day troubles they go through. Once the stimulators are advanced enough to recognize the slightest muscle impulse, a surgeon will be able to operate on a patient in need of major surgery all from the comfort of his own home while wearing the Rift.

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