From: uselton@nas.nasa.gov (Samuel P. Uselton)
Subject: Re: Japanese "breakthrough" in multiple-inhabitant worlds?
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 92 18:13:34 GMT
Organization: NAS Program, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA



In article <1992Jan18.194244.15450@milton.u.washington.edu> cyberoid@milton.
u.washington.edu (Robert Jacobson) writes:

>From BUSINESS WEEK, January 27, 1992, "Developments to Watch," 
>edited by Fleur Templeton:
>
> 
>        TOGETHERNESS IN THE REALM OF "VIRTUAL REALITY"
> 
>                Entering a computer-generated world known as virtual 
>        reality (VR) is a thrill.  Using goggles and gloves, you can 
>        explore in 3-D color and manipulate objects.  But there's 
						       ^^^^^^^^^^^
>        been no way to share the experience.
	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
>                Now Japan's NEC Corp. has designed a prototype that 
>        brings up to five people together in a simulated environment 
>        -- so engineers in different places, for example, could work 
>        on a common design problem.  Instead of bulky headgear 
>        required by most U.S. VR systems, NEC uses goggles that 
>        convert a computer-screen image to three dimensions.  And 
>        when participants wear gloves linked to workstations in a 
>        high-speed network, their hand positions are mirrored by 
>        hand-like icons on the screen.
> 
>	 [Stuff deleted]
>
>        I don't know -- could this be a genuine innovation, or is it
>simply a repackaging of already available technology?  Our Japan-based
>participants, who are on the scene, are especially invited to comment on
>this report and amplify it if they can.
>
>Bob Jacobson


(1)   Didn't Jaron Lanier and VPL trumpet a system a year or two ago 
called "Reality Built For Two" ?  So it is clearly NOT the first system
in which you share the experience.

(2)  Mike Gerald-Yamasaki, of our group here at NASA Ames has a working
prototype of a system that allows folks at separate workstations to
study the same CFD data set.  The performance varies depending on
whether the network connecting them is cross country, or local, and the 
speed.  Putting stereo on the screens is a trivial modification.  3D
input a little more.


Sam Uselton		uselton@nas.nasa.gov
employed by CSC		working for NASA (Ames) 	speaking for myself