Headset: EP-01
Manufacturer: VPL Research Inc
Resolution: Color LCD, 360×240 elements
Weight: 2.6 lbs plus 3 lbs counterbalance
Field of view: 90-100H, LEEP optics
Video in: NTSC
Cost: $6000 (£4,400)
Launch Date: 1995
Estimated Value: $4-5,000
Other Features: The original EyePhones. Design based on original NASA-Ames version.
The EP-01 was a head-mounted display unit which was used to visually immerse its user into a virtual environment. To further the level of immersion, each LCD screen provided a slightly different image to create the illusion of depth (the same method that is still used today). To navigate through this “artificial” world, the EyePhone came with an additional tool which VPL Research called the DataGlove. The high-tech glove allowed users to feel and experience objects in virtual reality as if they were real.
For Lanier, the EyePhone was an escape from the physical world and a portal to an imaginary world: “The idea is that by wearing computereque clothing right over your sense organs, you transport your sensory system into a reality that can be of any description.”