Augmented And Virtual Reality: The Promise And Peril Of Immersive Technologies

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In the shift to immersive computing, we witnessed the birth of another wave of equipment using Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies last year. The immersive technologies are gradually replacing the renowned mobile computing.
Similarly, companies like Google, Oculus, VR, and Sony released diverse products in 2016. You might consider Facebook. After investing $2.1 billion on Oculus, it went for 11 VR/ AR Companies. This implies their approval of AR and VR as the future frontiers. When tech giants begin investing heavily on these technologies, they rubberstamp the fact that we should anticipate for the integration of the same technologies on our treasured online platforms.
Goldman Sachs recently predicted the growth of VR & AR into a $95 billion souk by 2025. Firms in the field of the creative economy including video entertainment, retail, live events, and gaming form the major consumers of these technologies. Even so, they suit fields like healthcare, real estate, military, and education. Hence, you can expect that with time, immersive technologies will bear strong footing in almost all industries.
Four ways AR/VR will change how we create and experience content
Shift from observation to immersion
VR & AR will present a unique medium that Drue Kataoka, a techno artist considers as “an artist’s dream to build worlds, pixel by pixel.” Hence, you should prepare for technologies that envisage the world as an eternally expanding concentric circle. The latter will replace rectilinear devices and users will be at the core of the new world as opposed to their current position of viewing content.
Although we have had a similar medium from 1896, the upcoming AR/ VR technologies simply merge the senses of immersion and presence for users.
Better production costs in artistic activities
In addition to reducing the costs of iteration, virtual prototyping enhances the final quality of products under development. A design firm, for instance, passed their savings worth $50, 000 to their aeronautics client using VR prototyping in eradicating twofold traditional prototype cycles and saving the time used in assembling custom samples. Thus, immersive technologies come to save companies from spending on pricey prototypes. The technologies will also reduce the timeline between designing, production, and commercialization of products.
You will also manage to recapitulate plans of your home, office or city and construction sites severally before making any changes. In the end, you will celebrate improved creations as the CEO & co-founder of Occipital, Jeffrey Powers says.
Immersive technologies allow designers to travel and enjoy a direct experience with their prototypes. Hence, VR & AR tend to promise enhanced accuracies in design when compared to traditional prototyping. This equates to better qualities at lower prices.
Reduced Entry Barriers for new creators
Small businesses and upcoming firms can also create content of superior quality at reduced costs using immersive technologies. For example, they can use VR & AR in processing 3600 images in hours as opposed to the traditional route that would require several days. As apps and smartphones allowed hobbyists to enter into photography, so do we expect AR& VR to open up new avenues for all.
As a tool for empathy and cognitive enhancement
Immersive technologies will bring everybody closer to global issues including humanitarian crises. This is because of the authenticity of experience that VR & AR offer as Lynette Wallworth, an actor and director notes. Existing in the sceneries virtually will most likely trigger empathy amongst us while exposing us to crucial information.
Competition for Talent Limits Growth
Immersive Technologies suffer tamable technical hitches ranging from battery life to device sizes. Nonetheless, the technical challenges are not as detrimental as the lack of talent to the rapid growth of the VR/ AR market. The latter makes it almost impossible to meet the rising demand for this technology. Since the firm is t its original ground, it is difficult to spot the actual variation between demand and supply for talent. Even so, according to preliminary informal statistics like US Data, the demand for VR Skilled freelancers increased faster than the demand for any skill in the first half of 2017 and the demand increases 30 fold annually. Additionally, surveys from 200 Canadian companies investing in VR projects revealed a potential VR Talent crunch that will propel consolidation among firms.
Enticing foreign talent
Governments can invest in immersive content heavily. According to a survey of 500 VR/ AR experts in 2016 showed that approximately 50% of them use personal funding in developing their firms with less than 8% of them getting support from alternative sources like governments. Since VR productions require hundreds of thousands, progressive legislators encourage subsidies to attract VR talents globally. The shrewdest of them nonetheless ensure to protect while developing their local firms.
Find more information relating to augmented reality development, and augmented reality companies here.