The article Medicine’s Next Frontier by Sandra Guy appeared in the June 26, 2010 issue of the Chicago Sun-Times. It reports on a major new grant from the National Science Foundation to the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) to build the Next-Generation CAVE (NG-CAVE). The first generation CAVE (CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment), also developed by EVL and introduced in 1992, was a room-sized virtual-reality theater where images were rear-projected onto 3 walls and downward projected onto the floor.

The new design will take advantage of today’s full-high-definition flat panels, making the NG-CAVE significantly cheaper, brighter, and easier to maintain than the original CAVE. The NG-CAVE will deliver better color, more graphics and text, and achieve a human’s 20/20 vision quality. It will be configurable as either a 3-D display (requiring lightweight stereo glasses) or a 2-D wall, and will be used both locally by small or large groups and remotely by groups around the world to simultaneously share high-resolution images while collaborating with one another.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The above article is based on the article Fantastic Journey to UIC’s New CAVE by Paul Francuch that appeared in the May 18, 2010 issue of UIC NEWS. The article’s reference to medicine is based on ongoing trials that EVL is doing with the Division of Minimally Invasive, General & Robotic Surgery in the Surgery Department of the UIC College of Medicine.