Virtual Systems

This week was all about virtual environments and augmented reality.

Virtual environments to my understanding as a computer-generated world designed to allow several users to interact with objects and components in that virtual environment. Virtual worlds are open allowing users to free-roam and are role playing environments.

Virtual reality, a form of technology which created computer generated worlds, are often in use in different areas of application such as in military training where it may be used for combat training or in hospitals where surgeons may operate virtually rather than physically for training.

Lasserre, S.N. (2022). 

HBC Editors. (2022).

Augmented reality on the other hand is a technology where it integrates the computer-generated virtual objects into the physical world which become almost equal to our natural environment. I have input some videos that illustrate the use of AR in the real world.

A huge technology that place a role in this case, is Artificial intelligence. AI transforms user experiences in virtual reality (VR) by introducing realistic behaviors and interactions into virtual surroundings. VR content is personalized by AI-driven study of user behavior, striking a deep emotional chord with people. Natural language processing improves interaction by facilitating smooth conversation in virtual reality environments. AI-powered real-time analytics give developers optimization-focused insights into user behavior. AI-driven intelligent agents constantly adjust to improve engagement in virtual environments. AI also speeds up the production of content, resulting in more varied and dynamic VR experiences. In the end, the combination of AI and VR improves personalization, immersion, and interaction, ushering in a new era of thrilling virtual excursions.

We then learnt about the Cave - Automatic Virtual Environment. A box-like environment that creates an illusion of immersion by projecting stereo images on the walls and floor of the room-sized cube. So, a head tracking system continuously adjusts the stereo projection to the current position of the leading viewer.

Augmented Reality Lab futurecinema.ca

There are several applications of VR such as in, medicine, education and training

However, like any other system, there can be issues to VR systems. Despite it being collaborative, cost-efficient and having a high-fidelity system, the system may cause cyber sickness as well as simulator sickness. The cost of set-up may also be expensive to some users.

In the modern world of today, there technologies have been put to place with the Apple Vision Pro. This virtual reality headset is able to create a virtual environment for the user to immerse themselves in. They have been able to create an effect that makes the use feel as if they are in fact in a whole different setting from where they really are.

Introducing the era of spatial computing with Apple Vision Pro.

In role-playing games, there is the creation of an avatar that lets you immerse yourself in the virtual world. These avatars are a representation of the user in the real world ad can be in human form, animal form or even a mythical figure. It may be in 2-D, 3-D, text or other computer-generated forms. They are not only in the virtual world, however, and can be found in other platforms like instant messaging.

my virtual avatar made on the Sims 4.

Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs) communicate with users in spoken natural language for many purposes such as setting reminders, answering questions, or even calling someone. A very proper example would be Apple's Siri.

Moreover, there are interface agents which are virtually created avatars that mimic human behavior and are used in broadcasting platforms such as the news.

Ananova, the world's first virtual newscaster

PandoraBots is based on on AIML (Artificial Intelligence Modelling Language) which is  simply pattern-based. It has a knowledge-base of 40,000 patterns. AIML does not process language and does not understand the meaning and structure of words and sentences.

 An upgraded version of the PandoraBots would be the Personality Forge Engines which are more sophisticated with a number of language processing capabilities. It has a built-in knowledge of 150,000 words.

 The Exergen Virtual Classroom is a virtually created world where learners log in online and create an avatar to attend the class virtually and imteract with teach other as well as the teacher rather than attend physically in the real world.