The United States military had a major impact of the development of  virtual reality. How did virtual reality even come to be invented? Robert J. Marks and Dr. Thomas Furness discuss tactile displays, sensors, and the history of virtual reality.

Show Notes

• 00:36 | Introducing Dr. Thomas Furness, Professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering at the University of Washington
• 02:58 | How virtual reality came to be
• 07:44 | Aiming airplanes
• 08:43 | Infinity collimation
• 12:21 | Virtual image displays
• 16:59 | Visually Coupled Airborne System Simulator (VCASS)
• 19:44 | Tactile displays
• 23:09 | Testing the displays with real pilots
• 30:41 | Positive publicity for the military

Additional Resources

• Virtual World Society (founded by Thomas Furness)
• VRAIS
• Thomas Furness at the University of Washington
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• Infinity collimation at Wikipedia
• Visually Coupled Airborne System Simulator (VCASS) at Encyclopædia Britannica