I started writing this report on the plane back from Laval Virtual, a specialist AR/VR show that is now in its 20th year and takes place in the historic city of Laval, Normandy, France – a slightly unusual location for a high technology event. However, the local university started working in VR last time it was fashionable, and the French government has supported developments continuously since then. Of course, all the French stereotypes were in full force, with a train strike for two days – including the first day of the event – and the event did seem quieter than previous years.
Laval Virtual 20 years Image:Meko
This year’s show seemed especially dull, partly because two of the companies that would have been interesting to us – Trivisio and Optinvest, a local company from Rennes, France, had been at the Wearables show in London just a few weeks ago, so there was no real news in Laval.
There were a lot, and I mean a lot, of system integrators that could put together a system for you if you need help and have an application. There was also a small devoted to Unity-based content, but that was virtually all games.
One of the strangest sights was a company that is developing VR for underwater or in-water use. At the Wearables Show, SwimAR was showing its AR headsets for swimmers, so the category of aquatic VR seems to be gathering some momentum!
Underwater VR was one of the weirder demos at Laval and bringing a new meaning to immersive VR! Image:Meko
The waterproof VR is probably the most amazing thing we saw – checked the video below!
We did find some things to write about, of course….
