The Sword of Damocles AKA The Virtual Sword of DamoclesΩ
[related: Ivan Sutherland, Vannevar Bush, DARPA, ARL, HMD]
The Sword of Damocles Computer Science Project (SDCSP) was a virtual reality-based research project featuring the world's first Head Mounted Display (HMD). Debuting in 1960, the SDCSP precursed the eventual development of functional VR technology by almost 40 years. The project was led by Ivan Sutherland [1], creator of the SketchPad™, and his team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Sutherland's system involved an ingenious combination of rudimentary computer graphics, stereoscopic lensing, hand-sautered electronics, plastic tubing and cosmetic mirrors - along with specially-made sensor gloves [2] to track the user's movements.
Following the unveiling of its initial prototype, the SDCSP received seed funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and, later, the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) under contract with Bell Helicopter for use in aerial weaponry development and aviation training.
Due to the low processing power available at the time, the computational control system used by Sutherland's team was gargantuan, weighing over 3,500 pounds - roughly equivalent to half the helicopter on which it was to be housed. Occupying over 500 square feet, the SDCSP's central controls generated temperatures upwards of 200 degrees Fahrenheit. The project's military participants were subjected to a variety of grueling simulations, including helicopter and airplane crashes, shipwrecks, and other disasters - resulting in waves of nausea and heat stroke. The project made significant progress until it was eventually shut down in 1974 after a slew of technical difficulties and participant complaints/threatened litigation. Overall, the SOD was estimated by Ma Bell to have cost approximately $52 million and was, at the time of its discontinuation, widely considered to be a failure. The SDCSP was somewhat satirically named after a Greek myth in which the (likely apocryphal) miscreant Damocles was briefly seated on the throne of Dionysius only to find a heavy sword strung gingerly above his head - an analogous reference to the bulky and extremely ponderous equipment employed in Sutherland's HMD.
- href#[redacted] :: VIRTUAL SWORD OF DAMOCLES.
- href#[redacted] :: White Cube o_ Death.
- ↑ Commonly considered to be the father of computer graphics.
- ↑ Later known as haptic feedback gloves - now used in a variety of applications including the Nintendo Entertainment System's Power Glove.