VIRTUAL REALITY
Welcome to the Homepage of the MATC Virtual Reality and Telerobotics course, 605-160-090.
This class is available for 3 credits by registering with MATC. The class will also be taught in the traditional classroom setting, Tuesday and Thursday evenings, 5:30 - 9:30, for 6 weeks beginning June 9. Additionally, video tapes of the classroom sessions will be available. Or you can take the entire course OVER THE INTERNET.
This course is open to students in all fields and does not require an extensive electronics or programming background. Topics will include:
- the concept of virtual reality; its history and development; how we sense the world and what makes a virtual world seem real- current developments in the field; hardware and software; what is within reach at reasonable costs
- design of VR systems; what hardware is required and how it is used; the important concepts and methods of software design and development
- sensors and actuators (visual, audio, tactile); how they work, how they are used to increase realism
- displays; screens, goggles, headsets, etc.; what is used to immerse the user in the virtual world
- applications in a variety of fields: entertainment, design, business, medical, telerobotics, remote control, education, and others; what is currently available and what will be here tomorrow
Students in all fields will find this an interesting and useful course covering a topic with exploding applications and abilities. Classes will include some laboratory demonstrations of sensors, actuators, tracking programs, perception programs, feedback systems, and displays. This course is open to all students 16 and over. No prerequisites are required.
Telerobotics
includes the use of remotely controlled tools, vehicles, or other forms of robots.
Here, a force-feedback hand and arm built by SARCOS Research Corporation allows the
operator to "feel" the hammer.
At a longer distance, last year scientists used a virtual reality telerobotic system to control the small rover vehicle on Mars.
Explore the world of Virtual Reality. VR is here and being used NOW. Learn about the equipment and what is involved in creating a wide variety of VR applications, including:
- Flight simulators are so real that an experienced pilot scared himself unconscious.
- Battlefield surgeons operate from a safe distance with telerobotics.
- Movie backgrounds and even characters exist only within a computer.
- Firefighters don VR goggles which let them see through smoke as they enter a burning building.
- Stock brokers see the entire market as 3-D colored images and buy or sell by moving a control glove in a virtual world.
- You can walk through a house to see if you like it before it is built.
- An arcade is planned where you can become a character in a Star Trek adventure where other computer generated actors are so realistic that they shocked Paramount executives.
- Medical students learn anatomy by dissecting a virtual body instead of a real cadaver.
- At the University of North Carolina scientists "feel" molecules being joined as they use a VR system to design new substances.
- Carnegie Mellon University has developed a Virtual Ancient Egypt in which you can explore the Temple of Horus.
- You can use the Internet to see live, real-time views from hundreds cameras located all around the world.
- Mercedes Benz allows customers to test drive a new car using a sophisticated simulator mounted on a motion platform.
- Japan's most popular teen idol - Kyoko Date - exists only in a computer
Learn about this exciting new world while earning 3 credit hours. You can come to class or study over the Internet at your computer on your own timetable. You can review video tapes of a missed class or use any combination of these three. You even have your choice of taking tests or writing answers to lesson discussion questions. This is interesting education in its most flexible form.
KYOKO DATE
