I recently read about the history of the stereoscopic viewer. The idea of it was first conceived by English scientist Sir Charles Wheatstone in his 1838 paper titled "Contributions to the physiology of Vision". It however, was made profitable later on when toy companies began creating plastic Stereoscopic viewers for the average consumer.
The toy basically gave the user a couple of simple experiences in the form of photos. The photos viewed through this toy where unique however, since they intended to transport the viewer to the diegesis of the photograph. It made the viewer feel as if they where looking into a new reality through a set of goggles.
These where simple pieces of plastic and glass yet they captured the attention of millions in 1849 when sir David Brewster made them accessible. People where intrigued by the idea of tricking the senses and they still are.
Is it possible to make VR experiences as accessible as the stereoscopic viewer? A headset that contains a single experience. One presses an on switch and the headset boots up some software that can present a virtual environment. using an accelerometer it can respond the the viewers movements and work as a VR headset would. If some form of 6DOF can be achieved in a simple, low cost toy of a headset, would it sell as the stereoscope did?
The most important thing to consider is how to make these financially feasible. The Oculus Go is the closest thing to the idea described. It is an all in one headset that doesn't need any external hardware. It can be used anywhere. It is accessible. The only draw back is that it cant provide experiences that can truly transport a user to a new reality. It is not powerful enough to run high end experiences.
Perhaps I can run a simple beach experience on an oculus go. There's probably some environment I can access that just shows a beach. Perhaps I can incorporate smell into it and bring it as an ad on to VR events. Its meant to be passed around and it simply runs that one beach environment, like a stereoscope would.
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