Interaction Beyond the Keyboard

IEEE Computing Now features an article on interaction beyond the keyboard. In this article Albrecht Schmidt from the University of Stuttgart, Germany and Elizabeth Churchill from Yahoo Research explore possibilities to replace the conventional mouse and keyboard to achieve a more intuitive and versatile way of interacting with computers to explore the world of online communications and information access.

CAMP: Advanced Medical Imaging and Visualization Technology

Check out his movie on youtube. It shows some of the things they do at campTUM. The neat stuff is at the end where they show some augmented reality examples. Especially the one with the girl with her skull CT projected onto her face using augmented reality is fantastic. This could really work in medical practice.

Human brain functional MRI and DTI visualization with virtual reality

Interesting paper on human brain functional MRI and DTI visualization using a virtual reality setup. The virtual reality setup consists of a cave with projection on one wall and the floor.The system included 7'6"x10' screens, using passive projection and infitec glasses for stereoscopic 3-D effect. The system also utilized an Intersense IS-900 6-DOF tracking system with head-tracker and wand.

The authors conclude that the application will have potential applications in basic research, education, and surgical planning. Continued development is needed to implement the tensor visualization, 3D stereoscopy and interactive visualization.

IEEE is working on standards for virtual environments.

Virtual worlds—those electronic 3-D environments where people interact in a somewhat realistic manner—are considered best suited for games and entertainment. But some organizations, including IEEE, see the worlds as a potential business tool for lots of other things, include health care, education, and research.

To enable the more widespread use of virtual environments the IEEE is working on standards for virtual environments to, for example, be able to use an avatar in multiple environments. See the article published recently on The IEEE insitute website.
Currently application of virtual environments in healthcare is limited but starting to gain interest in education and training.