Given that tanks are designed to be armored combat vehicles, it means that openings on the vehicle are minimal to prevent bullets, sharpness, and other objects from passing through. This also means that driving a tank isn’t exactly the easiest job in the world since unlike a car with a huge windshield, visibility is a bit limited.
However it seems that the Norwegian army has seen potential in the Oculus Rift and are reportedly testing it out with tank drivers. The idea is to provide tank drivers with an unobstructed view while driving, thanks to cameras mounted on the tank and with the drivers donning the Oculus Rift headset.
With the Oculus Rift designed to be a virtual reality headset, images can come across as spherical, but they are expected to be corrected with software that will make images look “normal”. With the Oculus Rift, drivers will be able to see 185 degrees from each side of the vehicle, or look straight down.
It’s an interesting development and it goes to show that the Oculus Rift and other virtual reality headsets can be used for more than just gaming, even though at the moment they are being marketed as gaming devices. Assuming that this catches on, we reckon that Facebook’s investment in Oculus VR could soon be paying off in potential military contracts.
[Image credit – Tujobs]
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