SEEING IS BELIEVING You are holding a stop/slow paddle and a car is coming at you, fast. So fast, you get the feeling they are not going to stop. Your heart starts pumping, you drop the paddle and run toward your escape route. You barely catch your breath when you hear a nearby voice say, “Well done! The simulation is over!” You take off your headset, heart still racing, thanking your lucky stars you’re still in the training room. How strange that virtual reality (VR) can be more realistic than reality itself. It immerses you into environments that you may never get to experience—evoking strong emotional reactions and creating deep connections in the mind that become tangible memories. Defined as a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional (3D) image or environment that can be interacted within a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, VR is just as it sounds—a quasi human experience. THE TECH Similar to how computers got their start, when VR devices were first built around six decades ago for military and industrial use, they were giant, complex mechanisms that had to be kept in large rooms. And though not widely known to the public outside of few niche circles, the technology steadily progressed. Considered the godfather of VR, Ivan Sutherland, an American computer scientist, already acclaimed for his work in computer graphics, developed the first head-mounted display for VR in 1968 with the help of one of his students, Bob Sproull. The Sword of Damocles, the name of his device, was large and dwarfed people when put on their heads, but this was the headset that pioneered VR forward. From large head gear that looked more like a prop from an early science fiction movie to the cordless headsets we’ve come to recognize today, the tech has progressed over the years and has widely expanded its capabilities and uses. As digital consumers, we’ve started to grow accustomed to perceiving 3D and 360° images and graphics. VR is taking that to the next level by immersing a user wearing a headset in a 360°/3D environment —moving us beyond what we thought we were capable of comprehending. “When you’re wearing a headset and are in the ‘VR world’ your peripheral vision is blocked, and your mind automatically thinks that you’re in that world,” says Sovanna Mam, CEO and co-founder of Greenfish Labs, a leading VR technology developer in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. VR is about realism, and the industry is focused on making the visual resolution better. According to Mam, bringing the resolution closer to what the human eye perceives, which is 9K resolution per eye (optimal latency of 120 frames per second), 4K and 8K resolution is quickly moving into headsets. We’re now getting used to 4K TV screens and what you currently see in VR isn’t quite there yet. VR hardware makers are focused on maturing the resolution quality of VR technology to our current consumer standards to help make it more appealing to the masses. Insta 360, a six-lens camera that captures full panorama. This one is from Greenfish Labs’ stash of equipment. VIRTUAL REALITY TIMELINE OF GEAR The technical drawings below are for representation only. 1956 Sensorama 1968 The Sword of Damocles 1979 VITAL Helmet 1985 View, NASA 1991 Virtuality 1995 Virtual Boy, Nintendo 2018 Oculus Go 1993 Sega VR 2016 VIVE Steam VR, htc