Overview of Virtual Reality Technologies

Yuri Antonio Gonçalves Vilas Boas

School of Electronics and Computer Science
University of Southampton
Southampton, United Kingdom
yavb1g12@soton.ac.uk

ABSTRACT made everyday. Virtual Reality embraces a diverse

amount of field applications, such as the military,
The promise of being able to be inside another
educational, medical, entertainment fields, among
world might be resolved by Virtual Reality. It
others.
wouldn’t be naïve to assume that we will be able to
This paper will focus on giving the reader an
enter and completely feel another world at some
overview about virtual reality devices, briefly
point in the future; be able to interact with
passing through the history and evolution of the
knowledge and entertainment in a totally immersive
field and giving special attention to technical
state.
information regarding currently available
Advancements are becoming more frequent, and
technology. In this section, definitions some terms
with the recent popularity of technology in this
commonly used are given. Section 2 includes
generation, a lot of investment is being made.
information about the history of Virtual Reality.
Prototypes of head displays that completely cover
Section 3 shows the common technologies related
the user’s view and movement recognition which
to it. Section 4 contains applications and conclusion
doesn’t need an intermediate device for input of
comes in Section 5.
data are already Virtual Reality devices available to
developers and even to the public. From time to
time, the way we interact with computers change, 1.1 Definitions
and virtual reality promises to make this interaction
Virtual Reality stands for the field of computing
as real as possible. Although scenes like flying a jet
which has the objective of creating a virtual world,
or tank, are already tangible, another scenes, such
having one immerse into it and giving one the
as being able to feel the dry air of the Sahara in
capability of interacting with this world, while
geography classes or feel the hard, cold scales of a
using specific devices to simulate an environment
dragon in a computer game seem to be in a long
and stimulate one by feedback in order to make the
w a y f r o m n o w. H o w e v e r , t e c h n o l o g i c
experience as real as possible.
advancements and increase in the popularity of
these technologies point to the possibility of such
amazing scenes coming true. 1.1.1 Immersion
When someone reads a book and get so captivated
by it, the person feels completely absorbed by the
Keywords words. Immersion is the suspension of disbelief
Virtual Reality, Simulation, Immersion, Human- possibly being given by any media.
Computer Interaction, Head-Mounted Display, There are three types[2] of systems in Virtual
Wired Gloves, Computer Vision, Motion Control. Reality:
. Non Immersive Systems, such as Desktops, which
are not very sophisticated devices for Virtual
1. INTRODUCTION Reality applications, as they are cheap and don’t
Virtual Reality has been pursued for some time require great performance,
now, as it is known by many to be, perhaps, the . Fully Immersive Systems, which give the user the
ultimate computational experience. One would feel closest experience to reality through high quality
complete immersion through it, unable to differ the graphics and performance as well as complete or
computer generated data from reality [1]. That goal, major absence of unrelated stimuli.
however, is still far away, but advancements are
. Semi-Immersive Systems are between the above Designed in the 50s and with a mechanical
two. Flight simulators are a good example. These prototype in 1962 which used 3D visual, audio,
systems combine high performance software with haptic, olfactory stimuli and even wind to provide
stereoscopic vision, increased field of view, haptic an immersive experience [1]. It is regarded as one
feedback, among other Virtual Reality inducing of the first examples of virtual reality. The
technologies, to deliver a more immersive Sensorama displayed a movie of a motorcycle
experience. running through Brooklyn, giving a high amount of
feedback to make the user feel like he is actually
1.1.2 Perception there. However, there was no interaction with the
Perception is the awareness of the surroundings movies. Heilig was not able to find financial
through physical senses. So, in order to give one the support of production, so the project was
perception of something, sensorial stimuli must be abandoned.
used. Two approaches [3] are usually seen: On 1961, Philco developed the first Head-mounted
. The data-oriented approach, which aims Display (HMD): the Headsight. It was a helmet
immersion through quality of data, meaning the with cathode ray tube display and a tracking system
more the data seems like reality, more immersive that made possible to identify the position of the
the experience will be. That can be seen as head.
experiences with higher definition medias provoke One of the most famous HMD, or better: BOOM
more immersion to the user. (Binocular Omni Orientation Monitor), is the
. And the constructivist approach, which, on the “Sword of Damocles”, invented by Ivan Sutherland
other hand, uses the human capability of building a in 1968 [5]. It had to be hanged to the ceiling
reality, thus being capable of immersing one with because is was too bulky to head-mount
not so high quality technologies. Evidence for this (characteristic of BOOMs) as seen in Figure 2.
can also be found, as there’s not one human being Hence, it received the name from the Greek story of
which haven’t being amazed by a book. Damocles, which a sword was suspended over the
king’s throne by a hair.
1.1.3 Telepresence
Virtual Reality also uses the concept of
Telepresence, which is the characteristic of being
able to feel present somewhere different of your
real location, a remote presence. It was created by
Marvin Minsky in 1980 [4] and is a term widely
used by the virtual reality community for it is
highly connected with the concept of immersion.

2. HISTORY
A classic virtual reality novelty is Morton Heilig’s
Sensorama. Figure 2: Ivan Sutherland and the Sword of
Damocles.

The Sword of Damocles was capable of tracking

both the position of the user and his eyes and update
the image of its stereoscopic view according to
user’s position.
Another common Virtual Reality related device is
the Wired Gloves. The first one created were the
Sayre glove in 1977, by Tom DeFanti and Daniel J.
Sandin, and worked by fiber-optics [6]. Thomas G.
Zimmerman worked in the early 80s to develop the
Dataglove, which heavily influenced other devices,
such as the Power Glove. It was manufactured by
Mattel for the Nintendo Entertainment System,
available at a reasonable price[6], although is
Figure 1: The Sensorama. considered a commercial failure.
 The Oculus Rift is a headset focused on gaming. It
provides an extended field of view of 110 degrees,
stereoscopic vision, and fast head tracking. It does
that by processing data that comes through 3-axis
gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer, giving
the user a fast image update, meaning no delay
should happen. It is still in development but a
developer’s kit is available, which include the
Oculus Rift, access to the Oculus SDK and a copy
of the game Doom 3, ready to be played. A
consumer version is said to be in the market by
Figure 3: The Power Glove. 2013.
There were attempts to launch other Virtual Reality
related products to the public after the Power 3.2 CAVE
Glove, but the reception of them were never more Cave Automatic Virtual Environment is a virtual
than lukewarm. Virtual Reality development were reality room. Projectors cover the walls of a room
manly found in the military and academic research with stereoscopic image and the user need to use
until technologies became more cost-effective. glasses which are synchronized with the alternating
images the projectors (much like current 3D
3. TECHNOLOGY movies) and speakers are placed around the room to
surround it with sounds [8].
There are many different specific devices
throughout Virtual Reality (VR). In this section are
found descriptions about the most common
technologies, some of them being closely related to
well-known commercial devices.

3.1 Head-Mounted Display

One of the classical images that comes to mind
when thinking about VR is of someone with a
device on the head, covering the eyes.
There are currently many Head-Mounted Displays
(HMDs) in the market. Most of them have
stereoscopic displays and tracking systems,
enabling the user to see 3D images through a big
field of vision and have the virtual camera move Figure 5: a CAVE environment.
accordingly to the user’s head position. As there are
one display of each eye, stereoscopic images are Also, the ImmersaDesk is a device influenced by
made simply by including two virtual cameras on the CAVE. The ImmersaDesk is a screen which
t h e s o f t w a r e . U s u a l l y, G y r o s c o p e s a n d correspond as one wall of the CAVE. Equipped
accelerometers make position recognition with the same stereoscopic vision and head tracking
possible[7]. devices of the CAVE, but only use one screen, thus
becoming semi-immersive.

3.3 Input Devices

The usual approach to data input in VR systems
includes movement recognition. Having a device
that reads and processes natural movements would
change human-computer interaction to a more
intuitive way. Here we see the most common types
of data input related to VR.
Figure 4: the Oculus Rift prototype.
3.3.1 Wired gloves
Wired gloves are capable of measuring joints 3.3.2 Wands
angles, pressure, tracking and haptic feedback. The Nintendo Wii was the first console to bring
There are three main technologies used in wired motion-sensor controllers in popularity. The Wii
gloves: using light through fiber optics; using remote controller possess a infrared sensor to
conductive ink to measure electrical resistance; and identify the IR light emitted by a sensor bar placed
using mechanical sensors. at the top or bottom of the television, provided with
Gloves that used fiber optics measure finger flexion five IR emitters in each side. The console, then,
with the use of light and photo sensors. That means calculates the position of the controller by
the amount of light received by each photocell is triangulation, based on the distance of a fixed point
used to determine the angle of bending of the joints, and the point the wii controller reads the infrared
the more the user bend his fingers, the less light is [9].
captured by the sensors, and vice-versa [6].

Figure 6: a fiber-optics wired glove.

Figure 8: the Wii remote controller.
Other gloves use a electric conductive ink and as
the user makes movements, the electrical resistance The controller is also equipped with a
changes and makes possible for a processor to accelerometer which detect three axis movements
identify movements[6]. This technology does not and are sent to the console through bluetooth. A
have a performance as good as the fiber-optics gyroscope determine the inclination by the
gloves, but are cheaper. This led a lot of VR calculation of the angle of such axis formed with
enthusiasts to get a Power Glove, which uses this the force of gravity. It also have speakers and a
technology, to make their own software. simple rumble pack to give the user feedback.
Another approach is the use of an Dexterous Hand Sony’s response to the Wii was the combination of
Machine, which is more similar to an exoskeleton the Playstation Eye, which is an usual digital
than to a glove, as mechanical sensors need to be camera, and the Playstation Move, the proper
fixated at the hand’s joints [6], as seen in Figure 7. motion controller.

Figure 7: a Dexterous Hand Machine. Figure 9: the Playstation Eye and two
Playstation Move controllers, respectively.
These are more precise than the other two
technologies, at the price of being rather bulky to
wear.
The first thing one see about the PS Move is the joints, to recognize movements and positions [10].
ball on the top of it. It is actually important to the Plus, microphones enables it to capture sound
motion detection, as the PS Eye identify the ball to commands.
recognize movements. It possess three LEDs (Red,
blue and green), which make the orb change to a
different color, thus easing the detection made by 4. APPLICATIONS
the PS Eye. Similar to the Wii controller, PS move Basically, Virtual Reality may be applied to any
is equipped with a three axis accelerometer and a area computers are involved.
gyroscope to determine its position. In addition, a Here are the most common fields that use VR:
magnetometer, which measure the Earth’s magnetic
field and is used to calibrate inertia sensors on the
controller. 4.1 Military
Its performance is better than the Wii remote, This field is one of the most important ones when it
however it has not much software support to make comes to VR investment and development. The
it a huge commercial success yet. most common use of VR in the military is that of
training by simulation [11]. The use of vehicle
simulators is well-known in the field, as it proves to
3.3.3 Computer vision be safer and, although expensive to install, more
Another way to enable movement interaction is cost-effective than real training. Flight simulation is
using cameras to recognize models and identify done by either providing the user sets of computer
motion. monitors to resemble a airplane view, or actually
The PS Eye was briefly mentioned previously, but inserting the user in an simulation cockpit as shown
the most famous device using such technology is in Figure 11.
the Microsoft Kinect. It has being greatly explored
by the industry, universities and hobbyists since its
launch through reverse engineering or later
available SDK. Its main capabilities are using a
RGB camera that allows face recognition; a depth
sensor that enables it to scan the surroundings;
built-in microphone to capture sound; and a
microchip to track and recognize movements [10].

Figure 11: a pilot in a military flight simulator.

Both of these approaches use high performance

software, along with haptic feedback that greatly
improves user’s experience.
Ground and water vehicles simulation are also used
Figure 10: the kinect motion sensing device by the military, although they are not as famous as
their air counterpart. Heavy armored or tactical
Its depth sensor captures 3D videos with a infrared vehicles navigation, as well as tactical and
projector and a CMOS image sensor, which communicational scenarios are simulated.
measures the distance between its pixels and the Submarines simulation is an interesting area, as it
objects. These two sensors work together to identify don’t need to use of visuals, but rather precise
the room and the user in 3D. The depth sensor methods to simulate readings and underwater
perceives the nearer objects as more bright and the movement.
further ones in a darker tone. The generated image, Military also uses VR in soldier training with the
by machine learning, is used to identify a human use of head-mounted displays and joysticks that
body, 48 joints per user. Then, the image is resemble real firearms. The experience is much
processed along with a library of pre-recorded similar to computer games and partnerships
positions in case the Kinect doesn’t capture all the between the military and computer games studios
are made to deliver a more immersive experience, reality popularity is increasing as a result, as it can
from weapon simulation to strategy rehearsal. be seen through the recent success of emerging
technologies and products throughout the decades.
4.2 Entertainment Perhaps it will take long before humans can fully
experience another “reality”, not being able to tell
The entertainment field has also being following
difference between real and virtual. But everything
VR evolution for some time[12]. Crudely speaking,
is leading to the conclusion: it is possible.
any modern computer game has the basic aspects of
virtual reality: simulation, immersion and
interaction. The addition of VR devices are 6. REFERENCES
becoming more common throughout the years. The
[1] Rheingold, H., Virtual reality. New York:
major video-gaming companies of today have
Summit Books (1991).
already entered in the motion control market. Movie
[2] Kalawsky, R.S. AGOCG Report. Exploiting
theaters and televisions have stereoscopic
Virtual Reality Techniques in Education and
technologies as well. And smartphones are capable
Training: Technological Issues (1996)
of giving haptic feedback to users. Evidently,
[3] Coyne, R., Heidegger and virtual reality: The
technology is becoming more popular each day.
implications of Heidegger's thinking for computer
representations. Leonardo: Journal of the
4.3 Educational International Society for Arts, Sciences, and
ScienceSpace is a well-known application focused Technology, 27 (1994).
on education [13], which contains three different [4] R. Held, N. Durlach: Telepresence. Presence,
applications: NewtonWorld, MaxwellWorld and Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 109-113 (1993).
PaulingWorld. It uses mainly a HMD which [5] Sutherland, I.E., “The Ultimate Display”.
displays stereoscopic images and a magnetic Proceedings of IFIP 65, vol 2 (1965).
position tracking system for heads and hands. [6] D. J. Sturman and D. Zeltzer, “A survey of
NewtonWorld focus on teaching students physics, glove-based input,” IEEE Comput. Graph. Appl.,
specially the Laws of Motion, by interacting with a vol. 14, no. 1 (1994).
virtual hand with balls that rebound from each [7] R. Holloway, A. Lastra: Virtual Environments:
others and walls, while experiencing different A Survey of the Technology. SIGGRAPH’95
states, such as no gravity or no friction sections. Course, No. 8 (1995)
In MaxwellWorld, users can explore electrostatic [8] C. Cruz-Neira et al.: The CAVE: Audio Visual
forces and fields, understand concepts and learn Experience Automatic Virtual Environment.
about Gauss’s Law. The user is capable of placing Communications of ACM, Vol. 35, No. 6 (1992)
charges into the virtual space, creating electric
fields of different intensities and polarities at will, [9] T. Schlömer, B. Poppinga, N. Henze, and S.
while being able to test the behavior of other Boll. Gesture recognition with a wii controller. In
charges affected by the created electric fields. Proc. TEI ’08, New York, NY, USA (2008). ACM.
And PaulingWorld enables the user do visualize
molecules, through different representations, and [10] T. Leyvand, C. Meekhof, W. Yi-Chen Wei; Jian
seeing details about its structure and its atoms. Sun; Baining Guo, “Kinect Identity: Technology
Interaction is a future plan from PaulingWorld, in and Experience”, Computer, 4 (2011)
which the user would be able to remove or
substitute atoms and observe the consequences. [11] J.M. Moshell, “Three view of virtual reality:
Virtual environments in the U.S. military,” IEEE
Computer, vol. 26, no. 2 (1993).
5. CONCLUSION
Virtual reality may affect every field in which [12]M. Zyda, “From visual simulation to virtual
computers are involved. It can change the way reality to games,”Computer, vol. 38, no. 9 (2005)
interaction with computers are made and it has the
potential of being the most powerful experience [13] Dede, C., Salzman, M.C. & Loftin, R.B.
delivering media, as it is connected with the “ScienceSpace: Virtual Realities for Learning
concept of reality. Complex and Abstract Scientific Concepts”, In
Also, the current generation Z cannot remember a Proceedings of IEEE Virtual Reality Annual
time where computers were not involved in their International Symposium, New York: IEEE Press
life, therefore it is important to notice that virtual (1996).