Field of View simply won’t be complete without featuring one of the greatest Virtual Reality pioneers whose inventions paved the way for some of the biggest breakthroughs that made VR what it is today. Our final episode of season 1 features Thomas A. Furness III: American inventor, Professor, and Virtual Reality Pioneer based in Seattle, Washington. A true pioneer in human interface technology and the grandfather of Virtual Reality.
Watch out for the Bonus Clip coming soon!
What’s in this podcast?
00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:36 What’s your origin story?
00:08:16 Using VR to solve problems in fighter aeroplanes
00:09:00 Childhood and exposure to VR and AR
00:10:38 The Space Race
00:13:54 Interest in rockets and winning the state science fair
00:16:10 Meeting Alan Shepard, John Glenn and Gus Grissom
00:18:07 The Airforce and University
00:20:24 Being a flight test engineer
00:22:53 Entering the Academic World
00:26:35 The Super Cockpit/ 1984
00:29:49 Was VR flight siumulation possible back then?
00:31:52 Solving motion sickness
00:34:54 1985 / The call from the Pentagon / The third stage of becoming an Academtic
00:37:01 CBS Evening News and world-wide recognition of VR
00:40:21 “We’re talking about something big!”
00:41:00 Building a center of excellence on human interface technology and Washington
00:45:17 The HITLab
00:47:11 Alvin Wang Graylin
00:47:48 The Lawnmower man disaster and addressing poor perception of VR
00:49:08 The first Virtual World Society/ 1993
00:51:03 Lifting humanity with VR and realising our super powers
00:53:55 VR for all ages, race and languages
00:58:39 Are you more or less excited about the future of VR?
01:03:46 Dreams do come true
01:07:10 What’s one piece of advice you would give to those aspiring to be an astronaut?
About Accenture XR Field of View:
The world of immersive technology is always in a constant state of flux, continuously advancing with the rule book being written by the second. AIXR has teamed up with Accenture XR to explore this wonderful world, with specialists from across the world providing their insight and view on where we are heading next.
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