STEREOGRAPHICS CRYSTALEYES VR, SILMA CIMSTATION ROBOTICS USED BY SANDIA
NATIONAL LABS FOR TELEPRESENCE MODELS AND ROBOTS

Virtual Reality Lab Uses 3D Stereo To Design Interactive Graphic Models Of
Hostile Environments, Program Robotics for Manufacturing and Weapons
Disassembly

San Rafael, CA -- July 18,1994-- StereoGraphics Corporation, the world's
largest supplier of three-dimensional electronic stereo display equipment,
announced today that its CrystalEyes VR system is being used with SILMA's
CimStation Robotics platform in virtual reality and telepresence projects
by Sandia National Laboratories' Intelligent Systems and Robotics Center
(ISRC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The ISRC is using the products to build
interactive, graphic models of physical environments and to design robots
which can substitute for human workers in dangerous or hazardous projects
such as the clean-up of nuclear waste sites or weapons disassembly.

To build graphic representations of an environment on a computer
workstation, users wear StereoGraphics patented CrystalEyes VR shuttering
liquid crystal eyewear, which supports all six degrees of head movement
via the eyewear-linked computer-directed ultrasound head-tracking device.
Users can accurately create and place three-dimensional objects, such as
pipes, with SILMA's CimStation Robotics software, which automatically
correlates the features of the object and adds it to the computer model of
the environment.

Next to full-scale physical models, color stereo images give users the best
sense of spatial relationships because they provide true visual depth. As
the user's head moves from side to side, closer to or further away from
the workstation, the three-dimensional image on the display changes its
perspective, giving the convincing illusion that the image is a real
object. In addition, CrystalEyes supports any number of viewers, allowing
development teams to interact simultaneously with the graphic models.

In the robotics projects, researchers use CrystalEyes VR, voice commands
and hand gestures (telemanipulation) to interact with a 3D stereo
environment which automatically generates device-level programs that are
down-loaded to the robots. CimStation Robotics' accurate kinematic models,
collision detection and calibration routines assure the accuracy of the
programs.

'In these applications, three-dimensional stereo vision not only increases
the dexterity of the user by providing a very life-like environment, but
also eliminates risking human lives for dangerous tasks such as weapons
disassembly,' said Wil Cochran, vice president of sales and marketing for
StereoGraphics.

Laurent Mayer, president of SILMA, said, 'SILMA's CimStation Robotics and
StereoGraphics CrystalEyes VR give scientists two of the most powerful
tools available for creating, simulating, optimizing and viewing robotics
programs.'

SILMA Incorporated is a leading supplier of software for digital
premanufacturing. The SILMA family of products are used to design,
simulate and program the machining, assembly and inspection of products in
the automotive, aerospace, industrial and consumer electronics industries
worldwide. SILMA is headquartered in Cupertino, CA with offices in
Michigan, France and Germany, and distributors in Japan, Korea, Sweden,
Taiwan and the United Kingdom. SILMA is at 1601 Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road,
Cupertino, CA 95014, telephone 408/725-8908, fax 408/725-8955.

CrystalEyes products are available with or for most major stereo-ready
software programs, monitors, personal computers and workstations. This
includes such major workstation OEMs as Silicon Graphics, Inc., Sun
Microsystems, Digital Equipment Corp., Evans & Sutherland,
Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Kubota Graphics Corp. StereoGraphics markets
domestically through OEMs and resellers, and internationally through
distributors in Europe and the Far East, including Japan, Hong Kong and
Korea, as well as the rest of the world.

StereoGraphics is dedicated to bringing virtual reality and stereo viewing
products into mainstream computing. To this end, the company has made
three dimensional stereo viewing possible on non-stereo ready computers
(using stereo-ready monitors) with CrystalEyes PC. The product works with
most popular desktop system platforms, including IBM PCs and compatibles,
Apple Macintosh, Power Mac and Power PC, as well as Amiga computers. It
includes the CrystalEyes lightweight, untethered eyewear and combines
stereo electronics and an infrared emitter into a single small package
which sits on top of the monitor.

CrystalEyes depth perception products utilize true 3D stereo to improve and
dramatize viewing for a broad and diverse user universe. CrystalEyes
products provide high-resolution, realistic and flicker-free stereo
viewing for scientific visualization, animation, medical imaging, surgical
endoscopy, molecular modeling, computer games, photogrammetry,
location-based entertainment, motion simulation, inspection systems,
remote vehicle control, flight simulation, corporate presentations and all
types of education and training.

StereoGraphics Corp., founded in 1980, invented and developed the market
for modern stereo imaging hardware. Due to its capability, reasonable
price and state-of-the-art technology backed by 14 patents, CrystalEyes
systems are accepted as the industry standard for stereo viewing.
StereoGraphics is located at 2171 East Francisco Boulevard, San Rafael,
California 94901, phone 415/459-4500, fax 415/459-3020, email
stereo@well.sf.ca.us.

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