The CAVE™

Technological Innovation

NEM-Avatar Implementation

Software/Hardware

The CAVE® Automatic Virtual Environment, is a VR full-inmersive-interactive installation with high-resolution stereoscopic images. This multi-person, room-sized VR system was developed at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The CAVE® is a room, measuring ten cubic feet, with screens for walls. High-resolution stereoscopic images are rear-projected onto the walls and the floor and viewed with lightweight LCD stereo glasses to mediate the stereoscopic imagery. Attached to the glasses is a location sensor. As the viewer moves within the confines of the CAVE®, the correct perspective and stereo projection of the environment are updated and the user may walk around or through virtual objects. The CAVE's room-sized structure allows for multiple users to move around freely, both physically and virtually. The users interact with the environment using “the wand,” a simple tracked-input device containing a joystick and 3 buttons. It is used to navigate the virtual world and to manipulate virtual objects within that world.

Figure 2. MMB: