Definition: CAVE

(Computer Automatic Virtual Environment) A virtual reality system that uses projectors to display images on three or four walls and the floor. Special glasses make everything appear as 3D images and also track the path of the user's vision.

CAVE was the first virtual reality system to let multiple users participate in the experience simultaneously. Known as a "spatially immersive display," it was developed by the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois in the early 1990s. See head mounted display and virtual reality.

Simulating New Architecture

CAVE is used to simulate a newly designed train station to evaluate its functionality. (Image courtesy of Fakespace Systems Inc.)

Training People

This CAVE system teaches people how to operate a Caterpillar bulldozer. The steering wheel on the left meets the real steering wheel in virtual space, appearing to the man as the actual wheel he is turning. (Image courtesy of Fakespace Systems Inc.)