Strapped into a specially constructed rig, the user takes off on a flight through digital worlds, viewing 3-D images of the surroundings by means of a head-mounted display. The flight path is not determined by conventional steering devices but rather by the user’s head and hand movements, which provides for an especially realistic flight experience.
With its futuristic appearance, “Humphrey” is not a space capsule that users climb aboard but rather a technical apparatus strapped on like a backpack. The exterior shell consists of pads that partially enwrap the body to hold the user in flight position. The “flier,” however, remains recognizable as a human being, which was one of the chief aims of the design of this device.
The virtual environments are interchangeable. Besides a flight above the landscape of Upper Austria, users can also experience a vision of the future of the Ars Electronica Center.
