Overview of Virtual Reality

CVrS3: A Collaborative Virtual Reality Simulator for Scoliosis Surgery (inside a CAVE environment)Virtual Reality (VR) technology main goal is to permit a user to interact with a computer simulated environment inspired by or linked with the real world or not. While most current systems primarily generate stereoscopic visual and auditive stimulus, the optimal system is seen a device capable of simulating every human senses. Ivan Sutherland, who is seen by some as the pioneer of virtual reality, best described this particularity in 1965:

The ultimate display would, of course, be a room within which the computer can control the existence of matter. A chair displayed in such a room would be good enough to sit in. Handcuffs displayed in such a room would be confining, and a bullet displayed in such room would be fatal. With appropriate programming such a display could literally be the Wonderland into which Alice walked.

Most current systems use devices like head mounted displays (HMD), stereoscopic projectors/displays, 3d glasses, tracking systems, 3d mouses, VR gloves, speakers and/or headphones to generate 3d graphics and sounds that adapt to the physical actions of a user. Haptics systems and directional treadmills may also be used to simulate the sense of touch via force feedback/vibrations and to permit natural navigational movement. Some researchers are also working on ways to:

• Simulate the sense of smell with smell cannons.
• Simulate the sense of taste with a thin-film force sensor and a tube squirting mixture of flavourings.