The Machine To Be Another Uses Oculus Rift For Gender Swap Experiment [NSFW]

An interesting experiment has been held by the design team at BeAnotherLab, using the popular virtual reality headset Oculus Rift they’ve set up a thought experiment; what would it be like to see through the eyes of another human being?

The Machine to be Another project sees both users wear an Oculus Rift headset, the feeds from the two cameras and then linked to each others headset and see what they see. The team hopes that it could help the users develop empathy for the other person, but it’s not a perfect experiment in practice as it does require both users to synchronize their movements for the full effect.

Of course it isn’t the most in depth scientific experiment we’ve ever seen, but it is an interesting concept on how virtual reality devices such as the Oculus Rift can be used to help better understand someone. The ideal of walking a mile in someone’s shoes to see what they’re going through could be something we’re perfectly capable of doing within the next few years. It’s also a far cry from the much more intimate intentions of the Google Glass project we saw the other day.

Check out the video below, but please keep in mind that it does contain naked people at some points, obviously NSFW.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/84150219[/vimeo]

Thank you Popsci for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of Popsci.