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| Data Glove | Cave | Head-mounted display |
In partial fulfillment of the requirements of CS 3604, Fall, 1996.
Although virtual reality is an emerging technology, its roots lie in the late 1950s with the first super computers. At the time, computers filled large air-conditioned rooms and few considered them more than adding machines. Douglas Engelbart, a former naval radar technician, viewed them differently. He envisioned them as tools for displaying digital data. He knew from his days as a radar technician that screens could be used to display digital data, and therefore assumed it was possible to use a screen to display output from a computer. At first his ideas were dismissed but by the early 1960s other people were beginning to think the same way. This led to more user-friendly computers, and eventually towards the personal computer.
In addition to Engelbart's contribution, several other events paved the way for Virtual Reality. Fear of nuclear attack prompted the military to order a new radar system resulting in the first real-time simulation of data. Aircraft designers began looking for ways to get computers to model air flow data and produce a single simulation. The final building block for Virtual Reality was added in 1962 when Ivan Sutherland developed the light pen which could be used to sketch images into the computer. The invention of the light pen led to more complicated virtual reality input devices such as the data glove and the wand. The most influential development, however, was the invention of the flight simulator. After World War II the military was looking for ways to train pilots on the ground before allowing them to fly multimillion dollar airplanes. The first flight simulators were simply cockpits on motion platforms that could adjust pitch and roll. Eventually they became the virtual reality machines they are today through a variety of innovations such as the head-mounted display.
The entertainment industry also played a large part in shaping the technology into what it is today. By the 1970s, computers were used to generate dazzling special effects for movies. Several movies were even made about virtual reality. One such movie was "Lawnmower Man". In "Lawnmower Man," a mentally challenged young man becomes smart thanks to a virtual reality experiment. The movie also suggests that the technology could cause harm if it fell into the wrong hands.
As pinball machines were replaced by video games, scientific visualization (the use of computer graphics to represent columns of data) underwent several changes. Scientific visualization no longer used pie and bar charts to represent data. Instead, it used dynamic images in an effort to better understand complicated scientific observations such as DNA sequences, molecular structures, and cosmic explosions. Despite all of the advancements that were made, computer modeling still lacked the one ingredient necessary for Virtual Reality - interactivity. In order to gain interactivity, more powerful and advanced computers were needed. By the 1980s all of the aspects of virtual reality were in place and primitive versions of it began to appear throughout the industry.
About the same time that virtual reality came into existence, the video gaming business was booming. The data glove was a direct spin-off of entertainment's venture into virtual reality. Originally invented to produce music by following the conductor's hands, the data glove soon joined the gaming revolution, as toy giant Mattel adapted it to the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Although the virtual reality software and hardware is still expensive, it is growing in popularity. Along with its increased popularity and technological advancements comes decreased prices. As a result, a larger variety of virtual reality devices is available. In the current virtual reality environment, the user typically has an output device (or viewing area) and an input device to control the virtual world.
Head-mounted displays, BOOMs (binocular omni orientation monitor), and the CAVE are the most popular output devices. Head-mounted displays are similar to a motorcycle helmet. It covers your head and eyes and provides a 3D viewing area inside the helmet. The helmet also has embedded sensors to detect head movement. The BOOM is similar to a head-mounted display but without the hassle of a helmet. Its viewing box suspends from a two-part rotating arm. Simply place your eyes into the BOOM's two eyepieces and you are in the virtual world. The CAVE, however, is slightly different. Instead of putting on a helmet or looking into an eyepiece, you step into a small room. This device gives you the distinct advantage of enjoying the sensation of being "in" the data. The CAVE also has other advantages. Because the viewer only needs to wear a special pair of glasses multiple people can enjoy the experience at the same time. Currently the CAVE is the only viewing device that allows for unrestricted movement.
Among the more popular input devices are the data glove and the wand. Data gloves offer a simple means of echoing hand gestures back to the computer. Typically, you program the computer to change modes when certain gestures are made. For example, pointing up might zoom-in and pointing down might zoom out. The simulation could also replicate your hand movements. The wand, which comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, is the simplest and most popular input device. Some incorporate on-off buttons while others have dials or joysticks. Their design and method of operation is largely dependent on the simulation. For example, a biological simulation might use the wand as a scalpel while a musical simulation would use it as a baton. Most of them operate with six directional fields: up, down, left, right, forward, and backwards. This flexibility along with its simplicity account for its wide-spread usage.
Many applications utilize virtual reality technology. Although the entertainment industry is more widely known for its use of virtual reality, many other industries also utilize the technology on a large scale. Modern meteorologists use computer modeling and virtual reality technology to predict weather. By simulating weather conditions they can predict the weather much more accurately then before. The technology also greatly improves early detection of severe weather. For example, in 1993, a computer model of Hurricane Emily was able to accurately predict that it would turn back out to sea 48 hours in advance.
The scientific world uses virtual reality to simulate a variety of complex situations. One of the largest single simulations currently in use is the simulation of the universe. Scientists are using the technology to vary the mix of stellar gas, ordinary matter, and dark matter created soon after the Big Bang in an effort to discover the formula needed to create a universe. Chemical and molecular modeling is often done through virtual reality as well. In an effort to design cooler more efficient car engines, researchers are using virtual reality to model over 400 hydrogen-nitrogen chemical reactions in an internal combustion engine. Biologists are using virtual reality to discover the mechanisms through which proteins are able to communicate with each other.
The area that benefits the most from virtual reality, however, is education. With the advent of computers simple lessons like reading and mathematics were easily taught by computer. More advanced topics, however, weren't possible because of their inability to provide hands-on experience. Today, driving simulators are often used to teach people how to operate an automobile. More complicated subjects such as biology and chemistry can now be taught through virtual reality.
Virtual reality can also help the physically challenged learn to cope with their environment. Orthopedically impaired children at the Oregon Research Institute learn the skills necessary to operate their motorized wheel chairs through virtual reality. The children advance through different virtual worlds as their skill increases. The most difficult world requires that the child successfully cross the street using the pedestrian signals and avoiding traffic. Completion of each world not only gives the child the skill he/she needs but also gives them the satisfaction and confidence that they desperately need.
The medical industry also utilizes virtual reality a great deal. Doctors are using it to treat diseases more effectively. They can study images of a cancer patient's body structure to plan an effective radiation therapy technique. Doctors also commonly use surgical modeling to learn how an organ responds to a given surgical instrument. This allows doctors to master surgical procedures without having to endanger anyone by learning "on-the-job". Some doctors even use virtual reality to cure patients of certain "phobias". For example, people with acrophobia (the fear of heights) are often treated with virtual reality. The patient is subjected to a virtual world that exercises their fear. In the acrophobia example, they could be looking over the side of a cliff in their simulation. The patient is usually able to overcome their fear due to the fact that they know the situation is only computer simulated and can not actually harm them.
Another area that is gaining momentum is the internet. Virtual reality can be added to its interface to make the net a true "cyberspace." By adding the capability of adding 3D interactive graphics to a web page, the web revolution can maintain its momentum. This was all made possible with the invention of VRML (visual reality markup language). VRML along with java allow entire 3D interactive worlds to be created from a single web page. Although not widely used today, the technology also allows for shared virtual environments where someday you may be able to interact with other people from across the world in a virtual world from a central web site.
Although the basic components of virtual reality have existed since the early 1980s, they were not assembled and put to active use until fairly recently. Today the use of virtual reality is booming. From scientific research to video games to the internet, everyone seems to be using it. It is one of the few technologies that is bounded only by the imagination.