If you think that Virtual Reality is all about some prat wearing a silly helmet, you're not seeing the full picture. In fact, virtual reality equipment is constantly evolving and improving. The original VR equipment consisted simple of a large monitor in front of the user, taking up the entire field of view. This was hardly convincing. The next step in development was the ubiquitous HMD, or head-mounted display. This allows for stereoscopic, full-field displays. It is this area that likely will hold the most promise for the future, since it is light-weight, small, and fairly portable.

The other main component of a VR system is the input device. At present, most systems use a sensor-equipped glove or joystick to control motion and, in some cases, provide tactile feedback. This is obviously inadequate for a complete experience. Likely avenues of research are full-body tactile suits that would satisfy all five of the body's senses, or chambers that would achieve the same effect. The suit is a more likely result, since the construction of such a chamber would be financially and technologically challenging.

Here is a list of some of the more common input/output devices available for Virtual Reality at present:

Head-Mounted Equipment

• allows for sight and sound in the virtual environment
• can resemble helmets, diving masks, shuttered glasses, or goggles
• currently most import part of the virtual environment
• Ivan Sutherland started on the first one 1968
• good headpieces are available commercially

Trackers

• attached to user or object so head or hand movements can be detected
• usually done by electromagnetic or optical means
• movements are translated into position and orientation coordinates to be translated by the computer so that the corresponding viewpoint can be displayed
• latency is a problem for both types of tracking

BOOMs (Binocular Omni-Orientation Monitor)

• stereoscopic viewing device that has become a popular alternative to head-mounted devices
• requires little customization and can be passed easily among a number of users

Glove

• contains fibre optics running along each of the hand joints
• measures flexion and extension of the major joints of the hand
• contains tracking system to get relative position of the hand
• similar to the glove is a body suit

Tactile Facilities

• involves things such as little bladders, micropins, thermodes,
• scents and stinks, gustatory illusion

Navigation Devices

• treadmills and bicycles