
Birdly – An attempt to fly with Oculus Rift [video] - muratmutlu
http://birdly.zhdk.ch/en/about/
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huhtenberg
I love the fan at the front. What a great touch.

I wonder though if this can be done without hydraulics and based purely on a
balanced board. So to dive you'd shift forward, the board will tilt and you'll
get a sensation of diving. Or will this be too counter-intuitive to control?

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resu_nimda
I think the problem with that is that, as far as I know, birds use their limbs
to control their flight, so the Birdly setup makes sense to me. Kind of
inching my body forward or backward on a platform doesn't seem like it would
give the right feeling.

And how would you pull out of a sharp dive? I'm just imagining someone
strapped into this thing face down and tilted way forward, and being kinda
stuck there.

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Justsignedup
ok look, you wouldn't feel the Gees but its already looking fun.

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VikingCoder
Reminds me of the virtual game in "Lawnmower Man."

I probably shouldn't link to it, but here ya go:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJer9aivOrA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJer9aivOrA)

23:50 in.

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cosmotron
Here's a direct link to the scene:
[http://youtu.be/zJer9aivOrA?t=23m50s](http://youtu.be/zJer9aivOrA?t=23m50s)

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iLoch
The best (and only) flying simulation I've ever experienced was on a ride at
California Adventure, which was built inside a warehouse. Riders were locked
into a seat (rows of about 6) and a projector turns on. Wind starts blowing,
as the scenery changes below you. My favourite part of it though was when they
tilted the seats back and forth, simulating g-force. Would love to see one of
these happen for Oculus Rift, although it's not really a consumer product.

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amitparikh
I love this attraction. They have a duplicate at Epcot in Orlando called
"Soarin'". I think an Oculus-concept could also be implemented for "Mission
Space", which already simulates g-forces by way of centripetal force.

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stevep98
Mission space. OMG I was so sick after that ride. I really didn't know what I
was letting myself in for.

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jobigoud
This needs to be coupled with the project where you control a quadcopter with
a camera attached to it.

[https://github.com/Matsemann/oculus-fpv](https://github.com/Matsemann/oculus-
fpv)

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atmosx
I was thinking exactly the same thing: What if you could take a 'virtual
flight' like this!

Bug I guess battery and high-speed connectivity are the problems here.
Connections could be through 3G but probably crappy and low-res and costly.

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ubercow
When I saw the title I thought for sure this was going to be flappy bird for
the Rift.

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meemo
That actually sounds like a great idea.

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calibwam
It exists: [http://holdenlink.com/project/floculus-
bird/](http://holdenlink.com/project/floculus-bird/)

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nathan_f77
This has been my dream project ever since I started getting excited about VR,
and they've done an amazing job. I really want to experience this.

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zavulon
I really love this. With today's information overload and being constantly
bombarded by latest and coolest releases, it's difficult to be really excited
about anything. But this is awesome and invokes that childhood feeling of awe.
I hope when the product comes out, it's just as good as it looks in that demo.

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sixQuarks
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the cost. I read somewhere they spent
around $150,000 to create this. I thought that was extremely costly, but I
don't know anything about this kind of stuff, so I'd like to see what you guys
think.

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branchan
Source?

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sixQuarks
Top comment on a reddit link:

"They paid 110.000 CHF (=$123 971,65) for that simulator/demo."

[http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/21ljff/worlds_first_...](http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/21ljff/worlds_first_bird_flight_simulator_with_physical/)

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judah
Looks great! I'd love to try this.

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mrfusion
Do those motors on the "wings" actually simulate air resistance? For example
would it be harder to push down on them coming out of a dive?

I guess you could also simulate updrafts and downdrafts, maybe gliding on
thermals like an eagle or vulture.

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sopooneo
I wondered the same thing. Glad to see someone else asked first. I bet that
would increase the realism a lot.

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bglazer
Has anyone made a bird simulator game? I would pay money for a game that
simulates the life of a peregrine falcon or golden eagle. It just seems like
it would be incredible fun control a bird of prey chasing down a pigeon.

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unfamiliar
>The whole scenery is perceived in the first person perspective of a bird.

Except that birds eyes are on the side of their head, so what they see is not
much like this.

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alloyed
That would be really interesting to see, actually: with a tiny bit of
projection math it sounds doable, and very trippy, to get the field of view of
a side-eyed animal.

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sssilver
The reality is quickly becoming obsolete.

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sksixk
what am i doing with my life?

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3rd3
Enjoying a place where you can learn about new technolgy, join interesting
discussions and be mildly, intellectually entertained at the same time?

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owlmanatt
All I know is I'm not building badass bird simulation engines.

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glassapps
you awesome marthafockrs! I love that!

