Virtual Reality

Virtual reality

Virtual reality is a computer simulation of new spaces. That I could serve for the creation of a simulated environment for entertainment, medicine, flight simulation and military strategies.

The origins

Research carried out highlights that in 1860, the playwright Antonin Artaud used the technology of his time to blur illusion and reality in one of his shows. This author commented that the audience that goes to the theater should eliminate their disbelief and consider the performance as something real.

Another advance to virtual reality was the creation of Pygmalion glasses in which it showed holographic recordings and fictitious experiences, which included smell and touch, this was in 1935 thanks to the help of Stanley G. Weinbaum.

In the 1950s, the inventor Morton Heilig emerged who wrote his work "Theatrical Experience" in which he selectively embraced all of the viewer's senses, drawing their attention to the screen. He built a prototype called Sensorama, in which the viewer could view 5 small movies while the rest of the senses were stimulated.

Heilig also developed his so-called "Cableway Mask" (patented in 1960). The patent describes the device as: “A television telescope for individual use. The viewer receives a complete sensation of reality, through 3-dimensional images that can even be received in color, with 100% peripheral vision, sounds, fragrances, and air breezes.

Another event to highlight was the work of Ivan Shutherland carried out in 1968. This consisted of the creation of the first VR helmet or head-mounted display (HMD) for use in immersive simulations.

The helmet the user was wearing was so large that it needed to be suspended from the ceiling. The graphics that comprised the virtual environment the user was in consisted of simple model rooms rendered from the wireframe algorithm. The device was called The Sword of Damocles.

There were several attempts to create a more controlled environment for virtual reality simulation, but until 2001, SAS3 or SAS Cube became the first CAVE system environment based on a personal computer, developed by Z-A Productio (Maurice Benayoun , David Nahon), Barco, Clarté and installed in Laval, France.

In 2007, Google launched Street View, which was a service that referenced panoramic views of a growing number of places around the world such as streets, buildings, etc.

In 2010 Palmer Luckey designed the first Oculus Rift prototype. This prototype, built on a shell from another virtual reality headset, was only capable of rotatingly tracking the movement of the user's head.

But this system was ineffective and needs improvement because it only showed a 90-degree view.

In 2013, the Valve company discovered and freely shared the advancement of low-persistence displays, which made lag-free and much more polished and clear visualization possible. This was adopted by Oculus and was used in all of their future headsets or visors.

Another outstanding fact is that more than 230 companies have developed products related to virtual reality and some of the companies to highlight are Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Sony, and Samsung that have developed virtual reality and augmented reality.

In early 2017, a patent filed by Sony announced that position tracking technology similar to VIVE for PlayStation VR was in development, with the potential for the development of a wireless headset.

Main uses of virtual reality

Medicine

Virtual reality is used in medicine to perform simulations for the training of doctors, surgery operations, treatment of phobias. Psychological traumas and also in pain control thanks to the use of distraction techniques.

Military training

In the military field, it is used to improve skills and train the capabilities of the military. Since it recreates simulations of different types of scenarios as if they were in a real battlefield, with the possibility of increasing the frequency of rehearsals at a much lower cost than if it were in a real training field.

In education

It is used for the design of architectural models or the visualization of parts of the human body.

In the entertainment

In video games, this is where this type of technology is used the most, since players prefer to have a real simulation of different situations that the character, they play with in the video game can experience, making them immerse themselves more in the story and in the game. type of character, in addition these players can acquire all the necessary components to have an unforgettable experience.