Virtual Reality and Human Computer Interaction
Feedback we have seen for control and for learning. It is also used in the interaction between humans and machines, such as computers : human-computer interaction or HCI.
In fact, when you use a mouse to position the cursor you are using feedback - you look at the cursor on the screen and move the mouse until the cursor is correctly placed - or is it that the computer moves the cursor until you have put the mouse in the right place?
This is very simple HCI - more sophisticated HCI is Virtual Reality. Here a computer generates the necessary information so that the human can seem as if he or she is in an artificial world - i.e. the computer generates what the world looks like, perhaps sounds like, smells like and feels like (for which haptics is needed - a speciality at Reading).
But, were the human to turn his/her head, the world should look different - so the computer has to generate a new image of the world.
This means that the system is a feedback process - with information generated by the computer being communicated to the human, and information (e.g. position of head) about the human being communicated to the computer.
Note, there are related topics such as tele-operation, where the information passed to the human is that of a real world. Also augmented reality where artificial information is added to real world information : e.g. head-up displays for pilots.