EMERGING TeCh Chapter 1 Exploring New Worlds I magine you’re in control of your very own space ship As you blast through space at top speed you can look out the window in any direction You can see stars planets and other spaceships zooming past You can even look down at your ship’s controls and reach out to adjust your course or change speed While using virtual reality you might look down and see a spaceship’s control panel where there are really video game controllers 44
You can experience almost anything through virtual reality Or imagine you are soaring through the sky like a bird You pump your arms up and down When you look to the side you see that you are flapping a pair of feathered wings You can dive down toward the ground far below or fly even higher above the clouds You can even feel the wind in your face as you soar through the air Maybe you’d like to take a break from such exciting experiences and relax with your favorite movie Why not take a seat in your own private movie theater It shows anything you want to watch and the 5
EMERGING TeCh Hardware and Software There are two primary parts to any VR experience hardware and software Hardware is the special equipment you use to experience a virtual world This includes headsets headphones game controllers sensors and other items VR hardware is designed and built by engineers technicians and other forward-thinking innovators Software is any computer program that tells the VR hardware what to do Sensors in the hardware see or sense your movements The software uses that information to know how you are interacting with a virtual world It then adjusts to what you see hear or feel Teams of computer programmers and developers create VR software In many cases their jobs are the same as those done by people who design traditional video games screen is just as big as the one in the theater at the mall You can experience any of these things without leaving the comfort of home Just put on one of the latest virtual reality VR headsets Virtual reality is the use of computer graphics and special hardware to trick your mind into thinking you are experiencing something you aren’t The VR headset for the experi ences just mentioned projects computer-generated or computer made videos in front of your eyes The headset has sensors that can tell where you are look ing as you move your head When you look down you 6
Virtual reality headsets display a slightly different image in each eye to give environments realistic depth see the ground When you look up you see the sky You would also wear high-quality headphones This means you would see and hear a virtual world as if it were real But none of it is The real world is completely out of view the entire time you are wearing the headset Additional devices can help make the VR experience seem even more realistic To control your spaceship you would use a joystick that is plugged into the computer To fly like a bird you would lie belly-down on a machine with wings to flap and a 7 Virtual reality
