Biography

Warren Robinett is a designer of interactive computer graphics software. At the University of North Carolina , he co-invented the NanoManipulator, a virtual-reality interface to a scanning-probe microscope, which allows a scientist to be virtually present on the surface of a microscopic sample within the microscope.  In the mid-1980's at NASA Ames Research Center, Robinett designed the software for the Virtual Environment Workstation, NASA's pioneering virtual reality project.  In 1980, he co-founded The Learning Company, now a major publisher of educational software.  There he designed Rocky's Boots, a computer game which taught digital logic design to upper grade-school children, using an interactive, visual simulation.  Rocky's Boots won Software of the Year awards from three magazines in 1983.  In 1978, he designed the Atari video game Adventure, the first graphical adventure game.

Virtual Reality
        NanoManipulator
        NASA VR Project
        Other VR Work
Educational Software
        The Learning Company
        Rocky's Boots
Video Games
        Adventure

Warren Robinett's Papers