This Is What People Thought VR Would Look Like in 1990

There was a time before Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard, and here is proof. This 1990 Japanese news segment on VR will show you just how far we've come, but it may also make you nostalgic for simpler times when simpler tech was the coolest thing ever.

"Recent developments in computer technology not made it possible for human beings to literally enter into the world of computer graphics and feel as if they are moving freely within it," the newscaster said. The then-new technology was called "sensing artificial reality," and stemmed from an American space development project.

The segment goes on to show people wearing "special glasses" and "data gloves" to test out a new VR headset. The data gloves allow their hands to appear within the frame of the headset, so that users can interact with virtual objects within a virtual kitchen. For instance, they can turn the water tap or pick up a plate and put on a shelf—but because the shelf isn't actually there, the plate drops, but doesn't break, when the user releases it. Rather, it sort of bops downward as if it were falling through space.

The sensors were attached to the glasses and gloves to determine the user's hand positions and the way they gripped objects. "The computer almost simultaneously maps out the situation and incorporates it within the screen's image," the narrator said. Key word here is "almost" because there is some lag after all.

Back then, researchers were also developing technology that would enable people to actually experience the feelings produced when touching an object. For instance, if they tried to grab at a virtual stone, they might feel some push back.

People were excited about the industrial applications for the "new technology." They thought then it could be used in the medical world, allowing doctors to treat patients while looking at the insides of their bodies, or to ensure safety in factories involving dangerous work. They also rightly predicted that VR would change our leisure time, though perhaps their vision of wearing a full body suit to interact within the VR world is a little less common than what people typically use today.

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