1965: Ivan Sutherland proposes the "Ultimate Display" that is a window into a realistic virtual world.
1968: Ivan Sutherland creates the first head-mounted display system (the "Sword of Damocles"). It consists of two CRTs alongside the users ears, a mass of suspended hardware to measure the user's head orientation, and two silvered mirrors to reflect the CRT images. The user was able to view a wireframe cube floating in space and could see different sides of the cube as they moved their head around.
1971: Frederick Brooks at the U. North Carolina develops a prototype force-feedback system (GROPE-II)
1982: Thomas Furness III develops the VCASS (Visually Coupled Airborne Systems Simulator) that is a head mounted display.
1988: VPL Research introduces the Eyephone, a commercial head mounted display.
1989: Fake Space Labs founded by Mark Bolas and markets the Boom. This is a small box containing two CRT's that can be viewed through two eyeholes. It is suspended from a mechanical arm that measures the position and orientation.
Main Virtual
Environments Page
HyperVis Table of
Contents