Fancy a Star Trek-style Holodeck in your own home? A VR startup based in Barcelona, Spain, wants to make such a thing a (non-virtual) reality.
What BroomX has developed is a freestanding virtual reality projection system called the MK Player360, capable of transforming any room into… well, pretty much anything you can imagine. From an entertainment tool that could make your bedroom a convincing underwater simulation to one that would allow an interior designer to show off concepts for a finished apartment, the potential use-cases are nigh-on unlimited.
“We’ve created a tool that lets people enjoy virtual reality scenarios without having to wear a heavy, not entirely comfortable device like a headset,” Ignasi Capellà, head of business development for BroomX, told Digital Trends. “What we’ve done goes one step further than a lot of VR setups by making it a social technology that allows multiple people to enjoy the same experience at the same time. We think this will be great for everything from hotel rooms to classroom environments.”
Other possible applications Capellà talked about include viewing 360-degree video in a way that would allow a user to instantly be placed in their favorite city. It’s also possible to imagine potential medical use-cases, such as putting a terminally-ill person in hospice care back in a projection of their own bedroom, or — on the other end of the spectrum — helping treat PTSD by placing a patient back in a traumatic environment as a way of helping them.
The projector itself is linked to a mobile device, which makes changing the scenario as easy as turning on a smart light. “Another use-case is interactive apps,” Capellà said. “For example, we have one use-case where can draw on your iPad, which then projects the image in real-time on the wall. You can customize your surroundings, like a virtual reality Banksy.”
Right now, Capellà said the company is having discussions with a number of different sectors. No price for the units has been set, but we hopefully won’t have to wait too much longer to find out.
“We’ve been receiving a lot of requests,” he said. “Our plan is to start in Spain and the south of Europe, targeting B2B markets at first. We’re also talking to different distributors in various markets, including the U.S. The product is ready; we just need to find the best way of getting it into the hands of customers!”
