Virtual Reality — Present & Future
By: Matthew Reynolds
Tags: Virtual Reality Uses, VR, Vr Future, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality

Bellow is a mix of data. On one hand I will share some data collected about this industry. On the other hand I will share my thoughts and how I think the future will look like.

Content:

VR — What is it VR History VR — Technology Prices VR Uses Today VR — Room to Grow for the Short Term VR — Where to?

1. Virtual Reality — What is it?

Virtual Reality is a technology that enables users to experience simulated reality. At this time VR is about giving you the visual stimulus in a way that is immersive (similar to one you experience in reality). The ability to see 3D is the mark of current virtual reality technology.

For example. You can film anything in reality and render it in 3D. Lets say you want to visit a far away country. You can get even the point of view of someone that personally was in that country. Lately they are shooting even some movies for VR use. Some are pretty scary as you can see them from the actor POV.

Augmented Reality

Don’t mistake VR for augmented reality. That is a different ball game. Augmented reality is all about adding to the reality around you. Like you see in games or science fiction movies, where they have some implants or glasses that can show live things like distance or add all kinds of images over the reality around you. Some examples of AR games are Ingress or Pokemon Go.

Back to our regular program: virtual reality.

2. VR — short history

The first stereoscope was invented in 1838. It used 2 twin mirrors to project 1 image. Thus giving the first effect of 3D. However the term of “virtual reality” was coined by a guy named Jaron Lanier in the mid 1980. (Source: https://www.fi.edu/virtual-reality/history-of-virtual-reality)

3. VR — Today

Today the virtual reality technology is accessible to almost anyone able to afford it. And I am not talking just about the end users (those that watch), but also about those that can produce content in 3D.

google cardboard

Talking about affording VR technology, when it comes to end users, a VR headset can start from a few buck (google cardboard) to a few thousand $ for high end products. Sure, the difference in the quality is great. But, even with the cheaper versions you should be able to experience the virtual reality. How immersive is the experience also depends on the quality of the film.

a standalone VR headset — “Oculus Go”

For those that want to film in 3D, the kits needed can start from a few hundreds buck to thousands of dollars.

Ok. So far we got down what is VR, what is AR, a short history of vr and some prices for the technology. Now let’s talk about its uses today.

4. VR — Uses

Here we talk about almost every sector where VR applications are used or could be used with more benefits than the current alternatives. The categories that are or can use the VR technology are mostly:

education

health

entertainment

business

military

Let’s talk a little bit about each one.

Education, Research & VR

From my perspective this field and Health are those that could benefit humanity the most, at this time. And the VR technology is already implemented by a few schools. Even some surgeons are now taking courses and practice using VR.

Also, the fields of research like engineering, spatial exploration, robotics are ‘silently’ using it and developing VR technology as well.

Almost any field can benefit a better way to train for a specific skill. And not only that you can repeat things in VR, the costs are lower in most cases as you don’t have to use all the props you need in reality.

Health & VR

The psychological field is actively seeking of new ways to use it as a treatment. There are already researches showing that VR can help people with PTSD, in conjunction with other treatments like behavioral therapy.

However, more studies are needed to find those areas where it can be used as a better way to treat things.

Entertainment & VR

Without arguing, the most active sector and the industry that will push the technology the most. Here we have areas as video games, cinema, music and even sports events like basketball or chess.

More than half of the vr headset owners use it to play VR games. While about 1 third use it to watch adult vr content. Yes, porn. Compared to 3D movies, adult content is leading easily. So, it is no surprise that most of the knowledge of shooting movies from POV is from the adult industry. Just think about all those that wish to have sex with a Pornstar in VR. If you check google trends you will be surprised by how many people actively search for such content.

Business & VR

There are more and more companies that are using VR technology for their trainings. This enables to cut down the cost and sometime it can be used in the hiring process. From a business perspective, if you manage to cut down the costs & time, while you keep or increase the quality, it is surely a big Yes.

Military & VR

From simulators to live combat (I am assuming the last one as there is not public data on this), VR has been actively used and developed by the military. Add to this the capabilities of AR and you can get down to some really complex scenarios that would be hard to replicate in training.

5. VR — Room to Grow for the Short Term

The benefits of virtual reality are evident, at least in some areas. What I think that is stopping to technology to be adopted by more people is mainly the cost. A decent vr headset is around $200–400. And if you want to use it in an educational filed or research, for example, you will also need a capable computer.

You see, for an end use that only watches videos a standalone headset will do the trick. But, for those that want to use it for other applications, you will want some serious computing power. For example. Lets say you are an architect and you want to see how your build looks and how much it take on an earthquake. You will need at least an average graphic card that is able to process all that data. Not to mention the CPU that will have to take the load for your architect design software.

Looking at it this way, you will see the costs starting to rise exponentially in some cases.

Another aspect, is that even for entertainment sector (movies for example) the technology to film is far from perfect. And some scenes can seem off. So, here is another thing that can use a lot of improvement.

Another concern is how vr can affect health. Like with any other technology that we use, we can assume that there are negative aspects. So far there isn’t much data on how vr can affect for example our sight.

6. VR — Where to?

On the long run Virtual Reality uses will get limited without combining it with other technologies. Technologies like augmented reality or haptic technology will revolutionize humanity technology overall.

I think that once haptic technology becomes at least as developed as VR is today, the reality of humanity will look more and more like we see it now in science fiction movies.

How we are going to use it, remains a mystery for me. All that I can hope for is that we don’t turn humanity into a species ruled by AI, as it is illustrated in “The Matrix”.

Back to you: how do you see the future of VR?