Norwegian Army drives tank with Oculus Rift

The Norwegian Army has harnessed the power of the Oculus Rift to drive its tanks without soldiers having to stick their heads out of a hatch.

By mounting cameras on the outside of the tank, soldiers were able to create a 360-degree VR (virtual reality) feed for the driver. With the Rift, the driver has an unobstructed view of the surroundings, effectively seeing through the body of the tank in what one soldier compared to the vehicle view from Battlefield.

The project is still a prototype at the moment, but already offers a number of advantages over conventional systems.

Not only is it cheaper – the demo unit cost $2,000 (R21,000) while a conventional military system costs 50 times that – it also opens the door for more complete heads-up displays that are seen in modern video games. These could include semi-transparent maps and vehicle information displayed as part of the video feed.

Currently, the eye strain from the Rift is too great for it to be used as a default, but the Norwegian Army expects it to be useful in combat scenarios when the hatch must be kept closed.

Update: The video can be watched on TUTV’s website.