As virtual reality expands from the imaginary worlds of science fiction and pervades every corner of everyday life, it is becoming increasingly important for students and professionals alike to understand the diverse aspects of this technology. This book aims to provide a comprehensive guide to the theoretical and practical elements of virtual reality, from the mathematical and technological foundations of virtual worlds to the human factors and the applications that enrich our lives: in the fields of medicine, entertainment, education and others.
After providing a brief introduction to the topic, the book describes the kinematic and dynamic mathematical models of virtual worlds. It explores the many ways a computer can track and interpret human movement, then progresses through the modalities that make up a virtual world: visual, acoustic and haptic. It explores the interaction between the actual and virtual environments, as well as design principles of the latter. The book closes with an examination of different applications, focusing on augmented reality as a special case. Though the content is primarily VR-related, it is also relevant for many other fields.
Matjaz Mihelj graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1996. In October 1997 he became a research staff member and in October 1998 a teaching assistant for robotic courses in the Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering and Robotics at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Ljubljana. He received M.Sc. and D.Sc. degrees in biomedical engineering from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana in 1999 and 2002, respectively. For his diploma thesis he was awarded by the Slovenian Ministry of Science and Technology and ISKRA Holding with the Bedjani award. In 2001 he was a visiting researcher at Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan. From May 2005 till April 2006 he spent one year as a visiting researcher at the Automatic Control Laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). The research on the rehabilitation robotics performed at ETH Zurich was awarded with the Swiss Technology Award. Since 2009 he has been affiliated as an associate professor. He gives fifth year control system lectures on the man/machine interaction topic with the main focus on multimodal systems based on haptic devices. His current research interests are in man/machine interaction, haptic interfaces as well as modeling and control of biological systems with the main focus on restoration of lost functions in people with disabilities. Dr. Mihelj is a member of IFMBE and IFESS. Janez Podobnik received the B.Sc. and D.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2004 and 2009, respectively. He was born in 1980 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He attended Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, where he obtained the B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering in 2004. His B.Sc. thesis covered stability of haptic interface. He received a Ph.D. degree from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana in 2009. He is currently a teaching assistant in the Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering and Robotics, at the same faculty. His research interests include various applications of haptic interface.
