## 5 Addressing the Research Questions
### RQ1: What Are the Primary Fields of Application Where VR, AI, and IoT Are Used in Combination? To answer the first research question regarding the primary fields of application where VR, AI, and IoT intersect, a quantitative analysis on the papers that underwent systematic full-read screening has been conducted. The comprehensive examination of the identified scholarly works provides insights into the disciplinary landscape, where these technologies converge. The following table presents the identified fields of application as well as their frequency and prevalence in the literature. The quantitative results, presented in Table 3 as well as Figure 2, reveal that healthcare, industry, and smart cities are more prevalent in the literature, with each field accounting for a significant number of articles. Specifically, 14 articles met the inclusion criteria after applying our additional criteria (in order to ensure quality and even out the population of papers in each application field of our review), while a broader set of 34 papers would be created representing the number of papers that would be included if our additional criteria were not applied. This set demonstrates even greater prevalence across the identified fields and helps better understand the current state of the literature. Not surprisingly, healthcare is the main focus of applied research on the topic. The convergence of these three technologies not only benefits the field in ways that were previously impossible but also has a significant impact. The applications will revolutionize the field and benefit countless lives. In terms of the VR-AI-IoT combination, healthcare is the most mature field and will probably continue to be due to its impact and the revolutionizing possibilities. Industry, as well as smart cities, are also in great focus with a good amount of ready-for-real-world applications. As the era of Industry 4.0 approaches, an increasing number of systems are emerging that enhance productivity, reduce losses, and improve worker safety. The high stakes of the field coupled with the vast economic benefits of integrating such systems into real working environments, underscore their importance. Several systems were showcased that will benefit from future improvements as they address ongoing challenges. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**Application Domain** & **\# Of Articles** &
\begin{tabular}{c} **\# Of Articles Without The** \\ **Additional Criteria Limit** \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline Health & 3 & 13 \\ \hline Industry & 3 & 8 \\ \hline Smart Cities & 3 & 8 \\ \hline Art \& Culture & 2 & 2 \\ \hline Education & 2 & 2 \\ \hline Metaverse & 1 & 1 \\ \hline
**Total** & 14 & 34 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Results of the quantitative data-analysis based on the number of papers included for each identified application field. The creation of efficient and sustainable urban environments is just as important while there is an increase in research regarding everything from smart appliances, smart homes, smart grid up to smart cities. Urban planning, infrastructure management, transportation and public safety as well as other emergency services are constantly evolving and the use of both VR, AI and IoT creates new capabilities and features for such applications. On the other hand, apart from these 3 major domains, full implementations of systems regarding other fields were very rare and disproportionate compared to the above, which was the reason for deciding to include some additional criteria to limit the amount of works of the preserving fields as our research focuses more on the big picture where the convergence occurs. Through a rigorous systematic review process only 1 article was found to create a system to enhance visits in cultural heritage spaces like museums while another one was more loosely connected to the art application field, thus creating the Art & Culture application field which only included 2 articles.