Ever wanted to see what’s inside your body? Well, this shirt lets you do just that – sort of.
Called The Virtuali-Tee, the shirt was designed by a start-up virtual reality company called Curiscope, based in London. They’re currently seeking $100,000 on Kickstarter to bring their project to life.
The shirt has a hidden code on the front that can be picked up by an app on a smartphone. When the phone is held up to the shirt, it reveals the inside of a human body in augmented reality (that is, the view on the phone is that of inside the body, while the shirt remains unchanged). Moving the device around lets you explore the body, such as the beating heart or breathing lungs.
But it’s the virtual reality aspect the team hopes makes it truly appealing. Using a headset such as Google Cardboard, users can transport themselves inside various parts of the body (such as the bloodstream) to learn what's going on, and take a look around in 360 degrees. Information on how the body works will be supplied by health institutions and professors, to ensure its accuracy.
"Our objective is to use technology to get us all connecting with science and see it in an entirely new way," Curiscope CEO Ed Barton told IFLScience. "The Virtuali-Tee offers a unique opportunity to see the animated anatomy in situ, tracked to a real person; this goes a long way to contextualizing the human body and understanding how it works. VR experiences inside let you explore the body in a way that's never been possible before."
Ultimately, they are hoping the shirt inspires children to get involved with science, and allows them to learn things in a way not possible before. Shirts start at around $25 for a pledge on Kickstarter.
Depending on how much money the team raises, they want to use virtual reality for more parts of the human body, and they are also looking at the possibility of linking the shirt to your heart rate, so that the augmented reality heart “beats” in real time.
