Internet

'Metaverse': the next internet revolution?

Imagine a world where you could sit on the same couch as a friend who lives thousands of miles away, or conjure up a virtual version of your workplace while at the beach.

Other

Pandemic fuels travel boom—in virtual reality

Jem Jenkins Jones was stuck at home in Wales for much of the past year amid pandemic lockdowns but managed to fulfill a promise to her 10-year-old daughter to see the northern lights from Iceland and South Africa's game reserves—in ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

Google offers Cardboard path to virtual reality

With some DIY spirit and appreciation of virtual reality immersion, you can have the VR experience. You need little more than cardboard and some items that you can pick up at your local hardware store. Google has its own ...

Consumer & Gadgets

AI infused everything on show at CES gadget extravaganza

The latest leaps in artificial intelligence in everything from cars, robots to appliances will be on full display at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) opening Thursday in Las Vegas.

Robotics

Artificial skin heals wounds and makes robots sweat

Imagine a dressing that releases antibiotics on demand and absorbs excessive wound exudate at the same time. Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology hope to achieve just that, by developing a smart coating that ...

Consumer & Gadgets

A method to introduce emotion recognition in gaming

Virtual Reality (VR) is opening up exciting new frontiers in the development of video games, paving the way for increasingly realistic, interactive and immersive gaming experiences. VR consoles, in fact, allow gamers to feel ...

Business

Anticipation grows over Nokia news at upcoming LA event

Now sending Nokia what's-next watchers into a collective buzz: A story that Nokia is set to introduce a virtual reality product next week. Ina Fried in Re/code said the information came from sources "familiar with the company's ...

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Virtual reality

Virtual 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.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA