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The new virtual reality human-interface engineers
create virtual-reality experience by letting users walk in rotating sphere
Key words: to rotate, hollow, to respond, helmet, to bump into, limitless, sensor, immature, wireless, obstacle, to evaluate, to relay, shift, spectrum, artificial.
The term virtual reality is often used to describe interactive software programs in which the user responds to visual and hearing cues as he or she navigates a 3D environment on a graphics monitor. But originally, it referred to total virtual environments, in which the user would be immersed in an artificial, three-dimensional computer-generated world, involving not just sight and sound, but touch as well. Devices that simulate the touch experience are called haptic devices. Touch is vital to direct and guide human movement, and the use of haptics in virtual environments simulates how objects and actions feel to the user. The user has a variety of input devices to navigate that world and interact with virtual objects, all of which must be linked together with the rest of the system to produce a fully immersive experience.
VirtuSphere is the first all-directional virtual reality device. It is an 8.5-foot hollow ball. The user steps into the ball wearing a wireless, head-mounted virtual display, and can walk, jump, roll, crawl or run in any direction over virtually unlimited distances without encountering real-world physical obstacles. Possible applications include rehabilitation, exercise, gaming and other forms of entertainment, museum exhibits, virtual travel, fire prevention training, and even science education, since the VirtuSphere would enable a simulation of walking on the Moon.
HOW IT WORKS: The head-mounted display provides the user with the virtual environment. Sensors under the sphere provide the speed and direction of the users movement to the computer running the simulation. So as the user moves, the VirtuSphere ball rolls, sending coordinates to the computer. The computer then evaluates this information and relays it back to the users display, changing the view. Users can also interact with objects in virtual space using a manipulator called a haptic interface.
A new invention allows users to explore virtual worlds while moving around safely in their real physical environment. Wearing a virtual-reality helmet, users walk inside a rotating, hollow sphere, while a computer responds by changing the visuals displayed in the helmet. The sphere could find applications in education, fire-fighter training, and entertainment.
A new virtual reality device lets you move around your virtual environment by actually walking, running, jumping and rolling without bumping into objects in the room.
Step inside the hollow ball and you can go virtually anywhere.
