Virtual Reality in Actual Reality: Real-life VR Applications

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Introduction
Gaming and Entertainment
Education and Training
Healthcare and Medicine
Manufacturing and Product Engineering
Retail and E-commerce
Closing Thoughts on Real-life VR Applications

Virtual Reality in Actual Reality: Real-life VR Applications

Curated by

cdteliot

4 min read

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Virtual reality (VR) has evolved far beyond its gaming roots, finding practical applications across diverse industries from healthcare to automotive design. As reported by Strivr, Fortune 500 companies have already conducted over 1 million VR training sessions, demonstrating the technology's growing impact on employee development and operational efficiency in the real world.

Gaming and Entertainment

Young man using virtual reality glasses at work wearing headset gesturing

Vitaly Gariev

unsplash.com

VR gaming teleports you into 3D game environments— but you still stay where you are without going outside your house. You can scale mountains, jump over lava, fly in vast skies, and go on an epic adventure that may be impossible in reality but very achievable in the virtual space

. With virtual reality, you'll feel as if you're inside the fantasy worlds of your beloved games, allowing you to know what it's like to interact with virtual characters and settings. No need to keep your imagination alive because it will come to life right before your eyes! You can also share the fun with friends and fellow gamers because VR can be used for multiplayer games

. Unlike normal games that encourage a sedentary lifestyle of sitting for hours facing a computer screen, with VR gaming, you'll be pushed to move and perform physical feats that will be good for your health

3 sources

Education and Training

blogs.worldbank.org

Virtual reality can hone the skills of students because of its power to create life-like simulations that will push a learner to apply their knowledge and gain hands-on experience. VR can transport a student to an operation room for medical training or let another student travel to a historical site for research

. It allows aspiring engineers and architects to build virtual designs and test structural plans. It can also be a tool to form 3D models for anatomy, chemistry, and physics

. Practice teachers can instruct a virtual class, while pilot and seafarer trainees can navigate planes and ships within their classrooms. The applications in learning are boundless! VR can improve information retention, raise student performance, and provide cost-effective alternatives to traditional training that most students can only afford if they take out a hefty loan

4 sources

Healthcare and Medicine

umc.edu

As mentioned earlier, virtual reality can help medical students with operating simulations, allowing them to practice intricate procedures and perform surgeries on anatomical models instead of actual patients

. This means they can improve their skills without worrying about the risks that usually come hand-in-hand with medical operations. Students won't endanger others' lives and well-being while they're building up the essential experience and skill set needed to tend to human patients

. However, virtual reality's contributions to the medical field don't end there. Aside from forming future doctors and medical professionals, it can also assist in patient care by showing diagrams of a patient's health status and recommending possible treatments

. It can even educate patients about their current state by presenting 3D visualizations of their medical conditions and treatment processes, so they'll understand what's going on and be ready with what to expect

. Other VR uses include mental health treatments, such as phobia exposure therapy, and pain management during medical procedures and for patients with chronic illnesses

4 sources

Manufacturing and Product Engineering

cmtc.com

Manufacturers won't have to go through the long and tedious trial-and-error process of building and rebuilding one product prototype after another because VR is here to optimize the procedure. Virtual reality can create models of your product design, pinpointing any flaws and possible improvements to arrive at the best output

. You won't have to produce countless physical mockups because technology can visualize them for you. You'll save time, effort, and resources while having a platform where you can check the feasibility of the product before its launch or mass production

. If your item is mechanical in nature, VR is more useful because it can display the product's internal structures and mechanisms, showing you how they will work together even if you haven't built the prototype yet

. It can also be applied in factory floor planning since VR can map out a space and form appropriate layouts before it's occupied

. Moreover, you can test manufacturing processes through VR, which enables a more efficient workflow and establishes better safety measures

5 sources

Retail and E-commerce

wear-studio.com

Customers' buying decisions are influenced by their shopping experiences. That's why virtual reality has entered the retail and e-commerce sectors to give more engaging and interactive experiences for prospective buyers. The number one function of VR when it comes to this is virtual try-ons. This technology lets you wear clothes, accessories, and cosmetics even if you're not in a physical shop. How is this possible? VR creates an avatar based on your actual body measurements and this digital replica of you gets to wear whatever outfit or makeup you plan on buying. You can see if a dress looks good on your figure or if a certain foundation shade matches your skin tone. If you're on the hunt for furniture, VR also arranges your options in the actual room you want to place them in so you can see if they match or fit the space. You can even find virtual showrooms where cars and other high-end items are displayed.

3 sources

Closing Thoughts on Real-life VR Applications

You can see virtual reality in more industries and fields than just the ones mentioned here. It has made its way to real estate, tourism, design, military, and many other areas where it's improving systems and operations.

It's a powerful innovation that enables virtual elements to seamlessly come together with the real world.

As virtual reality expands and adapts to society's needs, we can expect more features and more applications in the near future. For now, we must appreciate how it has transformed a lot of sectors and helped professionals do their jobs with higher efficiency and accuracy.

Even regular people get to enjoy the perks virtual reality has to offer! It remains to be a convenient assistant that continues to grow by the day. As humans, we should still use our oversight to ensure this technology serves its purpose and not make any mistakes because of over-reliance on it. Virtual reality is still different from actual reality so we must draw a line and adjust our approach as necessary.