[From The Hollywood Reporter, where the story includes a photo gallery] ‘Iron Man 3’ to Become First Film to Play in 4DX Format in Japan The film will be shown with tilting seats, blowing wind and fog and odor effects via technology that is expected to come to the U.S. this year. 4/16/2013 by Gavin J. Blair TOKYO — Iron Man 3 will be shown starting April 26 in 4DX at a theater in Nagoya, central Japan, operated by the Korona World chain, which plans to screen 12 titles a year using the new format. “Fourth dimension” effects utilized by…

[From HelpMeSee via PR Newswire] Breakthrough in Virtual Reality Surgical Simulation Legacy of Aviation Safety Pioneer Inspires Application of Flight Simulation Principles to Medicine Early Stage Prototype Simulator Presented to French Prime Minister NEW YORK, April 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Research scientists from the SHACRA team with INRIA (Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique) in Lille have achieved a significant milestone in medical simulation. With funding and technical support from HelpMeSee and in collaboration with physicians from the Lille and Strasbourg hospitals, the team has developed a simulator prototype for cataract surgical training. The key feature of…

[From MIT’s Technology Review; see also “In ‘Futurama,’ robots follow ‘Bender’s Law,’ not Asimov’s” at CNET] Does a Tele-Robot Operator Need a Visa and W-2? Experts gathered this week at Stanford’s Law School to discuss the robot revolution. Jessica Leber April 11, 2013 As robotics software and hardware is commercialized, companies will face some interesting new conundrums, which may give them pause before adopting technologies ranging from workplace telepresence robots and robotic surgical tools, to driverless cars and commercial drones. But make no mistake, it will be the lawyers just as often as the technologists guiding purchasing decisions, and a…

[From New Scientist, where the story includes a 1:51 minute video] Virtual traveller: Beam a live, 3D you into the world Thanks to a virtual reality and telepresence mashup, you no longer have to travel the globe to visit friends or wander around ancient ruins 11 April 2013 by Catherine Brahic Magazine issue 2912 One day, I’ll play hide and seek with my niece. I’ll turn around while she hides, and later, a flash of purple cotton will make me peer over the log she’s hiding behind. It sounds pedestrian, except I will be in London, Lucie will be 7800…

[From Universe Today] Experience a Virtual Reality Aurora by Nancy Atkinson on April 9, 2013 This is awesome. Astrophotographer Göran Strand took his 30 gigabytes of image data of the incredible aurora he shot on March 17 (which we shared here) and re-tooled everything to fit into an interactive virtual reality-type video where the viewer can move and pan around in any direction. You can watch [here], or click here to see the full screen version and be transported to a small town in northern Sweden called Östersund.

[From PR Newswire; more images and a 2:32 minute video are available at the Experience Media Studies web site] New Media Capture and Delivery System Gives Users Immersive “Experiences” LAS VEGAS, April 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Experience Media Studios today announced the worldwide launch of its patent-pending 3DPOV® system, a pioneering new solution for capturing, delivering, and experiencing immersive media. Experience Media Studios’ 3DPOV® system enables the capture of a three-dimensional visual and auditory experience from the first-person perspective.  3DPOV® media delivers a higher level of sensory engagement than virtual reality that replicates a true-to-life binocular and peripheral visual field…

[From Gizmag, where the story includes an image gallery and a 1:05 minute video; more videos are available on Boston Dynamics’ YouTube channel] Shades of Terminator as PETMAN tests hazmat suit By Jason Falconer April 5, 2013 Back in late 2009 Boston Dynamics revealed it was working on a humanoid robot that would test protective clothing for the military. Having already amazed the world three years earlier with the lifelike balancing capabilities of its quadruped BigDog, this would be the company’s first bipedal robot. It was an ambitious project, but it appears the work has paid off. The robot’s eerily…

[From New Scientist, where the story includes a 0:47 minute video] Virtual reality creates infinite maze in a single room 05 April 2013 by Hal Hodson Magazine issue 2911. Step into the labyrinth. Imagine physically wandering through the many rooms and corridors of an endless maze, never seeing the same place twice – but without actually leaving your living room. This is the promise of a new virtual reality (VR) system. It works by tracking the body and head movements of a person wearing a VR headset and guides them through endless sets of virtual spaces as they pace around…

[From Mashable; more information and high resolution screenshots are available at Jorge Jimenez’s blog] Activision Reveals Animated Human That Looks So Real, It’s Uncanny Charlie White Mar 28, 2013 Activision showed off the state of the art of real-time graphics on Wednesday, releasing this mind-boggling character demo. The character’s skin, facial expressions and eyes look so real, it’s uncanny. When you watch this video, see if you think this character has reached the other side of what’s commonly called the “uncanny valley,” a term first uttered by early robotics guru Masahiro Mori in 1970. It describes the range of sophistication…

[From Time] [Image: The U.S. military is already using virtual-reality therapy to help troops suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Air Force photo / Senior Airman Renae Kleckner] Embracing Virtual Reality By Artin Terhakopian April 03, 2013 The flood of behavioral-health problems in the military seems to have peaked. Fortunately, things stayed far from the degeneracy of the late 1960s and early 1970s described by Colonel Robert Heinl Jr. in his 1971 Armed Forces Journal article. Things are definitely changing for the better. It is now over two years since the publication of General Peter Chiarelli’s Health Promotion, Risk Reduction, Suicide…

[From Canada’s Metro, where the story includes a 4:25 minute video from Kickstarter; more information is available at Polygon] Vancouver developed first-person ‘blind’ video game offers new perspective By Elizabeth Hames Metro April 1, 2013 A group of Vancouver developers is offering gamers a new way to see. Pulse, a first-person video game prototyped by Vancouver Film School students, features a blind protagonist who uses echolocation to create a mental picture of their environment. Thus, the player can “see” only what is directly in front of or beside them, while the rest of their world remains dark. While the game…

[From Gizmag; see also Google’s April 1st entry into this space, Google Nose BETA] “Smell-o-Vision” display emits localized virtual odors By Darren Quick April 1, 2013 Localized dimming is a feature found in many televisions these days, but what about a display capable of producing localized smells? That’s exactly what a team from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in Japan has created. The “smelling screen” that was recently presented at the IEEE Virtual Reality 2013 conference in Orlando, Florida can produce odors that appear to emanate from specific areas of the screen. Over the years, we’ve seen various…