Development of a New Virtual Reality System

Abstract

To implement the operator’s free walking in virtual environment (VE), a new configuration of virtual reality (VR) system is presented. In this system, a special machine is designed and it enables the operator to walk inside the VE in any directions over a long distance without actually leaving the physical device. Images produced by the computer are projected upon the surface of a large spherical screen surround the operator by means of a group of high power projectors. The new VR system can acquire wide view angle and form panorama surround the operator, which may enhance the realistic sense of the simulation. For some reasons, we only finished a part of the construction of this system at present and the key techniques involved are also discussed. As preliminary realization of this system, we built the key component – walking machine and carried out an experiment to verify its effectiveness.