Welcome to virtual reality - the popularity of computerized, simulated experiences - Column

Humanist, March-April, 1993 by Andre Bacard

During the last two years, I have talked about the virtues and vices of new technologies on many radio talk shows and before live audiences. The public always gets the most excited when I discuss virtual reality. Let us see why.

Perhaps you would like to visit Victorian England and shake hands with the legendary Sherlock Holmes? Raft past blood cells in the human body's circulatory system? Or swim amidst Tahitian coral reefs and fish without leaving your office? A rapidly growing technology called virtual reality gives new meaning to these daydreams.

Virtual reality (VR to people who use the technology) focuses upon our senses, not our vocabulary. So let us begin our adventure with a field trip.

Imagine putting a helmet on your head and slipping a glove on each hand. The helmet blocks out all the lights and sounds from the "real" room where you are reading this article. The helmet (also called a head-mounted display) is equipped with two visual screens, each the size of a half-dollar. One screen is positioned in front of each of your eyes. The images on those screens are programmed by a computer. Similarly, the inside of your helmet is encircled with small audio speakers. Each speaker is controlled by the same computer. It's as if you have literally stuck your head inside a computer monitor or a television set. In addition, your body has joined you inside the computer. Your helmet and gloves are wired with sensors to detect how you physically respond to the pictures on the tiny screens and the sounds on the little speakers. Whenever you rotate your head, the computer takes note. Each time you flex your fingers or twist your wrist, the computer calculates the angles and velocities of your motion.

Welcome to the doorstep of "virtual" reality! All your equipment is in place. Once we turn on the computer, we will open the door and make one of your fantasies come true.

Assume that you desire to meet Sherlock Holmes. The computer-coordinated screens and speakers put you inside his Baker Street office. You can view the hands on his grandfather clock, just as you can hear the clock chiming a new hour. You can almost smell Holmes' pipe tobacco, though he is still invisible. Turn your head to the right to look for him. The computer feels your head swivel and readjusts the visual screens so you see different scenery as your head rotates. There he is - Holmes is warming himself in front of the fireplace. As you extend your arm to shake his hand, the computer quickly adjusts the screens. You can see your hand move toward him and, soon thereafter, touch Sherlock's hand. He is glad to meet you, and he asks you questions about future technologies that might aid his criminal investigations.

On one level, the above Holmes rendezvous is common. Novelists, poets, and playwrights have enlarged and enriched our imagination for centuries. Millions of people watch and participate in elaborate fantasies on such TV shows as "Star Trek" and at the movies. On another level, VR provides a unique one-to-one relationship between person and machine.

What is virtual reality from a technical standpoint? VR is, first and foremost, a computer system. This computer hardware and software fuse graphics with a database in order to simulate a given "world" The most famous VR is probably the flight simulator used by airline companies and the military to train pilots. This system blends graphics (manipulable computer images of clouds, airports, mountains, and so forth) with a database (stored computer details about flight patterns, landing gear, radar readings, and the like). The final product is a cubicle in a warehouse that looks, feels, and operates as if it were an airplane cockpit.

How does VR differ from other computer graphics? Virtual reality, unlike a full-color Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet or a Wordperfect document, conveys multisensory information. VR links sight, sound, and touch. Also, VR is interactive; a VR user can manipulate objects on the screen with the relatively recent invention of gloves, or with more familiar computer accessories such as a mouse or a joystick. VR connects the computer system to the human muscular and nervous systems.

The term virtual reality was coined in the mid-1980s by Jaron Lanier, now a high-tech cult figure based in Sausalito, California. In 1984, Lanier founded VPL Research, Inc., in Foster City, California. This company was the first to focus on VR products. VPL Research has invented and manufactured key VR equipment such as the trademarked DataGlove, DataSuit, and EyePhones.

You can see photographs of VR equipment in Ken Pimentel and Kevin Teixeira's nontechnical book Virtual Reality: Through the New Looking Glass. You can read further research details in Howard Rheingold's popular book entitled Virtual Reality.

Today, governments and corporations around the globe are vying to use VR. The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Projects Agency is trying to cope with dwindling defense budgets. Therefore, they have built a battle simulator complete with flying shells and ear-splitting explosions to train soldiers at less cost than traditional war games. Chrysler and IBM are jointly using VR to design autos quicker and cheaper. Fujita Corporation, a Japanese construction firm, is trying to implement telepresence - the remote manipulation of equipment. Working with Lanier's VPL Research, Fujita hopes to create a spray-painting robot that will enable a Tokyo operator to paint buildings anywhere in the world. Vice-President Albert Gore is aware of VR's promise; he deems it critical to "the way we design new products, teach our children, and spend free time."