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Virtual Reality on the Laboratory Table

May 11, 2003

Manipulating 3D molecules in real time
Virtual Reality on the Laboratory Table

On Monday 12th of May, Michal Koutek will defend his PhD thesis at TU Delft. His research has brought 3D virtual experimentation on the laboratory table much closer to reality. Koutek: "It is now possible to, for example, study molecular interactions in a virtual space in real-time." Koutek, an electrical engineer, developed new visualisation software for virtual reality (VR), and a new technology for visual force-feedback.

Scientific visualisation is used to make data, provided by scientific experimentation, more visible and understandable. This is useful for the researcher as well as a possible end user of the information. After the well-known drawings, graphs and computer graphics techniques for visualisation, virtual reality has become available as a data visualisation technology in recent years.

Koutek and his colleagues developed a 3D interaction and visualisation environment for the Virtual Reality Workbench. "You can see the virtual space with the virtual objects in front of you on the laboratory table, and you can manipulate these objects," says Koutek. "This makes it very intuitive, giving the researcher are a far better overview of the simulated data." Using special instruments, it is possible to, for example: study molecular interactions important to medicine research, create a cross-section of a cloud to study the internal gas flows, or create a temperature or humidity profile of the cloud. The simulation of flooding scenarios can even be demonstrated.

Koutek also developed the VRX-toolkit (Virtual Reality eXplorer) and MolDrive (Molecular Dynamics Real-time Visualization Environment). VRX is a software package that makes it possible to, relatively simply, visualise data on a lab table. Moldrive is a new system for the visualisation of molecular dynamics simulations, with test applications such as simulation of electrolytes, polymers and proteins. This system makes it possible to study molecular interactions in detail and even manipulate molecules and atoms. "In contrast to full scale simulations, it appears that simulations on a micro level do not really need haptic force feedback (based on feeling), but rather a visual form of feedback."

There are still very few laboratories with access to a virtual lab table with an intuitive visualisation and exploration environment, but this research shows the potential of VR very clearly, and shows great potential for future developments. Koutek: "It is interesting to see that it took a long time for computer graphics to be accepted as a tool for scientific data visualisation, but it has since then have become an indispensable instrument. The acceptance and use of VR for scientific visualisation will therefore surely take some time."

Delft University of Technology

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