Most of us are fascinated by virtual reality (VR). Who has not cringed about being virtually stuck in the 1990s of The Matrix, or dreamed up their own environment for Star Trek’s holodeck? Now the promise of VR appears to be growing closer to reality. Recently, Silicon Valley Bank brought together VR hardware and software developers, entertainment companies, academic researchers and 60 investors to pollinate ideas for moving VR from fiction to fruition.
VR got a huge boost in public visibility after Facebook’s $2bn acquisition of VR pioneer Oculus last summer. Other corporate players, including Samsung, Sony (Project Morpheus) and HTC (Vive), have also been working on highly anticipated plans to introduce VR to the masses. And VR startups are popping up, the most promising of which are attracting significant attention from top venture capitalists and digital entertainment players – not surprising when you consider the market for VR hardware and software market is anticipated to top $30bn by 2020, according to Digi-Capital.
I was particularly struck by some of the non-entertainment uses. VR research is offering 3D methods for treating vexing medical conditions, delivering new educational platforms, training professionals in high-stress jobs, such as pilots, surgeons and soldiers. It is also enhancing the way we communicate and socialise. A lot of work has been done in recent years to make VR experiences more convincingly evocative of human sensations.
Standing, virtually, next to Paul McCartney at Madison Square Garden, thanks to Jaunt, was pretty special.
But the experience WEVR shared of an underwater encounter with a blue whale was so realistic that even the sardines in the ocean moved as you touched them.
The next big wave for VR will focus on applications and content. Oculus, after being acquired by Facebook, launched an in-house studio – Story Studio – staffed by former Pixar and Industrial Light & Magic veterans. Their first movie debuted at this winter’s Sundance Film Festival.
In other cases, we are seeing startups partnering entertainment leaders with large distribution channels to develop new types of content. Samsung’s Matt Apfel, vice-president of strategy and creative content, is charged with filling the content pipeline for his company’s recently launched Milk VR, an app connected to a Samsung head monitor display (HMD) made by Oculus and run on a Galaxy S6 phone. Apfel told us Samsung was casting its net wide to tap the most advanced startups: “We are creating content with them – we have a group doing a lot of investing in VR and helping companies operationalise.”
Other corporate venturers include Comcast Ventures, Sony, Sky Broadcasting and HTC, all of which plan to integrate VR into their full suite of services – ranging from TV to gaming to amusement parks.
Sony and HTC have also introduced HMDs. Google Ventures is interested in creating a social VR ecosystem, going beyond the augmented reality of Google Glass. Microsoft Ventures is looking to benefit from VR operating systems and platforms, initially in gaming. And Intel Capital and Qualcomm Ventures are making investments to power these platforms with latest-generation chips.
Sporting events are another natural fit for VR. Aside from the adrenaline-boosting offerings, I was impressed by the opportunity to harness human psychology to create experiences that can have far-reaching consequences.
Jeremy Bailenson of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, for example, is allowing people to see how their carbon footprint is contributing to ocean acidification. You become the pink coral and watch in fast-forward until the coral – and you – disappear.
Other applications we saw – Learn Immersive has developed an interactive foreign-language learning platform that lets teachers create virtual environments to encourage students to socialise with other users and receive tutoring from native speakers, similar to The Sims role-playing video game. The Matterport 3D camera and storage platform enables virtual walks and tours around properties, a handy tool for real estate professionals. AltspaceVR is developing a videoconference system that creates more engaging and realistic ways to collaborate in work settings.
For me, the most inspirational story came from James Blaha, who has had vision problems since childhood that have prevented him from seeing in 3D. Using the Oculus Rift and a VR game he developed, he taught himself to see in three dimensions for the first time. Now his company, Vivid Vision, is testing the system in partnership with University of California
San Francisco to cure amblyopia (lazy eye) and strabismus (crossed eye), and trials with optometrists are starting. His view is that children, in particular, may engage more readily in treatment if they see the therapy as a game. Additionally, there is continuing research into an area known as virtual reality exposure therapy to develop VR-based treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder, for example, and into using VR to help patients with cerebral palsy and autism.
When it comes to the promise of VR, seeing certainly is believing.