Virtual reality (VR) grabbed headlines this year when Facebook purchased Oculus Rift for $2 billion. The deal not only brought VR back into the media spotlight, but also made it clear that there is an industry primed to make VR a viable commercial product.
Recent attention aside, though, VR technology has been around for longer than most people realize. About 50 years ago, a group of visionaries pioneered technologies that ultimately led to what we know today as virtual reality. Among the most remarkable of those pioneers is University of Washington Professor Tom Furness, who developed VR systems for the army, initially to solve complex problems in fighter airplanes’ cockpits.
His most significant VR development at the Air Force was the “Super Cockpit” concept, a control-display medium that displayed information from airplane systems as visual, auditory and tactile circumambience for quick understanding by the pilot.
After working for more than 20 years for the military, Furness decided to take VR to the civilian world where he created the Human Interface Technology (HIT) Lab at the University of Washington in 1989. At the time, even the most high performance processors were not powerful enough to offer a compelling VR experience, and were impossible for the majority of consumers to afford. Furness witnessed how VR failed to make the leap to the consumer market by the end of the last millennium, despite many expectations that it would.
The Future of VR
Fast forward to 2014: small, powerful processors, along with cheap, high-resolution screens and other technological developments, have generated a new era of affordable and reliable VR devices. Perhaps even more importantly, there is a new, growing, community developing content and software for those devices.
Shooting games, racing games, and virtual roller coasters and horror movies are becoming the most popular VR applications. When I sat down with Professor Furness this fall, though, he told me VR can give the world a lot more than that. He believes in the power of the young community of developers to spend their time and energy using VR as a tool to help solve the most pervasive problems in our world.
Pioneering VR shares some of Professor Furness’ story, and offers a unique perspective on the potential to leverage VR for positive societal change. His message is powerful – here’s hoping it is heard by a new generation of developers that will continue to shape the way we communicate and interact.