Watch dad's DIY virtual-reality bike-racing ride thrill his kid
No Oculus Rift, no problem. A clever dad creates an immersive bike-racing environment for his daughter with the use of a few props and a lot of strength.
Not everybody is ready to shell out $600 for an Oculus Rift virtual-reality headset. If you happen to have a cool dad, you don't really need a Rift anyway. One creative father put together an immersive virtual-reality environment for his daughter and shared a video of the results.
The video originates from the Facebook page of Hong Kong dad Newman Chan, who posted it on Wednesday. It quickly rose to prominence in the videos category on Reddit with the title "Father Of The Year!"
Chan's young daughter sits in a pink tricycle with a push-handle on the back. She wears a full-face BMX-style helmet and has her hands tightly wrapped around the handlebars. She's holding on because dad is lifting and tilting the pink trike to match the movements of some first-person biking footage on the TV screen.
The dad-powered virtual-reality system is impressive in part due to the strength and coordination required to pull it off.
The video struck a chord with some Reddit users who have gone into dad-talk in the comments. They're sharing their thoughts on the importance of spending time with their kids and reminiscing about the joy of flying their tykes around the house like Superman.
We should enter Chan into a Geek Dad Hall of Fame along with the guy who built a Star Wars speeder-bike rocker and the father who made an "Aliens" Power Loader costume that also carries his baby daughter on his chest for Halloween.