What’s the History of AR & VR Technology?

The first VR head-mounted display was built in the late 1960s, and it has been around for decades. VR technology was mostly employed in flight simulation, military training, and medical applications until the 1990s when Nintendo’s Virtual Boy and Sega’s VR-1 pioneered the use of VR gear in gaming. These early VR experiences were constrained by the technology of the time and did not take off, and the industry remained relatively quiet for the majority of the 2000s. Consumer VR hardware has only recently become more affordable, most notably with PSVR, Oculus, and Vive.

AR, like VR, began in the late 1960s, but it wasn’t until the 1990s that the phrase “augmented reality” was established. AR was mostly utilised for simulation and training, as well as in the manufacturing business, similar to VR. Advertising and marketing firms discovered the value of AR campaigns in the late 2000s. Wearable AR technology, such as Google Glass and Microsoft HoloLens, has achieved breakthroughs similar to VR hardware, however, it has yet to gain general consumer adoption.