A couple of engineers from Microsoft Research, Robert Xio and Hrvoje Benjo, have created a curious modification for the Oculus Rift. The duo call it SpareLightVR, and claim that it increases the field of view of the Oculus Rift DK2 from 100 degrees to closer to that of a human being's peripheral vision of 180 degrees.
This is accomplished in a way you might not expect - with LED lights. 70 LEDs, in fact, placed around the lenses of the Rift, and at the edges of the interior of the headset. The LEDs don't actually extend the screen space of what the lenses see. Instead, they emit coloured lights that correspond to what is at the edges of the actual 3D VR scene. In this respect, the LEDs essentially "fake" extra information in your peripheral vision.
The engineers say that this can actually reduce motion sickness when using the Oculus Rift, by simulation a motion effect called "peripheral countervection motion". It's designed to stop users from getting simulation sickness when moving through a VR scene with a gamepad. The colour of the LEDs can be controlled with a custom Unity plugin, placed into any 3D space.
Microsoft presented the technology at ACM CHI 2016, though there's no word on what the company's plans are for it next. It's an interesting approach to solving some of VR's current limitations, however, and it's easy to see as the basis for something other manufacturers could adopt in future headset iterations.
Looks very interesting, people are working on the most strangest things to get this VR to look more and more real.