From: Carl E Loeffler Subject: ANNOUNCE: MARS Mission developed at SIMLAB Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 13:58:07 -0400 Message-ID: Organization: Art, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Carnegie Mellon University Contact: Lisa Ritter (412) 268-5765 For immediate release: August 12, 1996 Virtual Reality Mars Mission Developed by SIMLAB at Carnegie Mellon University has Entertainment Value and Scientific Merit. PITTSBURGH--Is there life on Mars? Audiences around the world will soon get to find out for themselves when they explore the planet via virtual reality. A team of artists, animators, computer programmers and music composers at SIMLAB at Carnegie Mellon University are fine-tuning "Robotix Mars Mission," the world's first interactive, virtual reality cinema production. "Robotix Mars Mission" allows an audience to travel to Mars by spaceship, search for life on the planet and return to Earth with data and rock samples. Besides its entertainment value, the effort has scientific merit as well. The details of the mission--from the geography of the planet to the alignment of the planets depending on the time and the position of the mission's spacecraft--have been meticulously recreated from data provided by NASA. The project~s merging of graphics and robotics, telepresence and telecontrol in a real-time virtual environment are all elements that can be applied to a future remote robotic exploration of Mars. This audience exploration of the surface of Mars is unique in several ways: -it is the world's first fully interactive virtual reality cinema production (an audience of about 30 democratically controls the nine-and-a-half-minute mission with hand-held guiders) -the artistic details of the mission, such as the shadows cast by craters and canyons and the metallic glimmer of the robot, have been painstakingly designed -it employs a branching system of navigation that works in real time, so that the mission is truly audience-driven -its custom-made dome-shaped display system, produced by Spitz, Inc. allows the audience to be fully immersed in the sights and sounds of the mission The production is slated to premier at the Carnegie Science Center in late October as part of the center's "Robotics" exhibit. "Robotics," which will also feature CMU robots Dante and Terragator, will open in Pittsburgh in early~October and will then tour children's and science museums around the world. "Robotix Mars Mission" is funded in part by Learning Curve Toys of Chicago, whose motorized, modular construction toy, Robotix, was used as the project's model. Computer images and a short video featuring highlights of the production are available from SIMLAB. ###