Virtual Reality: Past, Present And Future Application

History

Virtual Reality is not a current invention, last years it earn a lot popularity but it has a lot of years and big companies like Nintendo, Google or Sony have been working in it and they are been able to create an immersive and realistic virtual reality due to technological advances.

But the truth is that virtual reality has not always been that way.

The first contact with virtual reality took place in 1938 by the hand of Antonin Artaud, a french director and writer who wrote the first theatrical play based on virtual reality called “The Theater and its Double”.

Years later Morton Heilig created a prototype called Sensorama that consisted of a screen that transmitted five small films with sensory effect, but for lack of funds the project was canceled.

The sensorama stimulate sight, smell, hearing and touch. Although Virtual Reality has not much success was a clear revolution in the Virtual Reality industry as well as laid the foundations its bases.

Furthermore, in 1960, Morton Heilig propose another similar invention called telesphere mask, it was a very similar idea than the sensorama but this time the telesphere mask had a screen with three-dimensional images and even they could be colored.

In 1961 Phicolo Corporation created a simulator helmet with the intention of instructing the military people and been able to act in risky situations, like airplanes simulators, submarines or chemical tests. This helmet was not commercialized because this virtual reality technology was only to train military people.

A few years later, in 1968, Ivan Sutherland created the first virtual helmet called “The Sword of Damocles”, and it was the first head-mounted display system. It was called like that because the helmet was so heavy that you needed the help of a mechanical arm, placed on the roof, that held your head safely. The device allowed the user to move and change of perspective of the images following the movement of the user’s head.

“The Sword of Damocles” was not commercialized due to its wight and its discomfort from having to be attached it to the roof.

Virtual Reality Nowadays

Virtual reality is one of the most powerful tools that currently exist in the 3D sector. As the equipment capacity and technology to develop more realistic and impressive immersive experiences increases, the uses in different professional areas grow, but currently virtual reality is based mainly on leisure and entertainment.

Virtual reality can be of three types: immersive, non-immersive and semi-immersive.

• Immersive virtual reality methods are often linked to a three-dimensional environment created by a computer, which is manipulated through helmets, gloves or other devices that capture the position and rotation of different parts of the human body. Non-immersive virtual reality also uses the computer and uses media such as the one currently offered by the Internet, in which you can interact in real-time with different people in spaces and environments that do not really exist without the need for additional devices. computer. This case is close to navigation, through which the subject is offered the possibility of experiencing (moving, moving, feeling) certain spaces, worlds, places as if he were in them.
• Non-immersive virtual reality offers a new world through a desktop window. This non-immersive approach has several advantages over the immersive approach such as the low cost as well as the easy and fast acceptance of the users. Immersive devices are of high cost and generally, the user prefers to manipulate the virtual environment through familiar devices such as the keyboard and the mouse than through heavy helmets or gloves.
• The semi-immersive virtual reality is very similar to immersive reality, with the difference that there are four cube-shaped screens that order the user, glasses and movement tracking devices being necessary and allows contact with real-world resources, one of the most representative examples being the Cave Automatic Virtual Environment.

The high price of immersive devices has generalized the use of virtual environments that are easy to manipulate by means of simpler devices, such as the important business of video game consoles, or games in which numerous users interact through the Internet. It is through the Internet that VRML is born, which is a standard for the creation of these non-immersive virtual worlds, which provides a set of primitives for three-dimensional modeling, and allows objects to behave, and assign different animations that can be activated by users

The use of virtual reality in video games is the best-known application that exists for all people that love the sensation when they are playing. It is also the fastest market in the last three decades and its fans can spend large amounts of money, to get all the necessary items to experience a total immersion.

Although today this sector loses weight in favor of medicine, training and tourism, video games have made a qualitative leap thanks to devices such as Samsung Gear VR, Oculus VR, PlayStation VR and HTC Live among others.

Virtual reality can be carried out through different methods such as: a simulator or an avatar, the projection of real images, using a computer or immersion in a virtual environment.

• Simulators: With the Virtual Reality Simulators you can enjoy: simulation of cars, airplanes, motorcycles, live experiences, shooters, roller coasters, movie trailers and more. It is created to boost leisure spaces, stands at events, advertise businesses and businesses of all kinds, with different product possibilities, structuring and dynamic variables. It can be used at the entertainment level, or at higher levels such as training. For example, fighter jet pilots use simulators to practice driving, learn controls and lose fear, and also reduce pollution and costs.
• Avatars: After the purchase of Oculus in 2014, a company of virtual reality helmets in full growth, Facebook was trying to create a metaverse in which we could interact with other people in a more real way even if they were miles away. According to a new investigation by Facebook Reality Labs, the social network is making progress in this sector and manages to turn those cartoons into real people capable of gesturing with their faces such as sticking out their tongues or putting the typical self-made morritos with your friends.
• Projection of real images: A German company called Realities.io has applied a technique called photogrammetry to virtual reality. The result is simply impressive. The general image that glasses like the HTC Vive produce not only seems more real, but also allows you to get closer to objects and see them in much more detail, or to zoom and examine points of where we are as if we were there.
• Photogrammetry ‘Determines the geometric properties of objects and spatial situations from photographic images.’ In other words, it is a matter of simple software that could be applied to different virtual reality glasses. Realities.io will begin to apply its technique in virtual tourism and educational applications to study hard-to-reach places such as archaeological sites. [Upload and Motherboard]
• By computer: It is based on showing a world in three dimensions on any computer without using any specific motion sensor. Many current video games use resources such as characters and other devices with which you can interact so that the user feels part of the virtual world. A common criticism of this type of immersion is that there is no sense of peripheral vision since the user’s knowledge of what is happening around them is limited to their closest environment.
• Total immersion: The best option to live VR is through a brain-machine interface, which allows direct communication between the brain and an external device. A connection is sought between the person and the machine that makes us ‘enter completely’ into the virtual world. Where the five senses are involved in this new experience to be one more in that virtual world.

Finally, as a curiosity there was a project called “Sword Art Online: The Beginning” sponsored by IBM Japan, which consisted of an event in which they intended to approach the world of the video game ‘Sword Art Online’ using the technologies we currently have.

Virtual Reality In The Future

The future of all of these technologies are really hard to know because from when they started their development, are really limited and really expensive. The most common use of normal people is to play video games, but this is only because this technology has not already been investigated for another kind of things. However, nowadays exist some projects that let us to see how the future of all this world will be.

In this project, we are going to see some different applications that this technology will has on the future:

Architecture

One of the sectors that probably will be more changed with this technology is architecture, one of the projects that are being developed is called “archVizPRO”, this is a software that allows to the user to create a 3d model of what he wants, could be just a room, a little office set, a full house or even a full building, and let him walk into this without the needed of create nothing physical, just using a VR Headset and a computer.

Some projects that are been developed for this purpose are:

• Storyboard VR: This application allow the users to create different designs like in paper design but with the differences that allow them to create them in real view, or what is the same, you can see your design in front of you like if you were creating it manually.
• Fuzor: This application allow the user to create from none a full workplace including the workers, the machines, the space required and all the constructions that are going to be made. For example, show all the process, controlling the time that should take all actions to construct a full offices building even creating the whole work area.

Nowadays, there are not many companies that include these technologies, mainly because is a really high initial investment, but the companies that include it has a really different point between the rest of the competition.

Medicine

Talking about medicine, virtual reality could change all as we know on this sector, for example, nowadays, when a surgeon is making surgery, he needs to know everything about the patient, with a proper implementation of this technology, the surgeon could have everything just looking up to the patient, and everything could be easier and faster.

Some projects that are been developed for this purpose are:

• SimX: This software is designed to let the students to train how feel been on different situations and let them know how they have to act depending on each situation, thanks to this software they can train some stages that are better to train directly than just study them.
• Novarad’s openSight: This is one of the most used projects nowadays, this project allow the user to make a real time scheme of the human body and allows them to manipulate it like it was a real body.

It could be used too to show the patients the result of their proves, show them if they have any infection or even show them a preview of how is going to be their surgeon.

Future in Spain

In Spain, we are making some new projects with these technologies, like for example in the “Hospital Virgen del Rocío de Sevilla”, is implementing the hololens technology to train the students on some interventions where if you do not train it physically you do not know how are you going to react. This is the first hospital including that methodology, but in 2025 it is expected that at least the 30% of the hospitals in Spain will include all of this advances.

Military

The las sector that probably will be more changed is the military and the arm sector. Probably not as all of we see on the movies, with invisible weapons, people who can fly, super strength…, but as before, probably, the virtual reality will change the way that the militaries are trained. For example, with the virtual reality, the soldiers can train real time missions with hostages and be able to perfect their abilities, or is possible to scan the structure of a enemy building and with the virtual reality headset, be able to be inside and plan the best option to make a mission.

The future in this sector is not just the virtual reality, is the mix of that with other technologies, like for example the drones, only with them both, will be possible to scan a training are, transform the scan to a real game scenario and then to make people to train with the virtual reality like if they were on the real world.

Daily use

The last thing and probably the most important thing that the virtual reality will change is daily live. It is really hard to think a world without any tv at home, no physically phones and without many more things that we are accustomed. But now, just think how could be being talking with someone like a phone call but being able to see him with a hologram, or just been watching the tv that you see on your full wall that you produce with your glasses. All of these ideas can look really far, but in true, they are not as far as people think.

Some projects that are being developed are:

• Cinemas: In 2016, on Holland, was opened the first virtual reality cinema in the world, it consists on a room where 42 people can go in and been looking for a film.
• VrChat: Is a PC game that let people to join on a public room where you can chat, play and do more things with other people, the peculiarity of this is that you are making it on a virtual reality world.
• Holograms: This open a new world of possibilities that includes from make a normal video call like a Skype call, but without any screen or even to be on the cinema just being on your sofa.

Non-Related Uses

In this section we are going to talk about the non-related to video-games Virtual Reality uses, as we have already said, the main purpose of virtual reality nowadays is playing video games but, scientists have researched about the possible social uses that we can give to this technology. The most important ones are Education, Medicine, Design and Marketing.

Education

The most surprising one, is the Educational purpose one. Scientists and teachers have worked together to prove if children learn easily with virtual reality technology on each subject of their studies, the surprising part we were talking about before is that Virtual Reality helps children on almost every subject, for example, children can see Egypt pyramids with their own eyes, letting them travel around the world without leaving the room. Same on sciences-related subjects, making geometry easier to understand, or representing math operations with objects easily. But do not think this technology helps only children to learn, it also helps adults, for example, on learning to drive cars, flying helicopters or even prepare astronauts to reach outer space.

Virtual Reality also helps the less favored ones, children or adults with social problems, like autism, recreating an ambient that helps them to relax and relation with other people by boosting the patient’s imaging and brain activity, making this a good point to talk about when making a research about this topic.

But, virtual reality non-related uses are not only aimed to education. For example, it also helps doctors or surgeons to practice surgeries or just diagnoses based on example subjects. Obviously, the good thing about this is that the surgeons can practice extreme surgeries without caring about a dead or a patient having problems on their live because he failed.

Medicine

On medical uses we are seeing also new ways of making the patient know what is happening to him, like, making a virtual recreation of their problem, so they can see how the surgery is going to be. Another use of this part of the technology is on plastic surgery where patients can see their future themselves without need to start the surgery, this probably helps people a lot to decide if they want to change like that or to keep as always.

The last medical use we are talking about is about Post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, it mainly affects soldiers but also affecting the rest of the population, doctors use Virtual Reality to recreate the situation that the patient went through to understand better what makes the patient have PTSD and thanks to that it is easier to help the patient.

Design

Another non-related use is design. From interior designers to architects are using Virtual Reality to design and have an early concept of what they are building or designing. For example, car designers develop a 3D virtual version of the final product before starting the production to help them decide what they want to change or redesign. It also helps the sales department on catching customers’ attention, letting them being inside the car they want even if there is no stock or has not been built yet.

But it helps other designers apart from car designers and architects, it also helps designers of tougher work sites, like giant factories. Designing these big factories need a great design, both for the part of space and for the logistics to get the most optimal workspace, either in a fully automated factory or in a factory with workers. Virtual Reality helps them to design each part of the factory having a recreation of the final building, making decisions making easier and saving money on errors or possible changes during construction.

Marketing

The last use we are talking about is marketing. Virtual reality has created a totally new way of selling and advertising products, giving an alternative way of presenting the product and catching customers, for example, an estate agency can give the choice to customers of visiting the house without leaving the room, or car sellers as we have mentioned before. Virtual Reality helps also service sector shops to catch or hold customers.

With Virtual Reality you can create interactive advertisements to advertise your products on an easier or faster way through an immersive 3D experience that allows the user to use the product on a virtual way, helping companies to ensure most hesitant customers.

Non-related uses conclusion

After investigating and reading about these we can ensure that Virtual Reality is going to be part of our future society, being an important part of our lives and societies, making our life better or at least faster (since you can do almost anything virtually from home). This if uncontrolled can reduce drastically the time each person spends on things like having a walk, practicing some sports or just sitting on a park, making the Virtual Reality a double-edged technology.