FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — A 3-D animated creature, affectionately named Gerald, appears to walk in circles while floating in front of an elaborate viewer that resembles something from an optometrist’s office. Though only half a foot high, and with four arms, he looks remarkably lifelike through lenses that transmit what computer scientists and optical engineers describe as a “digital light field” into the eyes of a viewer.

The technology, once downsized into a pair of glasses, is intended to overcome the most significant technical challenges blocking an explosion of virtual reality.

Though the industry could radically transform entertainment, gaming and other forms of computing, it has an Achilles’ heel: Many people become queasy after pulling viewing devices over their eyes and slipping into an immersive world that blurs the line between physical reality and computer-generated imagery.

Oculus Rift, the crowdfunded start-up acquired by Facebook for $2 billion in March, has been trying to correct this motion sickness. But it is a steep challenge. Nearly 50 years after the computer scientist Ivan Sutherland pioneered head-mounted computer displays, there are more than two dozen companies that have attempted to commercialize various forms of the technology, called near-eye displays, with little success.