Computer-generated Reality Is Hands-on

A car designer sits at a computer screen in Tokyo working on a new model for the American market. Instead of punching a keyboard, he guides his fingers as if he were shaping a clay model.

But his hands are empty. Special gloves with sensors convey the motions to the computer, and a pair of animated hands on the screen duplicate his actions, shaping curves or adding components to a three-dimensional image of the car.

In Detroit, another technician at the company's U.S. subsidiary is working on the same design and sees the same image on a linked computer. He suggests a different shape for the car's trunk and, using his own gloved hand, "grasps" the trunk and reshapes it.

Such cooperative product design by technicians thousands of miles apart will be possible by the beginning of the 21st century, researchers say.

Already, NEC Corp. has developed a system that can link any number of computers in different parts of the world to do simple versions of these functions.

The system uses "virtual reality," new computer techniques in which body movements translate into changes in a scene viewed on a computer screen or in special goggles equipped with small viewers.

Simple versions of virtual reality already are appearing in video arcade games. More complex systems are being developed by car manufacturers and architects to allow computer-aided design without the chore of entering instructions by keyboard.

With virtual reality, an architect's drawing could be brought to life so you could "walk" through the plan of a new house, turning your head to view different angles, and using your hands to shift furniture around.

A BLACK BOX' FOR SHIPS

A subsidiary of Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co in London, one of Europe's largest freight companies, launched the first advanced "black box" for ships that could provide vital clues to mysterious disappearances at sea.

The Voyage Event Recorder, which records sounds, radar and other data on a 24-hour loop of tape, is based on the black boxes used in aircraft since the 1950s to tape voices and equipment readings moments before disaster.

"Ship managers and their officers wanted to be able to see what had happened and why so that lessons could be learnt and any recurrence avoided," said Tony Barrett, a P&O official.

PARKING PROBLEM SHELVED

A chronic shortage of parking in Japan's cities has been largely responsible for a rare fall in car sales - spurring manufacturers, backed by the state, to invent new ways of parking.

Their solution is the parking machine.

The machines, now a common sight on the crowded streets of Tokyo and Osaka, can be above or below ground. They save precious space by stacking cars on shelves, one on top of the other, using a hydraulic lift.