Would you digi-dance with me?

Stag entry or couple The simple question that has irked partygoers in the city for decades might soon be redundant Picture this You walk into a club The place is dead Itrsquos an evening on a working day you should have known But instead of calling it a day you slip on a VR headset The club transforms into a city under the sea and in the blink of an eye your friends in the form of lsquodigital surrogatesrsquo are now all here To test this concept that citybased visual DJ Clyde DrsquoSouza calls the future of clubbing we head down to a Bandra haunt on a weekendThe venue is scanned using the headset to identify surfaces and objectsThe setup behind this complex sounding idea is a simple VR headset and two handheld controllers that act as motion sensors for your arms The magic lies in the process With the headset on DrsquoSouza first walks around the space This allows an AI assisted model to identify the walls corners and the roof of the compact pub With the space mapped out itrsquos time for a makeoverClyde DrsquoSouzaA whole new worldWhen we finally wear the lightweight headset that straps on like a pair of swimming goggles we see the venue as it is almost as if the headset were seethrough Itrsquos only when we turn towards the windows that wersquore treated to a view of a vibrant fish and coral life thriving outside At the other end of the venue the entrance of the club has been transformed into the pearly gates Given the increasing monotony of spaces in the city wersquore already sold on this ideaA mystical gate placed at the entrance of the club welcomes the user wearing the headset to the virtual experienceBut for DrsquoSouza the key lies in dirrogates digital humans that yoursquoll find inhabiting this new world He explains that these characters can work two ways ldquoImagine I had a friend who wanted to join us from home By donning a headset from home and logging into the venue he could send a dirrogate that we would see on our headsets here In turn hersquod see us in real time as wellrdquo How the character moves and interacts is dictated by motion sensing sensors on the headset and two handheld controllersAn empty wall at the venue turns into an underwater window inside the experienceBut how do three sensors let you control a character in its entirety DrsquoSouza reveals that an AI model uses predictive technology to draw assumptions about the parts of your body that are not tracked ldquoFor instance if you stick your hands out the model reads it and refers to human skeletal capabilities This way even though your shoulders werenrsquot tracked actively they move in a very human wayrdquoLooking aheadItrsquos the seconduse case however that catches our attention For those days where you have lastminute apprehensions about heading out to party the dirrogates come in even handier You can simply log in to the venue from your home and leave your setup alone A WorkFromHome kind of option for partygoers if you will ldquoBased on your previous activities and moves the dirrogate constantly learns your lsquostylersquo When left alone without inputs it mimics these mannerismsrdquo he explainsThe virtual characters aka dirrogates appear in the space next to individuals at the venue PicsShadab KhanWhile the inexperience visuals might not look realistic and the animated characters felt almost cartoonish at times to us the creator notes that itrsquos a matter of time before things get more realistic ldquoWersquore still in the nascent stages I have been pushing for this technology to be used in clubs across the city to get more inputs from diverse audiences Itrsquos only through mass adoption that things can get betterrdquo he shares Built using game designing platforms Unreal and Unity that allow creators like DrsquoSouza build 3D environments the Andheri resident is now in talks with some familiar tech giants to help push the concept to a larger audience Whatrsquos holding venues back from embracing the idea The expenses involved we learn With each setup costing nearly R40000 DrsquoSouza believes club owners have little incentive to make the gamble at this early stage When we ask the owner of the Bandra haunt wersquore in he agrees ldquoWe recently did a test run of the concept where we had three headsets that were passed around the club on a packed night This isnrsquot the kind of innovation that you come across often The crowd was all for it If the headsets were to get cheaper I can see exclusive events taking off at least at my venuerdquo he statesldquoIrsquom working on making it affordable by porting the same experience to Indianmade headsets The only problem is that there arenrsquot any sturdy ones in the market today I am in talks with a few Indian brands to see if we can work something outrdquo he reveals Partying with VR headsets on might seem impractical for some or unnecessary for others The visual DJ who has been spinning tunes in the city since the rsquo90s believes otherwise ldquoThere was a time when screens in a club were unheard of in Mumbai Today you canrsquot find a club that doesnrsquot run visuals if you tried to Itrsquos a question of when and not if when it comes to a concept as novel as this The party has just begunrdquo he saysLog on to dirrogateWhat is it Dirrogates are AIpowered virtual characters that resemble their owners and can join reallife parties around the world on their behalfHow it works A blend of AI and VR technologies using headsets and sensors enables dirrogates to be present at venues with their friendsWho it affectsbenefits For regular clubgoers it can provide a visually enhanced experience and for homebodies a way to join reallife parties remotely without physically being at the venue