A pioneering virtual reality team is looking for a base in Plymouth to stage an exhibition of its groundbreaking digital projects.
The Human Interface Technologies (HIT) team from the University of Birmingham is led by Plymouth born and bred Professor Bob Stone and has been working with businesses in his home city and on several major Devon-based projects.
These include visualisations of Plymouth Sound and Burrator, the Scylla reef off the coast of the city, and a high-profile VR depiction of the Mayflower and life in Plymouth’s Barbican in 1620.
The HIT team has also worked with the Royal Navy and on the trailblazing Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) robot vessel programme.
Now Prof Stone would like to combine all the work the HIT team has produced into one “virtual heritage” exhibition, which could be staged in the city.
He would like anyone with space they are willing to donate to get in touch with him and the HIT team so he can place the technology in one place, for people to see and interact with, rather than having them “sitting in a computer gathering dust”.
“It would be wonderful to have an exhibition of the virtual heritage of Plymouth,” Prof Stone said. “I’d like a benefactor to put it somewhere so people can experience it in an immersive and interactive way. So we are looking for someone to work with us to tell the virtual heritage story.”
In July 2021, Prof Stone staged a popular olfactory Virtual Reality (VR) experience in Plymouth, allowing Plymouth people to experience the full immersive experience of the 1620s, including the aroma of rotting fish, wooden latrines and the scent of orange water, commonly used as perfume by ladies of easy virtue.
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The Virtual Mayflower project was first demonstrated on the Barbican during the 400th anniversary of the departure of the Mayflower ship from Plymouth in September 2020 but a new demo featured a 3D reconstruction of Sutton Pool including a number of new features and locations and a unique olfactory display, or “smell” delivery system, designed to work in conjunction with VR headsets.
Collaborating with Plymouth-based Bluestone 360 Immersive and olfactory specialists from the American company OVR Technology Inc the team is pioneering new technologies in the delivery of smells to immerse VR users even further into computer-generated worlds.
That project was the latest in 18 years of progressive projects from Prof Stone and his team, which has been undertaking high-tech research and development projects in Plymouth and surrounding coastal and moorland areas since 2003.
The choice of Devon for the R&D projects was because it provided HIT Team researchers with an abundance of opportunities to survey and recreate areas of natural beauty using a combination of VR, Augmented Reality (AR) and drone-based technologies.
Locations such as Wembury Bay and Burrator became focal areas for delivering simulated virtual scenes of nature for hospital recovery and rehabilitation applications, and for projects in the domain of Virtual Heritage – using VR and AR techniques to turn back time or to make the historically invisible visible once again.
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The maritime heritage throughout Devon was responsible for “kick-starting” years of project work in the region, building on a foundation provided by two key, early projects, the virtual recreation of the ex-Leander Class Frigate, the Scylla, and the successful trials, with the Naval Base at Devonport, of the first VR training system for nuclear submarines: SubSafe.
Prof Stone said: “It’s about how we can use VR to make the invisible visible, and inspire people to use the technology to create their own heritage. This is no longer technology for the wealthy few.”