Tomorrow's Treasures, Day 5 - SIGGRAPH 2006

As the final day of ACM's SIGGRAPH 2006 graphics and animation conference rolls around, I wanted to sit down and examine three different technologies showcased at the Boston convention that, given just a bit more development time, could theoretically be used together as the veritable Voltron of virtual reality experiences. True virtual reality -- Star Trek's holodeck, The Matrix's faux world, Tron's CG environment -- is obviously still a long way off, but we can already create much of what would be necessary for a VR experience that's almost there.

In order to create that experience, we would need technology that could fool the senses into suspending disbelief. Dismissing the olfactory and gustatory systems (smell and taste, respectively), we'd still need to replicate sound (which is easy), sight (which is pretty darned difficult to do convincingly), and touch (which is nigh impossible to accurately simulate). If we wanted to immerse someone -- let's call him Jimmy -- in an environment, we'd need to give him the ability to hear it, see it, feel it, and finally, traverse it.

Hearing, as I said, is a piece of cake; give Jimmy a pair of headphones and a decent sound card and we're set. Seeing is a little harder, though, which is where the good folks at Sensics Inc. come in. Sensics is demonstrating their piSight head-mounted display at SIGGRAPH, which boasts an incredible 150-degree viewing angle -- just an imperceptible smidgen beneath that of human eyesight. The piSight uses multiple OLED-powered displays focused into the eyes with twelve lenses per eye; combine it with InterSense's tracking technology, which I mentioned yesterday, and you get a pretty convincing, fully-3D visual. The level of detail and quality could certainly use a bit of work, but it's unquestionably the best head-mounted display I've ever heard of, much less used.

Touch gets pretty tricky, but the folks at Immersion have us covered. Immersion is the company responsible for force-feedback technology, so if you've ever felt the rumble of an XBOX controller in response to a game or felt a joystick buck in your hands, that's them talking to you. They produce a product line based on their CyberGlove, which can monitor hand and finger motion. Combined with an exoskeleton they develop (it's ugly as heck, but Jimmy will have his headset on, so he won't notice), the CyberGlove can deliver actual feedback and pressure to the hand, meaning Jimmy could be stopped by a wall in front of him, could pick up and feel a can of soda, could feel the weight of a brick or a suitcase, or could trace the outline of a sculpture with his finger. Let's slip those on Jimmy: not only can he see everything around him, but now he can interact with it all too.

Finally, we need to give Jimmy the ability to walk around in his environment. I'm talking about actual foot motion -- forget about using buttons on the hands to float through virtual space, the only way to be immersed in a VR experience is to be able to walk through it at your own speed and leisure. For that, we have to turn to Hiroo Iwata at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, and his dully-named Powered Shoes, which he presented at SIGGRAPH's Emerging Technology exhibition. The Powered Shoes are literally a form of roller skates whose wheels are actuated by motors. If we were to slip them on Jimmy and he were to walk, the wheels would counter his movements and roll just enough to keep him in one spot. A lot of work still needs to go into the shoes -- changing direction is a little awkward, and you can't run yet -- but the concept is sound, and it works well enough already; it just needs a bit more time to reach perfection.

And there we have it: headphones for Jimmy to hear with, the piSight for him to be able to see, the CyberGlove to feel everything around him, and Powered Shoes to let him walk through it all. A fully-immersive, truly interactive virtual experience is, as of today, completely and utterly possible. Of course, it's also expensive as heck, but we probably won't be the ones paying for it, so who cares?

SIGGRAPH 2006 was one heck of a journey. My feet are in incredible pain, my eyes are burning, and my back constantly begs me to lie down and rest, but it was worth it: I was able to get a glimpse of those treasures tomorrow shall bring to our doorstep, and hopefully I was able to bring a few of you along. Thanks for coming with me, ladies and gents. Did you finish your cookie yet?

See you next time. Dan out.

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ACM SIGGRAPH 2006 Coverage:

• Tomorrow's Treasures, Day 1
• Tomorrow's Treasures, Day 2
• Tomorrow's Treasures, Day 3
• Tomorrow's Treasures, Day 4
• Tomorrow's Treasures, Day 5