It’s easy to be caught up with all the fun applications of consumer-level virtual reality tech, with video games and movie watching being at the top of the list. However, it also has the ability to take the closeness we’ve come to enjoy from webcams and voice chat a step further and in the case of Alison Larke and her husband, Jason, allow a father to watch the birth of his child in Perth while working in the remote Queensland.
Samsung, which supplied the Gear VR headset used by Jason, today released a “documentary-styled piece” detailing the experience. Unable to afford the loss of income, Jason was forced to fly out to Chinchilla to work and as a result, would miss out on seeing his son born.
According to Alison, Samsung gave the couple “the opportunity to be involved”, though details are thin on what was involved in organising it and who took the initiative. From the press release:
“Jace was able to see our son born & experience the birth as if he was in the room with me even though he was working away on the other side of the country. For me it was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders knowing he would not be missing out on such a precious moment in our lives and we would virtually be experiencing the birth together. It has been an absolutely amazing, once in a life time experience that has changed our lives forever.”
According to Samsung, the use of VR to remotely watch a delivery is a “world-first”, which we’ll have to take its word for (but be sure to let us know if someone else beat it to the punch).