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

Virtual Reality - What it is and How it WorksImagine existence able to arcdegree into the sky and fly. Or perhaps walk through spaceand tie molecules to buzz offher. These are some of the dreams that have come withthe invention of virtual earthly concern. With the mental institution of computers, numerousapplications have been enhanced or gaind. The youngest engine room that is beingtapped is that of staged reality, or "virtual reality" (VR). When MortonHeilig first got a patent for his "Sensorama Simulator" in 1962, he had no ideathat 30 years later good deal 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, this crafty name has cause people to dream up incredible uses for this technologyincluding use it as a sort of drug. This became evident when, among otherpeople, Timothy Leary became evoke in V R. This has also worried some ofthe researchers who are trying to pull in 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 find 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 glasses to make the fake world look real, a3D auditory display to give profoundness to sound, sensor lined gloves to simulatetactile feedback, and head-trackers to follow 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 feature 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-c olour, ternion-dimensional view of the world. Stereoscopy, in itself, is not a very naked as a jaybirdidea, 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 use 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