Virtual Reality Applications

Virtual reality is used to improve different fields operations. As a result, many applications have been developed to increase productivity & decrease costs with resources as the following.

1. Military Training:Virtual reality began in 1950 when they used flight simulators to train pilots. As a result, Virtual reality used in the military field for driving simulators flight simulators, hip/sub simulators & tank simulators.

2. Manufacturing & Design:

Virtual reality has been used to visualize real life manufactured products before building them. Therefore, testing designs & checking for any errors, safety or passengers comfort would be possible before the final manufactured product. For example, NASA has used virtual reality to design a helicopter.

3. Medicine:

Virtual reality provides great benefits for researchers & doctors in the medicine field. VR helped them to diagnose & treat heart defects using 3D ultrasound images or visualize the topology of a tumor. Moreover, virtual reality is used in anatomy instruction & surgery simulation to view them from a wide range of angles & to guide surgeons during the surgery. This guidance will be provided during the simulated operation by providing vocal and visual feedback to the user or warnings in dangerous actions.

Virtual reality has also been used widely to treat phobias (such as a fear of heights, driving, flying…). Also, it gives disabled people the opportunity to join in activities not usually available to them. For example, people in wheelchairs, can have a freedom of movement that they do not have in real world.

4. Entertainment:

Entertainment applications using virtual reality are the most common one between people. VR is used to provide different interesting & amazing games for different ages to be played alone or shared. Also, it is used as a simulation tool to test unprofitable uses in V-environments.

5. Education:

The excitement capabilities of virtual reality have enhanced learning environments by having virtual classes with other multimedia forms & virtual labs for scientific experiments. This virtual way of teaching created a more interested environment for students to visualize concepts such as atomic or planetary scales, Interact with events & visit environments without considering distance, time, or safety factors. Additionally, it supported visually oriented learners or other types by explaining any concept in their subjects in a virtual environment.