What is Virtual Reality (VR)?
Virtual reality, told as a story about a booth where putting on a headset replaces your whole field of view with a virtual world.
Just looking at a photo of a high place, it's not scary at all?A flat photo gives no sense of actually being there.
Use a flat screen for training, and outside it you're still just in a classroom.A flat screen can't give that sense of immersion.
VR makes your whole field of view become a virtual world, so you feel like you're inside it.Turn your head, and the virtual world turns with you.
VR, AR, and MR differ in how much they mix reality and virtual content.VR is fully virtual, AR overlays virtual content onto reality, and MR lets reality and virtual content react to each other.
A delayed headset response can cause dizziness, and long wear tires you out.VR is just one way to experience the metaverse.
Virtual reality (VR) uses a headset to replace your whole field of view with a virtual world, making you feel like you're inside it.
VR uses a head-mounted display (HMD) to fully replace the user's view with virtual content, tracking head and hand movement to react in real time. It's distinct from AR, which overlays virtual information on an unobstructed view of reality, and MR, where reality and virtual content react to each other. A mismatch between what the eyes see and what the body feels can trigger motion sickness ('cybersickness'), and latency makes it worse. Extended-wear fatigue plus equipment cost remain barriers to wider adoption.
When grown-ups say it
- Virtual Reality
- A headset that replaces your whole view with virtual content. Covers your entire field of view.
- Augmented Reality
- Overlaying virtual info onto reality. Reality stays fully visible.
- Mixed Reality
- Reality and virtual content reacting to each other. Lets you handle virtual objects as if touching them.
- Metaverse
- The shared virtual space avatars gather in. VR is one way to experience it. → the Metaverse booth
- HMD
- A screen worn on the head; for VR it fully covers your view. The core piece of VR hardware.
- Cybersickness / VR Sickness
- Dizziness in VR, mainly blamed on a mismatch between what the eyes see and the body feels. Worse the slower the tracking and response.
- Head Tracking
- Reading head direction to change the view. The key technology behind immersion.
- Digital Twin
- A twin that copies a real machine exactly. VR can even let you walk around inside a twin. → the Digital Twin booth