Key takeaways
- The field of virtual reality has come a long way in the past couple of years.
- Two of the biggest changes are eye tracking and hand controllers that can do many things in the VR that they would do in real life.
- VR technology has potential for numerous important applications, including virtual classrooms, travel, soothing children and the elderly separated from loved ones, and many more.
- The possibilities VR holds for the future seem endless. Keep an eye on this rapidly advancing technology.
At the recent Abundance 360 conference, we looked at virtual reality (VR) and how it has changed over the past couple of years. You may have seen the movie, Ready Player One, which came out in early 2018. The movie follows a particular young man who is in a virtual world doing all kinds of astounding things. He comes out of that virtual world to this horrible life in what amounts to a vertical trailer park. Hollywood has a way of playing things like that to squeeze out the maximum entertainment value.
Part of what’s going on in that movie is actually a reality today. Since I’ve been tracking VR over the past four years through this particular conference, there have been two major advances. The first is sophisticated eye tracking. The system tracks your eye movements as they look at different things in the virtual world. The second, and bigger, change involves the hands. The controllers for your hands can actually do numerous things—press buttons, shake hands, grab virtual objects, and other things.
I had the opportunity to enter a virtual world untethered this year. By that, I mean I had nothing attached to me other than what I wore on my head to connect me to the virtual world. As I explored the world, I met a lady from New York and a guy from Florida. I talked to both of them in person for a bit with their avatars in front of me. It’s kind of freaky, but also very cool.
We did a lot more exploring. I saw a demonstration with a fifth grade class and an Egyptologist. The kids followed (virtually) this Egyptologist through Nefertiti’s tomb. As she went along, they asked questions and she explained what the various artifacts were and their relation to history. Just imagine a digitized version of Albert Einstein teaching your kids, or grandkids, about physics. Wouldn’t that be cool?
There are so many potential applications for VR. One that’s coming up right now helps elderly people living in continuing care retirement communities. Research shows that happiness levels for these folks rise when they’re playing cards as opposed to just sitting around by themselves. Happiness further elevates when they engage with others and when watching television. Of course, happiness reaches its highest levels when they get a visit from family members.
When these elderly people entered a VR world and visited with kids and grandkids there, they were just as happy as when they had a personal visit from them, researchers found. That’s amazing when you think about it. There are some great things on the horizon in the VR world. We’ll see more applications coming up very soon. Until next time, enjoy.
Gary
