Impact of VR/AR in Industries Beyond Gaming and Entertainment

Virtual reality (VR) has applications far beyond gaming, including healthcare, retail and real estate industries. Businesses across these sectors are harnessing VR to optimize their processes.

However, accessibility issues persist; users with disabilities may experience difficulty engaging with VR in noisy environments; any information gathered could also be used to create bias and discrimination within virtual experiences.

Education

VR can simulate experiences that would be too dangerous or expensive to replicate in real life, enabling medical students to perform virtual surgeries and engineering students to test prototypes. VR also offers teachers a safe space in which they can practice techniques before applying them with real students.

AR/VR can be an extremely effective classroom tool to grab students’ attention and keep them engaged, including differently-abled pupils who would not otherwise experience certain environments in reality. It can even give these pupils access to experiences they might never otherwise encounter.

Educational organizations are actively investigating how VR and AR technologies can enhance their curriculums. Some are creating their own immersive learning experiences using these technologies while others partner with companies specializing in creating customized AR and VR experiences for higher education, providing more tailored approaches that maximize their benefits in schools.

Healthcare

Virtual and augmented reality were once mere pipedreams of science fiction, but today they’re increasingly used in real-life applications. From training medical staff, to encouraging empathy for Parkinson’s patients, or helping PTSD veterans find stability in their lives – VR/AR has now become more than just a fun game to play!

Consumers are already spending time and money on VR/AR through cinematic XD screenings, virtual reality sports gaming, live music concerts, amusement parks and amusement parks – but there is plenty of room for improvement when it comes to content, user experience and industry standards that could accelerate its growth even further. One sector where this could happen quickly is in eSports; expected to reach $27 billion by 2022 it has the potential of creating interactive, immersive entertainment – an attractive prospect for gaming companies as well as other forms of immersive content creators!

Retail

With VR/AR technology, online shoppers can now virtually try-on clothes, shoes and accessories before making a purchase decision. This helps save time and effort as well as build customer confidence in their purchases.

Companies are using AR to enhance product education and marketing efforts. Topshop gives its fashionistas virtual reality access to London Fashion Week while Tom’s shoes gives customers the opportunity to visit Peru to see where their shoe donations have gone.

Augmented reality (AR) market growth is anticipated, particularly as mobile processing capabilities increase and headset prices fall. But for AR to become mainstream, it must address challenges like clipping and motion sickness as well as provide a way for troubleshooting any issues such as software bugs or incompatibilities with specific devices efficiently. Furthermore, AR should provide various applications suitable for different industries and consumer needs.

Real Estate

VR/AR technology continues to find applications beyond gaming and entertainment, including real estate and retail sectors where immersive virtual property tours can provide prospective buyers with an engaging virtual property tour experience. Companies such as Mechdyne are using AR to enable oil and gas maintenance technicians make decisions without traveling remote locations for meetings.

Brands are using virtual reality (VR) campaigns to engage their customers. Boursin, a French cheese producer, used VR to take customers “flying” through fridges filled with their products while Jordan Brand recreated Michael Jordan’s famous dunk from the free throw line using VR.

Businesses looking into adopting AR/VR should assess their business needs and identify specific use cases that would benefit from using this technology. Doing this will ensure the appropriate technology is deployed, maximizing its full potential use.