3 Core Elements of Comfort in AR/VR
Meta unveiled the ‘Orion’ Augmented Reality Glasses, likely to succeed in the AR/VR race, with one last challenge.
Today (2024), with breakthroughs in display technology, graphics processing and miniaturisation of tech, we are progressing faster and faster in AR/VR tech. Despite the progress that we have seen and also the launch of multiple products from various tech giants — Google Glass, HTC Vive, Microsoft Hololens, Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro, we have not seen AR/VR being widely adaopted yet.
I believe that people are still feeling uncomfortable with AR/VR products at the moment. In this article, I will be covering the the 3 levels of comfort I believe needs to be considered for AR/VR to be widely adopted by the consumer market.
Physical Comfort
Head-mounted displays (HMD) is the current form factor used for AR/VR experiences today and these devices are heavy and bulky. Users are experiencing fatigue, discomfort, heat, eye strain and neck pains from prolonged use.
Until Tech companies figure out a way to make these devices lighter to be worn on the head for long hours, it will be hard to expect the consumer market to use AR/VR products.
Currently, the form factor mostly used by consumers with the highest attention spans are mobile phones. This is because these devices are small, light on the hands and are portable.
Social Comfort
Expanding on the topic of portability, it is now a norm for people to use mobile phones in public. Some people also use tablets and laptops when they are seated.
However, we do not see people using AR/VR devices in public. I believe that the reason is beyond physical comfort.
Wearing a HMD in public might attract attention and seem a bit unusual to onlookers and people are simply not used to it. On top of that, the HMD form covers your eyes. This is why the Apple Vision Pro has the EyeSight mode to show your eyes with it’s front display to solve that social discomfort.
XREAL is a company that has done explored a Sunglasses form factor, which is definitely more comfortable being used in a social setting, although it still covers your eyes with it’s shades.
The Meta ‘Orion’ is a breakthrough, with it’s glasses form factor with it’s see-through glasses, which allows others to look directly into your eyes. This is why I think Meta is likely to succeed in the AR/VR race, with one last challenge to solve.
Mental Comfort
This is the final level of comfort and I do not think any tech company has spent enough time to solve this yet, likely because we have not reached to the point of concern yet.
At a time where mental health has become more important, people are seeing the need to use less time with mobile devices and be more connected with themselves and the people around them.
AR/VR is likely going to increase that even more and may actually create additional barriers to communication and social interaction among people because the device is going to be even more attached to people than mobile phones.
AR, when blending with actual spaces is potentially going to create hallucinations if people are eventually not going to be able to distinct what is real or not, causing safety concerns.
With scams on the rise, privacy has also started to be a topic of concern. Two Harvard students have created facial recognition tech to instantly dox (search for and publish private or identifying information about (a particular individual) on the internet, typically with malicious intent) people’s identities, phone numbers, and addresses. The most unsettling part is the demo uses current, widely available technology like the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and public databases.
Summary
I strongly believe that once these 3 levels of comfort have been improved and considered, we will begin to see wider adoption of AR/VR in the consumer tech space. With Meta’s latest breakthrough, we are getting closer and closer to that and we will eventually see the prices for AR/VR products go down, enter the mass market and more applications, games and experiences being built by software developers.
