The interactive surrogate travel system.

The Interactive Surrogate Travel (IST) system is based on the super-miniaturized system of virtual technology, Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE). Using bilateral virtual reality (VR-to-VR) communications, IST enables the testing of subjects via interactive communications. It appears that IST will find practical applications in the near future. We examined the utility of IST in medical treatment and psychiatric tests. Psychiatric symptoms reflect human pathos, which in turn are greatly influenced by culture. If these culture-bound symptoms can be adequately communicated between providers and clients of different cultures, we can develop effective telepsychiatric services across different societies and cultures. IST requires high-speed transmission and gigabyte circuits. A pilot project tested the utility of IST (through the use of optical fiber communications on earth) as a basis for experiments via the Gigabit satellite, to be launched in the year 2002.