Oculus Rift In Norwegian Tanks

Before the Oculus Rift has come out of the development stage it is already being used for military use in Norway for their tanks.

In the Norwegian army they are testing the Oculus Rift with tank drivers to help them see out of their tanks. The tanks have have a custom 360 degrees camera on them so it is like they can see through the tank. Just like for games, the drivers of the tanks use the head tracking technology built into the visor to see what the cameras see outside of the tank. On the tanks there are cameras on the outside which sends their image to a computer which merges the images together to create a live feed to the driver. The driver is able to look around by turning his or her head.

The Oculus Rift is still in the development phase and still has some drawbacks. Firstly, when you use the Rift for long periods of time you begin to get motion sickness, which gamers who use the Rift get, and this means that the drivers can’t use it for long periods of time.

It is good for combat situations though where the hatch needs to be kept closed. There is also the problem of protecting the cameras on the battlefield, which is hard to do and could leave the driver blind. Even with these issues, the military continues to test with it.

A normal Oculus Rift costs $2000 but the military version could cost $100,000 for all the equipment and the software.

As usual, feel free to share your thoughts on Oculus Rift down below.
Do you think other countries will copy Norway and try and use the Rift for military purposes?