Temperature feedback in virtual environments

Virtual Reality (VR) is known as one of the most exiting computer-related technologies. Although its definition is still vague among experts, it is expected that a VR system should give the user an experience of being "immersed" in a synthesized invironment. Aims of this deeper level of user immersion range from the look-like of the scenes where realistic rendering is one of the goals (vision stimulus), to interaction paradigms through the use of, e.g., Dataglove peripherals type, to acoustics (earring stimulus) trying to merge as much as possible the human senses towards the desired immersion. Attempting to increase the previously mentioned realism, an extra sensorial perception is recalled and the user is exposed to the feeling of "virtual comfort" by means of a new parmeter: the temperature. The obtained results concentrate on interaction paradigms and couple input/output feedback, emphasizing the factor "presence". The prototype, although conceptionaly simple, brings together withi n a couple od virtual scenarios, a software/hardware solution, so far original in this field.