VPL Research

VPL Research was an early American virtual-reality company founded in 1984 by computer scientist Jaron Lanier. The name VPL referred to “Virtual Programming Languages,” reflecting the company’s interest in interactive computer environments in which users could manipulate digital objects and construct simulated worlds. VPL is widely associated with the transition of virtual reality from a largely experimental research concept into a recognizable product category. The company’s work brought together hardware, software, and human-computer interaction. Its best-known invention was the DataGlove, a sensor-equipped glove that translated hand movement and orientation into computer input. The underlying concept began with Thomas Zimmerman, who developed a prototype and subsequently worked with other engineers and programmers to turn it into a usable system. The glove used fiber-optic bundles and microcontrollers to detect movement, with the resulting data transmitted to a computer. This allowed a user to interact with virtual objects, reposition them, and control software through gestures rather than conventional keyboards or pointing devices. Potential applications included computer input, games, simulation, and remote surgical control. VPL also developed the EyePhone, an early head-mounted display designed to immerse a user in a computer-generated environment. Although it could track head movement, its technical performance was limited by contemporary computing hardware: the system reportedly rendered only around five or six frames per second. The complete setup, including the computers needed to operate it, cost more than $250,000, making it principally a research and demonstration system rather than a mass-market product. VPL displayed the technology at industry events including the Texpo Telecommunications Show. Other projects included the DataSuit, a full-body garment equipped with sensors for measuring movement in the arms, legs, and trunk; Reality Built for Two, or RB2, an immersive multi-user virtual-reality system; and the AudioSphere. The company’s activities also extended into software. Young Harvill licensed his Swivel 3D computer-art program to VPL and later joined the company, contributing to RB2 and the DataGlove. Jeff Wright worked with Jaron Lanier and Chuck Blanchard on the Embrace visual programming language between 1988 and 1991. VPL’s technology attracted outside interest. Its DataGlove technology was licensed to Mattel, which adapted it into the Nintendo Entertainment System Power Glove. The consumer product sold for approximately $90 and became one of the prominent gift items of the 1989 holiday season, although its practical performance in games disappointed many users. The Power Glove ultimately sold about 1.3 million units worldwide, giving VPL’s research a much broader public profile than the company’s costly professional systems could achieve on their own. VPL received some funding from artificial-intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky and was connected with figures interested in technology, consciousness, and alternative forms of interaction, including Timothy Leary. Despite its technical influence, the company did not achieve sustained commercial viability. VPL Research filed for bankruptcy in 1990. In 1998, Sun Microsystems acquired all of VPL’s patents, marking a later transfer of the company’s intellectual-property legacy. VPL is now defunct, but its glove, headset, body-tracking, and immersive-environment concepts remain important precursors to later virtual-reality hardware and software.

VPL Research emerged in the United States in 1984, when computer scientist Jaron Lanier founded a company devoted to what it called Virtual Programming Languages. Its central ambition was to make computer-generated environments interactive and embodied. Rather than treating a computer as a screen controlled mainly by a keyboard or mouse, VPL explored systems that could sense a person’s hands, head, and body and reproduce those movements inside a simulated environment. The company’s most influential work developed from Thomas Zimmerman’s DataGlove prototype. Zimmerman sought collaborators who could help turn the concept into a practical computer interface, and Mitch Altman joined VPL part-time because of his experience programming 6502 microcontrollers. The resulting glove used fiber-optic bundles to measure finger movement and orientation. Connected by wire to a computer, it converted the wearer’s physical gestures into digital input. Users could manipulate, move, and reorient virtual objects, while the same basic approach suggested applications in gaming, computer control, simulation, and remote surgery. VPL expanded this interaction model beyond the hand. The EyePhone was an early head-mounted display intended to create an immersive computer simulation. It incorporated head-movement tracking and Fresnel lenses, but contemporary processing limitations constrained its performance to approximately five or six frames per second. The entire system, including the computers required to run it, cost more than $250,000. As a result, the EyePhone functioned mainly as a research and demonstration platform. VPL presented its virtual-reality technology at venues such as the Texpo Telecommunications Show, helping establish the company as a visible early participant in the emerging field. The DataSuit extended sensing to the whole body. Its sensors measured the movement of the arms, legs, and trunk, offering a basis for representing a user’s body inside a virtual environment. VPL also developed Reality Built for Two, commonly abbreviated RB2, an early multi-user virtual-reality system, along with the AudioSphere. These projects illustrated the company’s effort to build complete experiences rather than isolated components: display hardware, body and gesture sensing, software, and shared simulated spaces. VPL’s software work complemented its hardware research. Young Harvill created Swivel 3D, a Macintosh program for generating computer art and virtual worlds, and licensed the software to VPL before joining the company in 1985. He later contributed to RB2 and the DataGlove. Jeff Wright worked with Lanier and Chuck Blanchard on the Embrace visual programming language from 1988 to 1991. VPL’s wider team included engineers, programmers, and researchers such as Steve Bryson, David Levitt, Marc deGroot, and Mark Oberman. Jean-Jacques Grimaud was identified as a co-founder, president, and vice president of engineering. The company also attracted attention outside conventional computer research. Marvin Minsky provided part of VPL’s funding, and Timothy Leary became associated with people at the company through his interest in technological approaches to exploring consciousness after his release from prison. These associations reinforced VPL’s image as a company operating at the intersection of computing, perception, creativity, and human experience. VPL’s most visible commercial consequence came through Mattel. The toy company licensed the DataGlove technology and used it as the basis for the Power Glove, a lower-cost consumer accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The roughly $90 product became one of the notable gift items of the 1989 holiday season and sold approximately 1.3 million units worldwide. Its commercial reach greatly exceeded that of VPL’s original systems, though buyers often found its game performance less accurate or useful than the marketing suggested. The economics of advanced virtual-reality equipment remained difficult. VPL Research filed for bankruptcy in 1990, ending its operation as a going concern. The company’s patents continued to have value, however, and Sun Microsystems acquired all of them in 1998. VPL’s direct business therefore ended, but its work helped define several concepts later central to virtual reality: wearable motion capture, gesture-based computer input, head tracking, immersive displays, full-body sensing, and shared virtual environments.

• 1998

  Patent portfolio acquired by Sun Microsystems

  [1]VPL Researchen.wikipedia.org

  Sun Microsystems bought all of VPL Research’s patents.

• 1990

  Bankruptcy filing

  [1]VPL Researchen.wikipedia.org

  VPL Research filed for bankruptcy, bringing its independent commercial operations to an end.

• 1989

  DataGlove technology reaches the consumer market

  [1]VPL Researchen.wikipedia.org

  Mattel licensed VPL’s DataGlove technology and launched the Power Glove for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

• 1985

  Young Harvill joins VPL

  [1]VPL Researchen.wikipedia.org

  After licensing his Swivel 3D software to VPL, Young Harvill joined the company and worked on virtual-world and DataGlove-related projects.

• 1984

  VPL Research is founded

  [1]VPL Researchen.wikipedia.org

  Jaron Lanier founded VPL Research in the United States to develop virtual programming and immersive computer technologies.

Pioneering developer of integrated virtual-reality hardware and software, focused on gesture input, body tracking, immersive displays, and interactive computer-generated environments.

• Motion-tracking glove

  DataGlove

  The DataGlove was VPL’s signature interface device. It used fiber-optic bundles and microcontrollers to sense finger movement and hand orientation, then transmitted that information to a computer. The system allowed users to manipulate and reorient virtual objects and served as a foundation for gesture-based computer control, games, simulation, and proposed teleoperation applications. VPL licensed the technology to Mattel, which adapted it into the consumer Power Glove.

• Head-mounted display

  EyePhone

  The EyePhone was an early virtual-reality head-mounted display designed to immerse a user in a computer simulation. It included head-movement tracking and used Fresnel lenses. Its low rendering rate, reported at roughly five or six frames per second, and a complete system cost exceeding $250,000 limited it primarily to research, demonstrations, and technology exhibitions rather than consumer use.

• Full-body motion-tracking garment

  DataSuit

  The DataSuit was a full-body wearable system fitted with sensors for measuring movement in the arms, legs, and trunk. It extended VPL’s approach from hand and head tracking to broader body representation, providing input that could be used to animate or control an avatar or other elements within a virtual environment.

• Multi-user virtual-reality system

  Reality Built for Two (RB2)

  Reality Built for Two, or RB2, was an early virtual-reality system designed around shared immersive interaction. Young Harvill contributed to the project, which represented VPL’s effort to move beyond individual interfaces toward environments in which multiple participants could experience or manipulate computer-generated worlds.

• Immersive audio and virtual-reality system

  AudioSphere

  AudioSphere was one of VPL Research’s experimental immersive systems. Available reference material identifies it as part of the company’s virtual-reality product and research portfolio, although detailed technical and commercial specifications are not established here.

• 3D computer-art and virtual-world software

  Swivel 3D

  Swivel 3D was created by Young Harvill for generating computer art and virtual worlds on a Macintosh. Harvill licensed the software to VPL and later joined the company, where related skills supported VPL’s broader work in virtual environments.

• 1998

  Transfer the patent portfolio to Sun MicrosystemsM&A

  Background

  After VPL’s bankruptcy and the end of its operating business, its intellectual property represented the continuing legacy of its virtual-reality research.

  Action taken

  Sun Microsystems bought all of VPL Research’s patents.

  Aftermath

  VPL’s patents became part of Sun Microsystems’ intellectual-property holdings, while VPL remained defunct as a company.

  Source

• 1990

  File for bankruptcyOther

  Background

  VPL’s sophisticated virtual-reality systems were expensive and remained largely research or demonstration products, limiting the company’s ability to build a durable commercial business.

  Action taken

  VPL Research filed for bankruptcy.

  Aftermath

  The company ceased operating as an independent commercial enterprise, although its patents remained valuable and were later acquired by Sun Microsystems.

  Source

• 1989

  License DataGlove technology to MattelProduct launch

  Background

  VPL’s DataGlove was an expensive research-oriented interface, while Mattel sought a consumer product that could offer motion-based control for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

  Action taken

  VPL licensed its DataGlove technology to Mattel, which developed and marketed the Power Glove at a substantially lower consumer price.

  Aftermath

  The Power Glove became a notable 1989 holiday product and sold approximately 1.3 million units worldwide, but its practical performance disappointed many users.

  Source

1. 1VPL Researchen.wikipedia.org