Virtual Reality (VR) is a new age technology but on a different note, it has been around us for a long time now. We’re talking about simple gaming wherein you engage yourself in front of your screens to play, that is a kind of VR gaming.
Since then, professional VR gaming industries have taken it upon themselves to give you the kind of experiences that sweep you off your feet and take you to another realm; into a digital world.
The concept is rather intriguing to many industries, so much so that they have adopted VR in their fields in creative ways. In this article, we will therefore be looking at some of the surprising industries that use VR in their disciplines.
So, without further ado, let’s dive right in!
1. Medical Training
One important characteristic of VR is that it is interactive, a quality that has become a boon for medical and dental students. The medical field requires practical approaches and with VR at its disposal, it can be used to practice procedures and bridge the gap between just watching the performed demonstration and becoming an actual practitioner of it.
Especially in the operation theatre, surgeons could use this amazing technology to practise and plan complex surgeries before the actual operation. By producing a 3D representation of a patient’s internal structure, VR can work wonders in actually saving your lives!
2. Military
Another innovative way of using VR is in the military. It has the potential to train any trainee under tremendous pressure and controlled reactions without putting them in any danger in real-time.
VR has control over our sensors; with its simulations, it can make humans believe that the digital world created around them is more real than the reality itself. In the military, we can safely replicate dangerous circumstances and prepare the soldiers for the upcoming challenges.
3. Mental Health Issues
Since VR has the power to play with our senses, it has a direct relationship with creating a hoax, false effects to achieve the desired make-belief world around us. While in therapy, VR headsets are used for this reason; to distract patients’ brains for them to lose control over pain paths.
There is also something that is known as VR exposure therapy (VRET for short). It is an effective method to help you recover from PTSD. To do this, VR actively challenges you to confront the things that you fear the most to control the levels of anxiety and fear that comes with PTSD.
It has been used practically in the hospitals; for instance, on a veteran who has PTSD from combat – basically he fears being in the combat situation the most. With VR, however, it makes the experience smooth and in control for him so that he can come to terms with those events and aid healing.
4. Education
Another, now common, application of VR is in the education industry precisely as a valuable tool in the classroom. Since visual learning is much more effective in learning, VR can be easily used to raise the learners’ engagement and increase the pool of knowledge in them.
Something as impossible as going across the world to visit a historic museum is now possible within the classrooms; VR can be used to recreate museums, re-enactments of revolutionary events or even replicate the solar system.
Other than school-level learning, even in a workplace there is a constant need for trainers. With this, the availability of a dedicated learning space also becomes an expensive affair.
VR offers a creative solution to this issue, a creative way for organisations to impactfully train their employees without needing a physical training space. For instance, soft skills training with VR has become quite famous.
To Sum Up…
These are just a few of the many other practical applications of VR in multiple industries.
Discipline like modelling and manufacturing has also created futuristic ways of using this technology; they can easily create free-hand 3D drawings and walk around their model to see it in all its glory!
Sure, setting up a VR environment is expensive. The equipment and supporting systems to create the whole scene is something that will require you to spend a lot, but rather than looking at it as an expense, you should consider this an investment. After all, mistakes in VR are going to cost you much less than those you make in real life!
