Virtual Reality

Robert Lyne

What is Virtual Reality?

● In today's terms, VR is the term used to describe a 3D, computer generated environment which can be explored and interacted with by a person

History of VR

● 1956 - Cinematographer Morton Heilig created Sensorama, the

first VR machine

● 1985 - Jaron Lanier and Thomas Zimmerman founded VPL

Research, Inc.

● 1997 - Georgia Tech and Emory University researchers used VR

to create war zone scenarios for veterans receiving exposure

therapy for PTSD

● 2012 - the Oculus Rift received $2.4 million on kickstarter

● 2014 - Facebook bought the Oculus VR company for $2 billion

VPL Research

Current VR

● Classified in 3 groups - mobile, tethered or standalone

Mobile- A smartphone is put inside of a shell with lenses that form your phone into a vr device

Tethered- Corded headset where processing is done from a seperate computer

Standalone- No wires, processing done within the headset itself

Degrees of Freedom (DOF)

● 3DOF tracks the direction you are looking● 6DOF tracks where you are looking and your forward/backward, side to side

and up and down movement

Biggest Players in VR

● Oculus - Go, Quest, Rift S● HTC - Vive, Vive Pro, VIve Cosmos● Sony - PS VR● Samsung - Gear VR● Google - Daydream, Cardboard● Nintendo - Labo VR kit

VR in Business and Medical Field

● VR industry expected to be worth $117B by 2022● Growth expected to come from business and education adoption, not gaming

VR in Education

Desensitization

● Virtual reality games in which there are high levels of violence or training exercises for the military in which soldiers engage in simulated combat scenarios which include killing.

Privacy and Data

● Need to be extra careful with tech which function with cameras always on● Neither Oculus’ Privacy Policy nor Terms of Service specifically address how

data captured or derived from the headsets’ cameras is used, stored, or transmitted

Social Isolation

● Addictive and life like environments● People may find a VR world to be inviting than the real world

Working Through Ethical Theories

● Kantianism ○ Ethical in a single person environment○ Non-Ethical in a multiplayer environment

● Act Utilitarianism ○ Ethical, pleasure and benefits outweigh the negatives

Conclusion

● VR is be used in industries other than gaming● We are still in the infant stages of VR

Sources

Barnard, Dom. “History of VR - Timeline of Events and Tech Development.” VirtualSpeech, VirtualSpeech, 6 Aug. 2019, virtualspeech.com/blog/history-of-vr.

Greenwald, Will. “The Best VR Headsets for 2020.” PCMAG, 17 Feb. 2020, www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-vr-headsets.

Lang, Ben. “Here's What Facebook Says About Camera Privacy on Quest & Rift S.” Road to VR, 6 Aug. 2019, www.roadtovr.com/oculus-quest-camera-privacy-rift-s-facebook/.

Statista Research Department. “VR Device Shipments by Vendor Worldwide 2017-2019.” Statista, 22 Apr. 2020, www.statista.com/statistics/671403/global-virtual-reality-device-shipments-by-vendor/.

“What Is Virtual Reality?” Virtual Reality Society, www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality/what-is-virtual-reality.html.

Young, Chris. “Virtual Landscapes: 13 Fascinating Future Uses for VR and AR.” Interesting Engineering, Interesting Engineering, 28 Feb. 2020, interestingengineering.com/virtual-landscapes-13-fascinating-future-uses-for-vr-and-ar.