01Overview
In 1965 Sutherland proposed the “Ultimate Display”: a virtual world one could enter and interact with. In 1968 he built the first head-mounted display, the Sword of Damocles, tracked mechanically. In the 1980s VPL’s DataGlove and Eyephone took VR commercial.
In 2012 the Oculus Rift crowdfunding campaign re-ignited consumer VR; in 2016 the HTC Vive and PSVR shipped; in 2023 Apple Vision Pro explored spatial computing with passthrough video and eye tracking. AR overlays virtual content on the real world, from Pokémon GO to industrial repair. The hard problems never change: latency, field of view, comfort — and what it is actually for.
02History
- 1965
The Ultimate Display
Sutherland's vision.
- 1968
The first head-mounted display
A mechanically tracked headset.
- 2012
Oculus Rift
Consumer VR revived.
- 2016
Consumer VR arrives
Vive and PSVR.
- 2023
Vision Pro
Spatial computing.
03Core concepts
Immersion
How strongly the user feels present inside the world.
Head tracking
Capture head pose in real time to reduce motion sickness.
Spatial computing
Anchor digital content in real space.
04Hands-on
Do it once — it beats reading it ten times
Build a WebXR scene on your phone, then measure frame time and explain why latency causes nausea
05Self-check
Say it in your own words first, then open the answer. Whatever you cannot explain is what to review next.
Can you explain "Immersion"?
How strongly the user feels present inside the world.
Can you explain "Head tracking"?
Capture head pose in real time to reduce motion sickness.
Can you explain "Spatial computing"?
Anchor digital content in real space.
What problem did it solve, and why was there nothing better at the time?
Go back to the history section: how was this done before, and what did it cost?
If you had to build it today, how would you break it down?
Use the hands-on task above: write a plan of at most three steps before you start.
06Key people
Ivan Sutherland
1938 –
A pioneer of head-mounted displays.
Palmer Luckey
1992 –
Founder of Oculus.
07Further reading
- Virtual Reality
- Augmented Reality: Principles and Practice