The Origins of VR
VR has its roots in stereoscopic photographs of the late 19th century and science fiction stories of the 20th century. Experiments in VR began in earnest in the 1960s. Let's take a brief look at three pioneers of VR.
Mort Heilig, an American filmmaker, wrote the prophetic essay The Cinema of the Future in 1955 and in 1958 created Sensorama, an immersive mulltimodal device that went beyond the normal cinematic spectacle to offer the participant an experience with a full sensory experience: visual, sound, tactile (vibration and wind), smell. Although not interactive as the user was watch a short film and couldn't affect the content, it is likely the first attempt to create virtual reality. Heilig was unable to secure financial backing to produce the Sensorama so it never saw production. The unit still functions today and is for sale to interested collectors or museums. |
Ivan Sutherland had already created new human user interfaces, notably Sketchpad in 1962, imagined what he termed "The Ultimate Display" in 1965 and in 1968 he created what is widely considered to the be the first VR head-mounted display system (HMD). It was a clunky, heavy piece of gear which was attached to the ceiling with a mechanical arm. It tracked head movements allowing the perspective to change and displayed a simple wire-frame room. The apparatus was known as the Sword of Damocles.
The ultimate display would, of course, be a room within which the computer can control the existence of matter. A chair displayed in such a room would be good enough to sit in. Handcuffs displayed in such a room would be confining, and a bullet displayed in such a room would be fatal. |
The Early 1990's: A VR Promise Unfulfilled
By the late eighties computers had gained more processing power and virtual reality visionaries felt that the time was right to bring the technology to the public on a large scale. The Viruality Group was at the forefront and the company produced and number of "pods" which were mostly installed in arcades. You can see an example of their game "Dactyl Nightmare" from this television clip from 1992.
These kinds of systems were expensive to manufacture and operate (an attendant was usually required to assist players). Although the technology seemed impressive for its time, there was significant latency (how fast the system responds to changes in movement), the headsets were very large and heavy, the image resolution was low, and of course, computer graphics were still quite simple, as witnessed in the video. The technology just wasn't able to deliver on the promise.
Ultimately, the VR craze was short lived. Several companies tried to keep the public interested, but by the mid-nineties, the it was essential game over for virtual reality. |
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The VR Reboot and the 2 Billion Dollar Bet
Now, in 2015, if we are to believe all the media hype (and you should), we are on the threshold of the real virtual reality revolution. Why now? In short, technology has caught up with dream of truly immersive VR. We now have the computing power, the graphics capability, and most importantly, latency has been reduced to a around 20 milliseconds, fast enough to give the sense of "being there" and also to eliminate simulator sickness, nausea that some people experience while using VR.
Most people are now familiar with the Oculus Rift, even though it hasn't yet seen its commercial release (Q1 of 2016 - check out the Current Technologies page for other VR headsets). Oculus was purchased by Facebook for 2 billion in 2014. The device is the vision of Palmer Luckey. |
This is only worthwhile if you have a wide field of view, if you don't have that, it's just a television on you head. |