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          ARRoGANT                CoURiERS      WiTH     ESSaYS

Grade Level:       Type of Work           Subject/Topic is on:
 [ ]6-8                 [ ]Class Notes    [Essay on Insight into   ]
 [x]9-10                [ ]Cliff Notes    [Virtual Reality         ]
 [ ]11-12               [x]Essay/Report   [                        ]
 [ ]College             [ ]Misc           [                        ]

 Dizzed: o4/95  # of Words:1328  School: ?              State: ?
ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>Chop Here>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ
An Insight Into Virtual Reality

    Virtual Reality is a creation of a highly interactive computer based
multimedia environment in which the user becomes a participant with the
computer in a "virtually real" world1

    We are living in an era characterized by 3D virtual systems created by
computer graphics.  In the concept called Virtual Reality (VR), the virtual
reality engineer is combining computer, video, image-processing, and sensor
technologies so that a human can enter into and react with spaces generated
by computer graphics.

    In 1969-70, a MIT scientist went to the University of Utah, where he
began to work with vector generated graphics.  He built a see-through
helmet that used television screens and half-silvered mirrors, so that the
environment was visible through the TV displays.  It was not yet designed
to provide a surrounding environment.  It was not until the mid '80's that
virtual reality systems were becoming more defined.  The AMES contract
started in 1985, came up with the first glove in February 1986.  The glove
is made of thin Lycra and is fitted with 15 sensors that monitor finger
flexion, extension, hand position and orientation.  Connected to a computer
through fiber optic cables. Sensor inputs enable the computer to generate
an on screen image of the hand that follows the operator's hand movements.
The glove also has miniature vibrators in the finger tips to provide
feedback to the operator from grasped virtual objects.  Therefore, driven
by the proper software, the system allows the rator to interact by grabbing
and moving a virtual object within a simulated room, while experiencing the
"feel" of the object.

    The virtual reality line includes the Datasuit and the Eyephone.  The
Datasuit is an instrumented full-body garment that enables full-body
interaction with a computer constructed virtual world.  In one use, this
product is worn by film actors to give realistic movement to animated
characters in computer generated special effects.  The Eyephone is a head
mounted stereo display that shows a computer made virtual world in full
color and 3D.

    The Eyephone technology is based on an experimental Virtual Interface
Environment Workstation (VIEW) design.  VIEW is a head-mounted stereoscopic
display system with two 3.9 inch television screens, one for each eye.  The
display can be a computer generated scene or a real environment sent by
remote video cameras.  Sound effects delivered to the headset increase the
realism.

    It was intended to use the glove and software for such ideas as a
surgical simulation, or "3D virtual surgery" for medical students.  In the
summer of 1991, US trainee surgeons were able to practice leg operations
without having to cut anything solid.  NASA Scientists have developed a
three-dimensional computer simulation of a human leg which surgeons can
operate on by entering the computer world of virtual reality.  Surgeons use
the glove and Eyephone technology to create the illusion that they are
operating on a leg.

    Other virtual reality systems such as the Autodesk and the CAVE have
also come up with techniques to penetrate a virtual world.  The Autodesk
uses a simple monitor and is the most basic visual example for virtual
reality.  An example where this could be used is while exercising.  For
example, Autodesk may be connected to an exercise bike, you can then look
around a graphic world as you pedal through it. If you pedal fast enough,
your bike takes off and flies.

    The CAVE is a new virtual reality interface that engulfs the individual
into a room whose walls, ceiling, and floor surround the viewer with
virtual space.  The illusion is so powerful you won't be able to tell
what's real and what's not. Computer engineers seem fascinated by virtual
reality because you can not only program a world, but in a sense, inhabit
it.

    Mythic space surrounds the cyborg, embracing him/her with images that
seem real but are not.2  The sole purpose of cyberspace virtual reality
technology is to trick the human senses, to help people believe and uphold
an illusion.

    Virtual reality engineers are space makers, to a certain degree they
create space for people to play around in.3  A space maker sets up a world
for an audience to act directly within, and not just so the audience can
imagine they are experiencing a reality, but so they can experience it
directly.  "The film maker says, 'Look, I'll show you.' The space maker
says, 'Here, I'll help you discover.'  However, what will the space maker
help us discover?"4

    "Are virtual reality systems going to serve as supplements to our
lives, or will individuals so miserable in their daily existence find an
obsessive refuge in a preferred cyberspace?  What is going to be included,
deleted, reformed, and revised?  Will virtual reality systems be used as a
means of breaking down cultural, racial, and gender barriers between
individuals and thus nurture human values?"5

    During this century, responsive technologies are moving even closer to
us, becoming the standard interface through which we gain much of our
experience.  The ultimate result of living in a cybernetic world may create
an artificial global city.  Instead of a global village, virtual reality
may create a global city, the distinction being that the city contains
enough people for groups to form affiliations, in which individuals from
different cultures meet together in the same space of virtual reality.  The
city might be laid out according to a three dimensional environment that
dictates the way people living in different countries may come to
communicate and understand other cultures.  A special camera, possibly
consisting of many video cameras, would capture and transmit every view of
the remote locations.  Viewers would receive instant feedback as they turn
their heads.  Any number of people could be looking through the same camera
system.  Although the example described here will bably take many years to
develop, its early evolution has been under way for some time, with the
steady march of technology moving from accessing information toward
providing experience.  As well, it is probably still childish to imagine
the adoption of virtual reality systems on a massive scale because the
starting price to own one costs about $300,000.

    Virtual Reality is now available in games and movies.  An example of a
virtual reality game is Escape From Castle Wolfenstein.  In it, you are
looking through the eyes of an escaped POW from a Nazi death camp.  You
must walk around in a maze of dungeons were you will eventually fight
Hitler.  One example of a virtual reality movie is Stephen King's The
Lawnmower Man.  It is about a mentally retarded man that uses virtual
reality as a means of overcoming his handicap and becoming smarter.  He
eventually becomes crazy from his quest for power and goes into a computer.
From there he is able to control most of the world's computers.  This movie
ends with us wondering if he will succeed in world domination.

    From all of this we have learned that virtual reality is already
playing an important part in our world.  Eventually, it will let us be able
to date, live in other parts of the world without leaving the comfort of
our own living room, and more.  Even though we are quickly becoming a
product of the world of virtual reality, we must not lose touch with the
world of reality.  For reality is the most important part of our lives.


Bibliography


   Bains, S.    "Surgeons Slice a Virtual Leg", New Scientist, Vol. 131,
Pg. 28, July 6, 1991
     
   Baudrillard, J.,    The Ecstasy of Communication, Translated by Bernard
and Caroline Schutze, New York: Semiotext, 1987
    
   Helsel, K.    Virtual Reality-Theory, Practice, and Promise London:
British Library, 1991
                 
   Neira, C.     "The CAVE: Autovisual Experience Automatic Virtual
Environment", Communications of the ACM, vol. 35, pg. 65-72, summer 1992
                  
   Venkat, P.    "Integrating Virtual Reality", IEEE Transactions, vol. 36,
pg. 35-38, 1991



1Helsel, K.
Virtual Reality-Theory, Practice, and Promise
(London: British Library, 1991) 5
2Venkut, P.
"Integrating Virtual Reality"
IEEE Transactions
(vol. 36, 1991) 35
3Helsel, K., 73
4Helsel, K., 105
5Helsel, K., 123
5


