Virtual reality and cyberspace: From science fiction to science fact

The popular portrayal by the media of Virtual Reality is that of enthusiastic games participants indulging in strange whole-body movements whilst wearing bulky head-mounted stereoscopic displays, interactive gloves, head and hand tracking systems and even whole-body suits. The purpose of this equipment, one is informed, is to give the user an effective means by which he or she can become “immersed within” a virtual world, interacting with features in much the same way as one might in the real world—by walking around, making gestures, talking, listening and looking at the computer generated scene. This paper traces the history of Virtual Reality as it has driven the development of equipment in use today. A brief description of some of the commercially available technologies is presented, together with some of the emerging concepts and problems which require urgent addressing before the technology can find its way cheaply and safely into a wide range of serious applications.