Virtual Reality

Virten is a development-stage site that currently provides information on the applications of virtual reality to entertainment sector. There is an increasing number of applications of virtual reality to the practice of medicine. Trends toward more 3D clinical imaging and added robotic-assistance in surgery are merging into the use of virtual reality for surgical operations. To be specific, in coming years surgeons may be able to direct a probe or other device through the human body, in a minimally invasive manner, by following the device’s movement in a three-dimensional Virtual Reality image showing both the body’s internal organs and the device. Instantaneous 3D imaging might be done via ultrasound, MRI, or other imaging modalities. To continue on related topics, see also addressing neurological conditions with virtual reality tools by clicking here.

"Telemedicine" spans the application of teleoperation or telerobotics to the practice of medicine. Present day applications of virtual presence medicine are at the forefront of Virtual Reality formation, but the term virtual presence medicine dates back a few decades and has included lower-level forms of distance communication (such as sending pictures by phone and returning interpretations via text) and that would not be called virtual reality today. For more about virtual reality, see tracking human motion in virtual reality systems .

Vision is probably the single most important sense through which people receive information concerning their world, but communication is a two-way street. People not only receive information from their world, but people also modify their environment. This is the case in simulated worlds as well as the real world. Vision may be dominant in communication from computing systems to humans, but motion and touch (called "kinesthetics") currently have top priority with respect to communication from people to computers. Communication from a person to a computer built on hand and body motion is much farther developed than human to computer interaction based on eye movement. The site on three-dimensional models of human movement for further virtual reality info.

To be responsive, a world should react to one's action with a sufficiently great level of appropriateness and speed to provide a human participant a sense similar to interaction with real world things. With current science and hardware, this frequently involves achieving a certain amount of computer reaction to the location, movement, and angle of the participating human's head and that of more than one hand. Computer response to the location, configuration, and direction of the rest of the participating person's body is important, but is not currently included in the minimal specification for virtual reality. This also will change as applied science advances. For additional information about virtual reality, please see defining pure virtual reality .