Virtual reality technologies are steadily taking off. And though there is still a bunch skeptics about it, now it is obvious that VR & AR are going to be the next big thing in the world of technologies. Let’s have a look at the main trends and see what they mean for the whole world.
What is it all about?
First, let’s figure what we are talking about. Many people confuse terms ‘Virtual reality’ and ‘Augmented reality’. Though they have a lot in common, there’s still a pretty big difference between them.
Virtual reality is aiming to create a whole new world around it. Though User can interact with objects within it, these objects are not necessarily real ones. VR is based on gesture recognition as well as embedded electronic elements.
At the same time augmented reality is designed to overlay existing objects with some additional information. It’s main aim is not to entertain, but to help performing certain tasks in reality. A great example of AR are smart glasses, which provide additional information without interfering with real world.
Why should I care?
Both VR and AR are getting a really big thing nowadays, so if you want to catch this technological wave, right time is now. According to a recent report, conducted by MarketsAndMarkets, VR technology was estimated as $1.37 billion in 2015, with forecasts of growth till $33.9 billion by 2022. And AR technologies were valued at $2.35 billion in 2015 and are going to reach $117.4 billion by 2022.
There are 2 main reasons, why these technologies are getting this big slice of pie:
- Consumer demand – public is interested in this futuristic technology, which opens totally new world of work and entertainment
- Technology adoption – Microsoft, Oculus, Samsung see VR and AR as their top priorities, so smaller companies follow the trend.
What are main areas, where VR & AR are applied?
One of the main clues to success of these technologies is that it can be applied to a wide range of business areas. Let’s have a look at some of them.
Medical
One of the best thing about AR is that it can be used for trulls altruistic purposes. There are already a number of startups working to help doctors be more efficient during surgeries and patient examinations. Besides, VR can be extremely useful for both teaching young specialists and helping with psychological treatment of phobias and traumas.
Interior Design
Instead of looking at 3D models, pretty soon we will be able to walk around the future interior design or building-to-be-created. This will bring whole working process to the new level and will help to overcome a number of hurdles modern designers are facing with.
Commerce
It’s hard to overestimate the importance of VR & AR for Commerce. Starting from trying outfits out with no leaving your home to providing all the necessary information, while you are browsing down the shopping market aisles. This will create new ways for building digital platforms.
New technologies open a totally different channel for sales, no wonder why everybody is so excited about it.
Military
Finally, military sector is also highly interested in VR & AR. Firstly, it will bring training to the whole new level and secondly, all those cool features available in all sorts of shooters will finally meet the reality, which should improve military efficiency significantly.
We should mention that these are only a few areas, where virtual and augmented reality are going to be used. Together with other trends, it will create totally new ways of interaction between User and system.
These technologies are going to evolve, which is only going to expand the boundaries of its capabilities. Rubyroid Labs Team is also highly interested in these trends and is going to create a new department for that pretty soon.
So if you are ready to start working on VR or AR software or have some ideas to discuss, drop us a line and we will see, how we can help you.
