Palmer Luckey Creates VR Headset That Kills You When You Die In Game
Oculus and Anduril founder Palmer Luckey claims he’s invented a VR headset designed to kill its user if they die in a video game.
The headset is called “NerveGear”, and it’s charged with explosives that will detonate, intentionally bringing death to the wearer.
So, Why has Luckey made this device? And did this scary piece of tech even need to be created in the first place?
Let’s lift the lid and take a tentative look at the VR device that nobody is queuing up to be the first to try.
What Is NerveGear?
The concept of NerveGear comes from an anime called Sword Art Online. In it, players use a fictional VR headset to play a game. However, the device has been created by a mad programmer, and if the player fails to ascend a virtual 100-floor tower without dying, the headset emits microwaves to fry their brain.
Luckey is a big Sword Art Online fan, so he recreated the concept in real life. Unlike in the anime, this creation uses less-refined explosives to kill the wearer.
In Sword Art Online, the headset cannot be removed by the wearer, as this action will also kill them. Luckey plans to improve his design by adding sensors that make it impossible to remove the headset without triggering the explosives.
In his blog post on the topic, Luckey describes the headset as “office art” but also leaves us with the ominous warning that although it’s the first device of its kind, it won’t be the last.
How NerveGear Works
Luckey claims that the explosives are the same type used in one of his other projects. In the headset, they’re connected to a narrow-band photosensor. When the screen flashes a specific shade of red, it signifies “game over”, both figuratively and literally.
Who Is Palmer Luckey?
Born in 1992, Palmer Luckey is the young US entrepreneur who created Oculus. Using money raised fixing broken iPhones, Luckey started making VR headsets at the age of 16 before starting Oculus VR three years later.
By 2014, Oculus had been bought by Facebook for $3 billion. Luckey’s cut of the sale was never reported; however, it’s estimated that he was worth $700 million in 2015.
Initially, Luckey continued working for Oculus until 2016, when he was sacked after he donated $10,000 to a pro-Trump political group called Nimble America. Facebook later denied that this was the reason for parting ways with the VR creator, and a $100 million settlement was later negotiated.
In 2017, Luckey started Anduril, creating autonomous defence tech that patrols land, sea, and air. The company makes equipment that’s been used for detecting human trafficking on the US/ Mexico border. In the last two years, Anduril has won large military contracts for both the US Air Force and Special Operations Command.
Has Technology Gone Too Far?
Has Palmer Luckey overstepped the mark? Does the world need this kind of technology? In his blog, he says that the “perfect-VR half of the equation is still many years out”. Let’s hope that he gets distracted from his pet project and doesn’t get to see whether his new headset actually works.
