Unfolding the Mystery and History of VR

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Unfolding the Mystery and History of VR The heat
is slowly picking up and everyone is bragging
about the VR technology which is steadying its
feet in India as well. But, what the heck is this
VR? Well, I think it could be described as
something like experiencing a dream. Yeah, I
know You already see a lot of dreams, so why
would you want to experience another one? It
might sound a little crazy, but surely dreams and
a VR experience have a lot in common. Dreams are
subjective and so is a VR experience, dreams
cannot be shared and explained just like a VR
experience cannot be universalized. So, did I
manage to confuse you more? Yay! Mission
successful.
Now the task at hand is, to actually explain to
you what VR is and what it does to you.
Basically, VR allows you to be as lazy as you
would want to be. Like, you can literally
experience the beaches of Goa or hang around
your favorite stars or go on that scary roller
coaster, without having to move an inch from
your couch. Sounds fun right??? It definitely is!
Like the name says, it is virtual yet real. In
general terms, VR or Virtual Reality means
presenting our senses with a virtual environment
which is free to be explored.
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Getting on the technical side, Virtual Reality
(VR) is a computer technology that replicates an
environment, real or imagined, and simulates a
users physical presence and environment to allow
for user interaction. The most common way today
to immerse in a Virtual Reality experience is by
using a headgear or as the techies say, a Head
Mounted Display (HMD) which stimulates our
senses together to create an illusion of
reality. When software, hardware and sense
stimulation is in perfect coordination, the user
feels as if he/she is a part of the
environment. Lets have a quick flashback to the
history of VR.
It all started in 1965 when Ivan Sutherland
created the Ultimate Display while the military
was simultaneously busy in researching the VRs
potential for flight simulation and training.
Though the industry saw various developments in
the coming decades, but the appeal was limited to
the ambitious engineers due to its cost. Not so
long ago as well, a decent virtual reality device
cost over 50,000 which obviously made it out of
the reach of an average consumer. So, how did
the scenario change so much over these years?
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Well, all thanks to Palmer Luckey. Palmer, one of
the Americas richest young entrepreneurs created
his first VR prototype in his parents garage in
2011, at the young age of 18. Who knew that a
garage creation would lead to the formation of
Oculus VR? His invention Oculus Rift changed the
picture of Virtual Reality. The Kickstarter
campaign to make the gear reach fellow VR
enthusiasts was way too successful, raising
US2.4 million or 974 of its original target.
After expanding to a large number of employees
and a nice office space, another wheel was turned
with Oculus VRs acquisition by Facebook in
2014. An acquisition which would go down the
history.
While Facebook was at work to make VR popular
amongst masses, heavyweights like Samsung, Google
and others took notice and invested heavily in
this catching trend. Now, the market is flooded
with consumer-ready VR devices, running the
gamut in terms of prices and accessibility.