From: brucec@phoebus.labs.tek.com (Bruce Cohen) Subject: APPS: Virtual Lathe (was Re: Anyone combining telepresence with VR?) Date: 25 May 92 21:25:10 GMT Organization: Software Technology Research Laboratory, Tektronix Inc. In article deering@deering.Eng.Sun.COM (Michael F. Deering) writes: > In another system I have a > virtual lathe where the cutting tip is the physical tip of a 3D wand > in the user's hand. The image on the user's retina of the physical > wand tip and the virtual cutting image must be registered to a fraction > of an inch for the operation of the system to feel natural. I'm curious about the problems you had in registration in this particular application, and what would be different if the user didn't use a wand but instead wore a glove, and used the tip of a finger to control placement of the tools. This would be an especially nice way to control a lathe if there were some force feedback to indicate the cutting forces, but if just registering the visual feedback is a problem at the current level of technology it may be premature to think about it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "The end cause ... is too often handed off as an afterthought to harried interface designers who follow programmers around with virtual brooms and pails." - Brenda Laurel in "Computers as Theatre" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Speaker-to-managers, aka Bruce Cohen, Software Technology Research Lab email: brucec@strl.labs.tek.com Tektronix Laboratories, Tektronix, Inc. phone: (503)627-5241 M/S 50-662, P.O. Box 500, Beaverton, OR 97077