Adventure awaits! It may soon be possible to sail on the , view the stars and constellations at sea and navigate using traditional wayfinding techniques all from your home, thanks to virtual reality. It¡¯s a project called Kilo H¨k¨±, which roughly translates to navigating the stars.
“You can buy a [virtual reality] headset at a very low price and be able to use it just like anybody else,” explains Dean Lodes, a PhD student.
Kilo H¨k¨± simulates being onboard the ±á¨°ì¨±±ô±ðʻ²¹ and looking up into a cloudless sky. Lodes was part of a team of students who created the program at the (LAVA) at UH ²Ñ¨¡²Ô´Ç²¹.
“I guess when you are a kid, when you hear about the ±á¨°ì¨±±ô±ðʻ²¹, it¡¯s like they¡¯re adventurers! It sounds so exciting and just so awesome,” says team member Kari Noe, an undergraduate student of the and the computer science department.
Kilo H¨k¨± allows users to navigate using the stars in a virtual setting.
“Basically what I did was created a sphere model, and then I took images from and I pretty much mapped them on the reverse side of the sphere,” explains Anna Sikkink, a recent computer science graduate. “Then you can just put the ±á¨°ì¨±±ô±ðʻ²¹ inside and look around.”
The team hopes to someday make the program available to the public for free.
“I really want this to be a very Hawaiian learning tool. And I hope that it will reach the people that for whatever reason cannot possibly see the ±á¨°ì¨±±ô±ðʻ²¹ or Hikianalia or any of the sailing canoes,” says Noe.
Kilo H¨k¨± team members are also quick to point out that there is much more to traditional wayfinding than a computer program.
“It¡¯s really a very small slice that we¡¯ve cut off having to do with wayfinding,” says Patrick Karjala, who is working on a masters degree in computer science, “But I think it¡¯s also a very cool slice that will really excite people that get to try it out.”
The public can experience Kilo H¨k¨± at the M¨¡lama Honua Summit at the Â鶹´«Ã½ Convention Center June 18–20, 2017.
—By Kelli Trifonovitch