Virsabi delivers Virtual Reality experience of Felix Baumgartner’s jump from the stratosphere
Join Felix Baumgartner in his helium balloon, open the door and look down, and follow Baumgartner as he skydives towards Earth. Virsabi has turned the Red Bull Stratos project into a Hyper Reality experience for visitors of a Swiss museum.
On 14 October 2012 Felix Baumgartner jumped into the stratosphere from an altitude of 38,969. Now you can join him.Virsabi has transformed the Red Bull Stratos project into a Hyper Reality experience. You ascend in the helium balloon, you feel your heartbeat as you open the door and look down on Earth, and you follow Baumgartner close as he skydives and breaks the sound barrier.
VR-glasses, a vibrating chair and a fan that lets you feel the wind in your hair once you have entered the capsule-like stand trigger your senses and let you immerse in the experience. Virsabi has delivered the entire installation that is available to the public in Red Bull Media World at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne, Switzerland.
"Felix Baumgartner stretched the limits of what was possible in terms of altitude and skydiving, and we wanted to honor that by stretching the limits of what is currently possible with Virtual Reality"
Advanced technology and captivating storytelling
A small but significant part of the experience is that a motion tracker on the VR-glasses recognizes the movement of your hands. It makes your hands look like you are wearing spacesuit gloves, and during the experience you need to activate virtual buttons to proceed.
“It’s the combination of advanced technology, captivating storytelling and pure excitement that gives the users a unique experience. Despite that all people have to do is get into a chair and put on glasses and a headset, we trigger a lot more senses than sight and sound, which makes this a Hyper Reality experience,” he says.
Installation living up to the brand
Virsabi mainly deliver Virtual and Augmented Reality solutions to private companies for the purpose of training, marketing or productivity-enhancing maintenance of equipment. In that sense, this project stands out on the reference list.
“Most installations for private companies serve specific purposes for an often limited audience. This installation is open for the public, and it needed to deliver an experience easy to use in an exhibition with many visitors as well as deliver on the high expectations the public has of a Red Bull experience. It has inspired our team to be at our most creative, and every time we push the limits of the technology for one customer, it benefits the next. I’m proud of what my team delivered, and I’m proud that Red Bull gave us this opportunity,” Harboe says.
