Virtual Reality is an immersive type of technology that generates an artificial and interactive three-dimensional environment using a software which is presented to the user in a way that he/she would percieve being somewhere he/she is really not.
“VR has been around for a long time but the term ‘virtual reality’ was only coined during 1987.”
Early attempts may not have been as complex as the devices we can see today but they had the same goal, to create an illusion of being present somewhere we are not. These attempts include panoramic paintings and stereoscopic photos & viewers. Viewing two stereoscopic photos side by side gives the viewer a sense of depth. This became a very important milestone as we can see that this design principle is being implemented today in low budget VR head gears which are usually used with mobile phones.
In the 1950s, Morton Heilig, a cinematographer, developed an arcade-type machine called “Sensorama”. The viewer will see the image and hear the sound along with different physical sensations like the blowing wind, the smell, or the motion being portrayed in the image. However his work was stopped due to lack of financing. The sensorama served as a prototype for the VR devices presently being used. Heilig’s nvext invention was called the “Telesphere Mask” which is also known as the first VR head-mounted display and featured stereoscopic 3D and wide vision with stereo sound.
“VR was brought about by Nintendo’s Virtual Boy”
In 1995, all the hype on which was the first ever portable console that could display true 3D graphics. Despite being sold cheaply, it failed commercially due to lack of color in the graphics. VR in the 21st century evolved fast with numerous and advanced resources and powerful technologies. The top 3 companies on the market right now are Oculus (Facebook), Google, and Microsoft.
“It is widely known for being used mostly in gaming and entertainment.”
Virtuix developed an active virtual reality motion platform in 2016, which is believed to be the first of its kind. Virtuix Omni is an omnidirectional treadmill simulator. It use a platform to simulate locomotion and can work with different brands of head-mounted displays.
Medical VR is transforming healthcare in big ways both therapeutically and technologically. Benefits range from practicing complex operations to immersing patients in a peaceful virtual world as substitute for sedation or anesthesia.
VR also showed promising results from being used in different fields such as battlefield simulation in the military, inspecting land and creating models in architecture, and training astronauts for future space explorations in astronomy.
As 2017 came to an end, the number of job openings at Oculus, a leading company in VR, came to an all time high. The company is investing largely on research and this may hint to major advancements in the near future considering how well-funded it is since Mark Zuckerberg bought Oculus back in 2014. VR has gone very far but is still growing, it continues to become more innovative while being affordable.
