What Can AR/VR Be Used For: Interesting Use Cases

Due to all of the augmented a virtual reality uses in video games, many people to ask “What can virtual reality be used for?” If you were to ask this question to the average person they would tell you that it can be used for video games. While it is true that if you would like an authentic Pokémon hunting experience or shoot zombies as if they were in real life, augmented and virtual reality is indispensable, but it is important to remember that this only scratching the surface of their potential. In case you ever wondered what is virtual reality used for, here are some interesting uses for VR and AR as well.

• Preparing for a Bear Attack

One of the most interesting uses of virtual reality technology is educating people what to do if they encounter a bear in the forest. Interestingly enough, not all bears can be scared away with the same exact method, therefore you need to know which ones to use in which situation. With this bear safety training program, you put on VR goggles and immediately you find yourself in the middle of a forest. You walk around and as soon as soon as you see a bear, you must decide which method to use to scare away the bear. In a real life situation, you would be very scared of the bear and you would not be able to remember all of the precautions and techniques connected to bear safety. This is why such a training needs to build reflexes and muscle memory so in the event, you do encounter a bear all of the necessary motions will be reflexive. Such a tutorial helps build muscle memory and can potentially save your life.

• Relieving Pain and Stress

Virtual reality helps relieve stress and pain for hospital patients by distracting while they go through potentially traumatic and painful procedures such as IV injections. When they put on the headset, the multi-sensory 3D content is so immersive, that it teleports them to another realm and all of the medical procedures do not hurt as much. One of the future uses of virtual reality is that might reduce or even replace the use of chemical painkillers which are very expensive and can have negative side effects. Today virtual reality development in this area is focused on rehabilitation efforts for those who experienced a stroke and training current and future doctors with surgery preparation.

• House Hunting

Physically going from one house to the next is a thing of the past. Thanks to virtual reality software development not only can you view properties that are on sale, but you can also view the ones that have not even been built yet. Also, let’s remember that buying a home a big decision that cannot always be made right there on the spot. Usually, customers need to to take some time and consult with their friends and family, which also meant that they needed to physically come and view the property. Now, a customer can view a property in 3D, then simply hand over the VR glasses to anyone else they wish to see their future home.

• Retail Trials

Companies spend a lot of time coming up with ideas on how to get the customer’s attention. This includes changing the packaging, sales, and discounts or complete rebranding. Now, companies do not have to guess whether or not their efforts were successful, because, thanks to VR, they can do a trial roll out. Basically, trial participants put on VR headsets and they see a real store environment with all of the product changes made by the company. The headset tracks things like shopper gazes, movements and what things they picked up.

• Car Breakdown Assistance

If you are like most people, looking under the hood of a car is like looking at a human brain: you have no idea where anything is, much less what needs to be done if your car breaks down. Even though you probably have an instruction manual, you most likely do not understand anything written in there and still, you probably do not know where each car part is located. This is one of the most helpful uses of augmented reality: helping drivers in case their car breaks down. Hyundai has already invested in custom software development which allows drivers to overlay instruction over the engine of their car with instructions on carrying out simple maintenance and general information about their car.

With all of the virtual and augmented reality uses mentioned above, we see how multifaceted both AR and VR can be and that it has lots of practical applications. Once again, we must remember that even though we probably did not know about the use cases mentioned above, we have only scratched the surface in terms of AR/VR development and its potential. Furthermore, we live in the era of the experience economy, meaning that customers nowadays prefer companies that will provide them with an experience that is specifically tailored to them. Business will need to go above and beyond to satisfy the needs of each individual customer if they would like to compete, regardless of industry. This is why AR and VR are actively being harnessed by companies because only they can help bridge the game between them and the customer.