Explore space or take a trek in the mountains using VR headsets at the Expo 2020 Dubai

DUBAI: If physically being at Expo 2020 Dubai wasn’t mind-blowing enough, visitors can transport themselves all over the world and even into space thanks to the range of virtual reality (VR) experiences on offer in pavilions around the site.

Using immersive technology in their pavilions, countries are able to showcase everything from the latest technological advances to the best of their tourist attractions.

A Taste of Panama

Get a flavour of what Panama has to offer by clicking through areas of interest and being transported into the action in Panama City, Old Panama, Nature or for the brave, jump on the Zip Line. Interesting facts appear around the virtual world, the words floating in among the sparkling blue water, green rainforest or impressive skyline.

Panama Pavilion, Jubilee

The Future of Education

The Dubai Cares Pavilion has three incredible interactive headset stations, focusing on space, art and the human body billed as “The Future of Education”. Users can get stuck into moving items around and drawing pictures: the space headset brings to life the relative size of planets and the drawing experience allows people to design a colouring set to create an underwater world, complete with moving fish. The human body VR tests anatomical knowledge, encouraging users to pluck 3D organs out of the air and insert them into a virtual body – it’s hands-on and engaging, for adults and children alike.

Dubai Cares Pavilion, Opportunity District

Rwanda’s National Parks

Each 12-minute experience is a condensed tour of one of Rwanda’s National Parks. After meeting a guide in the Volcanoes National Park, users are plunged into the middle of the action – up close with a family of silverback mountain gorillas in their natural habitat, before being whisked off to relax in one of the park’s luxury villas. Alternatively, you can choose to head to the vast plains of Akagera or crane your neck upward to study the canopy of the Nyungwe Forest.

Rwanda Pavilion, Opportunity District

Serbia Creates Experiences

Sample Serbian culture by virtually visiting the country’s art galleries or museums: choose from nine options and navigate the rooms with the use of a handset. Visitors can also imagine they are at the EXIT Festival, with immersive footage from the summer music extravaganza filmed in July last year allowing users to place themselves everywhere from the VIP area to onstage with David Guetta.

Serbia Pavilion, Mobility District

Women from Around the World

The aim of the Women’s Pavilion is to celebrate the achievements of women around the world, and the VR on its first floor supports this by looking at the lives of ordinary yet extraordinary women. The user is put inside an amalgamation of clips of girls and women around the world, navigating their daily lives – sailing yachts, doing woodwork, the day-to-day tasks of motherhood, playing table tennis, at a sleepover, at a dance class, abseiling off a mountain… the moments are endless. It feels like a glimpse into the secret lives of others – and a reminder that one person’s “every day” can be another’s “incredible”.

Women’s Pavilion, Sustainability District

For those unable to visit Expo 2020 Dubai, countries such as Luxembourg and Monaco have also provided headsets to residents at special events in their home nations to give a sample of the virtual experiences available in their pavilions.

Source: Expo 2020 Website

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