Virtual Reality History

CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

First, some class stuff

Paper critique on Friday
Look on web page

CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

Todays Goals
Provide some historical context. Where did VR technology come from? What applications drove its development? Who are some luminaries in the field?

CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

Early History
Remarkably, VR concepts predate computer graphics and modern VR (HMD, tracking, etc.) arose simultaneously with computer imagery.

CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

Early History Contd

Prehistory
Cave paintings Some researchers believe that the images animate when shown with flickering torch light!

3000BC - Egyptians
First lenses

3000BC Asian shadow play ~450BC Mo Tzu

Pinhole projection onto screen

~300BC Euclid
Writes The Optics

200AD in China or 1515 Da Vinci

Magic lantern projector? From http://www.precinemahistory.net

CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

Early History Contd

1671 Kircher
Magic lantern A later example

1674 de Chales
Successive glass slides

1830s -Stroboscope 1838 Wheatstone

Stereo viewer
CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson
From http://www.precinemahistory.net

Early History Contd

1860s zoetrope 1879
Zoopraxiscope
Painted images on disc

Movies
1888 first movie 1895: Skladanowsky Bioscop 1895: Lumiere Cinematographe 1896: Edison Vitascope 1902 special effects
A Trip to the Moon
start 8:38
CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson
From http://www.precinemahistory.net

Early History Contd

1916 Pratt
Head-mounted Headperiscope display and gun Augmented reality precursor

CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

Early History Contd

1929 Link
Mechanical flight simulator

CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

Early History Contd

1956 Heilig
Sensorama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSINEBZNCks

Multimodal display of a motorcycle ride through Brooklyn

Sight Sound Smell Vibration

1957 HMD patent

CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

Early History Contd

1961 Philco
Telepresence with a HMD
Remote camera

Magnetic head tracker Single CRT

CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

Birth of Modern VR
1963 Sutherland
Interactive graphics Sketchpad

1965
Ultimate display paper

1968
A Head-mounted ThreeHeadThreeDimensional Display

1970 Krueger
Videoplace - movie

1974 Jim Clark

Ph.D. on HMDs
CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

The Next Wave

1980s Scott Fisher (NASA(NASAAmes)
VIEW project movies start 2:05

1980s Jaron Lanier

Virtual Reality

Tom Furness
Super cockpit
CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

More displays
90s - Fakespace boom
High resolution ergonomic

CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

ForceForce-feedback Interfaces
Haptic Display Grope III
The Force-Feedback Project, which began in 1967, first focused on the development of a system to support scientific visualization in the area of molecular docking, the Docker application. This application provides graphic (wire-frame) representations of molecules and their interatomic forces to allow a user to adjust the relative position and orientation of molecules while searching for minimum energy binding sites. A series of systems have been developed, evolving from a 2-D system, through a 3-D system and a 6-D system for a simple docking task, to a full 6-D molecular docking system called GROPE-III. These later systems have employed a modified Model E-3 Argonne Remote Manipulator (ARM).

Fred Brooks, University of North Carolina CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

Gloves
1977 Sayre
Light tube attenuation to measure bend

1981 Grimes (Bell)

Bend, tactile sensors

1984 VPL
VPL DataGlove

1993 Utah/MIT
Dextrous Hand Master (Hollerbach)
Dextrous Hand Master, Exos CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

CAVE displays
1992 EVL
Users in a projected room CAVE movie

CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

CAVE displays
CyberSphere (1998)
The scientists Eyre and Eureka in VR-Systems UK have been researching a CyberSphere, a device, which consists of a large, translucent sphere containing the user. The images are distortion-corrected and then projected on the surface of the sphere, allowing the user a full 360 degree field of view. It also allows the user to move around in the world, by walking inside the ball, which will move in response to the users movements. Movie

VR-Systems, United Kingdom CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

Companies
1984 VPL 1987 Polhemus 1989 Division
Bought tech from UNC-CH UNC-

1989 Mattel
Nintendo powerglove

1990 W
VR arcade
CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

Current Companies
Sensics Intersense Raytheon Nintendo Track-IR Track-

CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson

Summary
Entertainment has often driven immersive advances The dream of a VR space has a long history High-quality elements of VR are now Highconsumer products

CS6360 Virtual Reality David Johnson