Chapter 1 · Information and Communication Technology: World and Bangladesh Perspective
Information and Communication Technology · Classes 11-12 · Chapter 1 · 1.2
Virtual Reality.
You are sitting in a room, yet your eyes see a beach, your ears hear the waves, and your hands seem to feel the sand. Nothing is real, and still your brain accepts it. That trick is called virtual reality, and the method behind it is easy to follow.
1. Artificial reality
Virtual reality literally means artificial reality. The two words look like a contradiction side by side, since one means the opposite of the other. Yet it builds an environment that is not real but still gives the sense of reality, and wakes a real feeling in the brain.
How is that possible? What we call reality is really a feeling built in the brain from touch, hearing and sight. If machines copy those senses, the brain can be made to take the virtual world as real.
Sight is the cleverest part. Special glasses or a helmet show two different views to the two eyes. Or different projectors show different views on a single screen. Either way, a three-dimensional feeling is created.
Put together, the definition is this: virtual reality is an artificial environment created with hardware and software which, when presented, seems real to the user.
It needs a powerful computer and sensitive graphics. The one difference from ordinary graphics is that sound and touch are given real importance here too.
Put the headset on and turn your head: drag the handle, or move a finger or the mouse across the picture. Watch the two views for the two eyes change together.
look aroundturn your head
Two eyes, two views
The beach and the turning view are drawn to show the idea, not to scale.
2. The equipment, and telepresence
Virtual reality uses special glasses or a helmet called an HMD (Head Mounted Display). Often there are also hand gloves, boots and a suit.
Controlling things from far away through graphics on a powerful computer is called telepresence. Realistic sound is created as well, so it seems to come from a particular place.
Match four pieces of equipment and one simulator to their jobs. Pick up a job chip, then drop it in the device's box.
matchRecall the book's description.
Match device and job
Pick up a job chip, then drop it in a device's box.
Right. Next one.
Not yet. Ask whether this job is about sight, touch, the body, remote control or training.
All in place. The HMD shows, gloves touch, the suit links the body, telepresence operates from afar, the simulator trains.
Now thread the whole process together. Tap the four steps in order, from the computer to the brain.
in orderThink from computer to brain.
Put the steps in order
What is needed before anything else? Think where the picture is made.
Yes. Then?
Not yet. The brain comes last, because it only judges the feelings it receives.
Right order. Built in the computer, felt through the devices, taken as real in the brain: virtual reality takes shape in these three places.
The order is arranged for teaching; the book does not print it as a numbered list.
3. Where it is used in daily life
Entertainment: 3D fiction, mythological stories, cartoons and historical films, computer games. You can even get the feel of visiting a museum or historical place you cannot travel to.
There is also Augmented Reality, a new form of virtual reality. It mixes the real world with the virtual world.
Driving: the most realistic use is the flight simulator, where pilots train before flying a real aircraft. Simulators also train car and ship drivers. Trying something out artificially on a computer before doing it in reality is called simulation.
Education and research: the molecular structure of complex molecules and of DNA cannot be seen in reality. Simulation lets you see them.
Medicine: virtual reality is used in complex operations, fitting artificial limbs and studying DNA, in training doctors, and in diagnosis.
Military: a realistic battlefield can be created so soldiers train thoroughly without facing the real danger.
Business: simulation checks a product's quality, shape and feasibility, evaluates it, and trains marketing staff. Dangerous goods can be tested without risking a worker's life.
Match the six fields with the six uses. Pick up a use chip, then drop it in the field's box.
matchRecall the six fields in the book's order.
Field and use
Pick up a use chip, then drop it in a field's box.
Right. Next one.
Not yet. Ask who does this job: an entertainer, a driver, a researcher, a doctor, a soldier or a businessperson?
All six in place. One idea runs through each: what is hard or risky to see or do in reality can be done safely in virtual reality.
4. A caution about children
Among all these benefits the book adds one warning. Be careful about heavy use of virtual reality by children and young people. Their reaction is stronger and longer lasting than an adult's, and it may hurt their learning ability.
5. Check yourself
Three questions in the exam's style. Start with the first.
check yourselfpick one answer
Question 1
Which is used in virtual reality?
Right. Virtual reality uses 3D simulation on a computer to create a three-dimensional feeling.
Two-dimensional simulation does not give the feel of reality; virtual reality builds a three-dimensional world.
Hand geometry is a biometric method, not a part of virtual reality.
Biological data belongs to bioinformatics, not to virtual reality.
For the second, recall the idea of virtual reality itself.
check yourselfpick one answer
Question 2
Which is a feature of virtual reality?
Exchange of information is a feature of communication, not of virtual reality.
Virtual reality builds an artificial environment, not the real world.
The virtual reality environment is three-dimensional, not two-dimensional.
Right. Virtual reality is not real yet it creates a real-seeming feeling; the user moves in an imagined world.
In the last one, think of the equipment and the uses together.
check yourselfpick one answer
Question 3
Telepresence is applied in which field?
Cryosurgery destroys tissue by extreme cold; it is not a telepresence field.
Biometrics identifies people by body traits; it is not a telepresence field.
Right. Telepresence is part of virtual reality: remote operation using a powerful computer.
AI makes machines intelligent; telepresence belongs to virtual reality.
The whole note on seven cards.
cut from the notetap to turn over
Seven cards
QuestionWhat is virtual reality?
AnswerAn artificial environment made with hardware and software that seems real to the user.
QuestionHow do glasses or a helmet create a 3D feeling?
AnswerThey show two different views to the two eyes.
QuestionWhat does HMD stand for and what is it?
AnswerHead Mounted Display; the special glasses or helmet used in virtual reality.
QuestionWhat is remote operation through graphics called?
AnswerTelepresence.
QuestionWhere is the most realistic use of virtual reality?
AnswerIn the flight simulator, where pilots train before flying a real aircraft.
QuestionWhat is simulation?
AnswerTrying out something artificially on a computer before doing it in reality.
QuestionWhat caution does the book give about children and VR?
AnswerTheir reaction is stronger and longer lasting than an adult's, and heavy use can hurt learning ability.
Source: Information and Communication Technology, Classes 11-12 (NCTB), Chapter 1 “Information and Communication Technology: World and Bangladesh Perspective”, section 1.2.