Virtual Reality; Where It Began and Where It Is Now

The idea of Virtual Reality has been around for over 50 years. Our imaginations are limitless when it comes to such an experience. I like to think of it in terms of Star Trek’s holodeck, a virtual world you can see, hear, and touch. Maybe something like Tron could be possible one day. There have been many ups and downs in the history of VR. We take a look where VR came from, and where it’s at now.

And a virtual child was born...

From the technology to its software, VR had its start with the military, and is now finding its way into our homes. In the 1950’s a US soldier thought of the idea to put a computer and a monitor together. A former naval radar technician named Douglas Engelbart, had the idea to merge the “computing machine” with a screen. Shortly after this technical mash-up, it started catching on. It was the 1960’s and computers were capable of being more than just “math machines.”

They paved way for the first “real-time” radar system, computers were getting smaller in size and cost, moving into peoples homes. It didn’t take long for the military to create simulations for rookie pilots. The risk of having inexperienced pilots in the air was too great, so the military made it mandatory to teach all pilots through a cluster of screens and joysticks thus creating a “virtual cockpit.”

Fast forward to the 1977 and a dataglove was created. The idea was then sold to Nintendo, who created the Power Glove. This allowed the user to be in control of a virtual space by using hand motions and pressing buttons. Following this event, Tron, the movie became the first fully computer generated films. This confirmed the idea that we can create a world virtually. Now to just interact with it.

Aside from the glove, we were limited to the key component to Virtual Reality. We needed something that allowed for audio and visual immersion. The graphic fidelity in the 80’s and 90’s was impressive, but only by its own standards. There were several attempts in the entertainment market trying to get a piece this niche, and brilliant idea.



Some of these headsets were the iGlasses developed by Virtual I-O, Cybermaxx by Victormaxx, the VFX-1, and Nintendo created the Virtua Boy. Though these were novel items to have - some you can still find on eBay - they never fully reached that height of excitement amongst the customer base. It just couldn’t find a home.

In a 2012 interview with Ru Sirus, Jaron Lanier, whose team at VPL (Virtual Programming Language) “developed the first implementation of multi-person virtual worlds using head mounted displays.” (That would be the above mentioned headset hardware.) Apparently the work was “applied to surgery and television production, among other things. He also led the team that developed the first widely used software platform architecture for immersive virtual reality applications.” So this guy knows a bit about Virtual Reality, to say the least.

When Jaron got asked why VR failed in the 90’s, he replied “what went wrong with VR was that [a] decent software standard platform didn't happen.” As we look forward to our current day, we see our home consoles and some PC’s are able to accommodate the idea of VR. Some are trying to resurrect it. And for some, it never went away.



Ready or not… here it comes!

Many have speculated the reasons why Virtual Reality fell to the wayside in the late 90’s early 2000’s. There are few that truly have any valid insight into its shortcomings. As we take a look where we’re at now, it would seem we’ve made quite a leap from our previous attempts. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s idea’s and products from the 80’s never die.

Those working diligently on designing a new “cyber-glove,” have actually done so. CyberGlove, has a glove that captures and translates a person’s finger movements with high precision. Users can interact with virtual objects in real-time, in an natural way. The glove is currently being used for training, defense, and engineering. To compliment touch, the visual aspect has now covered too.

In 2012 the Oculus Rift stepped into the conversation. The Oculus Rift is an upcoming VR head-mounted display. It is being developed by Oculus VR, which raised $91 million, of which $2.4 million was raised via Kickstarter. The company was founded by Palmer Luckey and Scaleform, id Software co-founder John Carmack was later hired as its Chief Technology Officer. Since it’s debut, many major companies have taken serious interest in the product.



Some major businesses on the video game entertainment side, are vomiting a lot of cash for Virtual Reality. Electronic Arts (EA), Sony, Microsoft, and Valve are just a few showing major interest in what our current VR technology has to offer. With fully functioning demo’s like Crystal Cove, and mod’d versions of Skyrim working consistently and well, this generation of Virtual Reality seems very much a reality.

As time has shown in the past, Virtual Reality can only happen if there’s a solid platform for the concept to take off. With current home consoles and PC’s being similar in regards to the ease of programing and hardware specs... maybe, just maybe we’ll actually see a new age of immersion, a new way to experience entertainment of all kinds. A new kind of Virtual Reality.

@Coatedpolecat