The Fox Report
Barry Fox’s technology column
VR/AR on tour in the UK
W
ill virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality
(AR) change the face of entertainment or go the
way of 3D? They all have in common the need to
wear something on your head and over the eyes – which in
the case of VR/AR is a bulky headset with built-in screen
display, headphone audio and position-tracking electronics, plus a pair of hand controllers like gaming joysticks.
Gamers will have no problem with this. Non-gamers (like
me) need a very good reason to wear any extra headgear.
The best good reason will be superb, captivating audiovisual content.
Immersive arcade
I am assured by the UK government-backed venture, Digital
Catapult, based at high tech offices in London near Euston
Station, that the UK is a world leader in VR/AR content.
So, I jumped at the chance of attending a preview of the
VR/AR Immersive Arcade package which is now touring
the UK to give public demonstrations.
The Arcade showcases – I quote – ‘12 of the most influential
British Immersive productions from the last 20 years, from
theatre to games to therapy (and)…is designed to inspire
and delight virtual reality (VR) pros and novices alike.’
Anyone with their own headset can access the material
online, or watch out for a physical demo in their area of
the UK. For information, go to:
www.immersivearcade.uk
www.immersivearcade.uk/showcase
Demos are free and take between 5-40 minutes per person,
depending on how busy the venue is. The tour covers
much of the country (from Brighton to Dundee) – for more
details of locations, go to:
www.immersivearcade.uk/tour
1557 IP68 sealed enclosures
The Oculus Rift headset and a pair of hand controllers.
The organisers recommend starting with Mimetic Starfish
at the Millennium Dome, immersive game Can You See Me
Now, Punchdrunk’s 2003 Sleep No More dark retelling of
Macbeth, a VR Space Walk used to train astronauts, some
Ghost Hunts and Sky Slides, refugee experiences with We
Wait, and VR puzzle Shadow Point.
At the Digital Catapult offices, I donned an Oculus
Rift headset and – after some time spent learning how to
navigate through a virtual gallery maze of content options
– experienced an odd CGI experience with flying birds,
a far-too-long and rather low-res video journey round a
decaying housing estate ahead of demolition and a very
exciting simulation of flight with Leonardo, the Wright
Brothers, Concorde and a future giant dreamliner.
!
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Practical Electronics | November | 2021
A space walk for all budding International Space Station visitors.
Fun, but perhaps not for everyone
The Flight Sim was hugely impressive and great fun, as
well it should be because it was made with a bag of British
Airways’ money for a flight training pod that was previously
installed for demonstration at the prestigious Saatchi Gallery.
Gamers will enthuse and explore the ‘arcade’ for hours
and hours. Others, like me, will view it as an interesting
experience which is variously invigorating, exciting, fatiguing, vertigo-inducing, unsettling and, after half an hour or
so, starting to cause dull headache discomfort.
Give me a 2D movie with a good script, believable acting and tight direction, any time – and no need to wear
anything on my head.
The Digital Ghost Hunt: an educational, immersive experience that
combines augmented reality, coding education and theatre. (Created
by KIT Theatre / King’s Digital Lab at the University of Sussex.)
wearing special spectacles and getting headaches) why
3D has so spectacularly failed every time anyone tries to
make it go mainstream.
Just like 3D?
Significantly, before I could experience the VR experience,
I was obliged to sign several pages of legal waivers in case I
suffered medical side effects such as epilepsy. This exactly
parallels what the situation was with 3D, and reminds
of another good reason (along with the inconvenience of
Automation
D
id you know that the father
of automated mass production
was British? During World II,
John Sargrove worked on the massproduction of electronic valves. He was
sure he could automate the production
of complete radio sets.
In 1944 he set up Sargrove Electronics in a village hall at Effingham in
Practical Electronics | November | 2021
Take a vertigo-inducing trip round London’s iconic Shard – you’ll
either love it, hate it... or possibly both!
Surrey. Within two years, ECME, his
Electronic Circuit Making Equipment
was working. A 20-metre production
line produced 1500 two-valve radio
circuits in eight hours. The circuitry
was printed onto an insulating board,
with resistors deposited by spraying.
Each PCB had 15 fixed-value capacitors, two variable capacitors and two
valve sockets. All were automatically
soldered into position by mechanical
hands controlled by electromagnetic
relays and valve circuitry. Humans
were needed only to plug in the valves
and ‘tweak’ pre-sets.
Between 1947 and 1949, Sargrove’s
factory designed ‘master brains’ to
automate other industrial processes. A
‘magic eye’ monitored the output of an
electric sewing machine, and counted
screws, pins and buttons, as they fell
into cartons. Other master brains shut
down machinery in a cotton mill when
a thread broke, matched the colour of
rosary beads, sorted good from bad
coffee beans, and checked the size of
dough lumps on a conveyor leading
to a baker’s oven.
In the early 1950s Sargrove tried to
automate the production of TV receivers. ‘Don’t get the idea that we are out
to rob people of their jobs,’ he assured.
‘Our task is to liberate men and women
from being slaves of machines… automation means redeployment not
unemployment. It relieves people of
monotonous jobs so that they can do
more interesting work’.
But the unions were wary and government aid dried up. There was always at least one faulty valve or relay
holding up the line. The factory closed
and Sargrove died in 1974 just as the
Japanese started to make automation
a way of life.
More technology stories and images at:
https://tekkiepix.com/stories
Practical Electronics is delighted to be
able to help promote Barry Fox’s project
to preserve the visual history of preInternet electronics.
Visit www.tekkiepix.com for fascinating
stories and a chance to support this
unique online collection.
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