Why is VR & AR Technology About to Change the World?

New technologies always bring change to the world. It is necessary to keep ourselves updated with these new technologies. It often causes exciting and beautiful improvements in all domains of our day to day lives. Technological innovations will always bring positive progress in the human habitat.

Today we will be exploring the groundbreaking technologies of the 21st century-AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality). Surprisingly, these inventions would bring change to everyone's life. The unique capability to do so is to provide people with contextually relevant information fused into their understanding of the physical world. These technologies let you experience the real world and make you capable of being at your comfort place with everyone at any time without going anywhere.

What are VR and AR?

Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer-generated, immersive depiction of a real or artificial environment or activity. Augmented Reality (AR) with additional, computer-generated enhancements is a real-world view.

Example of Virtual Reality (VR): A living room created by a computer in which your simulated self can walk around and interact with the virtual furniture and houseplants or others' simulated selves like you.
Example of Augmented Reality (AR): A real-time view of your living room that you can digitally enhance with various colors of paint or carpet or call up "floating" virtual screens to read emails or watch a game.
Anyhow, that is one version. Ask a dozen individuals, and you will get a dozen separate VR and AR definitions. However, one thing's for sure. It is increasingly a VR (...and AR) environment, from business to education to entertainment.

Over the next decade, the rise of digital reality can lead to more natural and intuitive ways for technology to transform our lives by combining augmented reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality, 360 °, and immersive technologies. Indeed, our means of interacting with digital information are likely to be no more extended screens and hardware, but gestures, emotions, and gazes.

Now let's take a look at both AR and VR in detail to get an idea of its far-reaching future impacts.

Virtual Reality: Another World Within Sight

A lot of us think of science fiction films like 'Minority Report' when we talk about Virtual Reality (VR). The reality, however, is that this technology blends in with our everyday lives nowadays, like in Video games, education, medicine, and much more. There is Virtual Reality here to remain. But what is it exactly?

Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer-generated reality that makes users feel immersed in their environment with scenes/objects that appear to be real. A device known as a Virtual Reality headset or helmet is used to perceive this environment. To optimize performance, VR enables us to immerse ourselves in video games as if we were one of the characters, learn how to conduct heart surgery, or improve the standard of sports training.

Although this may seem incredibly futuristic, as we might think, its origins are not as recent. Many people consider that Sensorama, a machine with a built-in seat that played 3D movies, gave off-odors, and created vibrations to make the experience as vivid as possible was one of the first Virtual Reality devices. As far as the mid-1950s, the invention dates back. Over the following years, subsequent technical and software advances brought a radical evolution in electronics and interface design.

Main Applications And The Scopes Of Virtual Reality

That is enough of the concept that pushes us into the future. In which industries are Virtual Reality used today? Some of the fields that have already taken advantage of this technology are medicine, culture, education, and architecture. VR helps us to cross barriers that would otherwise be impossible, from supervised museum visits to the dissection of a muscle. Would you like to know the true potential of VR? Okay, let's get to it. Le's look at the industries where VR can become a boon.

• Automotive field: Until commissioning expensive prototypes, VR enables engineers and designers to play easily with the look and design. Well-known brands like BMW, Jaguar, and Land Rover are already using VR to perform the initial design and engineering reviews to validate the vehicle's visual system and object obscuration-all before the money is spent on creating the parts physically. By minimizing the number of prototypes built per vehicle line, VR is saving the automotive industry millions.
  
• Healthcare Care: Healthcare is a significant application in which VR may have a big effect. Models are now used by healthcare professionals to train themselves to operate on real bodies, and VR has also been used as pain relief for burn injuries. Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy is thought to be incredibly helpful in treating PTSD and anxiety. VR can also treat mental health problems. In VR, there are also other ways in which spending time may have therapeutic benefits.
  

• Retailing: The issue with online shopping is that before we buy them, we do not put on the clothes we want, which results in us purchasing two sizes and sending one back, or buying one size and praying it suits your shape and size. With body-scanning technology in VR, this may soon change, enabling us to put on clothes in the virtual world to see what they look like in person. Various firms, including the European retailer ASOS, which has invested in the software development company Trillenium, are trying to bring us the VR shopping experience.
  
• Learning and Development: With companies such as VirtualSpeech offering VR training for soft skills, the L&D Sector is have started to open up to VR. To incorporate their corporate training into current LMS, they merge VR apps with Web VR and collaborate with businesses. This makes training more available, more accessible, and boosts retention levels of learning.
  
• Entertainment: In the entertainment industry, VR is used to increase interactions with 360 movies (JauntVR) and increase your emotional connexion with them and the characters. For instance, Disney Movies VR takes the user to red carpet events and a 'The Jungle Book' cast interview. VR could also revolutionize the way that media content is made. The flipside is now the quickest way to create shows that can be watched live and within virtual reality itself via conventional platforms such as Twitter, Twitch, or Facebook.    
  
• Education: By encouraging the student to understand in an interactive, experiential way, VR could revolutionize education. University has apps that allow users to explore the human brain, take a tour of Ancient Rome, and board the Titanic. With their 'Engage' piece, ImmersiveVREducation is building a VR classroom/meeting room space where people can learn from lecturers around the world.

• Well-being: With the increase in wellness and meditation popularity, it is not surprising that VR applications are available that allow users to immerse themselves in a meditative environment. One of the most common is Guided Meditation VR, which surrounds the user with beautiful 360 images while listening to soothing music and guided meditation.
  

• Marketing: Marketing is gradually becoming a natural extension of how businesses make consumers feel using VR. When they turned their Christmas advert into VR in Poland, Coca-Cola was the first to try out virtual interactions in their marketing. Creating virtual campus tours of universities is also becoming common for universities. This was all sought out by Princeton, Yale, and Columbia as a way for more students to be able to see their campus.
  
• Law enforcement: As with the military, police services use AR and VR technologies from companies such as VirTra to train workers in simulated situations complete with visual, auditory, and physical triggers (ranging from barking dogs and street noise to discharging a weapon recoil). The technologies also allow police forces to escalate or de-escalate trainees' simulated interactions with people within the virtual training environments, helping learners practice judgment calls and stress-critical decisions. During VR police training, a group of University of Alabama researchers worked with law enforcement officers to test brain waves. One of the lead researchers said the study could "improve officer training and positively impact the hiring process."

In the future, VR is likely to affect your workplace, hobbies, and social life, and that is earlier than you would expect. There are infinite possibilities for VR; the only things in VR that we can not replace are food and sleeping ... for now.

The future of Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) serves as a virtual layer. On top of the world in front of you, creativity is in a new age of exploration. Although early AR apps depend on a smartphone or tablet, wearable devices such as smart glasses that require a different kind of UX and design process would soon broaden, thinking beyond the constraints of a smaller screen.

While the AR vs. VR vs. MR debate is ongoing, augmented reality is a unique opportunity for designers to use an image, object, and color recognition to create apps. Like AI leverages data to make choices, AR leverages the credit within a given space of key "anchor" objects and points.

The animated emoji for the iPhone X, Apple's Animoji, is a brilliant example of a perfect mix between AI and AR. Animoji is, according to Apple, "custom animated messages that use your voice and reflect your facial expressions." Thanks to iPhone X face-scanning features, the rendering and animation function in real-time.

Meta – The Rise Of Immersive AR Experiences

AR will be better integrated with our daily lives in the next five years, integrating our physical and digital worlds with new wearable devices. For game designers, Meta glasses, a unique product, which places Augmented Reality on top of the user's world, is likely to be popular as a medium.

Meta glasses can recognize users' movements based on holographic technology to help them manipulate 3D object projections. For designers working in the area, standardization and cultural differences could become a primary challenge with many devices centered on gestures.

Meta said when launching their AR Workspace, "The future of productivity is spatial." Wearable hardware in the future would enable workers to work hands-free. On voice commands or gestures, the devices of the future might function. The diminishing usage of physical controllers, such as a mouse cursor or a keyboard, can predict the increasing success of AR experiences.

In augmented reality, the main drivers of the experience may be natural motions. For example, trying to mimic a button's click with our fingers would activate an interaction with a virtual link or button. Google unveiled Soli, a project that further develops a sensing system based exclusively on touchless interactions. Such experiences require a minimal interface, with hardly any visual overload, to stay user-friendly.

Few prominent design and development resources of augmented reality:

• Facebook Frame and AR Studio
• Apple ARkit

Is Augmented Reality The Future?

Boeing utilizes AR glasses powered by Skylight to supervise technicians as they were hundreds of planes a year. The wearable display helps technicians identify and precisely connect hundreds of wires to control the app using only their sight and voice. As a consequence, Boeing cut production time by 25% and decreased error rates to almost zero.

A simple voice control system decreases the cost of interaction when operating AR applications to perform complex tasks. Reducing interface elements lessen a user's cognitive load, reduces interruptions, and lowers distractions.

The way consumers and staff are educated and exposed to new knowledge could be changed by augmented reality technology. Imagine training modules such as modifying oil in a vehicle or other practice and training videos using AR to layer indications on top of a real-life scenario.

Designers need to consider, from a usability perspective, what the system visually presents to the user and how the brain interprets complex information that overlaps the actual reality.

Virtual reality is also applicable to transfer data, such as training in manufacturing settings. Instead of explaining, imagine showing a worker via an in-context video on how to do a specific task. This opens up new doors for designers in the e-learning field to build next-generation (futuristic) AR interfaces.

The application of AR and VR in the mining sector

Even though many significant fields where AR can be efficiently employed, this one struck me the most. So this topic itself is of enormous significance. Blasting is the very first and critical part of the mining process. If it goes wrong, the individuals working on the site can experience fatal injuries and the loss of different properties. VR helps resolve this issue and in ensuring flawless blasting. The application of AR here is to solve the problem of innovation and reduce the dangerous human condition. AR will help identify the exact target areas for blasting and enhancing new hires' preparation and imaginarily sensing the actual situation. AR will improve accuracy and protection in mining. Ultimately, by making mining smarter than today, this would lead to a marked difference in productivity. The mining industry has good exploration plans, including exploration of minerals, site selection, identification of drilling depth, sand, clay handling, and minerals extracted. At any point in the mining process, the right blending of AR and VR will significantly.

Bottomline

Soon personalized, open, and future AR/VR devices will generate well-designed experiences. A platform change is inevitable when these elements take hold. We will see new AR glasses with LTE capabilities in three years, in my view, which will become an alternative to the smartphone. The form factor of our favorite consumer electronics will shift with enhanced immersive technology and AR capabilities, and we will never look back. We might be using virtual reality technology in the next few years to scan our text messages and smart glasses to swipe via Instagram.

Considering the AR/ VR market's uncertainty so far, some companies may be waiting to act. Companies will want to consider working with established vendors who can provide end-to-end product production with sturdy engineering capabilities to successfully overcome the challenges of developing augmented and virtual reality technologies while keeping up with market demands and time-to-market. Nearly 90% of businesses are now expecting vendors to help meet AR/VR requirements, ranging from designing plans to full production capabilities to digitally transform their respective industries and organizations. Also, by leveraging talent and technologies beyond AR/VR, enterprises may concentrate on their core strengths while still delivering an immersive experience outside of this world. So why wait? Let's embrace and master these changes and feel the new future realities!