VR, which stands for virtual reality, is a hot potato of the 4th industrial revolution. Usually people confuse VR for another word for HMD, but the real definition of VR is an artificially simulated virtual world. But this definition is so comprehensive that even Minecraft is considered VR. So these days, VR is usually defined as a simulated virtual world using an HMD.
What is HMD?
HMD is an abbreviation for head-mounted display, which is a goggle-shaped electronic device containing a gyroscope sensor, high-density display, lens, tracking sensor, or tracking camera. This device makes the user’s eyesight immersive in VR by using stereoscopy. Since humans mostly collect their environmental data from the sense of the eyes, it is mostly used in experiencing VR. (Virtual Reality Society, 2015)
The History of HMD
The first HMD concept was brought up by computer scientist Ivan Edward Sutherland in 1968. The first HMD that he made was so heavy that it was connected to the ceiling, and the VR in it was only made up of some simple lines.
After the first HMD, there was no significant improvement until the 21st century due to a lack of computing power, which made it even harder to calculate and simulate two-dimensional things. In the 20th century, VR was used in very few places, like NASA and research centers. And also, game companies like SEGA and Nintendo tried to make VR products, but they were total failures. (www.vrlabacademy.com, 2022)
The human senses are very sensitive. When the information collected by the eyes and the information from the vestibular organ differ, it can cause extreme Motion Sickness and nausea. Which means the VR should react immediately on the user’s move; also, the refresh rate of the display, the resolution of the display, and the FoV, which stands for Field of View, should be higher.
In 2012, the VR boom started. The first runner was Oculus. This company was a startup and got taken over by Meta in 2014, which was Facebook at the time. In 2016, Oculus introduced an HMD called the Oculus Rift. This was one of the first proper HMDs for normal consumers. The rift uses a gyroscope sensor to track in which direction the user is looking and a tracking sensor to check where the user is placed. By using these two pieces of information, the rift could support 6 DOF.
Since Oculus made its first commercial HMD, the VR boom has started. Companies like Samsung, Valve, Sony, and Microsoft started to develop and make their own VR. In 2023, Apple revealed its VR product, called Vision Pro. This product breaks the boundaries between the virtual world and reality. Past HMDs had one big drawback: when the user uses the VR, their eyesight and hearing are completely blocked from reality, which causes safety problems. Also, the communication between reality and VR was a problem. Apple solved this problem by making spatial computing, which shows the user an outer world using a camera placed on the HMD, similar to AR (Apple Newsroom, 2023).
Meta has also revealed its new VR headset, Meta Quest 3. The meta made the Quest 3 cheaper than the other HMDs, allowing more people to be immersive in VR.
The Future of VR
All IT companies are diving into the VR industry, creating more and more competition. This is a good signal for our customers because the competition between companies makes technology grow faster and cheaper (Meta, 2023).
Reference list
Apple Newsroom. (2023). Introducing Apple Vision Pro: Apple’s first spatial computer. [online] Available at: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/06/introducing-apple-vision-pro/.
Meta. (2023). Meta Quest 3 Coming This Fall + Lower Prices for Quest 2. [online] Available at: https://about.fb.com/news/2023/06/meta-quest-3-coming-this-fall/ [Accessed 10 June 2023].
Virtual Reality Society (2015). History Of Virtual Reality. [online] Virtual Reality Society. Available at: https://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality/history.html [Accessed 10 June 2023].
www.vrlabacademy.com. (2022). A Brief History of Virtual Reality. [online] Available at: https://www.vrlabacademy.com/NewsDetail/9/A-Brief-History-of-Virtual-Reality.html [Accessed 10 June 2023].
