Virtual Reality - What It Is And How It Works :: essays research papers

Virtual Reality - What it is and How it WorksImagine organism able to point into the sky and fly. Or perhaps walk through and through spaceand connect molecules together. These argon some of the dreams that have come withthe invention of virtual reality. With the introduction of computers, numerousapplications have been enhanced or created. The newest technology that is beingtapped is that of artificial reality, or "virtual reality" (VR). When MortonHeilig first got a patent for his "Sensorama Simulator" in 1962, he had no ideathat 30 years later battalion would still be trying to simulate reality and thatthey would be doing it so effectively. Jaron Lanier first coined the phrase"virtual reality" around 1989, and it has stuck ever since. Unfortunately, thiscatchy lean has caused people to dream up incredible uses for this technologyincluding using it as a sort of drug. This became evident when, among otherpeople, Timothy Leary became interested in VR. This has excessively worried some ofthe researchers who are trying to create very real applications for medical,space, physical, chemical, and entertainment uses among other things.In order to create this alternate reality, however, you need to let on ways tocreate the illusion of reality with a piece of machinery known as the computer.This is done with several computer-user interfaces used to simulate the senses.Among these, are stereoscopic render to make the simulated world look real, a3D auditory display to give depth to sound, sensor lined gloves to simulatetactile feedback, and head-trackers to occur the orientation of the head.Since the technology is fairly young, these interfaces have not been perfected,making for a somewhat cartoonish simulated reality.Stereoscopic vision is probably the most important brag of VR because inreal life, people rely mainly on vision to get places and do things. The eyesare approximately 6.5 centimeters apart, and allow you to have a full-colour ,three-dimensional view of the world. Stereoscopy, in itself, is not a very newidea, but the new twist is trying to generate completely new images in real-time. In 1933, Sir Charles Wheatstone invented the first stereoscope with thesame basic principle being used in todays head-mounted displays. Presentingdifferent views to each eye gives the illusion of three dimensions. The glassesthat are used today work by using what is called an "electronic shutter". Thelenses of the glasses interleave inflating air bladders in a glove, arrays oftiny pins moved by shape memory wires, and even fingertip piezoelectricvibrotactile actuators. The latter method uses tiny crystals that vibrate when