Training veterinarians with haptic gloves, 3d and a plastic cow
If you thought virtual cows were restricted to Farmville, think again.
Professor Sarah Baillie, a veterinary & computer sciences scholar, has created tools for training veterinarians with haptic gloves and 3d environments and projections. kudos.
Professor Baillie said: “The virtual environment of the Haptic Cow simulates the bovine reproductive tract, including models of the cervix, uterus and ovaries with a wide range of fertility cases, pregnancies and some examples of pathology.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-09-virtual-reality-cow-simulator-global.html#jCp
Real Time Motion Capture
It has been a while since my last post, and it is time to pick up the slack. This next video demonstrates immersive synchronous real world to virtual world interaction. Users are wearing immersive goggles through which they see the world and each other as they move around ‘freely’ inside an area. Monitors/sensors tracks their movements and translates that into the virtual world for that user.
Using this technique it is going to be possible to do practise training of medical procedures while operating in a team. Would be interesting to see someone develop that one.
Virtual World Campus tools: Recruitment In The Browser
Virtual campus helps financially disadvantaged students finish school
Pepsi is handing out $1.300.000 dollars each month to fund great ideas. HBCU is one of the organisations trying to land funds so they can set up a virtual campus with which to inform minority group students with financial difficulties how to still finish a degree with support from the HBCU funds.
Predictions: The state of the internet – 2020
A colleague challenged me to do some predictions on the state of the Internet in 2020. So, here they are.
1. Invisible Internet and cloud computing.
Users will no longer experience ‘being on the internet’ as a separate activity as most applications will be online anyway. Google’s Chrome OS is a vision of operating systems of the future. Handling digital tasks will be stored online by default. Restoring backups become a thing of the past as virtual servers create live redundancy. Mobile devices connect to the Internet with ease as 1Gbit data speeds are attained at low cost.
2. Social networking and user identity.
Online communities will become to be seen what they really are; tools for people to connect. the hype will subside and a competion will arise between large parties over stewardship of active user accounts, as these accounts are becoming more and more accepted virtual representations of their owners.
3. Households get private networks sorted out.
The current PC in every household will loose its function as an Internet terminal and be turned into the households central server to which other devices around the household connect. Users round the home and workplace will use smart phones and tablet PC’s to access and create their data-rich content and manipulate the environment around them.
4. Mixed reality, metaverse emerges.
Mixed reality (MR) (encompassing both augmented reality and augmented virtuality) refers to the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualisations where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time. A mix of reality, augmented reality, augmented virtuality and virtual reality. (wikipedia)
The attention attracted by the re-emergence of 3D cinema and promise of 3D home television lowers the barrier for acceptance of virtual rich environments. close-eye projection of data on to glasses allows for a non-intrusive augmented reality experience. The immersive qualities of virtual environments will be explored for educational and other training purposes.
5. Microtransactions, trust and value.
People spend more money on the Internet as they learn to trust it as safe for certain product groups. People will start to value certain online service and possessions like their Gmail or Face book account and are willing to pay for them. Virtual goods markets in games are large already. This may extend to other types of virtual goods like a virtual bouquet of flowers as a birthday gift.
Bournemouth Ordinance survey as 3D environment
More at New Scientist, including explanation of techniques
Mixed reality meetings with second life
Myngle offers online language learning
Myngle is an application that allows students to find teachers for language training and facilitates the teaching process by providing a platform to share content and tests together, while using Skype for one-on-one voice communication.
Herniated Disc and 3D animations
I recently ended up in hospital for surgery on a herniated lumbar disc. The operation was succesfull and I am back home recovering. So, instead of using words to explain this, I have had a go at Googling for 3D animations to enlighten readers about this wonderfully painfull phenomena. And to my delight, there is quite alot out there.
Proper 3D rendering of the herniated disc
Good explanation, tho its actually a cartoon and not rendered 3D
Best explantion so far, including soothing background music
Now, thats all fine, but I havent actually found anything related to a 3D world and the treatment of spinal injuries. Anyone out there know of any virtual worlds with relevant content?
Gartner Fellow: Virtual worlds for enterprises are a tool
Steve Prentice, Gartner research Fellow, talks about how enterprises can use utilize virtual worlds for real benefits in a tough economy.
