VR started its journey in the early ’80s, and we witnessed some progress in the ’90s, but with the rise of technologies like motion tracking, displays, cameras, and computing power, virtual reality has become much more than just a craze. Virtual reality made its mark recently when HTC, Oculus, and Sony released their headsets. These companies are providing some amazing immersive experiences that are attracting not only game developers but other industries as well.
Previously VR was only termed as a technology for gamers and tech enthusiasts. Now it has become an essential part of training in many fields, for instance, military, medical, and education.
VR headsets are becoming less expensive and now accessible to everyone. Because of its accessibility, many industries found it promising. These industries embraced this technology and deployed it. Now, VR has become mainstream, and many industries are affected by this innovation.
This article will focus on the industries that are influenced by virtual reality.
Travel and Tourism
For some people, traveling can be edgy for those who don’t find time for a vacation. VR has made it easier for people to visit places just by staying at home. Put on your VR headset and tour any location in the world.
Travel agencies now have much better technology to demonstrate a destination through VR instead of a flyer or a brochure.
Similarly, VR is also being used by airline companies to provide an inflight immersive experience. “Skylights” is a company that designed its own VR headset to provide inflight VR experiences, and British Airways is also already using this technology.
VR is so compelling for these industries that it has become an indispensable part of them. But the idea is not intended to replace the traditional traveling and touring, it gives you an experience, and you can make the decision and add places to your vacation destination list.
Visit the beautiful city of Paris from the following VR (360) video:
You can use Google cardboard or any other headset to watch this video.
Gaming
VR technology has completely changed the experience of gameplay. It has transformed the way we traditionally play games. Virtual reality has added another dimension to video games that immerse you in a game world. We can enter into the gaming world, walk, run, and interact, rather than just sitting and seeing the world on a flat-screen. VR gives you a sense that you are in the game.
The first major VR headset, Oculus Rift, was launched with the intent to change the gaming experience, and it pretty much did it. The gaming industry has fully adopted this technology. There is a separate section of VR gaming on steam by the name of SteamVR. Seeing the potential, Sony also launched its VR headset for PlayStation 4. Oculus and HTC have their store with a lot of games.
Who wouldn’t like to play Grand Theft Auto (GTA V) in VR (360)?
Real Estate
The real estate industry will be the industry that is experiencing a huge change because of virtual reality. There is a transformation in this industry, and that is thanks to VR technology. For example, if you want to buy a home but don’t have time to visit multiple properties, in this situation, VR can help you. The agent can provide you an immersive experience of different properties.
You can visit something even before moving there and even see as many properties as you want to make your decisions. This will also save a lot of time.
To get an experience watch the following video:
Retail
There is a huge potential for marketing and selling products through virtual reality. Companies are now using VR to advertise their products, like BMW, they created an immersive experience to give a demonstration of their cars and driving experience.
Moreover, you can even shop through VR. Through virtual reality, you can look up the products before purchasing them. Many retailers are now providing an immersive experience of the products to help the buyers make their decisions before purchasing.
Healthcare
Healthcare is another industry that is influenced by virtual reality. Healthcare professionals are also getting benefited from this technology because it is used for their training. Apart from training, VR is also being utilized by both doctors and patients. Patients can get therapies to fight phobias, and doctors can guide them through VR interactive sessions.
Additionally, there are already many VR and AR apps for learning and understanding the human anatomy that is helping doctors while operating patients.
This is just inception, as there is still a lot of potential in VR technology that can help health professionals in the future.
What happens inside your body? See the following VR video:
Education
Virtual reality has made education more interesting and engaging. Merely reading a book is not enough to learn something, you need experience. And in education, virtual reality is providing exactly that.
Virtual reality is serving the children to learn more productively. Watching things is more comprehensible than reading it.
Besides, VR is also being used by professional education students. If you are a medical student, you can learn about human anatomy and understand it, which is hard just by looking at the images. VR seems promising in education and has a lot of potentials.
Learn about the solar system in the following VR video.
Defense
The defense is another sector that is influenced by virtual reality. Virtual reality is used to train soldiers before deploying them on the real battlefield. A virtual environment is created for their training, and it also helps in avoiding injuries to the soldiers. This training is very important since soldiers learn how to make plans on the battlefield and how to operate tanks and other vehicles.
Aviation
Just like military training, VR plays a vital role in the aviation industry as well. Most of the pilots need mandatory training, which entirely happened in virtual reality. Pilots have to pass flying simulation tests, for this test, a semi-virtual environment is created.
This technology is not only for pilots. Another airport staff is also trained in VR, like ground operation staff and runway officers.
Entertainment
Entertainment is another industry that was searching for new ways to make their products more fun and engaging. VR is the answer to them. Instead of watching movies in cinemas, production companies have to do something different using VR.
The viewers can now be part of the movie; to experience it, watch this VR video (for the best experience watch it in a VR headset):
You can imagine how a movie can be more thrilling and fun to watch in virtual reality. The entertainment industry can take full advantage of virtual reality technology.
Automotive
This industry is also utilizing the full potential of virtual reality. With VR, the auto companies are bringing the distinctive driving experience of their cars to their customers.
BMW, Ford, and Mitsubishi are using virtual reality to provide a driving experience to their users.
Ford is also using virtual reality to optimize its assembling system. This virtual experience helps train the employees so they can improve their performance.
Oculus and Toyota both collaborated and initiated a program called TeenDrive360 (https://www.teendrive365inschool.com). This virtual reality program helps young drivers learn how to drive effectively before they go on roads.
Sports
Sports is a dominant industry. Millions of people watch car racing, football matches, and tennis on TV, and thousands of them visit racecourses, stadiums, etc. to enjoy these events. Now, to broadcast these matches live, 360 cameras are being used. These matches can be watched live through your VR headsets. You can enjoy the experience of being in the stadium using VR.
Check the following video and experience how it feels watching a match in VR.
Apart from watching sports matches, VR is also helping train the athletes. All in all, virtual reality is the future technology, and it will be fully merged with the various sports fields soon.
Conclusion
The virtual reality that was once thought to be science fiction has now become reality. It has impacted most of the major industries at different levels. For example, gaming, real estate, and travel have transformed with the introduction of this technology. Whereas retail, sports, healthcare, and automotive industries see great potential in it and are using it for training and optimizing the production process.
We have just scratched the surface of virtual reality technology, and there are a lot more possibilities to uncover.
from Linux Hint https://ift.tt/2HXPXLR
0 Comments