Mar 27, 2016 8:00 PM

Gallery: The Inside Story of How Oculus Cracked the Impossible Design of VR

Christie Hemm Klok/WIRED
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The Oculus Rift, currently shipping.
Christie Hemm Klok/WIRED
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An early design experiment involved a ratcheting closure mechanism at the rear.

Christie Hemm Klok/WIRED
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Early efforts at integrating audio into the Rift involved swing-out headphones on oversize side straps.
Christie Hemm Klok/WIRED
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Slowly, the Rift began to look less robotic and more personal.

Christie Hemm Klok/WIRED
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A sample of some early investigations into adjusting the distance between lenses.
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Many design prototypes solved one problem only to introduce others ...

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... like looking unduly severe.
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A lens housing from a design prototype.

Christie Hemm Klok/WIRED
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The Crescent Bay prototype, first introduced in fall 2014, was the first to incorporate most of the functions and design choices that would surface in the consumer version.
Christie Hemm Klok/WIRED
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However, it wasn't so long ago that all that power presented an unruly mess of cables—a "preposterous umbilical cord," as engineer Nirav Patel describes it.

Christie Hemm Klok/WIRED
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Today the Rift has narrowed things down to a single cable, but that's still something that Oculus looks forward to being able to leave behind.

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