Eric Bachmann demonstrates the virtual environment suit

Eric Bachmann, associate professor in computer science and software engineering, has received a three year $300,000 grant from the Army Research Office for his work in Immersive Virtual Environments. Immersive VEs treat the user’s own body as an input device. Tracking the movement of the user’s body provides a natural and intuitive means of interacting with the simulated environment.

As a result, users of fully immersive VE’s are supplied with the kinesthetic and vestibular information that is normally present when they move through the real world. Research has shown that this information increases the feeling that the synthetic environment is “real.”

Virtual environment research has been largely limited to the exploration of small worlds in expensive specialized facilities. Researchers at Miami University are working to create low-cost portable virtual reality systems that can be moved in the trunk of a car. These systems will allow users to naturally walk for miles through virtual worlds of unlimited size without ever becoming aware of the limited physical size of the real-world tracking environment.