The Mind's Eye

The World's 1st VR Motorcycle Ride 1993

Yes that is a mullet haircut... I built that motorcycle and helmet in 6 weeks and worked with the programmer to make the physics of the VR experience as close to the real thing as possible. It was on a couple of NYC News channels and on CNET for a brief moment... and then it was all over. VR faded into an odd abyss not to be revisited until a whole new generation, with awesome computing power and amazing graphics became what we see today.

I got into VR because of a birthday present. I attended a NYC workshop on VR and my girlfriend of the time knew that I was fascinated with 3D, computers and VR.

Do you remember?

The Lawnmower Man 1992

https://youtu.be/YCxFGxqLsHE

and The Mind's Eye 1990

These movies had hooked me and I knew that I wanted to work in VR and 3D... I had gotten books and software and most of all I got a great opportunity. The tech was so young that the workshop presenters came with a real motorcycle with a joystick stuck on the tank and the monstrous goggles that are still in many ways the standard. As soon as I saw it I talked to the developers and told them I could build them a faux motorcycle that could work with their software and I followed that with the helmet.

It was a blast. No sleep and lots of beer and an electric turkey knife. I built the frame like a giant hinge that could lean to each side with car springs and shocks inside as a counter weight and to push the bike upright and then carved the body from foam. Throttle pulled a cable that literally pulled the joystick, now underneath the body, forward.

It is wonderful to see so many of my dreams of the future coming to pass. And while our dating sites aren't at Logan's Run yet, Amazon will actually ship almost anything...

; )