Described herein is a
system (100) for remotely accessing real and / or virtual instruments. The
system (100) includes a user terminal (107) for virtually connecting with one or more real (102) or virtual instruments (105). The user terminal (107) includes: a
user input device (109) configured to receive
user input data; a
display device (111) configured to receive display data and, in response, project images visible to the user on a display (110) of the
display device (111); and an internet enabled computer (113) in communication with the
display device (111) and
user input device (109).
The internet enabled computer (113) configured for communicating with an instrument
server (117) to send the user input data and receive the display data. The instrument
server (117) is configured to host
software associated with a plurality of real (102) and virtual instruments (105). The
software includes:
virtual instrument software configured to virtually represent one or more virtual instruments (105); remote instrument access software configured to allow the user to remotely access real instruments (102) through one or more sensors and / or actuators embedded within or mounted to the instrument. The instrument
server is further configured to: remotely control the real and / or virtual instruments based on the user input data; in response to the user input data, generate
instrument data indicative of a current state of the real and / or virtual instruments (102, 105) as modified by the user input data; generate display data associated with the
instrument data; and send the display data to
the internet enabled computer (113) to allow the user to view data indicative of the real and / or virtual instruments (102, 105) in real-time thereby to simulate the user using one or both of the real and virtual instruments in real-time.