Virtual reality
hideVirtual reality (VR) is a technology which allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment, whether that environment is a simulation of the real world or an imaginary world. Most current virtual reality environments are primarily visual experiences, displayed either on a computer screen or through special or stereoscopic displays, but some simulations include additional sensory information, such as sound through speakers or headphones. Some advanced, haptic systems now include tactile information, generally known as force feedback, in medical and gaming applications. Users can interact with a virtual environment or a virtual artifact (VA) either through the use of standard input devices such as a keyboard and mouse, or through multimodal devices such as a wired glove, the Polhemus boom arm, and omnidirectional treadmill. The simulated environment can be similar to the real world, for example, simulations for pilot or combat training, or it can differ significantly from reality, as in VR games. In practice, it is currently very difficult to create a high-fidelity virtual reality experience, due largely to technical limitations on processing power, image resolution and communication bandwidth. However, those limitations are expected to eventually be overcome as processor, imaging and data communication technologies become more powerful and cost-effective over time.
Virtual Reality is often used to describe a wide variety of applications, commonly associated with its immersive, highly visual, 3D environments. The development of CAD software, graphics hardware acceleration, head mounted displays, database gloves and miniaturization have helped popularize the notion. In the book The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality, Michael Heim identifies seven different concepts of Virtual Reality: simulation, interaction, artificiality, immersion, telepresence, full-body immersion, and network communication. The definition still has a certain futuristic romanticism attached. People often identify VR with Head Mounted Displays and Data Suits.
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News tagged with virtual reality
Immersive Game System Allows Physical Interaction Between Players
Technology / Computer Sciences
Dec 22, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (20) |
8
(PhysOrg.com) -- With a new immersive multiplayer game system, researchers are further blurring the line between gaming and the real world. Using a mouse and keyboard sounds kind of quaint compared to the ...
Virtual Worlds May Be the Future Setting of Scientific Collaboration
Aug 04, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (17) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- Normally, virtual worlds are the setting of many online games and entertainment applications, but now they’re becoming a place for scientific collaboration and outreach, as well. A team of ...
Communicating person to person through the power of thought alone (w/ Video)
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 06, 2009 |
3.6 / 5 (25) |
8
New research from the University of Southampton has demonstrated that it is possible for communication from person to person through the power of thought alone.
Robot Floor Tiles Move Beneath Your Feet
Sep 22, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (10) |
8
(PhysOrg.com) -- In a stroke of odd creativity, Japanese researchers have created robotic blocks that automatically detect where you're walking and position themselves in front of you before you take your ...
When virtual reality feels real (w/Video)
Technology / Computer Sciences
May 11, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (3) |
1
Despite advances in computer graphics, few people would think virtual characters or objects are real. Yet placed in a virtual reality environment most people will interact with them as if they are really there. ...
'Mind-reading' experiment highlights how brain records memories
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Mar 12, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (4) |
0
It may be possible to "read" a person's memories just by looking at brain activity, according to research carried out by Wellcome Trust scientists. In a study published today in the journal Current Biology, they show that o ...
The first virtual reality technology to let you see, hear, smell, taste and touch
Mar 04, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (18) |
8
(PhysOrg.com) -- The first virtual reality headset that can stimulate all five senses will be unveiled at a major science event in London on March 4th.
Engineering graduate student narrows gap between high-resolution video and virtual reality
Technology / Computer Sciences
Feb 04, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (15) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- With their immersive 3D capabilities, virtual-reality environments (VEs) provide the kind of intense visual experience that two-dimensional digital televisions could never to live up to. But ...
Crushing cigarettes in a virtual reality environment reduces tobacco addiction
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Oct 27, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
Smokers who crushed computer-simulated cigarettes as part of a psychosocial treatment program in a virtual reality environment had significantly reduced nicotine dependence and higher rates of tobacco abstinence than smokers ...
Child's play may revolutionize video gaming, police work
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Aug 28, 2009 |
4 / 5 (2) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- What do hide-and-seek, police searches and video games such as Half-Life 2 have in common? More than you would think, say two University of Alberta researchers.
Modified HDTV screens used for 3-D technology (w/ Video)
Technology / Computer Sciences
Aug 18, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (12) |
0
Surround 3-D TV is poised to take over your living room. For the first time, a team of researchers at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) at the University of ...
A (virtual) smart home controlled by your thoughts
May 11, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
3
Light switches, TV remote controls and even house keys could become a thing of the past thanks to brain-computer interface (BCI) technology being developed in Europe that lets users perform everyday tasks ...
Cracking the spatial memory code
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Mar 12, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
Researchers have shown that they can tell where a person is "standing" within a virtual reality room on the basis of the pattern of activity in the brain alone. The findings, published online on March 12th in Current Biology, a Cell ...
Cell phones dangerous for child pedestrians, study finds
Jan 26, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
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Children who talk on cell phones while crossing streets are at a higher risk for injuries or death in a pedestrian accident, said psychologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in a new study that will appear ...
3D Virtual Reality Environment Developed at UC San Diego Helps Scientists Innovate
Sep 18, 2008 |
4.4 / 5 (14) |
0
Its name sounds like something out of science fiction, but the StarCAVE at the University of California, San Diego is now a science fact. The virtual-reality environment allows groups of scientists to venture ...
