What Uses Does VR Have Today?

posted 1/11/2022 by Maxim Grin

Virtual Reality, also known as VR, has been around for quite some time. That means that there has been plenty of space for technological improvements and for VR to develop as a whole. But where is VR now? What types of technology are available and what uses do they have? Those are the questions that’ll be answered in this blog post.

One of the biggest uses for VR currently is gaming. Consumer market headsets from the companies Oculus, HTC, and Vive are mostly marketed for gaming and entertainment, and almost anyone is able to create a game for VR with the use of Unity or Unreal Engine. In recent years, there has been a big increase in the development of video games that are made for VR or have a mode where the player has the option to play with a VR headset. For example, Elite Dangerous and Dirt Rally 2.0 both give the player the option to play with a VR headset on, allowing for a more immersive experience.

Virtual Reality has plenty of uses in gaming, but its uses aren’t limited to only gaming and entertainment. There are plenty of other areas where VR is used for many other purposes. These uses include healthcare, military training, automotive manufacturing, and more.

Let’s start by looking at how VR has its uses in healthcare. The most notable uses are surgeon training and the treatment of phobias. To train surgeons, cadavers are used to the utmost extent as a way for surgeons to practice on non-living human models. But with the use of VR, surgeons can inspect every single bit of human anatomy, even parts that aren’t easily accessible. And with the help of computer graphics, any part of the body can be recreated in great detail. To add to all of that, common surgical scenarios can be recreated in VR for medical students to practice on before going into the operating room. The American Board of Internal Medicine even praised this form of training because of how it instructed students on invasive monitoring and mechanical ventilation. To continue helping the medical field, VR also has its uses in phobia treatment through exposure therapy. VR allows patients to be exposed to their phobias without them having to go somewhere or physically see something that may cause an emotional reaction. It also helps in confidentiality as patients won’t need to go somewhere where they might run into someone they know. Eventually, the patient can get to a point where they can move on from VR and move on to another part of their treatment.

In the military world, VR continues to shine in its training of soldiers. Providing endless combat scenarios, trainees can develop their spatial awareness, communication skills, and attentiveness as they work through scenarios that can be found in real life, but in the safe environment of virtual reality. VR can also be used as a way to simulate operating both ground and air vehicles. By pairing the headset with physical controls that would be found in a military vehicle, trainees are able to experience a safer version of training when learning how to operate vehicles that would otherwise be dangerous. The simulated experience won’t serve as a full representation of a vehicle, such as the g-forces experienced in a plane, but other areas of training can prepare trainees for those areas.

Continuing the talk of vehicles, VR also has its uses in automotive manufacturing. Car manufacturers are able to model new cars and look at them in a 3D environment where they can inspect every inch of the vehicle to look for any weak points or places of improvement in order to make their cars better. VR also has the advantage of allowing design teams to work on the same project no matter where they are in the world. It also allows for trainees to make safe mistakes. This allows for the training process to be more efficient, provide lower error rates, and provide a safe environment for trainees to be in, especially when learning about how to behave during dangerous situations.

This is just a taste of the uses that VR can have in today’s world that’s filled with technology. There are countless uses outside of the ones listed in this post, and as technology evolves, so will VR, which means that VR has a very bright future. Only time will unveil the true capabilities of virtual reality.

Sources:

https://jasoren.com/4-virtual-reality-applications-in-the-automotive-industry/

https://www.news-medical.net/health/Applications-of-Virtual-Reality-in-Medicine.aspx

https://centerforanxietydisorders.com/virtual-reality-therapy-for-phobias/

https://jasoren.com/vr-military-training-the-next-step-of-combat-evolution/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6039818/