From: William Charles Sabram Subject: VR and Industrial Design Date: Sun, 12 Jan 1992 20:30:01 -0500 (EST) Hello All, I am a senior in Industrial Design @ Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA. I am kicking around the idea of making "Virtual Reality" the topic of my Senior Degree Project. Yesterday, I just learned of this bboard and after hours of reading everybody's old postings, I thought I would speak up. This phenomenon of VR interests me more than the normal product design project. I have been in the library all weekend reading about VR but this board yielded the most useful information. Mark Takacs responded to Ray Hines inquiry about a VR Major. This bit was especially interesting to me as a student of Industrial Design: Another thing they might get excited about would be "human computer interactions" people or ergonomics are "huamn factors" people. Anyone who knows how to make something hideously complex turn into something very simple to use. THat's a big concern... simplicity...if you can't learn it quickly (<15 mis) and master it easily why bother? SO how do you make something easy to use? Usability. This talk of "usability" and "simplicity" have been the staple of my design education. Unfortunately, VR is so new and advancing so rapidly that I haven't heard anything about it, industrial design-wise. Have any of you? Could anyone give me a hand or a pointed direction that would be a good place to start plotting a project with the field of VR? You folks mentioned awkward, heavy or cumbersome VR equiptment and on Dec 19th, a guy named Mark said, "the input device plays a critical role in determining the enjoyment of the experience and feeling of inclusion in the world". This sounds like a job for Industrial Design! If only I knew where to begin. Medical, surgical and rehabilitation applications interest me a great deal. I read about a call for Abstracts for a symposium on the topic MEDICINE MEETS VR. Anybody from that area have any advice? Interest? If anyone's help could include sponsoring me in this project, be it advice, offerings of contacts or, heaven forbid, money, it would be greatly appreciated. All everyone in the design field keeps talking about is how horrible it is to be a graduating industrial designer in these Recessive times. You all know the story... The POINT: I would like to design a VR system that is easy to use and understand but is not too many leaps and bounds beyond the technological state of VR TODAY. Believe me, I am tired of designing that product of tomorrow and having no clue how the "guts" work or how they are integrated into the total design, casing and all. Such a project would require a close collaboration with persons knowledge- able about the budding field of VR. Persons like yourselves. Thanks for reading this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Take care, Bill ws1s+@andrew.cmu.edu [MODERATORS NOTE: This type of enthusiasm is a credit to our field. But as someone with design training myself, I admit to being at something of a loss regarding conscious application of industrial design principles to virtual interfaces (aside from the ergonomic tricks used to make headsets more comfortable, arcade platforms more attractive, and so forth. Any leads should be both public and private. Thanks. -- Bob Jacobson]