Now that we know what Virtual Reality is, it is time to dive into the broad world of VR and find out in which fields, jobs, situations or settings it can be used. The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of VR is probably the video gaming or entertainment industry, as those were initially responsible for the development of the technology towards public use. While that still holds true today, more and more companies have adopted this way of communicating, researching and testing different ways of utilising VR for promoting, showcasing or bringing their products to life. Through this, VR has, in recent years, made its entrance into the mainstream, revolutionising many sectors with its fresh and extremely involving take on user experience.1
But what are these use cases, precisely? This post aims to provide some overview and short descriptions of relevant cases.
Health Care
The first and arguably one of the most important uses for VR is health care. Surgeons are using VR during their education to simulate their future work spaces and get to know procedures comfortably in a repeatable manner. This way they can practice all kinds of surgeries without the need for real patients, something that was just not as easily possible before.2
The technology also facilitates medical procedures which might require expertise that can not be provided locally, depending on a patients whereabouts and needs. This is where VR can be used to connect to doctors and specialists around the world for remote consultation and treatment.1
Lastly, VR is also being used during the treatment of patients. CBT (cognitive behavior therapy) profits immensely from this, as it can provide a controlled and safe environment, which helps patients work through anxiety or phobias. Depending on the needs of the patient, the program can also be easily adjusted and personalised. This approach is also perfectly reproducable, recordable and able to be monitored by medical staff.1
Education
Similar to how it is being used in health care, VR can help provide virtual environments for almost all other fields aswell. Many jobs work in dangerous environments, which make it harder to train new employees. VR offers a safe solution to this, as it can simulate any environment or task, which provides immersion, realism and most importantly risk free training, which is also cost effective and easy to use. Employees can be taught and stay up to date with a very fast iterative process, which can be used anywhere in the world.2
Architecture
In architecture, VR has two main use cases. It can provide a space for visualising and simulating future projects and buildings, which gives a much better insight into how the object might look and feel, making dimensions much more palpable than on a piece of paper. More advanced setups also offer the opportunity of making real-time changes in the planning phase. The second use case is then to use these existing 3D models and visualisations to provide the customer with a realistic walk-through of their future home without having to physically be there, or before the object is even fully built.3
Online Shopping
In a similar vein to showcasing buildings, VR can also be used much closer to the customer, providing visualisations of products they might want to purchase online, from the comfort of their home. Visualisations might be used to even let the user place certain products in their real life environment to understand the dimension of a new wardrobe they are thinking of purchasing.4
Tourism
This virtual try-before-you-buy trend also extends to tourism. VR glasses can show a preview of what the planned holiday might look like in person. Further than that it can also serve as a full alternative through guided virtual tours and visits to distant places for a much cheaper price. This approach also makes it easier to deal with accessibility issues, as it can be done from anywhere, with a much smaller carbon footprint as an added bonus.1
These were just some of the most common uses of VR in our daily lives. Hopefully this post provided a nice overview, and who knows what else is to come in the next few years of development.
Sources
1. Expert Panel, Forbes Councils Member. “17 VR Applications That Can Provide A Powerful User Experience” Forbes. Published August 22, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2023/08/22/17-vr-applications-that-can-provide-a-powerful-user-experience/?sh=3379fc503030.
2. Expert Panel, Forbes Councils Member. “13 Productive And Creative Uses For VR That Impress Tech Experts”. Published December 5, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/12/05/13-productive-and-creative-uses-for-vr-that-impress-tech-experts/
3. Alcanja, Daniel. “10 Industries Utilizing Virtual Reality in 2024”. Trio Blog. Published February 8, 2021. https://www.trio.dev/blog/virtual-reality-applications
4. Leonard, Kimberlee. “Top 5 Virtual Reality Business Use Cases” Business.com. Last modified February 21, 2023. https://www.business.com/articles/virtual-reality-business-use-cases/
