A revolution to brewing in ZA the field of human A Computer Interfacing. Now a frontier research arc In computer applications, virtual reality technology, is a new form of realistic simulation. It promises to transform approaches to architecture, engineering design, medicine ' and even entertainment

Virtual reality allows humans to journey Into computer-generated thrcc-dtmen atonal environments, called a virtual environment, created with the help of computers and special electronics.

To move into a virtual environment, a user has to wear a headset that looks like a helmet equipped with goggles, and a handglove Both are linked to the computer that creates the virtual environment.

The computer calculates and creates the Images of the virtual environment and presents them on two miniature television screens located within the goggles. The computer-generated Images that appear on the two screens arc presented slightly different from one another. This 1s done to reproduce the stereoscopic, three-dimensional effect of normal vision which results from the fact that neither of the two eyes perceives the same thing from exactly the same perspective.

As ihc head is turned with the goggles on, the viewer secs scenes In the virtual environ-

ment from different angles all around — a 360 degree effect that gives the viewer the im prtssion of being completely enveloped by the computer generated environment. This is achieved through electromagnetic sensors on the headset that monitor the changes In the orientation of the head and the viewers gaze and transmits this information to the computer. The computer instantly recalculates the images that must be presented on the two screens.

Virtual reality technology when fully refined with allow a user to actually manipulate objects tn the virtual environ merit, instead of remaining a

American researchers are working on a handgiove that will enable a user to pick up or grasp objects in the virtual environment. The glove could also be used to move real things Ihrou^i remote con trolk-d robots linked through virtual reality, in pioneering research, scientists at NASA's Ames Research Centre have developed what ts called a virtual interface cnvlronmcni workstation (VIEW), a wide angle, head mounted, stereo scopic display system that presents an image very similar to human binocular vision, according to a report in the journal Byte.

Scientists believe virtual reality has wide and diverse range of potential applications It will provide realistic Simula

tion for pilots and doctors, in industrial design It will be a new and relatively inexpensive mode of studying models in three dimensions.

Architects are expected to be among the first users of virtual reality With this technology. architects would be able to design buildings on a computer and then enter" them to see how they look from the inside To enter the computer-generated environment, the arr^itlcct would have to wear a data suit, a full body outfit covered with optic fibre sensors thal would monitor the motions of Ihc wearer and send signal them to the computer. The computer would then send bark images of the building from Inside through the screens on the

The technology is also expected lo find a place in medicine. Initially It would only be a training tool for med-ica) Students. A surgeon wanting to practice a dcHcalc and complicated operation could don the headset and handglove begin operating on a virtual patient in a virtual operating theatre. Virtual reality also opens up the possibilities of surgery through remote-controlled robots.

In education. It could be used lo make difficult con ccpts like theories of quantum physics easier to understand for students. Visual represen la Hons of such complex con ccpls could Increase comprehension among students.