Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality is a confluence of computer and "clothing" which convinces it's user that they are immersed in  a computer-generated 3D world.  Basically, we experience reality via our senses.  If one put's the proper digital "clothing" over those senses, to allow a computer to present one with the correct sensory input, the illusion is created that one is inside a computer simulation.  My interest in VR began as an extension of my interest in all things 3D.  A TV show on VR fueled my interest, and trying it out at the arcade of the local mall in a "Virtuality" system locked my interest for good.  The graphics were crude, the frame rate slow, and the equipment big and heavy, but "Dactyl Nightmare" was an amazing experience that I laid 10 bucks on the counter for more than once.

There are many parts of a good VR system.  First, the computer must sense where you are in the 3D world.  It uses this info to create a view on some sort of display device.  Not content to simply view the world, VR technology pioneers wanted to stick their hand inside the thing.  They created the Data Glove.  The Data Glove costs around eight thousand dollars, most of that cost is a motion tracker called a pohlemus.  Using three magnetic coils, the pohlemus determines the 3D location and orientation of the hand.  The rest of the cost is the fiber-optic finger bend sensors.  Fibre-optics use thin strands of glass to conduct light no matter the orientation of the fiber.  The Data Glove makers cleverly laser-etch the fibres so that when they are bent, some of the light "leaks" out.  These two systems allow the computer to accurately locate the hand in 6 Degrees of freedom (3 dimensions of movement, 3 dimensions of rotation).

The Mattell Power Glove

Few of us garage tinkerers can afford a full Data Glove.  Matell came to the rescue.  In __ Matell created the Power Glove for the Nintendo entertainement unit.  The Pohlemus was replaced with a low-cost ultrasound accustic location device.  Capable of only 3 diminsions of movement, and one dimension of rotation, the tracker is just as precise as the Polhemus, down to a square millimeter, and remarkably, can update it's location more quickly.  The fiber-optic bend sensors were replaced with four flexible strain gauges, for every finger but the pinky.  The Power Glove was forced to convert it's wonderfull 3D input into 4 direction buttons, and 2 fire buttons for Nintendo games.  This was what Mattell called the "Low-Res" mode.  There is, however a "High-Res" mode, which reports to the Nintendo all three dimensions of movement, the rotation, and all the fingers.  Regretably, only two games were created for the Nintendo that fully utilized the "High-Res" 3D capabilities of the Power Glove, "Super Glove Ball" and to a lesser extent "Bad Street Brawler."  The first of which came out a full year after the Power Glove was introduced, just when kids were getting sick of it's horrible "Low-Res" mode.  The first Virtual Reality toy has long been out of production.  They are difficult to locate, but can be found.  I myself own three.  One never worked, so I gutted it for parts, and the other two work great. I also own a Nintendo and both "Super Glove Ball" and "Bad Street Brawler."

REND386

Shortly after trying "Dactyl Nightmare" I went right out and got a book entitled "Virtual Reality Playhouse" written by Nicholas Lavroff, and published by The Waite Group Press.  One of the many highlights were the appendicies, which included code and hardware modifications for attaching both Mattel's Nintendo Power Glove, and Sega's 3D Glasses to a computer.  A short time later, The Waite Group published what amounted to a manual for REND386.  In addition to rendering 3D worlds in real time, REND386 supported both the Power Glove, and Sega 3D Glasses.  Combined with a 386 machine, this created an unstopable home VR system.  I was elated to later find a few versions of the "Dactyl Nightmare" world of Virtuality fame, created for REND386.  It's even more crude than Virtuality, but you can navigate in 3D, see stereoscopic views through your monitor's "virtual window," and reach inside with your Power Glove to manipulate what you find.