Dreams on demand: Virtual reality finally delivers

Simulated spaces
The rise, fall and resurrection of virtual reality

1961 Morton Heilig patents the Sensorama, a TV booth in which short projected 3D films were augmented with a moving chair, audio, vibration, wind and aromas

1966 US Air Force develops first computer-driven flight simulator

1968 Ivan Sutherland at Harvard University develops head-mounted cathode ray tube display. Users can explore wire-frame graphics by turning their head

1977 First "dataglove", at the University of Illinois, allows computer users to interact with on-screen objects

1984 Researcher Jaron Lanier popularises the term "virtual reality" and founds VPL Research in Palo Alto, California. The firm is the first to sell datagloves and immersive headsets

1995 Nintendo introduces Virtual Boy, a tabletop VR headset. The device, which only displays images as red on black, fails to take off

2005 Ford Motor Co sets up an immersive VR engineering lab, trimming over a year off the development time of a new car

2012 Oculus Rift's VR headset raises $2.4 million in funding; developers begin producing the first apps for it

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/2d83c87a/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cspecial0Cvirtual0Ereality0Dcmpid0FRSS0QNSNS0Q20A120EGLOBAL0Qonline0Enews/story01.htm

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