The media often covers virtual reality (VR) from an entertainment standpoint. In recent years, a number of such instances have arisen as firms began to investigate the possibility of adopting VR technology to capitalize on cost-cutting opportunities.
VR, on the other hand, offers a wide range of applications beyond stock management and consumer entertainment. In truth, the potential for VR in a variety of industries is enormous, and we have only begun to scratch the surface. Facebook, Google, and Microsoft are already striving to integrate immersive technologies into their own platforms. The writing is on the wall: businesses that do not invest in immersive technologies risk losing ground to competitors.
According to financial experts, virtual reality industry is estimated to rake in $44.7bn in 2024, representing a 33.47% growth rate over the next four years. In comparison, the present market is only worth roughly £14 billion. These estimates show how highly regarded VR technology is.
Education
VR is proving to be an effective tool in education, particularly for today’s youngsters. Digital natives, who have grown up in a digital age, find traditional learning approaches, such as repackaging what used to be on the blackboard into slides on tablets and laptops, to be so lackluster.
Students are bored. The way the electronics are used is what makes them dull, not the gadgets themselves. The format does not pique their interest. However, creating engaging unique content is quite challenging. So, despite the numerous options available, the great bulk of curriculum delivery is extremely uninteresting for today’s overstimulated children.
That’s where VR comes in; the surroundings become part of the content. It provides a whole different manner for kids to participate in an interactive experience that captures and maintains their attention for more than a few seconds.
Students are at ease plunging into a learning environment as dynamic and engaging as the digital world they have become accustomed to on their own time, outside of school. Here are a few instances to demonstrate the immense potential:
Virtual Field Trips: A Window to the World
One of the most exciting applications of VR in education is virtual field trips. You can transport students to places or epochs they could never have the chance to visit in person, from historical sites and times to distant planets.
All without leaving the classroom and without the time, inconvenience and costs associated with conventional travel. In a way it is democratizing travel. Of course, its not the same as the real thing, but it sure beats picture the books you and I grew up on!
Conceptual Subjects: Visualizing Complex Concepts
VR shines in its ability to help students understand abstract and complex subjects. For example, in subjects like astronomy or molecular biology, VR can visualize concepts that are difficult to grasp through traditional 2D representations, providing a tangible understanding of the material.
Interactive Science Labs: Safer to Experiment
Students can conduct virtual experiments in physics, chemistry, and biology, manipulating variables and observing outcomes in a risk-free environment without blowing anything up! This approach makes science more accessible, particularly for schools that lack the resources for physical labs.
Cultural Immersion: Learn languages in context
Students can immerse themselves in foreign language environments and learn in context. For instance, students learning Spanish could virtually visit a market in Barcelona, interacting with vendors and locals in Spanish, enhancing their language skills and cultural understanding.
Special Needs Education: Tailored Programs
VR can be particularly beneficial in special needs education. Tailored VR experiences can help students with learning disabilities or autism by creating controlled environments that focus on particular skills or coping mechanisms, providing a personalized learning journey.
Healthcare
VR’s impact on healthcare will be significant. It is poised to transform medical training, particularly for difficult procedures like surgery. It enables healthcare practitioners to practice treatments in a risk-free setting, sharpening their abilities before performing on actual patients. It also has a wide range of uses in mental health, including training and treatment.
Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) Training
A major teaching hospital in New York has leveraged XR to train anesthesiology residents in ACLS certification, ensuring they are well-prepared for real-life emergencies. This technology enables residents to complete training modules at their convenience, not tying up other people or equipment, so it is efficient and inexpensive.
Empathy and Communication Training
The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) uses AI-powered VR simulations to prepare future healthcare providers for patient interactions. These simulations help develop soft skills like communication and empathy, which are crucial for patient-centered care.
Surgical Training and Planning
Surgeons can practice complex procedures in a virtual environment, reducing the risks associated with training on real patients. Additionally, VR can be used for pre-operative planning, allowing surgeons to explore a 3D model of a patient’s anatomy before actual surgery.
Mental Health Therapy
VR is emerging as a tool in mental health treatment. Therapists are using VR to treat conditions like PTSD, anxiety disorders, and phobias by exposing patients to their fears in a controlled and safe virtual environment, enabling them to learn coping mechanisms.
Physical Rehabilitation
Custom VR programs assist patients in performing specific exercises for recovery, making the rehabilitation process more engaging and motivating. This approach is particularly beneficial for stroke recovery, where relearning motor skills is crucial.
Alleviating Anxiety and Pain
Studies have shown that VR can help alleviate stress and anxiety for patients experiencing acute pain For instance, the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital is using virtual reality tools to put kids at ease during needle-based procedures, reducing reported needle pain by up to 60 %, they say. The VR experience is an underwater simulation that features waves washing over the injection site and a fish nibbling on the patient’s arm.
VR Applications in Other Industries
With a little imagination, every industry can find unique applications for VR, in addition to the universally needed education and training. Here is an example of fascinating applications:
Automotive Virtual Prototyping
In the automotive sector, VR is not just a tool for design and prototyping but is evolving into a comprehensive platform for safety training, customer engagement, and product development. Looking ahead, VR could enable engineers to test drive virtual prototypes in a variety of simulated environments, reducing the need for physical prototypes and accelerating the design process.
Virtual Drive School and Test Drive
Students can be exposed to hazardous conditions and scenarios hundreds of times and experience spins and accidents, long before getting into a real vehicle. This could lead to much better-prepared new drivers. Toyota’s campaign is a testament to VR’s educational potential, using Oculus headsets to simulate the dangers of distracted driving.
VR could also revolutionize the car buying experience, allowing customers to customize and interact with their potential purchases in a virtual space.
Real Estate and Architecture
In real estate and architecture, VR applications extend beyond virtual tours. VR can simulate various scenarios, such as construction phases and safety procedures, enhancing learning and skill development.
Read Also: The Impact of Technology on Everyday Life
Futuristically, VR could enable architects to walk clients through virtual constructions, making modifications in real time based on feedback. This interactive process could significantly streamline design iterations and client approvals.
Manufacturing Industry
VR applications in safety and training can bridge the skill gap among engineers and workers. Advanced technologies like Industry 4.0 and digital twins integrated with VR could provide actionable insights into the manufacturing process, enabling designers to simulate and rectify design prototypes, reducing production time and cost.
Transportation Industry
In transportation, VR’s impact is evident in pilot training and airport design. Lufthansa’s use of VR for pilot training is a prime example, offering realistic simulations that help pilots handle various flight situations without the need for real-world exercises. Future applications could include virtual traffic systems to optimize urban planning and reduce congestion, as well as immersive training for public transportation operators to improve safety and efficiency.
Entertainment Industry
While VR’s role in gaming is well-established, its potential in the broader entertainment industry is vast. Oculus Cinema and VR demonstrate how VR can create deeply immersive movie and sports experiences, respectively. In the future, VR could enable audiences to participate in live performances, interacting with the environment and performers in real-time. This could redefine the concept of live entertainment, offering personalized and interactive experiences.
Challenges Hindering VR
Despite the potential, VR has been hampered by its high cost and connectivity requirements. VR is too demanding for Wi-Fi and BLE, and the lack of convenient high-speed connectivity, both locally and over the internet, has severely limited its potential. This may change with Wi-Fi 7.
Wi-Fi 7: A Catalyst for VR Evolution
While most Virtual Reality applications today are standalone or tethered systems, not reliant on real-time internet data, this could change a lot in the coming years. The advent of Wi-Fi 7, which is capable of 4x higher bandwidth and lower latency than its predecessor Wi-Fi 6e, further removes performance and latency barriers.
This will lead to more “connected” systems over “tethered” and “standalone” systems, and a greater reliance on the internet for some or all of the content. It should also lead to more multi-player gaming and other real-time applications such as remote medical consultations in high definition without any perceptible lag.
New VR products with Wi-Fi 7
Since Wi-Fi 7 will be a big enabler for VR. We expect vendors to start building more “connected” systems. But this time around they will be going all-in on Wi-Fi with their most ambitious Wi-Fi designs ever, hoping to exploit some of those new features like MLO and 320 GHz wide channels, incorporating 4×4 antenna arrays, perhaps even multiple radios.
As recognized experts in embedded engineering for Wi-Fi , IoT and TinyML we can help you overcome the design challenges and get new products to market on time and on budget.
Content Challenges of VR
The technical, operational even ethical challenges around the deployment of VR are different in different industries and use cases, but one overriding barrier that affects everyone is the creation of VR content and environments in the first place.
eXtended Reality authoring is an entirely new emerging industry, and one early proponent of it is ARuVR. Their platform gives businesses the tools to build their own immersive training experiences in augmented and virtual reality without extensive coding knowledge.
One of the most compelling applications of VR in education is the ability to transport students to different epochs, making history lessons come alive (Program-Ace, 2023). For instance, a history class could use VR to explore the pyramids of Egypt, providing a level of engagement and comprehension that textbooks alone cannot achieve. Students can virtually walk through ancient structures, interact with the environment, and even participate in historical events, leading to a deeper understanding of the subject matter.
How Does Virtual Reality Work?
VR overrides the user’s senses via a feedback loop of tracking sensors and stimulation generated by VR hardware, software, and the user’s interaction with the physical environment. Virtual reality systems consist of three components:
Let’s examine how each aspect of a VR system produces a virtual reality experience.
Hardware
The hardware of a VR system transmits a stimulus to the physical world so that the user’s eyes and ears can convert it into a neural impulse. The goal is to convince the brain that the virtual world is the physical world and that the aural and visual displays are natural stimulation.
Three main hardware components make up a VR system:
- Displays: Devices that output stimuli for various sense organs. These could be screens for the eyes, speakers or headphones for the ears, or haptic feedback for the sense of touch.
- Sensors are devices that take input signals from the physical world. They detect the orientation of the various sense organs. Other sensors include a digital camera to track the eyes, ears, hands, and other body movements. Additionally, infrared cameras sense depth through a project of infrared light not visible to the human eye.
- Computers: Devices that take in the input sensors and display the output stimuli to run the virtual world generator (VWG). These computers can range from a desktop computer run to the headset with wires or something as simple as a smartphone that drops into the headset. Special computing components like graphics processing units (GPUs) and display interface chips help the VR system perform.
Software
Software for VR works through the inputs it receives from hardware in the physical world, supplying these to the VWG to constantly render the stimulation to make the VR. The software creates the perception of the real world versus the VR world, using recorded images, computer-generated images (CGI), or a combination of both.
Additionally, software attempts to match the user’s motion in the physical world to their motion in the virtual world, ensuring that the viewpoints of objects in the world line up. Software dictates what happens when a user wants to move outside of the matched motion from the sensors. Additional hardware, like a controller, allows users to move. The software accounts for physics by applying various algorithms to similar physics in the physical world, deciding how simple or complex a VR world should be.
When creating VR, a software development kit (SDK) gives a basic set of rules from a hardware vendor on how to build a VWG from scratch that includes all of their physics, audio, and movement. Some companies produce their VWG that developers can use as a starting point with implemented rules and safety.
Human perception
VR must consider the effects of artificial stimuli on the human senses. Each human sense has a stimulus, receptor, and organs that perceive the physical world. VR engineers stimuli that act on human neurological pathways similar to how senses in the physical world operate. Sometimes your brain reacts poorly to the stimuli, creating a fusion of senses that causes fatigue, headaches, nausea, or an inability to interpret the experience as “real.”
The adaptation of human sense perception can cause VR developers to forget what VR does to the senses of someone who has never interacted with it before. Although you slowly become comfortable with VR, a developer who always interacts with it may make design flaws they do not notice. An understanding of the effects of VR on human perception must be fully understood so that VR stimulates what it’s supposed to while limiting side effects.