Virtual and Augmented Reality

Question 1

Who pioneered the first VR headset?

Answer 1

Ivan Sutherland in 1968 at Harvard University.

Question 2

What was the first VR headset like?

Answer 2

• It was so heavy that it had to be suspended from the ceiling, and the formidable appearance of the device inspired its name—the Sword of Damocles.
• The system was primitive both in terms of user interface and realism.

Question 3

Who popularised the term Virtual Reality?

Answer 3

• Jaron Lanier.

- Founder of VR company VPL (Virtual Programming Language) Research, the first company to sell VR goggles and gloves.

Question 4

What are some issues with the Samsung Gear VR (with Controller) released in 2015?

Answer 4

• Functionality dependent on having a compatible Samsung phone - adds to cost and limits users.
• Contents are poor as dependent on graphic capabilities of the phone.
• Limited selection of apps.
• Lacks any ability to track movement in a room.
• Many users experience extreme nausea and sickness.

Question 5

What are some positives of the Samsung Gear VR (with Controller)?

Answer 5

• Headset alone is a reasonable price compared to other VR headsets. ($99)
• Makes VR more accessible to people.

Question 6

What is the HTC Vive ?

Answer 6

• VR headset launched in April 2016.
• Appeared as prototype but was successful
• Uses “room scale” tracking technology, allowing the user to move in 3D space and use motion-tracked handheld controllers to interact with the environment - so able to transport users.
• Costs £500-600 (if have appropriate and usually expensive computer) so expensive but is new tech.

Question 7

What are the defining features of VR?

Answer 7

• Creates computer generated environments & a sense of depth using 3D.
• Form of immersive technology, transporting users to different worlds.
• Isolation (can also be negative) as can take you away from an environment and the people in it.
• Disorientating (after the experience)
• Nausea inducing (but only relevant to early VR due to refresh rate so this has been improved as the tech has)

Question 8

What kind of VR technology exists today?

Answer 8

• Top quality headsets such as Oculus (£300) and Vive (£600) but need for expensive computers/laptops (£1/2k).
• More headsets being introduced by Samsung, Asus and Microsoft which are reducing the amount of computer power need (i.e. need for £800 laptop) however, less power can compromise graphical quality so decreased realism.

Question 9

What does the future of VR look like?

Answer 9

• Predicted that within the next year standalone VR headsets will be introduced (so no need for external device like PC or phone)
• Introduction of higher resolution/wireless headsets which require PC.

Question 10

Give an example of a VR headset due to be released in the near future.

Answer 10

• Oculus Go.
• Aim to be an affordable VR device.
• Fully standalone device (don’t need a smartphone or PC to power it).

Question 11

What is Augmented Reality?

Answer 11

• Engages with the real world by projecting virtual entities.
• Rival technology to VR.

Question 12

When did AR first begin to draw on consumer audiences?

Answer 12

• Early 2013.
• Volkswagen MARTA app provided virtual step by step repair assistance, allowing service technicians to foresee how a repair process would look on a vehicle in front of them.
• So, aim to be functional.
• But, need for a device so a gimmick.

Question 13

What are the key differences between VR and AR?

Answer 13

• AR alters one’s current perception of a real world environment, whereas VR replaces the real world environment with a simulated one.

Question 14

What is SLAM?

Answer 14

• Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping.
• Big companies (Apple, Google & Facebook) investing heavily in technology.
• Reads visual data from physical world in the shape of points to allow a device to understand what’s around them.
• Most SLAM tech currently uses floor recognition and position tracking, allowing most things around you to be an element to interact with.

Question 15

What is the Microsoft HoloLens?

Answer 15

• VR headset with transparent lenses for an AR experience.
• ‘Mixed reality’ branding initiative by Microsoft.
• Aims to blend digital world with real world by projecting images over your vision so they appear as holograms, complementing the real word around you, changing the way you perceive a space or providing more info about the world around you.
• E.g. you might stream Netflix on a wall or build a Minecraft castle on your coffee table as high resolution holograms.
• High cost of ca. £3,500 for developer versions.
• Narrow field of view & clunky interface.
• As tech improves it will eliminate need for screens & separate devices - completely innovative and revolutionary.

Question 16

What are the defining features of AR?

Answer 16

• Inputs computer generated elements in real environment.
• Integrated with real world.
• Partly-immersive.
• Orientating (helps you understand world around you)
• No nausea
• Could create a more isolated world as people will see different things.

Question 17

What kind of AR technology currently exists?

Answer 17

• Prototypes such as Microsoft HoloLens

Question 18

What does the future of AR look like?

Answer 18

• Objective to develop technologies with wider field of view and increased functionality.

Question 19

What are some useful applications of VR?

Answer 19

• Flight Simulators
• Surgery Simulators
• Design & Visualisation

(‘Virtual Reality Technology and Applications’ by Mihelj, Novak and Beguš)

Question 20

Discuss VR in relation to flight simulators.

Answer 20

• Well-known practical application of VR.
• Allow pilots to practice flying in safe, controlled environment eliminating any threat to people or machinery.
• Allow training in varied situations – from routine flight to serious equipment failures that could endanger passengers.
• Flight simulators first appeared in 1950s and have developed as such that they represent technology regularly used by military and civilian pilots internationally.

Question 21

Discuss VR in relation to surgery simulators.

Answer 21

• Provide virtual environments were a surgeon can use realistic haptic interfaces (which look and feel like actual surgical instruments) to practice surgery on different patients.

Question 22

Discuss VR in relation to design and visualisation.

Answer 22

• VR can be used to design and test different machines and objects.
• VR generally expensive so usually used to design expensive objects such as power plants & rockets or mass produced objects like cars.
• Versatile – can be used to design objects which can later be transferred to real world and become tangible as well as can transfer objects from real world to virtual environment (e.g. user could walk through virtual depiction of historical building, analyse items and learn facts (educational) without actually physically visiting the building.)
• VR could illustrate 3D data to help us understand the content in a more visual way so good teaching tool.
• VR tech could be useful for housing markets, letting people see house before built so capital can be collected before building house.
• Retailers like Ikea have implemented AR apps which allow users to view how an item would look in specific location before buying.

Question 23

What are some useful applications of AR?

Answer 23

• Entertainment and Education.
• Medicine.

(‘Virtual Reality Technology and Applications’ by Mihelj, Novak and Beguš)

Question 24

Discuss AR in relation to entertainment and education.

Answer 24

Entertainment

• Can allow games to augment the real game (e.g. a board) with sounds and visual stimuli – increase interest and could help player by giving warnings. (e.g. Chess with virtual figures can be moved with a pointer)

Education

• US army allows soldiers to train with real weapons and virtual opponents that react to the soldier’s movements.
• Games which prompt player to partake in physical or mental challenges thus teaching certain skills.
• Field trips not most - accessible experience for people e.g. issues of safety/mobility etc. so VR could be utilised to reconstruct a place to substitute actually going or to ‘rehearse’ and prepare for going, so VR eliminates limits, e.g. the moon could be reconstructed.
• VR could reconstruct significant historical objects (e.g. Gutenberg Press, granting people with experience, encouraging deeper understanding) or scenes (e.g. could go back to ancient Egypt, Rome, battles etc.)

Question 25

Discuss AR in relation to medicine.

Answer 25

• E.g. during surgery, computer can project an image of patient’s internal organs on surface of skin to help determine exact location of incision.

Question 26

What is the big picture of immersive technology?

Answer 26

• Not unrelated to AI so much of the tech intertwined and will play role in 4th industrial revolution.