VR/AR News of the Week – Looking Back from 5 Years in the Future
Top 3 Most Agreed with
- Wind (hot and cold) & VR
The Effect of Real Wind on Virtual Self-Motion
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/illusions-delusions-and-reality/202102/the-effect-real-wind-virtual-self-motion
I think this is the direction VR will head to in the next 5 years. VR, which aims to provide users with a brand new virtual world, should also take other senses into consideration to create a more immersive experience. For instance, hot wind and cold wind will help the users to reduce the negative effect of feeling dizzy. This can broaden the target consumers and meanwhile provide users with a more immersive environment. This streamlined working mechanism can help VR developers to design a more realistic game or other software. To popularize VR, I think this is of crucial importance.
2. VR & Pain Relief
AppliedVR Completes Pivotal Trial Finding Virtual Reality Is a Holistic Treatment for Chronic Pain
https://www.newspressnow.com/news/national_news/coronavirus/appliedvr-completes-pivotal-trial-finding-virtual-reality-is-a-holistic-treatment-for-chronic-pain/article_0866154b-3633-549c-befc-fb48ddd8c2d3.html
The health care industry is another area that I think will use VR techniques very often in the near future. In the report, using VR is very efficient in relieving pain. From an economic perspective, the therapy is quite affordable for normal families. Compared with medicines, which are disposable, VR headsets can be used multiple times, thus lowering the average fee. VR is quite beneficial when it comes to the training of new doctors. VR can help them to do practical exercises to diagnose patients. Another imaginable scene is using VR to enrich the retirement life. It will help to break the physical limits of old people so that they can enjoy life better. And in lots of countries, aging is gradually becoming the main issue for society. So the market of the future of the implementation of VR in this industry is bright.
3. “Pass-Through” AR
Varjo pass-thru AR headset (cool slider demo)
https://varjo.com/products/xr-3/
I believe that this is the future VR and AR are heading to. With ‘pass-through’ technology, it’s able for us to both view the virtual and the real things in one interface. And I think it’s better for the current technology adopted by most VR glasses. It can enable us to the virtual things better and in more detail. As the car example that is shown on this page, the whole exhibition integrates the virtual world and the real world well. It can be used in industrial design. For example, in the design area, this technology allows the designer to view his plan in the first place. So that he can make some adjustments in advance to make the best use of the space. I am really looking forward to seeing more XR development in the future.
Top 3 Least Agreed with
- VR Travel & “Dream of Hiking”
Virtual reality tourism ready for takeoff as travelers remain grounded
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/feb/06/virtual-reality-tourism-ready-for-takeoff-as-travellers-remain-grounded
I don’t think VR is going to take the place of traveling in person. First, technically speaking, it’s very hard to realize it. Except for the sense of seeing, there are other elements you need to take into consideration while imitating a traveling experience. For example, questions like how to deal with the temperature, humidity, smell, touching are hard to solve. Also, another big difference is the lack of interacting. In the real-life, while traveling to a new place, it’s very often that the most impressive thing is the interaction with local residents. Their enthusiasm makes the traveling experience more enjoyable. But this is something that we cannot imitate in the VR world. Personally speaking, I think there is a big psychological effect as well. For instance, when standing on the ash of the Colosseum, I have a sense of feeling of these historical incidents are happening right before my eyes. VR tourism can also not fix this problem. So I think it’s unlikely to become mainstream in the future.
2. People Are Using VR Systems For Fitness?
https://mensvariety.com/vr-fitness/
I don’t think that people will ever use VR for fitness. Though I admit that the game published by Sony in the video is great. I think its main purpose is for entertainment and e-gaming. In order to imitate real sports or a fitting event, I think you have to wear sensors covering all over your body to track your movement. For me, if you ask me to put on so many devices while exercising, I am not willing to do so because it seems so uncomfortable. Imagine the scene that you are sweating with all these devices on yourself, it’s hard to say that this is satisfying. Moreover, I think from an economic perspective, it doesn’t make sense as well. Purchasing these headsets and wearable sensors seems to be more expensive than just hanging out with my friends to do some sports. The expectation of me putting on a VR headset is to experience something new rather than doing these which already existed. One last thing to mention, which is the problem of how to drink water. Wearing a VR headset makes it hard for us to find our bottles and drink the water and use other supplies as easily as an exercise in reality, which is quite disturbing to these exercisers.
3. Billionaires See VR as a Way to Avoid Radical Social Change
https://www.wired.com/story/billionaires-use-vr-avoid-social-change/
This is also something I don’t expect to see in the near future. What this report is about is that these developers view VR as a tool for those poor people to release themselves from the real world and run away from the problems they are facing in the reality. I think this attitude of running away from problems to seek release in another world is not the right approach we should take while facing a social change. It won’t help to solve the problem. I do believe that the virtual world will be of the same importance as the real world. But that means we have to solve difficulties in both worlds rather than view one as another’s shelter. Moreover, whether the virtual world will be developed as the one close to the real one, the one with huge inequalities remains to be proven by time. So I don’t think it’s the right direction VR or AR is heading to.