[Netflix is experimenting with interactive programming; here’s a key quote from the director of product innovation at Netflix: “The children’s programming space was a natural place for us to start since kids are eager to ‘play’ with their favorite characters and already inclined to tap, touch and swipe at screens. They also talk to their screens, as though the characters can hear them. Now, that conversation can be two-way.” This story is from The New York Times, where it features another image and the Netflix “Kids Interactive Adventure” trailer; for more details see coverage in The Verge. –Matthew]

[Image: An image from “The Adventures of Puss in Boots.” Netflix released an episode of the show that includes interactive elements.]

Netflix Lets Viewers Pick the Plot

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By John Koblin
June 20, 2017

Attention, kids: Netflix just put you in charge.

Netflix on Tuesday released a new episode on its streaming service of the animated show “The Adventures of Puss in Boots” with an interactive twist. About a half-dozen times during the episode, viewers — most likely children — will be prompted to choose which plot point the show should follow. Each decision will send the story in a different direction.

At one point, for example, viewers must decide whether Puss will confront nice bears or angry bears. On a touch screen, a press of the finger will do the work; on a television, a remote control will be required.

The first interactive episode, called “Puss in Book,” will last 18 to 39 minutes (depending on which path viewers go down), with viewers being asked to make a decision every two to four minutes.

“They are used to pressing play on the remote, setting it down and then just leaning back on the couch and letting Netflix roll,” Carla Engelbrecht Fisher, the director of product innovation at Netflix, said of viewers. “In this case, we actually need them to hold on to the remote. We don’t want it lost in the couch cushions. We need you to lean forward a little bit to engage with the choices.”

The introduction of such a feature — which Netflix will roll out for another children’s series next month, and a third next year — is, at this point, an experiment. But if it’s a hit with subscribers, and if Netflix executives are impressed with the results, the implications for the TV industry could be significant.

Although the streaming service has not made plans to feature this kind of interactive viewing in, say, a future season of “House of Cards,” the potential is there for it to eventually expand beyond children’s programming. Read more on Netflix introduces interactive programming to engage viewers…

[This is a clever use of presence-evoking technology to create presence experiences; the story from CBC News – Manitoba includes three videos, including a CBC News report. For more information see the Flipside VR website and YouTube channel and the Bucko Comedy website. –Matthew]

[Image: Lauren Cochrane (left) plays Genefur while Aaron Merke (right) plays 2B in the virtual reality created cartoon Super Secret Science Island. (Credit: Ronnie Abelada).]

Virtual reality TV show created in Winnipeg on way to international convention

‘It’s just making an animation using your body, instantly,’ says actor

By Teghan Beaudette, CBC News
Posted: Jun 20, 2017

A first-of-its-kind cartoon is being made in Winnipeg using exclusively virtual reality technology.

Super Secret Science Island has two characters — failed experiments abandoned on an island by their creator — that are brought to life by BUCKO Comedy’s Aaron Merke and Lauren Cochrane.

The entire show is acted, shot and edited in real-time.

“Someone could be in Winnipeg, somebody else could be on the other side of the world. They can meet up in VR, create a show together and output that right away,” said Rachael Hosein, the chief creative at Campfire Union, the virtual reality development house that created the software for the show.

Merke and Cochrane go to different rooms, put on headsets, grab a set of hand controls and improvise an episode.

“It’s like putting a headset on and you’re Homer Simpson,” said Campfire Union’s John Luxford.

While they act, Luxford and Hosein switch camera angles and make sure everything in the virtual world runs smoothly.

“What we’re doing is making a virtual TV studio. It’s using off-the-shelf virtual reality hardware that we hook into an app that we created, and it’s kind of two parts. It allows people to watch content in VR using a VR headset, and it also allows content creators to use a VR setup to live-animate an animated show,” said Hosein.

Merke has a simpler way of describing it: “It’s just making an animation using your body, instantly.” Read more on Actors use VR and app to make first VR-viewable cartoon created in real time…

[This story from Wired suggests an important advancement in the ability of technology to evoke presence; the original version includes two different images, and a press release is available from Varjo. –Matthew]

[Image: Left, a virtual scene in a typical modern VR display; right, the same scene in Varjo’s high-resolution display. Source: Varjo via The Verge.]

Has This Stealth Company Solved Vision-Quality VR?

Eter Rubin
June 19, 2017

When Urho Konttori handed me the VR headset, I almost laughed. The founder and CEO of some Finnish company I’d never heard of had just told me he and his team of 19 people had managed to leapfrog virtual reality 20 years into the future—and he gives me an Oculus Rift? “It’s just the housing,” he said. “We added some things inside.” Fine, I thought. You’ve seen plenty of demos where the reality didn’t match the hype. Just do it, then you can go back to the office. So I put the headset on.

The demo itself was quick, maybe 10 minutes, and consisted of a series of static VR environments that I could examine at will. There was a simple room with a TV in the corner streaming video; a shapeless environment with some floating computer monitors; a plane cockpit. Because this was an Oculus Rift, the image quality was exactly what I expected it to be: fine. However, a small clear rectangle was there as well, sitting in the middle of my field of vision. If I looked at something through that small rectangle—the text on the virtual computer monitors, the tiny numbers in the plane’s instrument panels—it stopped looking like VR. It just looked like…well, like real life. And it’s the first step in Varjo’s plan to create ultra-high-end headsets—for corporate use at first, but someday soon, for civilians like you and me. Read more on Finnish stealth company Varjo creating VR headset with ‘human eye-resolution’…

[Researchers at Tohoku University have created a robot that teaches people how to dance, which involves not only complex physical interactions but (arguably) medium-as-social-actor presence. The story is from New Scientist, with additional details from coverage by the Daily Mail. For more information see videos from Quartz and the researchers on YouTube, and of course the published paper. –Matthew]

Waltzing robot teaches beginners how to dance like a pro

By Edd Gent
24 May 2017

Got no one to dance with? Not to worry – you might soon be gliding through the moves, thanks to a robotic instructor designed to teach humans how to dance.

The robot’s designers had already created mechanical dance partners that follow a human’s lead, but the new machine gently guides novices through routines while adapting to their skill level.

This is trickier, says Diego Felipe Paez Granados at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, who led the research, because the robot must keep students on course without becoming too forceful.

The 1.8-metre-tall robot has wheels, but its upper body moves like that of a human dancer. A force sensor and two laser rangefinders track its student’s movements, which are compared against motion-capture data recorded from professional dancers to judge their performance.

As they progress, the robot gradually reduces the force used to lead them so they become less reliant on its guidance. Its face displays real-time feedback to help pinpoint mistakes, as well as showing them their overall progress to provide encouragement.

In tests with volunteers who had never waltzed before, five out of six improved, according to results to be presented at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Singapore later this month. With another group, the robot was not programmed to adapt to students’ progress and four out of six showed no improvement.

Wider applications Read more on Waltzing robot teaches beginners how to dance like a pro…