Assignments by Varvara Perekrest

Varvara Perekrest

Classification paragraph
The technology of virtual reality uses different devices to allow a man to interact with a computer-simulated environment. The first device providing its wearer this interaction was the head-mounted display (HMD). A typical HMD displays screens and an optical system that channels the images from the screens to the eyes. To overcome the uncomfortable intrusiveness of a head-mounted display, alternative devices such as BOOM were developed. The BOOM (Binocular Omni-Orientation Monitor) is a head-coupled stereoscopic display device that user can guide to any position. And the most complex device is called the CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment). It provides the illusion of immersion by projecting stereo images on the walls and floor of a room-sized cube. Scientists still develop different instruments to work in the virtual reality.

Contrast-comparison paragraph
The term 'Virtual Reality' is used for different applications with different features. These applications are divided into immersive and non-immersive virtual reality. The immersive VR provides a natural interface for the navigation in three-dimensional space and realistic interactions with virtual objects. Its virtual world is presented in full scale and relates properly to the human size. While non-immersive VR provides pseudo look-around and walk-trough capabilities on a graphics monitor. Non-immersive space sometimes appears with low fidelity, due to technical limitations on processing power. But all the boundaries are becoming blurred and all variations of VR will be important in the future.

Argumentation paragraph
Virtual reality gives lots of new opportunities and has enormous potential in different applications. One reason is that virtual systems promote successful development of medicine, aviation and multimedia. It should be admitted that some sociologists consider that virtual reality can harmfully influence human behavior and lead to sharp decrease in interpersonal communication. However, VR application play active therapeutic role in various forms of exposure therapy, especially in phobia treatments. Also recent research conducted at the University of Haifa showed that autistic children can be taught to cross the street by practicing with a unique virtual reality system. Therefore, rational usage of these applications even helps to struggle against different mental disorders. Thus, virtual technologies have many advantages and should be further developed.