V.E.M.I.

Yesterday I received a less than specific email from my college. It described an opportunity available at Carnegie Hall, supported through VEMI (I still am not aware of what that stands for) and that they were to have an “open interview” today between the hours of 4 and 5. Suffice to say I was a bit more than curious so as the letter stated, I brought the necessary papers and decided to attend.

The first thing I realized today was that I have never before been to Carnegie Hall, in fact I had to ask someone which building it was because as it turns out I have never really had the need to even walk by it, that is, until today. In fact, as I thought about it I found that there are several buildings that I have seen on campus but never been in and have never discovered what they are used for.

Anyways –

Within a large, ominous, gray stone building there were signs, there were stairs, and there were V.R.s. I later discovered these to be virtual realities; simulators actually. There was a group of people there walking and weaving their ways through the technology that surrounded them in this main room. It was mostly made up of desktop screens and 3D printers.

When they walked me over to a room connected to this first one, I found it to be practically empty (to my surprise). In fact the whole of this project oriented groups “shop” seemed sparse. Here the gentlemen helping me, placed on my head the first of three headset/visual systems.

The following was what I saw. 360 degrees surrounding me were green fields, more detailed than minecraft but still easily determined to be computer generated graphics. I was awestruck that I could literally walk around the fields by walking around the room, which revealed to me a windmill sitting in the field spinning above me.

We moved on…

The second time I was sent into another reality I was set atop a burning building located in the middle of a body of water. To save myself I had to walk across a beam to a second part of the building that had managed to not be caught in the flames. I did this twice, once crossing without difficulty; the second time I purposefully stepped off of the beam causing my character to fall into the water, safely, below.

The third one was a more common concept to myself. I sat myself on the chair, placed the headset upon my noggin and grabbed the steering wheel. With a series of built in pedals I drove an old Chrysler down a winding road and even reached approx. 60 miles per hour (so said the reader on the virtual dash).

 

This was quite a surprising experience. I always forget that there is so much potential for adventures and discovery on a college campus. Not to mention, there is so much more going on and being created outside of my liberal arts classes!

Hannah Noriega

About Hannah Noriega

An English major from Connecticut attending the University of Maine, Hannah decided to live in Maine for the adventure. Seeing as Mainers share her love for hiking, kayaking, rock climbing, and everything outdoors, it has proved to be the perfect fit.