Palmer Luckey

Palmer Freeman Luckey is an American entrepreneur best known as the founder of Oculus VR and designer of the Oculus Rift. The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality head-mounted display that is widely credited with reviving the virtual reality industry. In 2017, Luckey departed Oculus and founded defense contractor Anduril Industries. He ranks number 22 on Forbes’ 2016 list of America’s richest entrepreneurs under 40.

About Palmer Luckey in brief

Summary Palmer LuckeyPalmer Freeman Luckey is an American entrepreneur best known as the founder of Oculus VR and designer of the Oculus Rift. The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality head-mounted display that is widely credited with reviving the virtual reality industry. In 2017, Luckey departed Oculus and founded defense contractor Anduril Industries, a defense technology company focused on autonomous drones and sensors for military applications. He ranks number 22 on Forbes’ 2016 list of America’s richest entrepreneurs under 40. Luckey was born and raised in Long Beach, California, with three younger sisters, Ginger Luckey,. Bridget Luckey, and Roxanne Luckey. As a child he was homeschooled by his mother, took sailing lessons, and had an intense interest in electronics and engineering. He took community college courses at Golden West College and Long Beach City College beginning at the age of 14 or 15, and started attending courses at California State University, Long Beach in 2010. During his childhood and teenage years, he experimented with a variety of complex electronics projects including railguns, Tesla coils, and lasers, with some of these projects resulting in serious injuries. He completed his first prototype, called PR1, at age 17 in his parents’ garage in 2010, which featured a 90-degree field-of- view, low latency, and built-in haptic feedback.

He launched Oculus VR in April 2012 to facilitate the official launch of the Kickstarter campaign. John Carmack of id Software, a notable game developer famous for his work on the Doom and Quake videogame series, requested a prototype headset from Luckey and lent it to Carmack free of charge. The Kickstarter campaign was successful, raising more than one million dollars in its original target. Brendan Iribe was hired by Oculus to be the company’s chief executive officer. He was also hired by Iribe to lead the company’s development of its mobile app, Oculus Rift, and other virtual reality products. He has three children, one of whom is a high school senior and a junior at Long Beach State University. He also has a son, a son-in-law, and a daughter, both of whom are high school seniors. He is married to the former Miss Long Beach and the mother of one of his children, who is a junior high school science teacher. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. He works as a groundskeeper, youth sailing coach, and computer repair technician. He earned at least US$36,000 by fixing and reselling damaged iPhones and working part-time as a Groundskeeper, Youth sailing coach and computer Repair technician. His 6th-generation unit was intended to be sold as a do-it-yourself kit to fellow enthusiasts.