subject.However, I have had some experience with research dealing with
balance.
Your sense of balance is determined by two systems, your eyes and your
inner ear (vestibular). Of course, since you have two ears there are
two sets of vestibular sensors. When you are dizzy from spinning, or
seasick it is an example of these two systems telling your brain two
different things are happening.
This system does not use magnetic fields or vibration, it sends a
current between electrodes in order to make your nervous system think
that your vestibular system is being stimulated.
From the MotionWare patent:
"The current state of virtual reality stimulates principally only the
visual scene of the user through head mounted visual display units.
However, the human body uses three different senses to resolve motion
and acceleration cues like those simulated in virtual reality.
Reliance on the visual scene, therefore, necessarily invites conflict
between the visual system and the two remaining centers for motion
sensation which remain dormant and, therefore, do not reinforce the
visual sensations."
and...
"The inner ear vestibular system is composed of two laterally
symmetric sets of end organs. Each ear contains fine spatially
specific end organs for sensing head accelerations. In each ear three
semicircular canals sense angular accelerations in three approximately
orthogonal axes. The utricular otoliths sense the sum of gravity and
linear head accelerations in a plane inclined approximately 30 degrees
from horizontal. Function of the saccule is less understood but is
believed to include gravity and linear acceleration along an
approximately vertical axis. Thus, individual vestibular end organs
are involved in maintaining different components of posture and
equilibrium. The horizontal canals are used primarily to control
horizontal plane eye and head movements, while the vertical canals and
otoliths help maintain front-to-back and side-to-side balance of the
head and trunk. The spatial and functional specificity within the
vestibular system provides an opportunity for selectively determining
the extent of pathology of individual end organs by observing both
head, eye, and body responses to vestibular stimulation. Galvanic
vestibular stimulation involves the exciting of the end organs of one
ear electrically by passing small currents between two or more surface
electrodes affixed to the mastoid bone of the ear or other locations
on the head. Various attempts have been made to use galvanic
vestibular stimuli as a clinical diagnostic tool. Vestibular end
organs can be selectively stimulated by passing small electrical
currents between electrodes placed in different configurations on the
mastoid bones. Placing one electrode on each mastoid bone stimulates
receptors in both inner ears in opposite directions, while two
electrodes placed on a single mastoid bone stimulate receptors of one
ear selectively. Electrical stimulation of the vestibular receptor
organs is a useful clinical diagnostic method, because it can be used
to quantify receptor function of one ear at a time and because the
time course and frequency of stimulation can be precisely controlled."
I think we don't get sick playing GPL because we have lots of other
visual cues that agree with our vestibular system, all of our
surroundings, excluding the image on the screen, are still. Seems to
me that in order for this device to work you would have to get a way
so that the only visual image you could get is the virtual racetrack,
otherwise you would have a portion of you visual stimuli that didn't
agree with your vestibular senses.
I think being totaly immersed, both visual and vestibular, would have
a unwanted side effect. Normally, if one of the gain factors of either
system became altered you would initially get "seasick" from it but
eventually your system would compensate for the imbalance. An example
is how you feel when you put on glasses you aren't used to. You may
feel sick to begin with but you'll get used to after a while. Well, if
you're totally immersed virtually I'm sure that the calibrations of
the devices (the image and the vestibular currents) would be a little
off. So now you run a GP at the 'ring and take the gear off, boy, I'll
bet your balance is going to be pretty out of whack for a while. Hell,
a ride on an elevator can alter my system enough so that I can feel it
after I get off. It's very subtle but stil there.
From the FAQ:
"Virtual Reality enthusiasts should keep in mind that ALL Virtual
Environments are based on synthetic stimuli that alter perception.
They should be used with care, supervision, and the understanding that
readjustment afterwards is not necessarily immediate."
Anyway, I'll give it a go when it comes out. I'm sure some people will
hate it and others will love it.
Randy
>What do you guys think, that this thing is going to shoot a big spike
>right into your brain and latch itself to your central nervous system?
>:-) Can anyone explain what this thing really does?
>I didn't have time to read all of the patent screens, but it sure
>seems like they're reluctant to say what it does without all the
>psuedo-medical BS.
>For 100 bucks, I'm guessing it's probably a hard hat liner that
>vibrates. I'm also fairly confident that it won't download the
>contents of your brain and upload them into ***space to be examined
>by mad scientists.
>I also can't imagine a 40k file is going to provide a hell of a lot of
>motion trickery, either. I have games with .TXT files bigger than
>that.
>I can't speak for everyone, but for me to lose my sense of "real"
>situational awareness, I'm going to need something that completely
>removes intrusions from the outside world.
>Think of the feeling you get when standing still on top of a tall
>building and staring up at moving clouds. Do you know that weird
>feeling of semi-motion you get for a second until you get your
>bearings?
>I'd be amazed if this thing could even accomplish that feeling.
>Tim
>On Wed, 15 Mar 2000 16:37:44 GMT, "Mike Barlow"
>> Just think if someone wrote an add-on application for that device and
>>told everyone to download it. Just think if that add-on application was
>>really a virus! The concept of being able to "feel" the car in GPL does
>>make this thing interesting, but the potential for bad reactions are too
>>great. It's way too early to introduce such a device right now. I think if
>>such a device were to be introduced, it would have to follow other less
>>intrusive devices such as stonger FFB wheels, chairs, suround sound, VR
>>glasses. and to be introduced only after these things have become as common
>>as joysticks.