Virtual reality (VR), that long-time staple of science fiction, is stepping off the page and out of the research labs. From the low-end Google Cardboard — a fold-it-yourself headset that turns an Android smartphone into a surprisingly competent VR viewer for just a few dollars — to last month’s launch of the long-awaited Oculus Rift VR gaming system, the technology has finally come of age.
VR Will Transform the World of Work
Don’t assume, however, that VR’s impact will be limited to the worlds of gaming and entertainment. Just like other technologies initially aimed at the consumer market (such as smartphones and social networking), the rise of VR is likely to have just as profound an impact on the world of work.
For starters, being able to slip on a low-cost headset and enter a virtual meeting with remote participants dramatically reduces the need for physical business meetings and all the associated administrative and travel costs. The rich, realistic interaction possible will be on a par with today’s top-end, telepresence-style virtual conferencing facilities, but at a fraction of the cost.And within a few years it will be almost indistinguishable from the experience of a real-world, face-to-face meeting.
VR Manifests as Augmented Reality
But as well as transporting people to virtual spaces, VR can also manifest the virtual in the real world — overlaying digital representations of people, data, objects, 3D animations and so on to holographically project into the spaces around us. This idea of ‘augmented reality’ (AR) gained ground with the advent of smartphone and tablet apps that show what you’re pointing at, then overlay the image with additional information — for example, displaying names of stars and highlighting constellations as you sweep your device around the night sky.
Google took this a step further with the introduction of Google Glass in 2013, which brought two-dimensional AR directly to the wearer’s field of vision in the familiar form of a pair of spectacles. And Microsoft’s new HoloLens headset, which will land in the hands of developers this month [April], moves the technology to the next level with full 3D, holographic AR.
Tellingly, the company is aiming HoloLens squarely at the business market, ensuring it is fully integrated with Windows 10 and business applications such as the market leading CAD/CAM package, Autodesk. The promo video for the device, for example, features an engineer designing a motorcycle which sits on her desk in miniature holographic form as she works, changing in real time as she amends the design on screen.
AR Changes Our Interaction with Technology
This, however, is just the beginning. Combined with advances in gesture and voice recognition, robotics, and increasingly smaller and lighter headsets, AR will represent a step change in the way we interact with technology and data — the most natural, unobtrusive human-computer interface ever built — and it has immense potential beyond gaming.
From surgeons operating virtually on distant patients to research scientists ‘swimming’ through seas of visual data, or brand marketers dreaming up compelling new virtual experiences for customers, AR technology will transform the way we work, allowing us to be more creative, more productive and (as businesses) more profitable.
The commoditization of the technology over the next few years will drive down the cost of headsets, and you only need to look to the evolution of the mobile phone to realize that today’s fairly clunky headsets will soon seem laughably cumbersome. Organizations need to start thinking about the implications of ubiquitous VR now, because to work effectively for them the technology will need compelling applications, supported by an extremely fast and reliable cloud platforms and infrastructure. And with a raft of other VR/AR technologies about to hit the market, and analyst predictions of exponential growth over the next five years, the future is virtually round the corner.
Originally published at blog.100tb.com.
