Emerging Technologies

35
I I.
Analyse dat a and present t he researc h findings in t he form of a researc h report /paper.
BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF VIRTUAL REALITY AND ITS CHALLENGES.
Abstract — V irtual reality (V R) is a technology
w hich al l ows users to interact w ith computersimul
ated env ironments, may they be real or
imaginary. In it w e can dev elop our own
w orlds from creating v ideo game s to hav ing
w ander v irtually around the univ erse. This
report contains the basic principl es and open
probl ems of V R. With a short historical
ov erv iew, basic terminol ogies, cl asses of VR
systems and the chal lenges of V irtual Reality.
Introduction — Today, it has
become common for us to be able
to interact w ith computers. They
al l ow us to experience things that
are not accessible in real l ife or yet
created. Moreov er, the w orl d of
graphics ha s neither borders nor
constraints and can be created
and manipul ated how ev er we
desire or imagine. So, w e step into
its w orld to interact w ith it instead
of just w atching. Soon it becomes
ov erwhelmingly popul ar and
fashionable.
V irtual real ity is considered to hav e
begun in the 1950’s but it came to the
publ ic’s attention in the l ate 1980’s and
1990’s. This can be attributed to
pioneering computer scientist Jaron
Lanier w ho introduced the term back in
1987. Most VR env ironments are
primaril y v isual experiences, displayed
either on digital fl at screens or
stereoscopic displays. V irtual reality also
incl udes auditory stimul ation through
speakers or headphones. Users can
interact w ith the v irtual env ironments
through different peripheral dev ices.
Evolution — The v ery first idea w as presented by Ivan Sutherland in
1965: “Make t hat (virt ual) world in t he window look real, sound
real, f eel real, and respond realistically t o t he viewer’s act ions” . It
has been a l ong time since then; a l ot of research has been done.