VR/AR vs. Everything else | 23
Weekly Update #2, my thoughts on the field and what I'm reading right now
I grappled with deciding between focusing on learning and building projects around AR/VR technologies or 3D-Printing this year. I was curious about both topics so I spent a few hours diving deep into each of them. 3D-Printing was definitely the more practical and applicable of the two–– and it was easy to explain why this technology was going to be extremely important in the years to come. It would be the backbone of many emerging technologies, enabling innovation in multiple industries, while giving the manufacturing economy a huge boost along the way.
VR? Aside from its applications in entertainment, I found much less about it and it seemed to me to be the more superficial option. I myself don’t want to live in a world where humans stick contact lenses on their eyes or lug heavy headsets around when speaking to friends in the park. I’ve listened to many critiques of the coming ‘metaverse’ era and all the possible pitfalls it will allow humans (with our already overstimulated brains) to fall into. But my interest for it was stronger and I was more drawn to it than the other emerging technologies.
So c’est la vie, I’ll be following what my heart pulls me towards–– VR/AR is what I’m dedicating the last of my teen years towards exploring.
Applications of VR that I find really interesting are in the art/experience space, the healthcare space, and the training space (ex. building spacecraft, wiring machines, etc.).
Biggest Obstacles To Overcome in the VR Field
Market Fragmentation
Something really interesting to me is how many different companies are creating their own headsets and versions of virtual or augmented reality. When you manipulate something as essential as THE WAY YOU SEE THE WORLD, I wonder what social implications this market fragmentation will have (if any).
Ranking these VR headsets by how much I want to try them on:
Apple Vision Pro
Microsoft Mesh
Magic Leap
CReal
Playstation VR
Oculus Pro
Comfort and Human-Centric Design
If it’s anything beyond a pair of glasses, I’d find it unrealistic that VR could be properly integrated into people’s everyday lives. It’s heavy, it’s bulky, you wouldn’t want to wear it on the street (should you even wear it on the street?)
Weight
Making the goggles or glasses lighter, designing it so that it feels “weightless” on the head.
Motion sickness and latency problems
Latency is the delay between the signals sent and received to and from the VR software and VR hardware. There are different types of latency, ex.
- motion to photon- input latency
- network latency
For a seamless experience and better VR UX, overcoming the latency problem is integral.Engineers tap into mobile edge computing technology because its higher computing capabilities enable VR’s bandwidth-intensive technology, reducing latency and providing users with a seamless VR experience.
Mental and Physical Health
TVs, phones, and laptops, have already taken up so much of our precious time, and have converted it into mindless time. Depression and anxiety rates are increasing, and people just make poorer choices when it comes to their health. The widespread adoption of VR is sure to exacerbate this.. Or will it?
The exercise segment of Ready Player One, where he forces himself to become healthy by locking out every other single app in his VR headset until he’s done his “healthy habits” for the day is a forcing function that might be useful to adopt within this situation.
My Further Questions
One of my favorite applications of VR/AR is how it’s helped people with dementia by recreating moments from the 1950s. It’s made me really curious about what other creative applications of these technologies there are for improving the lives of those with cognitive impairments.
I’m curious about how it’s being used to treat fibromyalgia