ABSTRACT

Abstract Virtual Reality (VR), sometimes called Virtual Environments (VE) has drawn much
attention in the last few years. Extensive media coverage causes this interest to grow rapidly.
Very few people, however, really know what VR is, what its basic principles and its open
problems are. In this paper a historical overview of virtual reality is presented, basic terminology
and classes of VR systems are listed, followed by applications of this technology in science,
work, and entertainment areas. An insightful study of typical VR systems is done. All
components of VR application and interrelations between them are thoroughly examined: input
devices, output devices and software. Additionally human factors and their implication on the
design issues of VE are discussed. Finally, the future of VR is considered in two aspects:
technological and social. New research directions, technological frontiers and potential
applications are pointed out. The possible positive and negative influence of VR on life of
average people is speculated.

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 HISTORY

Nowadays computer graphics is used in many domains of our life. At the end of the 20th century
it is difficult to imagine an architect, engineer, or interior designer working without a graphics
workstation. In the last years the stormy development of microprocessor technology brings faster
and faster computers to the market. These machines are equipped with better and faster graphics
boards and their prices fall down rapidly. It becomes possible even for an average user, to move
into the world of computer graphics. This fascination with a new reality often starts with
computer games and lasts forever. It allows to see the surrounding world in other dimension and
to experience things that are not accessible in real life or even not yet created. Moreover, the
world of three-dimensional graphics has neither borders nor constraints and can be created and
manipulated by ourselves as we wish – we can enhance it by a fourth dimension: the dimension
of our imagination…

But not enough: people always want more. They want to step into this world and interact with it
– instead of just watching a picture on the monitor. This technology which becomes
overwhelmingly popular and fashionable in current decade is called Virtual Reality (VR). The
very first idea of it was presented by Ivan Sutherland in 1965: “make that (virtual) world in the
window look real, sound real, feel real, and respond realistically to the viewer’s
actions” [Suth65]. It has been a long time since then, a lot of research has been done and status
quo: “the Sutherland’s challenge of the Promised Land has not been reached yet but we are at
least in sight of it” [Broo95].

Let us have a short glimpse at the last three decades of research in virtual reality and its
highlights [Bala93a, Cruz93a, Giga93a, Holl95]:

• Sensorama – in years 1960-1962 Morton Heilig created a multi-sensory simulator. A

prerecorded film in color and stereo, was augmented by binaural sound, scent, wind and
vibration experiences. This was the first approach to create a virtual reality system and it had all
the features of such an environment, but it was not interactive.(Fig.1)
 Fig.1 Morton Heilig Sensorama Machine

• The Ultimate Display – in 1965 Ivan Sutherland proposed the ultimate solution of virtual
reality: an artificial world construction concept that included interactive graphics, force-
feedback, sound, smell and taste.

• “The Sword of Damocles” – the first virtual reality system realized in hardware, not in concept.
Ivan Sutherland constructs a device considered as the first Head Mounted Display (HMD), with
appropriate head tracking. It supported a stereo view that was updated correctly according to the
user’s head position and orientation.

• GROPE – the first prototype of a force-feedback system realized at the University of North
Carolina (UNC) in 1971.

• VIDEOPLACE – Artificial Reality created in 1975 by Myron Krueger – “a conceptual

environment, with no existence”. In this system the silhouettes of the users grabbed by the
cameras were projected on a large screen. The participants were able to interact one with the
other thanks to the image processing techniques that determined their positions in 2D screen’s
space.

• VCASS – Thomas Furness at the US Air Force’s Armstrong Medical Research Laboratories
developed in 1982 the Visually Coupled Airborne Systems Simulator – an advanced flight
simulator. The fighter pilot wore a HMD that augmented the out-thewindow view by the
graphics describing targeting or optimal flight path information.

• VIVED – Virtual Visual Environment Display – constructed at the NASA Ames in 1984 with
off-the-shelf technology a stereoscopic monochrome HMD.

• VPL – the VPL company manufactures the popular DataGlove (1985) and the Eyephone HMD
(1988) – the first commercially available VR devices.

• BOOM – commercialized in 1989 by the Fake Space Labs. BOOM is a small box containing
two CRT monitors that can be viewed through the eye holes. The user can grab the box, keep it
by the eyes and move through the virtual world, as the mechanical arm measures the position
and orientation of the box.

• UNC Walkthrough project – in the second half of 1980s at the University of North Carolina an
architectural walkthrough application was developed. Several VR devices were constructed to
improve the quality of this system like: HMDs, optical trackers and the Pixel-Plane graphics
engine.

• Virtual Wind Tunnel – developed in early 1990s at the NASA Ames application that allowed
the observation and investigation of flow-fields with the help of BOOM and Data Glove.

• CAVE – presented in 1992 CAVE (CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment) is a virtual reality
and scientific visualization system. Instead of using a HMD it projects stereoscopic images on
the walls of room (user must wear LCD shutter glasses). This approach assures superior quality
and resolution of viewed images, and wider field of view in comparison to HMD based systems.

• Augmented Reality (AR) – a technology that “presents a virtual world that enriches, rather than
replaces the real world” [Brys92c]. This is achieved by means of see-through HMD that
superimposes virtual three-dimensional objects on real ones. This technology was previously
used to enrich fighter pilot’s view with additional flight information (VCASS). Thanks to its
great potential – the enhancement of human vision – augmented reality became a focus of many
research projects in early 1990.
1.2. WHAT IS VR? WHAT IS VR NOT?

At the beginning of 1990s the development in the field of virtual reality became much more
stormy and the term Virtual Reality itself became extremely popular. We can hear about Virtual
Reality nearly in all sort of media, people use this term very often and they misuse it in many
cases too. The reason is that this new, promising and fascinating technology captures greater
interest of people than e.g., computer graphics. The consequence of this state is that nowadays
the border between 3D computer graphics and Virtual Reality becomes fuzzy. Therefore in the
following sections some definitions of Virtual Reality and its basic principles are presented.

1.2.1. SOME BASIC DEFINATIONS AND TERMINOLOGY

Virtual Reality (VR) and Virtual Environments (VE) are used in computer community
interchangeably. These terms are the most popular and most often used, but there are many other.
Just to mention a few most important ones: Synthetic Experience, Virtual Worlds, Artificial
Worlds or Artificial Reality. All these names mean the same:

• “Real-time interactive graphics with three-dimensional models, combined with a display

technology that gives the user the immersion in the model world and direct
manipulation.” [Fuch92]

• “The illusion of participation in a synthetic environment rather than external observation of

such an environment. VR relies on a three-dimensional, stereoscopic head-tracker displays,
hand/body tracking and binaural sound. VR is an immersive, multi-sensory
experience.” [Giga93a]

• “Computer simulations that use 3D graphics and devices such as the DataGlove to allow the
user to interact with the simulation.” [Jarg95]

• “Virtual reality refers to immersive, interactive, multi-sensory, viewer-centered, three-

dimensional computer generated environments and the combination of technologies required to
build these environments.” [Cruz93a]
• “Virtual reality lets you navigate and view a world of three dimensions in real time, with six
degrees of freedom. (...) In essence, virtual reality is clone of physical reality.” [Schw95]

Although there are some differences between these definitions, they are essentially equivalent.
They all mean that VR is an interactive and immersive (with the feeling of presence) experience
in a simulated (autonomous) world [Zelt92] (see fig.1) – and this measure we will use to
determine the level of advance of VR systems.

Fig.2 Zeltzer’s Cube

Many people, mainly the researchers use the term Virtual Environments instead of Virtual
Reality “because of the hype and the associated unrealistic expectations” [Giga93a]. Moreover,
there are two important terms that must be mentioned when talking about VR: Telepresence and
Cyberspace. They are both tightly coupled with VR, but have a slightly different context:

• Telepresence – is a specific kind of virtual reality that simulates a real but remote (in terms of
distance or scale) environment. Another more precise definition says that telepresence occurs
when “at the work site, the manipulators have the dexterity to allow the operator to perform
normal human functions; at the control station, the operator receives sufficient quantity and
quality of sensory feedback to provide a feeling of actual presence at the worksite” [Held92].

• Cyberspace – was invented and defined by William Gibson as “a consensual hallucination

experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators (...) a graphics representation of data
abstracted from the banks of every computer in human system” [Gibs83]. Today the term
Cyberspace is rather associated with entertainment systems and World Wide Web (Internet).

1.3 TYPES OF VIRTUAL REALITY

There are five main types of Virtual Reality classified on the basis of Display Technology. These
are as follows:

• Adventure games, MUD/MOO

Textually described virtual worlds where the user perceives the virtual environment through
mental images based on the words read (like reading a novel).

• Desktop 3D

Virtual environment graphically displayed on a desktop computer monitor.

• Projected
3D environment projected onto a screen. It enables a single user to demonstrate concepts to a
group of people. A CAVE(tm), where several screens are used to surround the user with images,
is the most advanced form of projected VR in use today.

• Semi-immersive
Most advanced flight, ship and vehicle simulators are semi-immersive. The cockpit, bridge, or
driving seat is a physical model, whereas the view of the world outside is computer-generated
(typically projected).

• Immersive

It is the 3D environment seen through a head-mounted display (HMD). In a completely

immersive system the user feels part of the environment (experiences a feeling of 'presence').
The user has no visual contact with the physical world.

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 CHAPTER 2

CONCEPTS OF VIRTUAL REALITY

BASIC PRINCIPLE

Virtual Reality (VR) is a fully-immersive, absorbing, interactive experience of an alternate

reality through the use of a computer structure in which a person perceives a synthetic
environment by means of special human-computer interface equipment and interacts with
simulated objects in that environment as if they were real.

VR represents computer interface technology that is designed to leverage our natural human
capabilities. Today's familiar interfaces - the keyboard, mouse, monitor, and GUI - force us to
adapt to working within tight, unnatural, two-dimensional constraints. VR changes that. VR
technologies let you interact with real-time 3D graphics in a more intuitive, natural manner. This
approach enhances your ability to understand, analyze, create and communicate.

A VR system lets you experience data directly. For example, today's advanced interfaces let you
look and move around inside a virtual model or environment, drive through it, lift items, hear
things, feel things, and in other ways experience graphical objects and scenes much as you might
experience objects and places in the physical world.

Fig.3 Components of VR

As a result, VR serves as a problem-solving tool that lets us accomplish what was previously
impossible. It's also a communications medium, and, ultimately, an artistic tool/medium.

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2.1. VRML

2.1.1. INTRODUCTION

VRML stands for Virtual Reality Modeling Language. It is a specification for displaying 3
dimensional objects on the World Wide Web. It can be considered as a 3-D equivalent of HTML
(i.e. Hyper Text Markup Language). Files written in VRML language have a .wrl extension. To
view these type of files we need a VRML browser or a VRML plugin to a web browser.

VRML produces a hyperspace, a 3-dimensional space that appears on your display screen and
we can figuratively move within this space. That is, as we press keys to turn left, right, up or
down, or go forwards or backwards, the images on the screen will change to give the impression
that we are moving through a real space.

VRML, the Virtual Reality Modeling Language, is a file format for describing interactive three-
dimensional objects and worlds. Here a world is a model of a 3D space, which can contain 3D
objects, lights, and backgrounds; in other 3D systems this is often called a scene. Objects can be
built from solid shapes, from text, or from primitive points, lines, and faces. Objects have optical
material properties which affects how they interact with the lights in the world; they can also
have textures (2-D patterns) applied to them.

Objects can be grouped into more complex objects, used multiple times, translated, and rotated.
Objects can trigger events which can be routed to other events or to scripts written in JavaScript
or Java. Within VRML you can trigger sounds, move objects along paths, and link to HTML or
VRML targets. In JavaScript or Java you can manipulate VRML object properties
programmatically and even generate new objects.

The experience for someone browsing a VRML world can be active or passive, depending on
how you've scripted the world. VRML can be used to create interactive 3D games, simulations of
real or imagined devices and buildings or even cities for walkthroughs, interactive visualizations
of scientific data, advertising banners, and much more. VRML is a system- and device-
independent language, so one VRML world can be viewed on any VRML viewer of the correct
vintage.

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The current VRML specification is VRML97, which is an ISO and IEC standard. VRML97 is
essentially the same as VRML 2.0, which in turn is essentially the SGI "Moving Worlds"
proposal. VRML 1.0 is pretty much obsolete at this point, although most VRML 2.0 browsers
will automatically convert VRML 1.0 worlds.

It's entirely possible to create VRML worlds with nothing more than the VRML specification, a
text editor, and a VRML-enabled browser (all of which are free), if you're a programmer with a
good grasp of 3D computer graphics concepts. On the other hand, a VRML modeling program
can take a lot of the pain out of the process, and make 3D world creation accessible to non-
technical designers.

2.2. HEAD MOUNTED DISPLAY

2.2.1. INTRODUCTION

A Head Mounted Display is just what it sounds like -- a computer display you wear on your
head. Most HMDs are mounted in a helmet or a set of goggles. Engineers designed head-
mounted displays to ensure that no matter in what direction a user might look, a monitor would
stay in front of his eyes. Most HMDs have a screen for each eye, which gives the user the sense
that the images he's looking at have depth.

Fig.4 HMD

The monitors in an HMD are most often Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD), though you might come
across older models that use Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) displays. LCD monitors are more

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compact, lightweight, efficient and inexpensive than CRT displays. The two major advantages
CRT displays have over LCDs are screen resolution and brightness. Unfortunately, CRT displays
are usually bulky and heavy. Almost every HMD using them is either uncomfortable to wear or
requires a suspension mechanism to help offset the weight. Suspension mechanisms limit a user's
movement, which in turn can impact his sense of immersion.

2.2.2. WORKING PRINCIPLE

HMD is an acronym for Head Mounted Display, which is a set of goggles or a helmet with tiny
monitors in front of each eye that generates images seen by the wearer as being three
dimensional. A true HMD includes a device for tracking the users head movements and
orientation. In other words, it tracks what direction the user is looking. Most HMDs will track
yaw, roll, and pitch and some will even track the users head translations, a full six degrees of
freedom (6 DOF).

Many HMDs also have 3D sound headsets as part of the unit. Unconstrained objects have six
different directions or rotations they are able to move within including forward or backwards, up
or down, and left or right; these are called translations. Objects can also rotate around the
principal axes.

2.3. DATA GLOVES

2.3.1. INTRODUCTION

A glove equipped with sensors that sense the movements of the hand and interfaces those
movements with a computer. Data gloves are commonly used in virtual reality environments
where the user sees an image of the data glove and can manipulate the movements of the virtual
environment using the glove. It uses trackers and some form of bending sensors on each finger.

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 Fig.5 Data Gloves

A data glove is an interactive device, resembling a glove worn on the hand, which facilitates
tactile sensing and fine-motion control in robotics and virtual reality. Data gloves are one of
several types of electromechanical devices used in haptic applications. Tactile sensing involves
simulation of the sense of human touch and includes the ability to perceive pressure, linear force,
torque, temperature, and surface texture. Fine-motion control involves the use of sensors to
detect the movements of the user's hand and fingers, and the translation of these motions into
signals that can be used by a virtual hand.

2.3.2. WORKING PRINCIPLE

A data glove is a glove-like input device for human-computer interaction, often in virtual reality
environments. Various sensor technologies are used to capture physical data such as bending of
fingers. Often a motion tracker, such as a magnetic tracking device or inertial tracking device, is
attached to capture the global position/rotation data of the glove. These movements are then
interpreted by the software that accompanies the glove, so any one movement can mean any
number of things. Gestures can then be categorized into useful information, such as to recognize
Sign Language or other symbolic functions. They use trackers and some form of bending sensors
on each fingers. There are various methods of determining the position and the spatial
orientation of an object.

This method makes use of a stereoscopic analysis, correlating pixels common to two images,
seen by two offset cameras. As with ultrasounds, this technique requires an unobstructed line-of-

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sight so that the cameras can "see" the dots to be triangulated into 3D spatial positions. The
triangulation consists of correlating given points on two images.

2.4. HEAD TRACKER

2.4.1. WORKING PRINCIPLE

Head tracking is a precision, six degree-of-freedom positional and angular head tracking device.
The first three "degrees of freedom" are coordinate movements along the X, Y, and Z axes. A
mouse is a 2-D peripheral, detecting movement along two of the three axes previously
mentioned. Head tracker detects movement in all three, as well as rotation on those axes.

Fig.6 Head Tracker

Head tracker can detect the movement of your head and translate that to computer control, For
example "looking up, down, left, right" emulates the cursor control of your desktop mouse.
Moving your head "toward the monitor or away from the monitor" is also detected and can be
programmed to be computer control functions. Moving your head "up", "down", "left", or "right"
are also detected and can become computer control functions.

2.5. I SMELLER

2.5.1. Working Principle

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DigiScents has indexed thousands of smells based on their chemical structure and their place on
the scent spectrum. Each scent is then coded and digitized into a small file. The digital file is
embedded in Web content or e-mail. A user requests or triggers the file by clicking a mouse or
opening an e-mail. A small amount of the aroma is emitted by the device in the direct vicinity of
the user.

Fig.7 Smeller

The iSmell can create thousands of everyday scents with a small cartridge that contains 128
primary odors. These primary odors are mixed together to generate other smells that closely
replicate common natural and manmade odors. The scent cartridge, like a printer's toner
cartridge, will have to be replaced periodically to maintain the scent accuracy.

3.4. MOTION TRACKER

3.4.1. WORKING PRINCIPLE

• Mechanical:
Usually a mechanical arm attached to the tracked object.

Very accurate, short lag, but restrict movement.

• Electromagnetic:
Measures strength of magnetic fields in coils attached to objects.

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Fast, short lag, but often prone to interference Limited range.

• Optical:
Typically, pulsating LEDs monitored by a camera at a fixed position.
Fast, reasonably short lag, but often prone to interference caused by ambient lighting conditions,
Line of sight problems.

• Acoustic:

Use ultrasound waves to measure position and orientation.

Slow and often imprecise.

Fig.8 Motion Tracker

CHAPTER 3 APPLICATIONS OF VR

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3.1. INTRODUCTION

As the technologies of virtual reality evolve; the applications of VR become literally unlimited.
It is assumed that VR will reshape the interface between people and information technology by
offering new ways for the communication of information, the visualization of processes, and the
creative expression of ideas.

Note that a virtual environment can represent any three-dimensional world that is either real or
abstract. This includes real systems like buildings, landscapes, underwater shipwrecks,
spacecrafts, archaeological excavation sites, human anatomy, sculptures, crime scene
reconstructions, solar systems, and so on. Of special interest is the visual and sensual
representation of abstract systems like magnetic fields, turbulent flow structures, molecular
models, mathematical systems, auditorium acoustics, stock market behavior, population
densities, information flows, and any other conceivable system including artistic and creative
work of abstract nature. These virtual worlds can be animated, interactive, shared, and can
expose behavior and functionality.

Fig.9 VR in Entertainment

Useful applications of VR include : • training in a variety of areas (military, medical, equipment

operation, etc.) • education • design evaluation (virtual prototyping) • architectural walk-through
• human factors and ergonomic studies • simulation of assembly sequences and maintenance

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tasks • assistance for the handicapped • study and treatment of phobias (e.g., fear of height) •
entertainment

Fig.10 Car learning stimulator

3.2. MEDICAL APPLICATIONS

In the past decade medical applications of virtual reality technology have been rapidly
developing, and the technology has changed from a research curiosity to a commercially and
clinically important area of medical informatics technology. Research and development activity
is well summarized by the yearly "Medicine Meets Virtual Reality" meetings, and the
commercialization of the technology is already at an advanced stage.

1.Diagnostics: Initially, algorithms for graphical rendering of anatomy have been used to
provide support for three dimensional organ reconstructions from radiological cross sections. For
the clinician this method of visualizations provided a more natural view of a patient's anatomy
without losing the see through capability of the radiologist.

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 Fig.11 VR in diagnostics

Virtual endoscopy techniques (such as virtual colonoscopy or bronchoscopy) based on the virtual
reconstruction and visualizations of individual patient anatomy are rapidly developing. Owing to
the potential benefits of patient comfort and cost effectiveness virtual endoscopic procedures
could replace real endoscopic investigations in the foreseeable future in some areas of diagnosis.
The most impressive development has been demonstrated in virtual colonoscopy as a screening
tool for colon polyps and cancer and which is currently in the clinical validation phase.

2. Preoperative: Planning In many areas today the use of computer models to plan and optimise
surgical interventions preoperatively is part of daily clinical practice. In some areas, such as
conformal radiotherapy and stereotactic neurosurgery, treatment is not possible without
preoperative planning with the aid of a computer. In other areas, such as craniofacial
neurosurgery and open neurosurgery, the possibility of planning surgery on a computer screen,
trying out different surgical approaches with realistic prediction of the outcome and planning
individualised custom made implants have substantial impact on the success and safety of the
intervention.

3.3. EDUCATION AND TRAINING SYSTEM

Education and training is one of the most promising application areas for virtual reality
technologies. Computerized three dimensional atlases presenting different aspects of the
anatomy, physiology, and pathology as a unified teaching atlas are about to revolutionize the
teaching of anatomy to medical students and the general public.

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 Fig.12 VR in Education

Systems based on virtual reality offer a unique opportunity for the training of professional
surgical skills on a wide scale and in a repeatable manner, in a way similar to the routine training
of pilots. Contrary to the preoperative planning systems, which require an extreme level of
accurate registration and alignment of tissue (data fusion), medical and surgical education and
training rely more on high fidelity visualization and realistic immersion into the virtual scene
than on the precise data fusion of the applied models with the specific anatomy of a patient.

3.4. OTHER APPLICATION AREAS

Virtual reality offers promising solutions in many other areas of medical care, where the
immersion into a virtual world can help the patient, the physician, and the developer of the
technology. Several systems have been developed and tested for physical or mental rehabilitation
and for supporting mental health therapy by exposing the patient to appropriate experience or
illusion. Finally, virtual reality based technology plays a major role in telemedicine, ranging
from remote diagnosis to complex teleinterventions.

Virtual reality based technology is a new but rapidly growing area in medicine, which will
revolutionise health care in the foreseeable future. The impact of this technology is just
beginning to be recognised owing to methodological, technical, and manufacturing
breakthroughs in the past few years. It must, however, be emphasised that the technology is
simply a tool and that the other critical areas of content development and physicianpatient
relationship must be incorporated into the new systems.

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3.5. COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

• Usage of Virtual Reality in medical field: Virtual reality based technology is a new but
rapidly growing area in medicine, which will revolutionize health care in the foreseeable future.
In the past decade medical applications of virtual reality technology had been rapidly
developing, and the technology has changed from a research to a commercial.

• Doctors getting trained in Virtual Hospitals: Education and training is one of the most
promising application areas for virtual reality technologies. Medical students will be able to learn
real world practical problem in VR world. For example Medical students can operate a patient
who will be dieing due to a certain disease in a VR world and even medical students can get
knowledge about emergencies an accident.

• Image guided Diagnosis: Virtual Reality system will allow physicians to view data such as
MRI(magnetic resonance imaging) scans during a surgery to aid in the proper positioning of
medical instrumentation.

• Aeronautical Training Programs: Virtual Reality is playing an important role in Aeronautics

which is very helpful for Army, Air force, Navy etc.

• Flight Stimulators: With the help of flight stimulators which are based on virtual reality we
can train the pilots.

• Virtual Reality Parachute Training: Virtual Reality Programs are also used in parachute
training and it is only due this technology that life risk can be totally avoided.

• Aircraft Designing Programs: Virtual Reality has done the job easy for the aircraft designers.
They can easily check angle and the flow of air on the body of the aircraft.

• World Tour: You can explore the every corner of the world with the help of virtual reality
technology. Just imagine for a moment that you are sitting in your house located in Jaipur and
you are enjoying visit to New York and if you do not like it then in less than a second
approximately with a speed of light you can go to Dubai and if in Dubai there is a hot sunny day
of June then you can enjoy snow fall just with a click of a button.
• Virtual Teaching Programs: A student can get education from the professors at Howard
University and can enjoy the campus and environment of Howard University. A teacher can
improve their teaching skills by presenting lectures in a virtual reality classroom of Howard
University which provides the same environment like real classrooms.

CHAPTER 4

4.1. IMPACTS OF VIRTUAL REALITY

There has been increasing interest in the potential social impact of new technologies, such as
virtual reality. Perhaps most notably, Mychilo Stephenson Cline, argues that virtual reality will
lead to a number of important changes in human life and activity. He argues that:
• Virtual reality will be integrated into daily life and activity and will be used in very human
ways.

• Techniques will be developed to influence human behavior, interpersonal communication, and

cognition (i.e., virtual genetics).

• As we spend more and more time in virtual space, there will be an gradual “migration to virtual
space,” resulting in important changes in economics, worldview, and culture.

• The design of virtual environments may be used to extend basic human rights into virtual
space, to promote human freedom and well-being, and to promote social stability as we move
from one stage in socio-political development to the next.

Whether virtual reality will have positive or negative implications on the social structure is
debatable, but one thing is certain – VR will play an increasingly important role in public and
private life as we move towards the future.

The idea of virtual reality faces humankind with a completely new phenomenon, what are the
practical consequences of inhabiting a different reality?

4.2. PERCEPTION

The general public’s fascination and expectations of the Virtual Reality field and applications
have been greatly influenced by the coverage it has received in the mass media. The high
expectations raised from the coverage, and from movies such as The Lawnmower Man, have led
to disappointment and ambivalence concerning VR and its value to the individual. VR’s success
in the entertainment marketplace has been uneven at best, in part driven by disappointment with
the reality of virtual reality versus the mass media notions and because the cost still after decades
is nearly prohibitive for immersive equipment owners, forcing them to pass the cost onto the
users of the equipment—and the experience using contemporary VR equipment still has not
demonstrated it is superior to satisfaction gained from other entertainment alternatives of similar
or lesser cost.

To date, the exceptions in the public sector have been theme parks and similar venues and video
gaming (with a population willing to engage with the imaginary environments on the developers'
terms). However, the public seems more than willing to embrace VR as a common media,
provided the experience provided matches up to tremendously high expectations created by
illusions of what VR could be provided by movies and television alongside actual news
coverage. For the technology to work well enough to support a business model, it must break
through the "novelty barrier" with a killer application to commoditize the industry. With the goal
of ideal simulated reality itself possibly unattainable, virtual reality technologies have found
their best success in industry where they line up with pre-existing business needs.

4.4. DRAWBACKS

The drawbacks of virtual reality are:

• Personal isolation.

• Lack of interaction with real world and other people.

• Live in virtual world.

• Increases unemployment.

4.5. FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

 Fig.13 Stats

• More extensive uses in hospitals, including surgery applications.

• Entertainment--"Glasstron audio/video glasses".
• Flying simulations.
• More widespread uses in all fields.
• Movies like Robot and Matrix.
• Virtual Life: Virtual life is the computer simulation of life. Instead of flesh and bones, the
creatures are made up of algorithms and bytes. Many different aspects of virtual life exist. Some
of these include virtual pets, virtual people, and artificial life ecosystems. Depending on the
particular simulation, these virtual life creatures are capable of learning, eating, reproducing,
evolving, and even carrying on a dialogue with you.
• Virtual Pets:Virtual pets are one aspect of virtual life. These virtual pets can learn, and often
times even simulate emotions such as hunger, anger, fear, happiness, and love. The Tamagotchi
keychain is an example of a virtual pet. It requires food and nuturing - lack of can kill it.

• Virtual People: Virtual people are another aspect of virtual life. These virtual people also
simulate emotions. The Sims is an example of virtual people; these virtual people require food
and rest, and develop emotional bonds with each other. Sometimes, as in The Sims Online, these
virtual people can even have virtual pets of their own.

4.6. CONCLUSIONS

• After 30 years, we’re still at beginning of VR.

• Every year, new, lighter, cheaper and more powerful devices get into market.
• Sound and specially speech recognition and synthesis reinforce symbiosis between human and
the machine
• Computers are advancing on gestures recognition.
• Exoskeletons are being introduced to the market and used on simulation of complex force
feedback.
• Improvements on touch simulation thanks to use of new materials on datagloves.
• Use of artificial noses and odor generators are being developed.
• Introduction of cheap VR systems for video games world.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES

[1] www.google.com
[2] www.scribd.com
[3] www.altavista.com
[4] www.wikipedia.org

[5] http://www.spectrum.ieee.org