Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment, education and business. VR is one of the key technologies in the reality-virtuality continuum. As such, it is different from other digital visualization solutions, such as augmented virtuality and augmented reality.
A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in which simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the simulation represents the evolution of the model over time. Another way to distinguish between the terms is to define simulation as experimentation with the help of a model. This definition includes time-independent simulations. Often, computers are used to execute the simulation.
Haptic technology is technology that can create an experience of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user. These technologies can be used to create virtual objects in a computer simulation, to control virtual objects, and to enhance remote control of machines and devices (telerobotics). Haptic devices may incorporate tactile sensors that measure forces exerted by the user on the interface. The word haptic, from the Greek: ἁπτικός (haptikos), means "tactile, pertaining to the sense of touch". Simple haptic devices are common in the form of game controllers, joysticks, and steering wheels.
Telepresence refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance or effect of being present via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location.
Telerobotics is the area of robotics concerned with the control of semi-autonomous robots from a distance, chiefly using television, wireless networks or tethered connections. It is a combination of two major subfields, which are teleoperation and telepresence.
Computer-mediated reality refers to the ability to add to, subtract information from, or otherwise manipulate one's perception of reality through the use of a wearable computer or hand-held device such as a smartphone.
Mixed reality (MR) is a term used to describe the merging of a real-world environment and a computer-generated one. Physical and virtual objects may co-exist in mixed reality environments and interact in real time.
The Sword of Damocles is widely misattributed as the name of the first AR display prototype. According to Ivan Sutherland, this was merely a joke name for the mechanical system that supported and tracked the actual HMD below it. It happened to look like a giant overhead cross, hence the joke. Ivan Sutherland's 1968 ground-breaking AR prototype was actually called "the head-mounted display", which is perhaps the first recorded use of the term "HMD", and he preferred "Stereoscopic-Television Apparatus for Individual Use."
Virtual art is a term for the virtualization of art, made with the technical media developed at the end of the 1980s. These include human-machine interfaces such as visualization casks, stereoscopic spectacles and screens, digital painting and sculpture, generators of three-dimensional sound, data gloves, data clothes, position sensors, tactile and power feed-back systems, etc. As virtual art covers such a wide array of mediums it is a catch-all term for specific focuses within it. Much contemporary art has become, in Frank Popper's terms, virtualized.
In virtual reality (VR), immersion is the perception of being physically present in a non-physical world. The perception is created by surrounding the user of the VR system in images, sound or other stimuli that provide an engrossing total environment.
Presence is a theoretical concept describing the extent to which media represent the world. Presence is further described by Matthew Lombard and Theresa Ditton as “an illusion that a mediated experience is not mediated." Today, it often considers the effect that people experience when they interact with a computer-mediated or computer-generated environment. The conceptualization of presence borrows from multiple fields including communication, computer science, psychology, science, engineering, philosophy, and the arts. The concept of presence accounts for a variety of computer applications and Web-based entertainment today that are developed on the fundamentals of the phenomenon, in order to give people the sense of, as Sheridan called it, “being there."
Stereoscopic Displays and Applications (SD&A) is an academic technical conference in the field of stereoscopic 3D imaging. The conference started in 1990 and is held annually. The conference is held as part of the annual Electronic Imaging: Science and Technology Symposium organised by the Society for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T).
John O. Merritt was an expert in the applications of stereoscopic 3D displays and remote-presence systems.
In computing, 3D interaction is a form of human-machine interaction where users are able to move and perform interaction in 3D space. Both human and machine process information where the physical position of elements in the 3D space is relevant.
Crystal River Engineering Inc. was an American technology company best known for their pioneering work in HRTF based real-time binaural, or 3D sound processing hardware and software. The company was founded in 1989 by Scott Foster after he received a contract from NASA to create the audio component of VIEW, a virtual reality based training simulator for astronauts. Crystal River Engineering was acquired by Aureal Semiconductor in 1996.
Interactive Scenario Builder (Builder) is a modeling and simulation, three-dimensional application developed by the Advanced Tactical Environmental Simulation Team (ATEST) at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) that aids in understanding radio frequency (RF) and electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) propagation.
The Dextroscope is a medical equipment system that creates a virtual reality (VR) environment in which surgeons can plan neurosurgical and other surgical procedures.
Volume Interactions Pte Ltd was a company that pioneered in the 1990s the use Virtual Reality technology in surgery planning. The company created and marketed the Dextroscope, the first commercial surgical planning system that used virtual reality principles going beyond the mouse and keyboard. The Dextroscope introduced a variation of Virtual Reality technology that didn't use Head-Mounted display that provided a natural and comfortable interface to work with multi-modality 3D medical images for long periods of time. This environment was applied to the planning of patient-specific surgical approaches for several clinical disciplines, including neurosurgery, Ear-Nose-Throat, and liver surgery. The Dextroscope received world-wide attention by being involved in the planning of several craniopagus twin separations, most notably the Zambian twins (1997) and the German twins (2004) at Johns Hopkins Hospital led by Dr Benjamin Carson, and the Nepali twins separation at the Singapore General Hospital in 2001.
The Dextrobeam is a highly interactive console that enables collaborative examination of three-dimensional (3-D) medical imaging data for planning, discussing, or teaching neurosurgical approaches and strategies. The console is designed to work in combination with a 3D stereoscopic display. The console enables two-handed interaction by means of two 6 Degree-of-Freedom motion tracking devices. A set of built-in software tools gives users the ability to manipulate and interact with patients’ imaging data in a natural and intuitive way.
There are many applications of virtual reality. Applications have been developed in a variety of domains, such as education, architectural and urban design, digital marketing and activism, engineering and robotics, entertainment, virtual communities, fine arts, healthcare and clinical therapies, heritage and archaeology, occupational safety, social science and psychology.
