Transcript Document 7294123

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 place
in the imagination
real enough that you can feel
you are inside of it.
So…
computers project
words and pictures…
… therefore we find virtual worlds
only on computers right?
(hint, massively multiplayer online
games)
But wait…
Was the digital computer the first
place people experienced virtual
worlds?
What about…
25,000 BCE
in the Caves of Lascaux?
Or in 1671
Through The Lanterna Magika
Or in 1894
Through the Edison Kinetoscope
Kinetoscope Parlor - 1890s
Projection of Film, Lumiere, Edison - 1895
Now crank the clock forward
to 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
And party!
Explore the station
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
An example… Robotic Lunar Exploration
Find the Light
• 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
Touch the Ice
• 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
RLEP2 Pre-Phase A:
November:
APL Presentations
Huntsville 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 Shackleton
Elevation map produced
by measurements team
Direct versus “spiral”
traverse into the
crater
Now let’s see how some of these simulations
run…
1. The RLEP2 Rover for NASA
2. Lets take a trip into Second Life
Thanks everyone!