From: Mike Bevan Subject: PROD: Denne Cyber Surfer hardware info Date: March 20, 1996 Message-ID: <827272188.3586.0@vrnews.demon.co.uk> From: Mike Bevan Paul_DeNys@fcbbs.ss.kpmg.com writes: >In the March/April edition of Virtual Reality Special Report a new >motion system was pictured. The system is the invention of a British >company called, Denne Developments. It uses electromagnetic tubes. Can >anyone give me any further information? The development of Phil Denne's PEMRAM system has been comprehensively documented in VR NEWS over the past few years. It uses the same principle as an electromagnetically levitated hovertrain, or a rail-gun missile launcher, except that the 'rail' is rolled up around its long axis to form a cylinder. A piston is placed inside the cylinder to create a highly responsive and powerful ram, and combinations of these rams can be configured to provide up to 6DOF motion. The cylinders are air-filled, and the air-pressure is monitored, enabling the control system to detect user movement and feed this back to the game software. In the surfing experience, the user stands on the motion platform in front of a large display screen, and shifts his/her weight to control the surfboard's virtual trajectory. The experience was developed by Global Entertainment, and involves surfing down a river and into a winding tunnel, and then flying in mid-air across an obstacle-strewn cavern, all at high speed. I rode a prototype last summer with the motion sensitivity tuned too high, and I can still feel the crunching impacts with river banks and tunnel walls. Denne has accumulated a big order backlog for the thing, but there have been serious problems in getting the technology out of the lab and into production, and the company went into receivership late last year. It has recently been refloated, with new investors, and a new management team is currently being put together around Phil Denne. Mike Bevan Editor - VR NEWS