Research
After about an hour of browsing the internet for an article written by a somewhat reputable source on the topic of VR, I stumbled upon an informative article written by a Dell Technologies employee for their website. This specific article provided a lot of new information to me. Dating the idea of virtual reality all the way back to Charles Wheatstone in 1838. Wheatstone theorized that when viewing two separate two-dimensional images our brain creates a three-dimensional image. As the years passed people started dreaming up more and more ways of applying this theory. Eventually, it was applied in VR.
Virtual reality headsets incorporate quite a few complex technologies. Top of the line surround sound audio helps to goad you into believing that what you’re hearing is reality. Two separate lenses project an angled image in order to trick our minds into believing that it’s perceiving a new world. A gyroscope tracks the movement of your head in order to make it feel like you’re truly looking around at your surroundings.
VR isn’t just about entertainment. While it is mostly used in the video-gaming industry right now it is being adopted into more and more fields each year. Notably, where can you bring someone that they could never go in their lifetime? Most people look to space, and while this is an entirely fair assumption it isn’t the only place people want to be brought to. Experiences like an underwater expedition or visiting an ancient civilization. What can you make an employee experience so that they become better at their jobs? Do you emulate a difficult situation and have them mediate it?
Virtual reality has a long way to go before it becomes widely accepted. The projection I’ve found in multiple places estimates it’ll be around 6–8 years before virtual reality is widely accepted. Where people will take it could change the way society works entirely.
