Imagining the past has never been easier thanks to a new mixed reality (MR) escape room that allows visitors to experience a taste of what it was like to be a spy during WWII. Built inside a telegraph station in Cornwall, England that is now a museum, the Augmented Telegrapher Project relies on scans of the historical artifacts within the room, such as telegraphy equipment used to simulate sending Morse Code messages, to create the virtual experience. The project is still in the early stages, but is due for a preliminary launch next year.
“As they… progress through the scenario, disaster strikes and then they’re forced to save the day, by solving lots of different puzzles in an escape room-type situation,” said Alcwyn Parker, a senior lecturer at Falmouth University.
We recently reported on other historical extended reality (XR) experiences: last week’s Experience of the Week was about the National Museum of the US Air Force honoring D-Day vets with an AR Experience, and the week before, we reported on how travelers to the the San Antonio Airport could fly into the past to learn about the Alamo. We here at Th3rdEyeXR find it fascinating how much XR is being used to teach history, and to really put us in the shoes of the people who came before us. It truly shows how much empathy can be created through this technology (see Talespin’s Virtual Human Teaches Soft Skills Using VR and AI), and how much knowledge there is to be gained from it, no matter the subject matter.
