The Virtual World

A new medium born at the dawn of the space age and during the very

birth of the computer,will come to shape our world and our

future out of this world.

So what is a Virtual World?

A place described by words or projected through pictures

which creates a placein the imagination

real enough that you can feelyou are inside of it.

So…computers project

words and pictures…

… therefore we find virtual worldsonly on computers right?

(hint, massively multiplayer online games)

But wait…

Was the digital computer the first place people experienced virtual

worlds?

What about…

in the Caves of Lascaux?

25,000 BCE

Through The Lanterna MagikaOr in 1671

Through the Edison Kinetoscope

Or in 1894

Kinetoscope Parlor - 1890s

Projection of Film, Lumiere, Edison - 1895

Now crank the clock forwardto 1962…

…and computers are here (just barely) but we can already play Spacewar!(world’s first multiple player videogame running on the PDP-1

in February 1962 when yours truly was just a couple of weeks old!)

And then in 1974 a couple of guys figured out how to put players on two computers connected by a cable into the same 3D

space and…

Hello (virtual) World! (Maze War)

Maze War had all the features of the modern “first person shooter”

Back to the future again in 1987 and another couple of guys figured out how to put players on regular home computers

computers same graphical (2D) space and…

Avatars are born!

Lucasfilm’s Habitat

But what about 3D, giving you that “inside” feeling that virtual worlds like the Lascaux

Cave gave our ancestors?

It arrived with “Doom” in 1993. Run around fighting monsters all in 3D on a regular PC.

Then in 1995 it all came together: someone else connected 3D Doom-like worlds to the

Internet…

“Worlds Chat” Space Station

…and created a whole new genre, Internet Social Virtual Worlds. In Worlds Chat you

could…

Choose your avatar Teleport in

Chat Explore the station

And party!

And the mid 1990s “Cambrian Explosion” of Social Virtual Worlds had begun.

Avatars in all shapes, sizes and technologies

Alphaworld: build in a “Lego” landscape

1996

1998

1999

2001

Wedding in Alphaworld

Other Social Virtual Worlds: The Palace

Other Social Virtual Worlds: WorldsAway

Stuff you collect in your WorldsAway “turf”

Other Social Virtual Worlds: Traveler

Use your own voice, Avatar lip-synching(Noel Paul Stookey in Traveler)

Other Worlds: Comic Chat, InterSpace

Now that this new multi-dimensional Cyberspace had arrived, what can you do with

it?

Gaming (of course)!

Cyber-tradeshows

Virtual Classrooms

Growing gardens in cyberspace(Nerve Garden, 1997)

Evolving virtual creatures(Karl Sims)

Business Meetings(Datafusion world)

Online cyber-virtual parties and events(Avatars99)

Fashion!

Medical applications(spider phobias, prosthetics)

And finally…how about exploring (and living in) space?

Drive on Mars

NASA’s new plans for the moon

• Crater Rim (Sunlight Area) Exploration– Imaging of site from surface—time data

collection to correlate with LRO orbital images of same conditions (pan every 2 hours over 1 year)

– Geotechnical properties of lunar regolith (bearing strength, soil composition, cohesiveness, block and slope populations)

– Biological effects of radiation, reduced gravity over 1 year

• Crater Floor (Dark Area) Exploration– Physical environment and geotechnical

properties (temperatures, soil characteristics, etc.)

– Examine both surface and subsurface of cold trap region

– Volatile deposits: elemental and molecular composition, species abundance, physical state, distribution and extent; number of samples from varied locations in crater floor; locations and settings documented

Find the LightFind the Light

Touch the IceTouch the Ice

An example… Robotic Lunar Exploration

RLEP2 Pre-Phase A:November:

APL PresentationsHuntsville Kick-off

TeamX, JPL: Dec 12-15th

Lunar south pole: Cold traps in permanently shadowed craters. 12-20 samples at 1-2m depth, test for volatiles, water

ice.

Nominal Target: Shackleton

19 km complex impact crater

Steep interior slopes 25-35°

Interior walls loose material

Rough floor

Eratosthenian age

Ice distribution may be heterogenous

Dawes Crater

Lunar Analog to ShackletonElevation map produced

by measurements team

Direct versus “spiral” traverse into the

crater

Now let’s see how some of these simulationsrun…

1. The RLEP2 Rover for NASA2. Lets take a trip into Second Life

Thanks everyone!