Three weeks ago, my wife gave birth to our first born son. I was there throughout the whole process and I wouldnât have missed it for anything. But what if I couldnât have been there? What if I couldnât have witnessed the miracle of my son being born? I think it would be heartbreaking for a father to miss that opportunity, no matter what the reason. When I heard about an Australian man called Jason Larke and the situation that involved his wife and impending birth of his son, I felt the manâs pain. This pain, was at least in some way, eased by the advances of VR technology.
Let me explain. Larke is a FIFO electrical contractor working in remote Queensland, Australia. The work he undertakes to provide for this family unfortunately has him working away from the family home in four week periods and the distance is four thousand miles. Due to the nature of this work, he was scheduled to miss the birth of his third child. That is until Samsung asked him if he would take part in an experiment.
“After we found out I was five weeks pregnant with our third child, we watched our baby grow, found out he was a boy and dreamed about what the future may holdâŠThen at 30 weeks pregnant, Jace’s contract roster was confirmed and it was more than likely he would miss the birth of our baby, pending a miracle,â said his wife Alison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PpKzYjW7go
That âmiracleâ came in the form of VR. Larke was given a Gear VR headset by Samsung and was therefore able to experience the the birth of his son, from the other side of the country. I know that it isn’t the same as being there in person, but itâs a massive step closer than a phone call or a video call, isnât it? Well played Samsung. Well played indeed.
The Larkeâs ‘VR’ birth is the topic of Samsungâs Gear VR new Advert, Life LIVE.
[Image via Androidcommunity]
SOURCE: Mashable