Differences in Technology between VR headsets and MR headsets (In particular HoloLens).
What is MR?
Mixed Reality (MR) is a hybrid of VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality). With Mixed Reality you are combining both the real world along with the virtual world, to provide the user a new environment where physical and digital objects interact and co-exist in real time.
What is VR?
Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer technology which uses a virtual reality headset to project 3d environments or videos. With VR it is projected to the headset in such a way it makes you feel like you’re in another environment and sometimes forgetting the real environment you are in. Inside the VR world with advanced VR headsets and controllers you can walk around in the actual world and it will match your steps in the VR world also you can interact with virtual objects and enable haptics which will feel like you are touching a real object. VR is perfect for putting you in an environment you can’t normally go in like space for example.
Mixed Reality Positives:
With MR you are mixing technology with the environment around you, whilst still being able to see the real world. The HoloLens maps the surroundings in your environment, so the device is talking to objects all around you and building a computer calculated map, this is to determine where it can place virtual / 3D objects in your real world.
A great positive with Mixed Reality is as a training device. You can see a person if he’s trying to explain something to you, extending this you can even record keynotes he’s saying into the device, make notes in a HUD, and another thing to take it further you can even network HoloLens’s together and share content whilst all in the headset, for example if you wanted to show a certain 3D model if you’re working on building an engine for a car you can share it to all the devices and still have an eye to eye conversation with people about the engine, people can also edit it in real time and get instant results.
In terms of sickness the MR headsets are less likely to make you feel sick, as you can see the real world and as it’s an adaption from the real world it’s not completely shutting you off from the world so it’s only really overlaying information and adding objects unlike VR where it can cause out of body experiences.
A great feature of the HoloLens is the way it can last off its battery for up to 4 hours which means you don’t get wires in your way when using the headset also with the HoloLens it has its own built in PC so it can be run standalone.
Virtual Reality Positives:
Virtual Reality is the best for immersive experiences, and great to be put in a different world that you can’t normally experience for example being put in the solar system, war zones, and the middle of an ocean. VR can help to train you in situations you’re not use too and prevent the worst things happening.
Because of Advanced VR and the way you can walk around, reach out and touch items with the controller it makes it as close as it can to a full body experience and could help to diffuse and IED for example. Also in the near future you will be able to get VR Gloves, wireless headsets, haptic vests and also full body tracking. Which takes VR into another dimension and could be very profitable for full body training simulators. This can extend onto rehabilitation for people who have had a life changing injury, the main health problem VR has been proven to help is people who have strokes.
There is a very good write up about how it has helped on this link https://nydnrehab.com/treatment-methods/neurorehab/virtual-reality-in-stroke-rehabilitation/
One problem VR has is the way it can make people sick. This can because of multiple things like a frame glitch in the game where it slows down all of a sudden, too much movement in a game is not great either. Another main issue is the out of body experiences for example if you’re a character in VR and you have a button to jump but you are on the ground physically and don’t jump it makes you feel sick and weird, resulting in taking the headset off. So when building VR experiences you need to be mindful in what will work and what will not also game framerates are a very big thing in VR and the higher you get the FPS the better the experience will be and also make your game smoother.
The Differences
A big difference between VR and MR is the way VR immerses you directly in the environment you’re blocked out from all the real world events even sound, and because the headsets have such a good quality screen inside the headset, it tricks your brain into thinking a table is right in front of yet you take the headset off and there is no table, also haptics in the VR controllers help your brain in thinking its real as you touch the table and it will return a short vibration to your hands to make you believe that as there is a table there I can’t walk through it or put your hands through it.
MR allows you to interact with the real world and use hand gestures and voice commands to place objects, resize items and put HUDS in front of you. MR like VR also allows you to walk around your environment but the bounds are endless as the computer is built into the headset where VR you are restricted by cables, a perimeter and a computer to run the VR.
Overall if you want an experience that fully immerses you in a different environment choose VR but if you want an experience that changes with the environment and you can still interact with the real world choose MR.
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