Microsoft unveiled an experiment this week that explores the future of always-on virtual reality. Building a system called DreamWalker, Microsoft researchers walk around in the physical world while still being fully immersed in VR, essentially taking the first steps into replacing your morning walk with something that’s not only reactive to your physical surroundings, but ultimately more interesting.
To do this, DreamWalker fuses a Windows VR headset’s inside-out tracking, two RGB depth sensors, and GPS locations. The system, the researchers maintain in their paper, can continuously and accurately position the user in the physical world, sense walkable paths and obstacles