Morton Heilig’s Sensorama

The predecessor of all modern virtual reality devices was an incredible machine invented in 1962 by cinematographer Morton Heilig called the Sensorama. According to Joseph Kaye’s master’s thesis on “Symbolic Olfactory Display,” the Sensorama was:
an immersive 3-D virtual reality motorbike ride, in a form factor resembling an arcade game. Heilig saw Sensorama as the future of cinema, an immersive experience, complete with nine different fans to simulate the wind blowing on the user’s face, vibrating seat (to simulate driving over cobblestones), and the aromas of jasmine and hibiscus as the driver passed a flower garden, or the smell of baking pizza as one passed by an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn. (Rheingold, 1991) It never received the funding necessary to scale up to commercial production, and quietly disappeared, although Heilig persisted, patenting improvements over the next decade.
In addition to the motorcycle film, Heilig created several other works for the Sensorama including, “Belly Dancer,” “Dune Buggy,” “Helicopter,” “A Date with Sabina,” and the provocatively titled, “I’m a Coca Cola Bottle.” Shown below is the Sensorama 3-D Motion Picture Camera, used to capture images for the Sensorama projector.

[Acknowledgements to Alex]
[Del.icio.us | Reddit | Digg]
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.











