ABSTRACT
Project : Prey is a prototype for a system that allows the wearer to experience the auditory and visual experience of an average prey animal.
1. INTRODUCTION
This prototype remaps human vision and hearing abilities to that of a prey animal such as a rabbit. Prey animals such as rabbits have a wide angle of view (see Figure 1) but lack binocular vision in all but a small part of their viewing range. They can see a lot of area but lack depth acuity.
If we compare human vision and skull shape to rabbit skull shape (see Figure.2) we can clearly see the distinct difference in eye positioning on the skull.
2. SOUND
To simulate the ability to rotate ears and focus hearing Project: Prey uses two custom parabolic microphones mounted on actuators controlled with a hand held control panel. Each microphone feed goes to a separate ear simulating the effect of independent moving ears.
3. SIGHT
To accomplish visual remapping Project: Prey uses wide angle cameras and a custom head mounted video display which simulates the mounting of the left and right human eye to the side of the head like a prey animal. This allows each eye to see a separate video feed as if the eye was on the side of the head (See Figure 3).
To create a parabola with our required characteristic (size and focus point) we build a parametric model using Grasshopper and Rhino 3d.
4. REFERENCES
[1] James E. Breazile, P. T. Cardielhad, W. S. Newcome, Textbook of Veterinary Physiology
[2] http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Anatomy_and_Physiology_of_Animals/The_Senses
