What is Virtual Reality: An Intro

Discover what is virtual reality, how it is used and the technology behind it. 

The following text is adapted from: Riva, G. "Virtual Reality", Wiley Encyclopedia of Biomedical Engineering, 2006. 

Since 1989, when Jaron Lamier used the term for the first time, “virtual reality” (VR) has been usually described as a computer simulated environment with and within the people can interact. The following are some examples of such definitions:

“The terms virtual worlds, virtual cockpits, and virtual workstations were used to describe specific projects. In 1989, Jaron Lanier, CEO of VPL, coined the term virtual reality to bring all of the virtual projects under a single rubric. The term therefore typically refers to three-dimensional realities implemented with stereo viewing goggles and reality gloves.” (Krueger, 1991, p. xiii)

“I define a virtual reality experience as any in which the user is effectively immersed in a responsive virtual world. This implies user dynamic control of viewpoint.” (Brooks, 1999, p. 17)

“It is a simulation in which computer graphics is used to create a realistic-looking world. Moreover, the synthetic world is not static, but responds to the user's input (gesture, verbal command, etc.). This defines a key feature of virtual reality, which is real-time interactivity.” (Burdea & Coiffet, 2003, p. 2)

The basis for the VR idea is that a computer can synthesize a three-dimensional (3D) graphical environment from numerical data. Using visual, aural or haptic devices, the human operator can experience the environment as if it were a part of the world. This computer generated world may be either a model of a real-world object, such as a house; or an abstract world that does not exist in a real sense but is understood by humans, such as a chemical molecule or a representation of a set of data; or it might be in a completely imaginary science fiction world.

Further, because input devices sense the operator's reactions and motions, the operator can modify the synthetic environment, creating the illusion of interacting with and thus being immersed within the environment. The most recent development of VR has been in the area of networking and the Internet. Networked virtual environments and 3-D interfaces to the Internet are amongst the latest applications of VR in a growing telecommunications market.