Virtual Reality

ABSTRACT:

Virtual Reality is an enabling technology that has wide applications in training, product design, etc. Virtual reality (VR) technology is being used to resolve problems in real-world situations. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is using VR to train astronauts to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

TERMINOLOGY:

The term artificial reality, coined by Myron Krueger, has been in use since the 1970s but the origin of the term virtual reality can be traced back to the French playwright, poet, actor and director Antonin Artaud . The earliest use cited by the Oxford English Dictionary is in a 1987 article entitled "Virtual reality", but the article is not about VR technology.. The concept of virtual reality was popularized in mass media by movies such as Brainstorm and The Lawnmower Man.

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VR LAB:

The Virtual Reality Laboratory (VRL) explores innovative applications of immersive and non-immersive virtual environments in a variety of areas.

For industrial applications, research is focused on virtual prototyping of engineering designs - especially in the automotive and marine industry - the simulation of manufacturing processes, and related engineering tasks. The use of virtual reality in accident simulations, medicine, architecture, archeology, education, and other areas.

DEVICES:

Data gloves, wands, stair steppers. These and other interface devices used in virtual environments serve as portals into virtual reality.

Data gloves:

Data gloves offer a simple means of gesturing commands to the computer. Rather than punching in commands on a keyboard, which can be tricky if you're wearing a head-mounted display, you program the computer to change modes in response to the gestures you make with the data gloves.

Pointing upwards may mean zoom in; pointing down, zoom out. A shake of your fist may signal the computer to end the program. Some people program the computer to mimic their hand movements in the simulation; for instance, to see their hands while conducting a virtual symphony.

One type of data glove has a web of fiber optic cables along its back. Changes in the amount of light transmitted to the computer by the cables signal how the joints of your fingers are bent. Once the data glove has been calibrated to your hand, your gestures trigger pre-programmed commands.

Other gloves use strain sensors over the joints to detect movement. Yet others rely on mechanical sensors to measure your hand movements.

Some computer users have elaborated on the data glove concept by creating facial sensors, even body suits. Not many scientists have climbed into these get ups, but animators have. Already, facial movement sensors hooked to computers are simplifying their job: animating cartoons.

Wands:

Wands, the simplest of the interface devices, come in all shapes and variations. Most incorporate on-off buttons to control variables in a simulation or in the display of data.

Most wands operate with six degrees of freedom; that is, by pointing a wand at an object, you can change its position and orientation in any of six directions: forward or backward, up or down, or left or right. This versatility coupled with simplicity are the reasons for the wand's popularity.

Other Input Devices:

Almost anything can be converted into a sensing device for simulation in virtual reality. Caterpillar, Inc. attached sensors to a mock tractor cab, complete with steering