Real Living with Virtual Worlds: The Challenge of Creating Future Interactive Systems

Abstract

Based on the strengths and weaknesses of many current applications, this chapter discusses how to make virtual worlds (VWs) “real-world capable.” With sufficiently realistic data and dynamic processing capabilities within VWs, we could do medical interventions, analysis, engineering, invention, and design. This will require creating systems with sophisticated integration and analysis capabilities in order to suitably and continually scale up VWs with rich data sources, such as live data feeds and mobile sensors, and better computational and mechanical capabilities, such as multi-sensory interfaces and telerobotics. Scaling VWs will require new strategies and capabilities for the numerousness and variety of resources.