What is Virtual Reality?

Good morning everyone,

I hope you’re all having a cracking bank holiday weekend 🙂

Technology is becoming increasingly embedded into our lives, however, as the industry is developing so quickly, it can be difficult to keep up with it all. I’m going to continue breaking some of these down for you (following one of my previous posts on AI), looking at the concept of ‘Virtual Reality’ in today’s blog.

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Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated, computer-generated 3D environment, that enables users to explore and interact with a virtual setting in a way that emulates reality, as it is perceived through the users’ senses. The environment is created through a mixture of computer hardware and software, with users typically needing to wear a helmet or goggles to interact with the simulation.

Let’s use an example to hopefully help this make a little more sense…

Let’s pretend that you are back in school, sitting in a history class, about to learn about Ancient Egypt. Instead of the teacher simply talking you through all of the points, giving you some examples or perhaps showing you a video, virtual reality allows you to immerse yourself within Ancient Egypt as if you were actually there.

Using a VR headset, students can be transported to a simulation of Ancient Egypt. They can walk through the streets of Cairo, interact with the environment and witness various points in time, such as the construction of the pyramids, different Pharaohs ruling, the tomb of Tutankhamun and so much more from the safety of the classroom.

Virtual reality, in essence, helps in starting to break down locational barriers. Say you have a friend that lives all of the way over in New York, while you are living in Swansea. Instead of jumping on a plane to go and see them or communicating through video calls, VR allows you to interact with them in a virtual simulated setting, where the possibilities for what you can get up to are endless.

While VR still has a long way to go, I feel like it is such a fascinating emerging technology to keep an eye on as it continues to evolve. If we explore it from a healthcare or an educational point of view, the value that it can provide to both areas is staggering. If you had never heard of VR before or weren’t too sure what it meant, hopefully, today’s blog has helped clear it all up for you 🙂

That’s all for today, what do you think? Would you be interested in finding out more about VR? Are there any emerging technologies you’d like to see me cover next?

I’d love to hear your thoughts ⤵️

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a lovely day!