Have a hard time grasping real life? Then try your hand at virtual reality by immersing yourself in Iowa State’s new computer simulation room at the Black Engineering Building in Room 1117.

It’s called C2, and it’s the world’s most advanced computer synthetic environment yet. The virtual reality room opened its doors to the general public yesterday with plans to become an asset in basic and applied research for the university.

The C2 is a 12-by-12 foot room and has a 50 percent larger active area than other similar installations. It will allow researchers to mix physical objects with virtual environments.

The room is “unique to the world,” said James Bernard, director of the Iowa Center for Emerging Manufacturing Technology and a mechanical engineering professor at ISU. He said it will be an asset for research in ergonomics, architecture, molecular structures, space and manufacturing environments.

Some projects slated for the C2 include work on driving simulations to help develop warning and avoidance systems for cars and development of “haptic interfaces,” which will allow people to “touch” and “feel” virtual objects, he said.

An ongoing project with NASA is helping the space agency determine the importance of haptic displays in training situations.

“The C2 is an important step forward in virtual reality technology, and its use will be geared toward real-world applications,” Bernard said.

“When everything is in and calibrated it will be very hard to tell where reality ends and virtual reality begins,” said Carolina Cruz-Neira, an ICEMT associate scientist and assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Iowa State.

For the official opening of C2, which took place yesterday, the people and interested parties who helped make the project happen were invited to tour the magical room where the world of make-believe meets the reality of today’s machines.

Tours will be offered to the general public every third Friday of each month, beginning in January, Bernard said.