Chris Scharver

CAVERNsoft G2: a toolkit for high performance tele-immersive collaboration

This paper describes the design and implementation of CAVERNsoft G2, a toolkit for building collaborative virtual reality applications. G2s special emphasis is on providing the tools to support high-performance computing and data intensive systems that are coupled to collaborative, immersive environments.This paper describes G2s broad range of services, and demonstrates how they are currently being used in a collaborative volume visualization application.

Robotics and virtual reality: A perfect marriage for motor control research and rehabilitation

This articles goal is to outline the motivations, progress, and future objectives for the development of a state-of-the-art device that allows humans to visualize and feel synthetic objects superimposed on the physical world. The programming flexibility of these devices allows for a variety of scientific questions to be answered in psychology, neurophysiology, rehabilitation, haptics, and automatic control. The benefits are most probable in rehabilitation of brain-injured patients, for whom the costs are high, therapist time is limited, and repetitive practice of movements has been shown to be beneficial. Moreover, beyond simple therapy that guides, strengthens, or stretches, the technology affords a variety of exciting potential techniques that can combine our knowledge of the nervous system with the tireless, precise, and swift capabilities of a robot. Because this is a prototype, the system will also guide new experimental methods by probing the levels of quality that are necessary for future design cycles and related technology. Very important to the project is the early and intimate involvement of therapists and other clinicians in the design of software and its user interface. Inevitably, it should also lead the way to new modes of practice and to the commercialization of haptic/graphic systems.

Designing cranial implants in a haptic augmented reality environment

Medical sculptors and neurosurgeons create virtual 3D cranial models based on patient CT data superimposed over their hands as if they were sculpting physical models.

Robotics and virtual reality: the development of a life-sized 3-D system for the rehabilitation of motor function

We have been developing and combining state-of-art devices that allow humans to visualize and feel synthetic objects superimposed on the real world. This effort stems from the need of platform for extending experiments on motor control and learning to realistic human motor tasks and environments, not currently represented in the practice of research. This papers goal is to outline our motivations, progress, and objectives. Because the system is a general tool, we also hope to motivate researchers in related fields to join in. The platform under development, an augmented reality system combined with a haptic-interface robot, will be a new tool for contributing to the scientific knowledge base in the area of human movement control and rehabilitation robotics. Because this is a prototype, the system will also guide new methods by probing the levels of quality necessary for future design cycles and related technology. Inevitably, it should also lead the way to commercialization of such systems.

Motivating Rehabilitation by Distorting Reality

We have found, through a series of recent experiments, encouraging evidence that the neuro-motor system is motivated to change motor patterns when exposed to visuo-motor tasks. We have also shown that the learning of these tasks can be heightened with forces and/or visual distortions that appropriately manipulate the error. This process does not require intense concentration and it is often considered a game. We describe the next generation of robotic large-workspace, three dimensional haptics/graphics systems for rehabilitation

Pre-surgical Cranial Implant Design using the PARIS Prototype

Repairing severe human skull injuries requirescustomized cranial implants, and current visualizationresearch aims to develop a new approach to create theseimplants. Following pre-surgical design techniquespioneered at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)in 1996, researchers have developed an immersivecranial implant application incorporating haptic forcefeedback and augmented reality. The application runs onthe Personal Augmented Reality Immersive System(PARIS?), allowing the modeler to see clearly both hishands and the virtual workspace. The strengths ofmultiple software libraries are maximized to simplifydevelopment. This research lays the foundation toeventually replace the traditional modeling andevaluation processes.