Perceiving And Acting In Virtual Environments

Abstract

&gore C. Burdra, Ph.D. Virtual Reality is revolutionizing Medicine, from diagnosis to surgery and rehabilitation. Medical VR requires realistic organ modeling, dedicated or generic interfaces, use of programming toolkits, and extensive human factor tests to determine outcome. Several research projects around the word will be presented including early clinical study results. Dr. Grigore Burdea is Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers. His research interests are in force feedback for virtual reality and its applications in Medicine. He has been Principal or Co-Investigator on projects ranging from hand rehabilitation in VR to training in palpation of virtual malignancies. He authored the books “Virtual Reality Technology,” and “Force and Touch Feedback for Virtual Reality” (John Wiley & Sons), and co-edited the book “ComputerAided Surgery” (MIT Press). Workshop: Interfaces for Wearable Comwters Authors: Mark Billinghurst and Thad Starner Abstract: “If, as it is said to be not unlikely in the near future, the principle of sight is applied to the telephone as well as that of sound, earth will be truthfully a paradise, and distance will lose its enchantment by being abolished altogether.” Arthur Strand, 1898 The goal of this workshop is to develop and exchange ideas on how virtual reality techniques can be used to develop intuitive interfaces for wearable computers, particularly collaborative interfaces. It will also aim to uncover promising areas for future wearable interface research and provide a forum for participants to evaluate current interfaces. Pre-workshop Activities: A pre-conference electronic mailing list will bc created that will enable participants to begin discussion prior to the workshop. This will enable the development of several common themes that will be explored at the workshop. Attendees will also be encouraged to develop demonstrations of their wearable computers to show at the workshop. Mark Billinghurst is a final year doctoral student at the Human Interface Technology Laboratory (HIT Lab), the University of Washington where he co-manages their wearable computing effort. He organized the VRAIS 1996 and VRST 1996 tutorials on Multimodal Interfaces. Past projects he has been involved in include voice and gestural interfaces, evaluation of VR interaction techniques, intelligent virtual interfaces, and collaborative augmented reality environments. His current work involves using VR techniques to develop interfaces for wearable computers. Thad Stamer is a doctoral student at the MIT Media Laboratory where he co-founded the wearablc computing project. He helped organize the 1996 Boeing Wearable Computing workshop, the CHI Wearable Computers Workshop and the recent successful IEEE International Symposium on Wearable Computing.