Explanation of Emojis:
❗ - important milestone (reading these entries only will give you a good general understanding of how AR and VR have advanced)
📝 - publication, scientific paper on the subject (in case you want to cite sources on AR/VR)
🎮 - video game hardware or software (if you are just interested in AR/VR in video games)
📱 - mobile hardware or software (advancements in AR/VR on smart phones)
- Stereoscopy (1780s - 1950s)
- Early Headsets (1950s - 1980s)
- Birth of Virtual Reality (1980s - 1990s)
- The Renaissance (2000s - )
Technological advancements and scientific achievements are aligned to the left. Depictions of AR and VR in popular culture are aligned to the right.
Click on the titles to expand them.
1787 - The Panorama
Ars1838 - Stereoscope ❗
...1850
1850 - Stereo Daguerreotype
...1853/08 - First known Anaglyph (Farbenstereoscope)
W. Rollmann in Stargard ...1890 - Stereo Microscope
...1908 - Lenticular Printing
Ars1915 - First Anaglyph Film
Edwin S Porter. ...1922/12/27 - Teleview Active Shutter System
...1930 - The Link Trainer
Ars1935 - Pygmalion's Spectacles ❗
...1939 - The View-Master ❗
...1950
1951 - Cinerame
Widescreen ...1952 - Bwana Devil ❗
First 3D film craze ...1952 - Polarized 3D films
...1957 - Sensorama ❗
...1960 - Telesphere Mask (Stereoscopic-Television Apparatus) ❗
Zenka1961 - Headsight
Ars1962/08 - Sensorama patented
Zenka1963/01 - Television Goggles on Life's Cover ❗
Zenka1964 - Simulacron-3
Ars1965 - The Ultimate Display ❗📝
...1968 - The Sword of Damocles ❗
...1968/12 - The Sword of Damocles Sold
Zenka1973/04 - First handheld mobile phone
by Motorola MobileAR1973 - World on a Wire
Ars1975 - Star Trek's HoloDeck ❗
...1976 - Dr Who's Matrix
...1977 - Data Gloves (Sayre Glove) ❗
Ars1979/12 - McDonnell Douglas' VITAL HMD
Zenka1981/12 - Visually Coupled Airborne Systems Simulator
Zenka1982 - SubRoc-3D 🎮
...1982 - The Judas Mandala
...1982 - Tron
...1984 - VPL Research ❗
Ars1984/07/01 - Neuromancer ❗
...1985 - IHADSS
Zenka1985 - NASA's VIEW
Zenka, Ars (1986, 1990) ?1986 - Jaron Lanier (VPL Research) establishes the term “Virtual Reality” ❗
Ars1987 - "Virtual Reality" is first mentioned in the Oxford English Dictionary
Ars1987/10/21 - Famicom 3D System 🎮
...1987/10 - SegaScope 3-D Glasses 🎮
...1989/03 - LEEP Cyberface
Zenka1989 - Nintendo Power Glove 🎮
...1990 - NASA's VIEW
Zenka, Ars (1986, 1990) ?1990 - Thomas P. Caudell develops the term “augmented reality” ❗📝
Ars (1992?)1991/01 - Virtual Research Flight Helmet
Zenka1991/10 - Virtuality (Virtual Group) ❗
Zenka, Ars1991 - CAVE ❗
Ars (1995)?1991/12 - FlightHelmet
Ars (1995)?1992 - First Smart Phone 📱
Introduced at COMDEX 1992, IBM's Simon Personal Communicator MobileAR1992 - The Lawnmover Man ❗
...1992 - Snow Cash
Ars1993/03 - Tier-1 by VFrontier
Zenka1993/07 - Sega VR 🎮
...1993/12 - GPS achieves initial operational capability ❗
officially named NAVSTAR-GPS MobileAR1994/04 - The Chameleon: spatially aware palmtop computers
https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=260460 MobileAR1994 - Steve Mann's WearCam
Look out through my glasses right now http://wearcam.org/myview.html MobileAR1994 - Taxanomy of Mixed Reality Visual Displays ❗📝
Paul Milgram and Fumio Kishino write their seminal paper MobileAR1994/09 - Aura Interactor 🎮
...1994/11 - Atari Jaguar 🎮
Zenka (Needed?)1994/12 - VR4 by Virtual Research
Zenka1995 - NaviCam
Jun Rekimoto and Katashi Nagao MobileAR1995 - Audio Augmented Reality
Benjamin Bederson MobileAR1995/07 - Nintendo's Virtual Boy 🎮
...1995/07 - Cybermaxx by Victormaxx 🎮
Zenka1995/10 - iGlassed by Virtual I/O
Zenka1995/10 - Strange Days
Ars1995/12 - Forte VX1 🎮
Zenka, Ars1995/12 - FOHMD (Fiber Optics) HMD for Tornado
Zenka1996 - 2D Matrix Markers ❗
Jun Rekimoto MobileAR1997 - First survey on Augmented Reality 📝
Ronald Azuma MobileAR1997 - Mobile Augmented Reality System (MARS) 📱
Steve Feiner MobileAR1997 - Thad Starner on the possible applications of mobile AR 📝📱
MobileAR1997 - Camera Phone invented ❗📱
Philippe Kahn MobileAR1997/12 - HMD Glasstron by Sony
Zenka1998 - Map-in-the-hat (Tinmith)
Bruce Thomas MobileAR1999 - First GSM phone with built-in GPS receiver 📱
Benefon Esc! NT2002 MobileAR1999 - Wireless 802.11a/802.11b protocols defined ❗
WiFi MobileAR1999/01 - EyeTap
...1999/01 - Tom Auer Doctoral Project 📝
Zenka1999/03/31 - The Matrix ❗
...1999 - eXistenZ
Ars1999 - AR Toolkit (Initial release) ❗
Ars2000 - AR Quake 🎮
Ars2000 - Battlefield Augmented Reality System (BARS)
Simon Julier MobileAR2000 - Sharp's commercial Camera Phone 📱
MobileAR2001 - Archeoguide for cultural heritages
Vlahakis MobileAR2001/04 - Full Immersion HMD VIM 6-panel by Kaiser Electro-Optics Inc.
Zenka2001 - RWWW AR Browser
Kooper and MacIntyre MobileAR2002 - Minority Report ❗
...2003 - Human Pacman 🎮
Adrian David Cheok MobileAR2003 - iLamps projector-camera system
Ramesh Raskar MobileAR2003/05/15 - The Matrix Reloaded
...2003 - Mozzies, Siemens SX1 AR Camera Game 🎮📱
Mosquito Hunt MobileAR2003/06/23 - Second Life ❗
Ars2003/11/05 - The Matrix Revolutions
...2004 - Mobile 3D marker tracking 📱
Mathias Möhring MobileAR2004 - The Invisible Train 🎮
SIGGRAPH 2004 MobileAR2005 - ARToolkit for Symbian 📱
Anders Henrysson ports it MobileAR2005 - Mobile Phones with 3-Axis Accelerometers 📱
Sharp V603SH and Samsung SCH-S310 MobileAR2005/12 - Cybermind VISETTE45SXGA
Zenka2006 - Nokia's Multi-Sensor Mobile AR (MARA) Prototype 📱
AR guidance tool MobileAR2006 - Rainbows End
Ars2007 - iPhne, the first multi-touch screen mobile 📱
MobileAR2008 - First 6DOF implementation of natural feature tracking in real-time on mobile phones 📝📱
Wagner2008 - Wikitude 📱
MobileAR2008 - Rise of Smartphones and Augmented Reality ❗📱
Ars (nneded?)2009 - Oculus Rift Crescent Bay Prototype
Zenka2009 - MapLens
Morrison MobileAR2009 - Fiducial based Mobile tracking 📝📱
Hagbi MobileAR2009 - SiteLens 📱
Sean White MobileAR2009 - Layar ❗📱
SPRXmobile MobileAR2009/07 - Predecessor to Canon MREAL System for Mixed Reality
Zenka2010 - Vuzix Wrap AR 920
Zenka2010/08 - Palmer Tech's PR1
Palmer Lucky's early VR prototypes Zenka2010/09 - xSight HMD by Senetics
Zenka2012/01 - Sensics SmartGoggles by Natalia Immersive
Zenka2012/02 - Canon MReal Mixed Reality Headset
Zenka2012/04 - Google Glass ❗
Zenka2012/06 - Oculus Rift Prototype ❗
Zenka2013/01 - Vuzix M100📱
Zenka2013/08 - Oculus Rift Dev Kit 1 ❗
Zenka (date?)2013/09 - Samsung Gear VR ❗📱
Zenka2013/12 - Vuzix M2000AR HMD
Zenka2013/12 - Meta Pro Prototype v2.0
Zenka2014/01 - CAST AR
Zenka2014/01 - ORA-X Headphones by Optinvent
Zenka2014/01 - Oculus Rift Crystal Cove Prototype
Zenka2014/01 - CyberEye 100
Zenka2014/01 - Moverio BT-200 Smart Glasses
Zenka2014/01 - Laster SeeThru
Zenka2014/01 - Valve VR ❗
Zenka2014/03 - Oculus Dev Kit 2 ❗
Zenka2014/03 - Project Morpheus ❗🎮
Zenka2014/04 - MergeVR 📱
Zenka2014/05 - Epson Moverio BT-200
Zenka2014/06 - GameFace Labs Mark 5 Prototype
Zenka2014/06 - Google Cardboard ❗📱
Zenka(...)
Several events have multiple dates assigned to them as most sources cite different dates for projects, as they give more importance to different milestones. It is not always possible to pinpoint an event in time, and decide which exact date was more important in a project's lifecycle, from conceiving the idea, through developing a proof of concept version, to showing it off in public in a media event or publishing a paper on the subject.
- http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/440580/VR-and-AR-Goggles/
- https://ars.electronica.art/center/en/exhibitions/vrlab/
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/1505.01319.pdf
Timelines, exhibitions and publications on the history of AR and VR are static. Using them as a basis, this repository was based on multiple sources in order to preserve a more accurate picture of the past, and allow others to expand it.
The reason why the timeline is separated, is to give a better understanding on the different waves of hype surrounding AR and VR.
Although almost every single one of these inventions have failed, leaving customers with unfulfilled promises, with most of their parent companies even going bankrupt, I have decided not to add information on when these companies went out of business or gave up on the idea of AR and VR for a time. These inventors were all ahead of their time with great visions, and should serve as encouraging role models to anyone in research and developement. Failure is part of coming up with new things, and no matter how great an idea and its execution are, having the technology ready does not equate to widespread adoption.
Feel free to contribute to this timeline or suggest clarifications.