MESSAGE
| DATE | 2015-06-02 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] 3d scanning and virtualization
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Last night I went to a NewSpace Meeting at Columbia University. They
focus on Space Flight and exploration in the private sector, with a lot
of discussion about entrepreneurship in this field. Sean Casey, from
the Silicon Valley Space Center was the speaker. He did an excellent
presentation and really does fuel the imagination. I don't know how I
would approach the area, but they are interested in creating what for
all practical purposes is a user group for space technology. Khaki
Rodway and Michael Mooring is leading this. The asked if I could come
to Friday evening meeting, which I obviously I can't do.
One of the points of the discussion was the use of 3d printing on the
International Space Station, which is a great area of study. the other
though area that I found "reachable" was the talk of 3d VR. there has
been a lot of work in 3d VR over the last few decades. At one point we
were talking about an web standard VR technology that never drew wide
acceptance.
http://www.spacevr.co/?email=
This is an example of 3d proposes from the ISS.
it involves a kickstarter program.
This is from Forbes written by Mr Wolfe, one of the individuals I met
last night
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Rocket Scientist Launches Into Virtual Worlds
Josh Wolfe
Contributor
I write as VC on emerging technology, science & finance. Full bio
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
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/Eric Romo is the CEO of Altspace VR, (Full disclosure: My venture firm
Lux Capital is an equity investor in Altspace.) a shared browsing
environment for virtual reality. Prior to Altspace, Eric was Founder of
GreenVolts, and was the 13^th employee at SpaceX. Eric graduated from
Cooper Union with a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering, and received an MS
in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from Stanford University./
*Tell us a bit about your background.*
I grew up in New Jersey, did my undergraduate studies in Mechanical
Engineering at Cooper Union, and came to Stanford for my Masters, where
I focused on Thermal Sciences. After that, I joined SpaceX when that
company was very small. I was the 13^th employee there and helped design
and test rocket engines, which was a dream come true for me. I did that
for a couple of years and went back to Stanford for my MBA. When I was
there I got really excited about renewable energy and started a solar
technology that ended up over 6-1/2 years raising about $120 million in
venture capital, and growing the company to a little over 100 employees.
We had manufacturing operations in China and sales and marketing
partners all over the world.
I did that through the end of 2012, and got intellectually interested in
cognitive neuroscience, neuroplasticity and how our brains process
information. That intellectual meandering led me towards virtual reality
(VR) related technologies. At its core, virtual reality is technology
that tricks your brain into thinking that you’re someplace else or doing
other things. I started reading a lot about virtual reality, and then in
2013 I decided to start a company around it, Altspace VR. This was
before Oculus had raised even their Series A, let alone been acquired. I
made a bet that this was a direction that the world was going to head
in. Luckily we seem to be right about that bet so far. It’s been almost
two years now, and I’m very excited about what we’re working on.
*How did cognitive neuroscience get you interested in virtual reality?*
The first book that really caught my attention was “The Brain That
Changes Itself” by a Columbia professor and doctor, Norman Doidge, and
it’s really all about this new way of thinking about neuroplasticity
that has changed neuroscience over the last decade. It’s a very
different framework for thinking about the brain. That got me really
thinking. You can teach different parts of your brain to do different
things than they may have been wired to do in the past. Studies have
shown that people can lose one of their senses and the portion of their
brain that was previously used by that sense is then utilized for other
purposes. Other senses get heightened because of more brain capacity
being available. This concept of neuroplasticity led me to think, “Okay,
can you teach your brain to interface with other types of devices or
sensors or whatever it might be?” Virtual reality is exactly that:
giving your brain a different set of inputs than it knows how to use
naturally, but it will adapt to and use better over time.
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