VPL Research

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VPL's logo
VPL EyePhone HRX head-mounted display
Jaron Lanier, founder of VPL

VPL Research was a company that made virtual reality products. It was one of the first virtual reality companies. It was founded by Jaron Lanier.[1] "VPL" stood for "Virtual Programming Languages".[2] VPL developed some of the first commercial head-mounted displays, called EyePhone. VPL built upon the work of LEEP Systems.

VPL Research filed for bankruptcy. Eventually all of its patents were bought by Sun Microsystems.[3][4][5]

VPL's funding came in part from Marvin Minsky.[6]

Most of VPL's customers were from outside the USA.[7]

Products[edit]

EyePhone[edit]

EyePhone is a series of head mounted displays (HMDs) that use 3D tracking to immerse users into a computer simulation. They can track head movements. The original headset used Fresnel lenses.[8]

The original EyePhone used a 3D tracking system from Polhemus.[9] It can be used with a Polhemus 3space tracker.[10]

The EyePhone was primarily a research device. It was displayed at technology conferences like the Texpo Telecommunications Show, but the cost kept the device out of reach from consumers. The entire system, including the computers required to run it, cost upwards of $250,000.[11]

DataGlove[edit]

The DataGlove originally started as an input system for computers. It was later used for virtual reality systems. Thomas Zimmerman invented the prototype of the DataGlove and began looking for other people to help work on it. It used MOS 6502 microcontrollers. Zimmerman met Mitch Altman and asked him to join VPL part-time because Altman knew how to program the microcontrollers.[12]

The system was wired to a computer. It was interactive and contained fiber-optic bundles to track movements and orientation. That data would then be transmitted to the computer so that the information could be duplicated virtually. It allowed for people to manipulate and re-orient virtual objects. Applications for the DataGlove centered on input computer control, gaming, and the potential for remote surgery.

Software[edit]

DataSuit[edit]

A VPL Research DataSuit, a full-body outfit with sensors for measuring the movement of arms, legs, and trunk.

The DataSuit is a full-body outfit with sensors for measuring the movement of arms, legs, and torso.

History[edit]

VPL EyePhone Model 1

VPL was founded in 1984 by Jaron Lanier at his home in Palo Alto, California.[11]

Team members[edit]

R&D team
  • Jaron Lanier
  • Mitch Altman
  • Thomas Zimmerman
  • Chuck Blanchard
  • Steve Bryson
  • Young Harvill – In his spare time, Harvill created a program called Swivel 3D which was used for creating computer art. It gave the users the ability to generate virtual worlds on a Macintosh computer. He licensed that software to VPL. Shortly after, Harvill joined VPL as their fourth employee in the year 1985. During his time there, he worked on a project called "Reality Built for Two (RB2)" which was the first VR system at that time. He also helped with the Data Glove as well.[15]
  • Jeff Wright – Worked with Lanier and Blanchard on the Embrace visual programing language from 1988 to 1991. In his Dec. 1989 Computer Graphics World article "Altered States: a software developer's vision of the future of virtual reality" he asked, "What would it mean for people to be able to choose and create their own reality?" speculating that it would "... make people aware of the fact that they already do that, whether or not they realize it, in the natural construction of ordinary reality."[16]
  • David Levitt
  • Marc deGroot
  • Mark Oberman
Management
  • Jaron Lanier
  • Jean-Jacques Grimaud - Co-founder, President, VP of Engineering[17]
Associated people
  • Timothy Leary – Leary was interested in finding ways to explore consciousness which led him to working with individuals at VPL.[18]

In popular culture[edit]

  • A Data Suit and EyePhone were featured in the 1992 science fiction film The Lawnmower Man.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "VPL Research | C-SPAN.org". https://www.c-span.org/organization/?112710/VPL-Research.
  2. ↑ Burbules, Nicholas C. (2006), Weiss, Joel; Nolan, Jason; Hunsinger, Jeremy et al., eds., "Rethinking the Virtual" (in en), The International Handbook of Virtual Learning Environments (Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands): pp. 37–58, doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-3803-7_1, ISBN 978-1-4020-3803-7, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-3803-7_1, retrieved 2023-10-12
  3. ↑ "Sun Snaps Up Original VR Patents" (in en-us). Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. https://www.wired.com/1998/02/sun-snaps-up-original-vr-patents/.
  4. ↑ "False Starts Aside, Virtual Reality Finds New Roles". http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/03/biztech/articles/23virtual.html.
  5. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/19981205015335/http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/10296.html
  6. ↑ "Virtual reality: spreadsheets for industry - tutorial". CBS. https://web.archive.org/web/20110222002357if_/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0REL/is_n10_v90/ai_9543499/pg_6.
  7. ↑ ISBN 978-1500893293 Pages 63 through 66
  8. ↑ Delaney, Ben (2014). Sex, Drugs and Tessellation: The Truth About Virtual Reality, as Revealed in the Pages of CyberEdge Journal. CyberEdge Information Services. p. 274. ISBN 978-1500893293. http://www.bendelaney.com/services.writer.sd&t.html.
  9. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150223050243/http://vrwiki.wikispaces.com/VPL+EyePhone Accessed May 1, 2024
  10. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20140707183303/http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~stage3/publications/93/conferences/IEEEsymposiumOnResearchFrontiersInVR/handVsHeadUserStudy/paper.html
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Sorene, Paul (2014). "Jaron Lanier’s EyePhone: Head And Glove Virtual Reality In The 1980s". https://flashbak.com/jaron-laniers-eyephone-head-and-glove-virtual-reality-in-the-1980s-26180/.
  12. ↑ Altman, Mitch. An Interview with Mitch Altman (Inventor and Virtual Reality Pioneer from the 80's). Terndrup, Matthew. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TrRO_j_efg#t=2148.
  13. ↑ Blanchard, Chuck; Burgess, Scott; Harvill, Young; Lanier, Jaron; Lasko, Ann; Oberman, Mark; Teitel, Mike (1990). "Reality built for two: a virtual reality tool". ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics 24 (2): 35–36. doi:10.1145/91394.91409. ISSN 0097-8930. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/91394.91409.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "The New RB2 Pro Virtual Reality System : VPL Research : Internet Archive". 2016-10-23. https://archive.org/details/VPL_promo_material_RB2Pro.
  15. ↑ "Techie Entrepreneurs – Young Harvill". Evergreen Magazine. 2015-06-17. http://www.evergreen.edu/magazine/2008spring/harvill.
  16. ↑ "Altered States: a software developer's vision of the future of virtual reality" (in en-us). Computer Graphics World. ISSN 0271-4159. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A7942350/AONE?u=spl_main&sid=AONE&xid=0db4bab5.
  17. ↑ "Jean-Jacques Linkedin Profile Page". http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jean-jacques-grimaud/0/35/54/en.
  18. ↑ Altman, Mitch. An Interview with Mitch Altman (Inventor and Virtual Reality Pioneer from the 80's). Terndrup, Matthew. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TrRO_j_efg#t=4611.
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