In ‘The Future of User Experience – Virtual Reality Interfaces’ we look at some of the work that is being undertaken with VR and how interfaces will appear before us and integrate with physical environments as well.

VR Interface Design Manifesto

Mike Alger outlines his declaration of intent for the research and design of user interfaces for ergonomic multitasking in virtual reality, focused primarily on the interaction design of operating systems and browsers. A really nice summary of the opportunities for VR interface design.

Reality Editor

The Reality Editor allows the user to connect and manipulate the functionality of physical objects. You can point the camera of your smartphone at an object and its invisible capabilities, created beforehand, will become visible for you to edit. Drag a virtual line from one object to another and create a new relationship between these objects. With this simplicity, you are able to master the entire scope of connected objects.

The Reality Editor is a result of three years of MIT research and they envisage real-world applications for this. For example, that light switch in your bedroom you always need to stand up in order to turn off—just point the Reality Editor at an object next to your bed and draw a line to the light. You have just customized your home to serve your convenience. This could be incredible for the connected home, business, and city with the oncoming integration of the Internet of Things.

Hovercast VR Menu

Hovercast is a customizable menu interface for virtual reality applications that provides menu navigation, buttons, sliders, and toggles – all using simple, reliable gestures.  This video shows the Hovercast menu seen through an Oculus headset for VR, and a Leap Motion controller for the 3D hand input.
The left/right sides of this video show nearly the same images. If you carefully cross your eyes until these sides overlap in the center, you’ll see the video in 3D.

You can view the project at: https://github.com/aestheticinteracti…

HUMAN Demonstrates VR GUI at Immersed 2015

Kharis O’Connell, the CEO of Vancouver-based AR/VR/Wearables design agency HUMAN, demonstrates at Immersed 2015 in Toronto. They’ve created an untethered, networkable, extensible and tactile solution that allows for collaboration and control in environments. And, it’s all done through the smartphone.

 
Also read these other related articles:

• Dark Visions of Augmented Reality
• The VR Revolution: Magic Leap Will Blow Minds
• The Future of Virtual Reality: Facebook and Oculus Rift
• From Rectangles to Reality: A Primer on Virtual Reality

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Nikolas Badminton is a world-respected futurist speaker that researches, speaks, and writes about the future of work, how technology is affecting the workplace, how workers are adapting, the sharing economy, and how the world is evolving. He appears at conferences in Canada, USA, UK, and Europe. Email him to book him for your radio, TV show, or conference.