Uploaded June 2015 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
This lecture was delivered by Oculus Principal Scientist Steve Lavalle on May 8, 2014.
Abstract
Virtual reality works by hijacking some of your senses and fooling your brain. Nearly every aspect of VR system development has a perceptual component that yields counter intuitive outcomes, including head tracking, display technology, optics, graphical rendering, and interaction modalities. This part will highlight some of these challenges as they emerged on the road to making the Oculus Rift. The lesson learned so far is that every standard technique may have to be reinvestigated, making this an exciting era for research!
Biography
Steve LaValle has been a researcher for over two decades in the areas of robotics, computer vision, computational geometry, and control theory. He has published two books and over 150 peer-reviewed scientific articles. He is best known for his introduction of rapidly exploring random tree (RRT) algorithms, and his book on Planning Algorithms, one of the most highly cited texts in the field. He holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois. From 1995-1997, he was a Research Scientist and Lecturer in the Stanford Computer Science Department. From 1997-2001, he was an Assistant Professor at Iowa State. He has been on the faculty of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 2001, where he currently holds the rank of Professor. In 2012, he was one of seven campus-wide faculty to be named University Scholar. Since 2012, he has been on university leave to work at Oculus VR on the Oculus Rift.
This lecture was delivered by Oculus Principal Scientist Steve Lavalle on May 8, 2014.
Abstract
Virtual reality works by hijacking some of your senses and fooling your brain. Nearly every aspect of VR system development has a perceptual component that yields counter intuitive outcomes, including head tracking, display technology, optics, graphical rendering, and interaction modalities. This part will highlight some of these challenges as they emerged on the road to making the Oculus Rift. The lesson learned so far is that every standard technique may have to be reinvestigated, making this an exciting era for research!
Biography
Steve LaValle has been a researcher for over two decades in the areas of robotics, computer vision, computational geometry, and control theory. He has published two books and over 150 peer-reviewed scientific articles. He is best known for his introduction of rapidly exploring random tree (RRT) algorithms, and his book on Planning Algorithms, one of the most highly cited texts in the field. He holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois. From 1995-1997, he was a Research Scientist and Lecturer in the Stanford Computer Science Department. From 1997-2001, he was an Assistant Professor at Iowa State. He has been on the faculty of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 2001, where he currently holds the rank of Professor. In 2012, he was one of seven campus-wide faculty to be named University Scholar. Since 2012, he has been on university leave to work at Oculus VR on the Oculus Rift.
