WEBVTT - Whatever happened to virtual reality? 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:09.000 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:18.840 tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hey everyone, 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:22.040 welcome to the podcast. My name is Chris Pallette. I'm 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:24.800 an editor here at how Stuff Works, and sitting next 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:28.160 to me is writer Jonathan Strickland. How do you and 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:31.200 we're virtually next to you. Yes, we're of course talking 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:35.640 to you from the wonderful sunny beach where the waves 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:39.680 are are lapping up against the shore. Very tranquil environment, 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:43.120 you know, lots of nice cold tropical drinks. Nice Peto 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:46.720 by the way. Thanks. You know I'm I'm I'm far 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:49.960 more buff than uh than I may appear in real life. Yeah, 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:56.240 that's the beauty of virtual reality. Yeah, yeah, I'm virtually happy. Nice. Okay, 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:58.480 So we are obviously going to be talking about virtual 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:02.200 reality today, yes, um, and you might wonder what the 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:04.840 heck happened to virtual reality? You know, it's funny when 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:06.760 you brought this up and Jonathan said he wanted to 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:10.240 talk about virtual reality, and I started thinking, uh, you 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:13.000 know what happened to that? Because you know, it was 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:14.760 all the rage people used to talk about it. All 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:18.360 the time, and now we weren't. I said, Jonathan, what 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:20.520 do you want to talk about about virtual reality? He said, 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:23.600 what happened to it? Oh? Well, there you go, exactly 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:26.440 what I was wanting. So so let's give you some 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:31.040 background virtual reality. The concept um, though not the term 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:34.039 the concept, has been around for many decades. Back in 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:39.240 nineteen a man by the name of Ivan Sutherland wrote 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:43.280 a proposal called the Ultimate Display, and he was kind 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:47.760 of making a theoretical display that would be you know 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.800 what he considered to be the the ultimate in computer 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:56.400 displays and um, obviously by the title, that's just a 0:01:56.400 --> 0:02:01.800 little repetitive redundancy for you. Let me reiterate. Okay, So anyway, 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:04.520 the Ultimate display. Now, his his concept was that the 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:09.959 display would show a virtual world that would be um 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:12.720 as real to the user as the physical world the 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.200 user was actually in. So there'd be no way to 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:18.520 tell the difference between the virtual world and the physical 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:23.520 world from from just from your experience in it. Um, 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:26.680 although the two could the two could differ physically, like 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:29.359 you could make a virtual world on the moon, for example, 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:32.360 But to the important thing is is that to the 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:36.480 user it would seem absolutely real, and uh, he kind 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:40.359 of envisioned this sort of display, having a head mounted 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:43.400 display or h m D, which one of those big 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:45.799 clunky helmet things that fits over your head, and then 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:49.200 that provides you all the visual and audio that you 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:53.200 need UM and that it would also incorporate sound and 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:58.200 touch uh to make this big picture. So that was 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:00.640 kind of his idea in a way. He's sort of 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:04.440 like the grandfather of virtual reality. Or we'll skip ahead. 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:08.720 So this idea never fades away. People always keep it 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:12.480 in mind and and in certain uses it comes to play, 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:17.000 like in in military uses in particular, things like creating 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:19.519 putting a camera on the outside of a plane and 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:22.680 UH and hooking it up to a head mounted display 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:26.040 within the plane so that h person in the plane 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:28.880 can look around and see and help someone like the 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:32.040 pilot land the plane because they can they have a 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:34.920 view directly beneath it, for example, that kind of thing. Sure, 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:36.840 and they even have weapons systems that use that kind 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:42.320 of technology where your the camera controls the weapons so 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:46.520 that when the pilot turns his or her head, they 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:48.560 can look at a target and the gun has already 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:51.360 pointed whatever it is that they're looking at right right, 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:56.360 So so the military drove a lot of this early innovation. Eventually, 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.200 other scientists were saying, hey, there's some really cool things 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:01.600 we could use this to do, but it's hard to 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:05.520 get funding because you have to convince people that it's 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:09.960 it's a worthwhile endeavor. Uh. To that end one In 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:12.360 the late eighties, that's when the term virtual reality started 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:14.360 to come into play and the media picked up on it. 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:18.880 And that's when you had an explusion, particularly in the 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:21.560 early nineties, that's when the media really went nuts with 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:25.039 this term virtual reality. And part of the problem was 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:28.239 that they built up that they being the media, built 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:31.800 up this this vision of this amazing virtual world that 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:34.000 we would all get to go and play in, and 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:37.400 we you know, the there were no limitations. You could 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:40.560 have all the information at your fingertips, you could have 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:44.640 you could live out your wildest fantasies in this virtual environment. 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:49.359 Holidack essentially, yes, good good star Trek the next generation 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:52.360 reference although as we all know, if you go into 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:54.760 the holiday, something will go wrong in moriarity will try 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:59.160 to kill you. But anyway, yeah, exactly, though, the next 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:01.800 generation kind of take on virtual reality was sort of 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:04.760 what the media was playing this up to. Be to 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:07.640 the point where people were really excited, and it sounded 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:09.719 like it was just right around the corner, and that 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:11.640 any minute now we'd be able to put on some 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:14.080 sort of suit and be able to experience things like 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:18.479 I've always wondered what would be like to I don't know, uh, 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:22.120 sled down a huge icy mountain and I could do 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:23.960 this safely in my own home, and I would have 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.400 all the feeling and the experience of doing that. But 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:29.640 in reality, I just take the suit off, I'd be 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:32.080 in my living room, I'd be perfectly safe. Or I've 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:34.640 always wanted to pretend like I'm some sort of a 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:38.520 super soldier, even though I'm a pudgy computer guy. I 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:40.760 want to put on the suit and go out there 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:43.400 and do a high risk mission and see what that's 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:48.240 really like. But the reality was sadly lagging quite a 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:52.040 bit behind this media perception. In fact, the chasm was 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.840 enormous between what the media was saying or what they 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:59.599 were kind of promising, and what the reality could actually produce. Um, 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:01.760 I don't know if did you ever get to do 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:04.160 a virtual reality game at all? Now? I've never played 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:07.080 a virtual reality Okay, well, children, sit back, Jonathan's gonna 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:12.360 tell you a little story. The year was nine. Yeah, 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:17.120 I was. I was in high school. Uh, and um, 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:20.760 there was a mall that was not too far from 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:25.760 my house. Uh, the Gwinnette Play Small. Yeah it's been there. Yeah, 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:30.360 it's different now, but back then they had a small business. 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:33.080 And the only thing the small business did was it 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:37.680 essentially rented out time on virtual reality games. You would 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:40.160 go and you pay a certain amount to get five 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:44.080 minutes of playtime in this virtual reality game. And the game, 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:47.400 by the way, the main game they had was Dactyl 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:52.560 Nightmare and um, it's odd, so it was like a thumb. No, 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:56.120 it was supposed to be a ptero dactyl. They called 0:06:56.160 --> 0:07:00.880 it Dactyl Dactyl Nightmare. So you would with other people, 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.600 I think up to three other people, so four player game, 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:06.040 and you had a little control that you would hold 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:08.400 in your hands that would represent a gun in the game, 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:11.000 and you had a head molond display you'd wear and 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:14.120 you would be Um, you'd be inside the stand on 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:16.520 a little pedestal that had a little guard around it 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.640 so you wouldn't you know, fall off, and you had 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:22.520 a control on the handle of the the little controller 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:24.920 you had you had a button control movement. You could 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:27.320 just move forward, so whichever way you faced you push 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:28.720 the button, that's the way you would go. And then 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:31.680 you had a trigger where you could fire the slowest 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:35.720 moving bullet you've ever seen at your opponents, lower than 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:40.239 in the matrix. Okay, the second slowest bullet you've ever seen, 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:44.560 and uh and so, and occasionally a terrodactor would come 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:47.280 down and pick you up and drop you, which was 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:48.920 a good way to for you to lose a life. 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.880 Not that impressive, I gotta tell you not um not 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:56.680 impressive really at all. It was actually a big letdown 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:59.680 compared to what you're thinking all virtual reality is really 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:02.640 gonna you like. And that was kind of the case 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:04.880 across the board. You had all these people try these 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:09.120 games out and other applications, and they were so primitive 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:13.360 in comparison to what everyone thought of thought virtual reality 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:17.320 was really gonna be. Like the bottom fell out. Funding 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:20.200 for virtual reality projects kind of dropped out because people 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:22.440 just lost interest. It's just like the sort of the 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:25.520 same problem NASA has with the Space program. If there's 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:27.520 not a lot of interest in it, they have trouble 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:31.680 funding the program. Same thing for virtual reality. So it 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:35.160 actually got to the point where people began to hate 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:37.840 the term virtual reality because it had the stigma attached 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:40.080 to it, which is why you don't really hear the 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:44.480 term now. Now you hear virtual environments. Right, it's the 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.200 same sort of thing. It's a little bit more of 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:50.960 a broad definition than virtual reality was. But in general 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.720 you're talking about the same stuff. It's just a different name. 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:56.280 And the reason behind it is because virtual reality just 0:08:56.320 --> 0:09:02.160 became such a loaded term, right, So there you go, 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:05.040 that's what happened to virtual reality. Well then, but I've 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:08.960 heard the term virtual environment applied to things like Second 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:13.440 Life or Google Lively or Sony Home. Right. Yeah, that's 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:15.960 that's where the broad definition comes in, so, you know, 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.439 because you don't have to wear special equipment to do that, 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:22.920 although you can, Yeah, there are people who do, I'm sure. Now. 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:26.160 That's the thing is that virtual environment is a more 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:30.360 broad definition in right, So essentially, any any computer environment 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:33.880 you create in a way is a virtual environment, right. Um. 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:36.600 But the way that the term is being used within 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:40.480 the industry, the old VR industry, you need a little 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:44.920 bit more than that. Um. The main concept for virtual 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:49.400 environments in this industry is called immersion right now, Immersion. 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:53.240 Immersion is that feeling you get where the environment you're 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:57.240 in seems real to you, right, Okay, So uh Now, 0:09:57.280 --> 0:09:59.839 ideally you get to the point where you feel that 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:03.520 environment you're in is as real as the physical environment 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:06.760 your body is in, and in the perfect example, you 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:09.280 would even forget about your physical body entirely. You would 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:12.800 just concentrate on the virtual one and that would be 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:17.520 real to you. Um. Now, The interesting thing here is 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:23.320 that immersion does not depend solely upon the graphics quality 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:28.080 of the program or um or even the sound quality. Uh. 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:34.560 It really depends on how interactive is this environment, how 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:38.080 when you turn your head, is there any latency? Latency 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:41.800 is is the delay between an action and the way 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:43.400 the computer shows it to you. So like if you 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:46.439 turn your head and there's a slight delay, it's very 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:50.120 disconcerting and it ruins the immersion experience. Yeah, because you're 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:52.800 no longer being fooled into the idea that you are 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:55.760 somewhere else exactly. That's an artifact of real life. It 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:58.400 kind of makes you feel like you're maybe slightly drunk 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:01.280 or drugged or something, and in fact can lead you 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:06.079 to motion sickness. It's called cybersickness UM in virtual reality terms. 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:08.440 But yeah, it can really it can disorient you because 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:10.600 you know your your brain is telling you, hey, I'm 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:15.000 looking to the right, but my view is lagging behind 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:18.680 my actual actions. It's interesting because in virtual reality studies 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:22.400 they found out that the human I and mine can 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:26.840 perceive a delay of as short as fifty milliseconds, which 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:29.200 is that's an incredible fraction of the second, and you 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:33.559 can detect it. So that's a big challenges is decreasing 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:37.920 that delay so that it becomes imperceptible. UM. But that 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:42.760 that can lead to immersion. Also, things like haptic feedback, 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:45.600 which you know all about because you you edited the 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:49.160 how haptics work, right, that's true. UM. Haptic feedback is 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:53.360 essentially anything that makes you feel like you're actually touching something, 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:59.000 So UM, that can be anything like um they're they're 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:05.920 medical devices that are used to actually do surgery UM 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:10.000 or to train people who are doctors, and that gives 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:13.760 some haptic feedback. So I mean, really, if you're controlling 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:17.640 a robotic arm with the use of this this mechanical equipment, 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:22.400 electronic mechanical equipment, UM, you know a robot is going 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:24.920 to be you know, it's not gonna have any feeling 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:28.199 to it. It's gonna just you know, slice into whatever 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:31.280 is around, you know, without being discriminatory other than what 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:33.800 happens to be on the camera that the that the 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:37.920 doctor is looking at. And there are some pretty subtle nuances, 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:40.560 you know, depending on whether you're cutting muscle or whatever. 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:43.040 So the doctor needs to be able to feel that 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:45.920 to know exactly what's going on as he or she 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:49.720 is working. So these haptic devices, you know, provide some 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:54.280 sensory feedback to them, some tactle feedback so that they go, okay, 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:56.440 you know, I need to go just this far and 0:12:56.440 --> 0:13:00.440 no farther to to you know, complete this surgery. Amounts 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:03.240 of resistance that kind of thing, right, and there are 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:07.400 there are still different kinds of devices that that you 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:09.839 can use. You can put on gloves that have uh 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:15.199 different little motors and vibrating modules in there to give 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:17.920 you the sense that you are touching things that they 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.440 resist your fingers so that you make it makes your 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:22.520 hand feel as you close it that you are holding, 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:26.400 for example, a ball, because it is holding back your 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:29.160 hand to to you know, give it that feeling that 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:33.960 oh there's something there, you know, because you actually can 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:35.920 feel it. And these things are you know, some of 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.559 them are quite large. UM. So you know, you may 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:41.160 be putting on some some pretty large gloves. But it's 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:43.960 got a sensation, gives you the sensation that you are 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:46.600 actually touching something, and it adds to that perception that 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:48.839 you are in another world. Yeah, and I at c 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:52.520 Yes somewhere electronic showcase, I actually tried on some stuff 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:56.520 that that had haptic feedback UM devices built into them. 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.600 There was there was a vest that you could wear 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:02.960 the Yes, it was designed for first person shooters, so 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:06.280 when you got shot, it would They had little air 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:09.480 bladders in them and the air bladder would inflate suddenly 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:13.240 and thus you would feel an impact against your skin. UM. 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:16.640 And because the vest was so tight, it was you know, 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:18.880 it had to be because otherwise you wouldn't really sense 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:22.080 this UM. But it meant that you felt it. It 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:27.080 was it was not something you could ignore. But they 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:29.880 also had a helmet that did the same sort of thing. 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:34.400 And and that's the Here comes another interesting part about 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:37.960 virtual environments and the research that goes into them. Because 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:41.160 it's still hard to get funding for these things, they 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:45.800 often appropriate devices that were designed for other industries and 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:48.880 and apply them to virtual environments. So the video game 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:52.080 industry in particular is huge when it comes to this 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:55.080 sort of stuff. Uh, they'll you know, people who design 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:58.880 virtual environments will actively seek out devices in the in 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:02.160 the video game industry that they can then repurpose for 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.520 virtual environments. So things like this kind of vest which 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:08.640 would let you feel impact that could become in handy 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:11.000 in a virtual environment really helps with the immersion. So 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:15.160 when you see something happen to your virtual self within 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:17.920 a world, and usually this is in a first person view, 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:20.080 because that helps with immersion. It's it's when you do 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:22.240 third person that you don't really you still have a 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.440 sense of detachment, sure, but when you see something coming 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:27.840 at you and then you feel the impact through something 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:31.720 like this, it definitely reinforces that sense of immersion. Well, 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:35.400 the video game industry is all about immersion and virtual 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:38.040 environment exactly. And uh, you know, as we were, as 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:40.920 you were talking, I was just thinking of an obvious analogy. 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:45.000 Would the flight simulator, uh, you know, the flight simulator, 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:49.040 I can't even say simulator. That's lovely, the flight simulator 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:53.000 that that you that you play on your desktop is 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:57.440 very uh similar to the kind of machine that they 0:15:57.520 --> 0:15:59.800 used to to train pilots in, right, and that was 0:15:59.880 --> 0:16:02.880 atually very early application of virtual environments. Again we're going 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:06.360 back in military. Yeah, but well, the airlines use them, 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:09.680 and of course the there's a simulator for the Space Shuttle, 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:13.800 I believe, UM, and there were for the Mercury capsules 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:18.760 even in the Geminy gem and I. I don't care 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:21.600 what the astronauts say, but they said it. I know 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:24.120 they said it. I'm still saying gem and I, Okay, 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:27.200 But they were using virtual environments to to do some 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:30.080 training too. So those are those are things that that 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:32.240 the public might have actually seen, that they might be 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:34.800 aware of. And there's some there's some uses that are 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:37.680 going on right now that the public might be aware of, UM, 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:41.000 depending on Sadly a lot of it's uh sadly in 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:43.720 the sense that it's not a fun application. It's it's 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:47.680 a good application of virtual environments. But medical applications besides 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:52.880 the telepresence and surgery that you're talking about, UM, one 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:58.040 of the useful uh ways you can incorporate virtual environments 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:03.960 and treatment UM involves psychological treatment. UM. There are experiments 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:08.240 being run at Duke University and Emory University, where doctors 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:14.359 are using virtual environments to simulate situations where patients with 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:18.199 phobias can can kind of confront their fear um in 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:22.320 a way that ultimately they know they're perfectly safe. Ultimately 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:24.960 they know they're inside a doctor's office and they don't 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:27.879 have they're not actually confronting what it is they're afraid of, 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:32.280 but because the sense of immersion is a powerful one, 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:35.560 their bodies react the same way they would if they 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:42.240 were actually encountering their real fear. For example, fear of heights. UM. 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:45.080 If you are a psychologist and you're a psychiatrist and 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:47.600 you're treating someone for a fear of heights, and you 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:51.080 happen to have an office in a one story building, 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:55.880 your options for treating this patient are become pretty rough 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:59.440 when it comes to actually, you know, confronting the fear 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:01.520 head on. It means you have to go to a 0:18:01.560 --> 0:18:03.560 different building. You have to you know, you may have 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:06.159 to secure permission to go to a certain floor or 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:09.639 anything like that. UM virtual environments, you could create an 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:12.240 environment where you appear to be at the top of 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:14.199 a tall building and you can walk right up to 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:17.600 the edge virtually and look down. And the interesting thing 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:19.639 is after a couple of minutes where you kind of 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:24.879 get oriented, patients have shown the same physical reaction to 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:26.879 the virtual environment as they would if they were in 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:30.199 a real one. And that using this as sort of 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:33.639 uh a kind of therapy where they get used to 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:36.880 it over a period of time, they can uh, they 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:39.199 can really make a lot of progress. In fact, some 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:43.560 psychio psychiatrists and psychologists have reported that their patients come 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:46.360 back and say, hey, you know, after we went through 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:49.560 these sessions, I took it upon myself to go to 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:52.480 this hotel downtown that's got It's a fifteen story hotel 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:53.639 and I went all the way to the top and 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:55.760 I walked all the way to the window, and you know, 0:18:55.840 --> 0:18:58.280 I was really scared. It was really nervous, but I 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:01.600 did it. And it's amazing because without this treatment, they 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:05.240 would never have taken that kind of initiative. So that's 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:07.640 kind of an interesting approach. There are other ones as well. 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:10.920 UM fear flying is a common one. It's also being 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:14.719 used for people who have u UH veterans who are 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:18.520 coming back who have have problems afterwards. You know, that's 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:22.120 that's a big use for them. Sure, it's that's that's 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:23.520 kind of where a lot of the funding is going 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.679 into now because it is a an application that you 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:30.120 can see direct results from. So what if you fear 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:36.439 fear itself? Nice? Um? Yeah, that one, that one that 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:38.840 was tricky. Yeah, I would imagine so at least two 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:42.320 to replicate in in a virtual environment. Yeah, Well, I 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:44.480 want to talk about one other things. We did talk 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:47.960 about haptics earlier. Sure, I want to talk about passive haptics, 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:51.960 which is kind of virtual environments. Passive haptics are when 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:57.560 you incorporate real objects and you connect them to the 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:00.680 virtual world. So usually in this case, you're your virtual 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:04.040 environment actually requires that you have a room where the 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:08.200 a lot of the the images you'll see are projected 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:11.000 on on maybe the floor and the walls and the ceiling, 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:15.040 and you're wearing special glasses to complete the illusion. But 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:18.359 you put in real physical objects that are mapped to 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:22.040 this virtual environment, and if you, as a person in 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:26.800 the physical environment, interact with these, you see that reflected 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:30.640 in the virtual environment. Again reinforces that sense of immersion. 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:32.720 It's pretty cool, you know. So, like you see a 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:35.440 ball and you push it, Uh, you would actually feel 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:37.679 the ball, because there really is a ball there, and 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:40.120 you'd see it move. The other neat thing about this 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:43.320 is that you can trick the mind and create an 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:48.200 environment that's much larger than the physical virtual environment that's 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:51.320 that's many times larger than the physical one. UM. You 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:53.280 can trick the mind into thinking you're walking in a 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:57.360 straight line. And really, if you were to be an 0:20:57.359 --> 0:20:59.639 independent observer, you would see that the person inside the 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:03.119 room is walking in a circle, but in the virtual environment, 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:05.200 it would look like you're walking in a straight line. Right, 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:07.440 So in a way, you've just created a room that's 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:11.120 larger on the inside that it is on the outside. 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:14.520 To tell what, I'm kind of fascinated by virtual environments 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:17.359 and reality and technology behind it, you know. I was 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:21.320 thinking though that there are some some holdovers from it, UM. 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:24.040 You know, talking about CS. I remember the my View 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:28.280 personal video player that they have, UM. It kind of 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:31.680 looks like a very small version of the head gear 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:34.919 that you used to see in the virtual reality UM stuff. 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:38.040 But basically what it is is, UM, it's a When 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:40.399 I say personal video player, it's literally a pair of 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:42.760 glasses that you put on your you know, put on 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:45.280 your face and it plays you know, hooks up to 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:48.760 your personal video player and plays the movie or the 0:21:48.880 --> 0:21:52.040 video podcast or whatever on the lenses of your glasses, 0:21:52.080 --> 0:21:55.399 so you're actually watching you know, you're it's sort of 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:59.280 a mini immersion type of thing because you're showing yourself 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:06.400 that um. And remember the old virtual game boys still 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:10.000 still feel those headaches. Yeah yeah, yeah, but they had 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:14.359 a problem with latency. Yeah, imax. They're all kinds of 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:18.280 things in reality. I mean, you've got there's a new 0:22:18.320 --> 0:22:21.439 camera that actually will tag things that you see in 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:23.679 real life. It'll tag it and remember it and and 0:22:23.800 --> 0:22:26.960 uploaded and share it. Um. Where you can point a 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:28.920 camera at a building and push this little button and 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:31.000 it'll pop up and tell you what that building is. 0:22:31.640 --> 0:22:33.439 I mean, that's the same sort of thing. These are 0:22:33.440 --> 0:22:36.000 all these applications that came out of the research from 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:39.199 virtual reality. Yea, so there it still exists. There's just 0:22:39.280 --> 0:22:42.760 bits and pieces of it then incorporated into different materials, right. 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:46.120