Red Bull features Ultraleap hand tracking in latest immersive experience
Posted; April 13, 2023
The new mixed reality cliff diving experience is powered by the Varjo XR-3 mixed reality headset featuring integrated Ultraleap hand tracking.
Red Bull has opened an immersive museum exhibition, Water – Breaking the Surface, at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne, Switzerland that features world-leading technologies from Varjo and Ultraleap through the XR-3 headset.
The new exhibition at Red Bull Media World gives museumgoers a chance to step into the shoes of a Red Bull athlete. Visitors can try their hand at extreme water sports through eight new and adapted mixed reality installations. A highlight from the exhibition is a cliff diving experience made possible by the Varjo XR-3 headset which includes integrated Ultraleap hand tracking.
Cliff diving is an extreme sport that gets participants adrenaline pumping with daring jumps off cliffs into the water below, often in remote parts of the world that are difficult to access. This new experience from Red Bull gives people an opportunity to experience it in a safe and accessible environment. Museumgoers are transported to a 27-meter-high cliff in Sisikon, but instead of jumping from a real cliff, mixed reality is used to help visitors chase that adrenaline high. Visitors are never in danger, or even touch the water that they ‘dive’ into.
The Varjo XR-3 headset is used to place visitors right in the middle of the action, effortlessly blending virtual and real elements together to closely mimic a real cliff diving scenario. Ultraleap hand tracking provides natural interaction for visitors whilst also adding an extra layer of immersion in this stunning mixed reality world.
The Red Bull project team chose the Varjo XR-3 due to its unparalleled visual fidelity, the ability to blend virtual and real worlds together in true-to-life human-eye resolution and extremely low latency, as well as integrated Ultraleap hand tracking. No other device on the market can deliver such a breathtaking visual experience that realistically mimics the extreme sport.
Water – Breaking the Surface will be open daily from March 2023.