While working towards his B.A. in physics at Harvard College in 1967, Sproull met Ivan Sutherland. Together, they worked on head-mounted displays, which led the way for 3-dimensional virtual reality.

Sproull received his Masters Degree in Computer Science from Stanford University in 1970, and Doctorate in Computer Science from Stanford in 1977.

Prior to forming Sutherland, Sproull and Associates, Bob worked as a researcher for Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, and as an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon. While at Xerox PARC, Bob worked on the design of the Alto personal computer,,the first laser printers, page description languages and the initial PC-type operating systems.

In 1973, Sproull and William M. Newman wrote Principles of Interactive Computer Graphics; a second edition was published in 1979. This was the first comprehensive textbook on computer graphics, and was regarded as the graphics "bible", until it was succeeded by Foley and van Dam's Fundamentals of Computer Graphics.

In 1980, Bob Sproull and Ivan Sutherland founded a consulting firm, Sutherland, Sproull and Associates.

In 1990, Sun Microsystems bought out Sutherland, Sproull and Associates for its patents and key people. This led to the creation of Sun Microsystems Laboratories, where Sproull has been working on asynchronous processor design.

Sproull is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has served on the US Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. He has co-authored several books in addition to Principles of Interactive Computer Graphics, such as Logical Effort, and holds 7 patents.