The Oculus Quest 2 is the newest addition to the Oculus VR line. It allows multiplayer, connection to a computer (if wanted), and many other features. But how did we get here?
The History
A cinematographer named Morton Heilig created Sensorama, a large booth that was the first VR machine. Now, when you think of VR, you’re probably thinking about a headset. Heilig instead created a booth that simulates more than what VR headsets do today. You couldn’t look around, but the combination of chair vibrations, scent producers, speakers, and more made it an immersive experience ahead of its time. However, since it was a huge booth, you obviously couldn’t look around. This all changed in 1961.
1961 brought the world’s first motion tracking head mounted device (HMD). This wasn’t originally used for VR. It was first used for the military to scope out potentially dangerous areas. It allowed the wearer to look around. Despite it not being used for VR yet, people were still hopeful. Ivan Sutherland made a scientific paper in 1965 about a virtual world viewed through an HMD that looked so realistic that it couldn’t be told apart from real life. It was only a theory at this point in time, but a certain computer artist sought to bring this idea to life.
Myron Krueger made the first interactive VR system in 1975. It was a dark room with screens all around with position trackers, video cameras, projectors, and a lot more. The program allowed you to see your silhouette on the screen in front of you. It would mirror your every move. People in different rooms were able to interact with each other.
But this was just the beginning.
1982 brought the creation of Sayre gloves, which would use photocells and light emitters to track the movement of the hand. This was the beginning of gesture recognition. 3 years later, a company called VPL Research became the first company to sell VR equipment. They developed HMDs as well as gloves. In 1990, the next significant development in VR happened.
Jonathan Waldern showed off the Virtuality machine, the first VR arcade machine. Shown at the Computer Graphics 90 exhibit in London, it became the first mass produced VR entertainment system.
Virtuality brought the biggest arcade games to VR.
In 2007, everything really started to kick off.
2007 started with the launch of Google Street View, an integral feature of Google Maps that most of us undoubtedly take for granted. The 3D pictures were taken from a dodecahedronal (12 sided) camera on a car that drove through the cities. It probably looked really weird going around the roads. 2010 was where the real fun began. Palmer Luckey, at the age of 18, made the first prototype for the Oculus Rift, with a never-seen-before 90 degree field of vision. He realized he needed funding, so he launched a Kickstarter for the Rift. The support he received was amazing, and he raised $2.4 million. Then, the unthinkable happened.
In 2014, Facebook bought Oculus VR for $2 billion.
$2 billion. Almost 1000x how much Luckey raised. Now that a major tech company got in the VR game, many were soon to follow. Sony announced a VR system for the PS4, Samsung announced the Gear VR, and the list goes on. 2016 was when another huge competitor came onto the scene: HTC. HTC launched their HTC VIVE SteamVR headset (quite the mouthful, I know) which used sensors to track positions, allowing the player to move around in a space.
The Present
And then, we come to now. Now, VR is used in many different ways. It’s used for education, entertainment, military simulations, and everything else. But, you already know about the present. You live in it after all. Talking about it for long wouldn’t be too interesting. However, talking about the future is way more entertaining. Luckily, RS Components created a list of the 10 most exciting developments in VR that might happen in the next 50 years.
The Future
Starting with 2020, VR is predicted to merge with 5G to improve the VR experience overall. No delay videos and fast download speeds are just the surface of what 5G can do for VR.
2021 is set to be the year that VR and AR (Augmented Reality) merge, to create an uncertain world where you are unable to tell the difference between VR and reality. 2021 is also supposed to bring virtual human beings into VR, allowing for the simulation of human interaction, when it’s really just AI.
Now, we have to skip to 2025, where handheld devices will be where all interactions will be made. Instead of bulky controllers, something such as a wrist watch could be used for the motion tracking. This will make the VR experience a lot more realistic. 2026 will hopefully bring another major advancement, condensing the size of a VR headset, making it more like a pair of sunglasses.
2030 is expected to have 3 major advancements in the realm of VR. The first one is people will be able to experience life on Mars, made from the data that NASA will have collected. Interviews will be able to be made in VR, but every avatar will look the same. How will this help? Everyone having the same avatar reduces the discrimination in the hiring process. An interviewer will not be able to reject someone based off of their appearance. This will be huge in making the world truly equal. The third advancement that is supposed to be made around 2030 is the treatment of phobias in VR. People can go into virtual environments where they are on top of a building or in an airplane, allowing them to get over their fears.
The last advancement that RS components predicted to be made in the VR field is virtual shopping. People will be able to try on clothes without actually being there, and AI assistants can help them find whatever they need. Even though this was predicted to happen in 2050, I personally believe this can happen before that. All that’s needed is a scan of your body, a scan of all the clothing, and AI that can help you find things. The rest are ways to make the experience more realistic (making the headsets smaller, making the controllers less noticeable, etc.)
That’s a history of VR, and opportunities that lie in its future. Will you be one of the pioneers of VR? Or, will you just be one of the people that enjoy using VR? The choice is yours!
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