VIRTUAL REALITY EXPANDS INTO 2022 Are There Risks?
PHOTO STELLA JACOB
High-tech VR development and testing at Silverdraft in Boise.
a designated “cave,” stand in front of a canvas, or wear glasses that track from a wearer’s point of view. Depending on the type of VR, users interact within an environment with controllers and sensors that track eye and body movement. Some virtual worlds are pixelated and clearly animated, and some replicate what we see in the real world, with visuals ranging from blocky to extreme realism. However, all graphics are now COURTESY SILVERDRAFT clear and highly-evolved. From an exclusive tool once used to train surgeons and pilots, VR BY HAILEY MINTON is quickly becoming ubiquitous and affordable in our daily lives, Want to flap your wings over the Empire State Building? Ski allowing anyone to immerse themselves for entertainment, job a double-black diamond in the French Alps without breaking training, healthcare assessments, and education. bones? Swim with Great White sharks and keep your legs? Human Resource departments are turning to VR for soft skills Virtual reality is one of the fastest-growing frontiers in training, especially as remote work has accelerated during the the technological world since it was created in 1968 by Ivan pandemic. Banks, call centers, and customer service positions Sutherland and his student, Bob Sproull. At the time, a huge, offer new hires practice sessions, putting them in front of virtual head-mounted contraption was suspended from the ceiling and customers before sending them into the workplace. Josh Bersin, proved far too heavy for application within the general marketa HR industry analyst, claims that VR immersion leaves a lasting place. And until the mid-1980s, VR was still considered the stuff impact because “experiential training” has been proven to be far of magic realism for video gaming and science fiction. Today, more effective than traditional methods. mirroring the blast-speed of all technology in our daily lives, kids According to Faisal Aqlan and Hui Yang’s article in ISE Magput on VR headsets and dance with robots so real that research azine, VR is also expanding into detecting mental disorders with shows that they elicit empathy in humans. Oculus, a new Mesensor-based virtual reality. According to the World Health Orgata-aka-Facebook VR headset, was the top-selling Christmas nization, 35% to 85% of mental health conditions remain undepresent at Costco in 2021, and Apple promises to release an tected and undiagnosed. VR places subjects in a virtual room where ever-over-achieving version in 2022. they are directed to complete tasks. The device meanwhile collects Most people think of a headset when they picture VR, but the eye-tracking data in conjunction with the spoken feedback from methodologies of experience are also evolving. People can enter 12
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