Dublin, Jan. 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Virtual Reality (VR) Market in Gaming, Education, and Simulations 2020-2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report evaluates VR applications for the consumer and enterprise sectors for which we see gaming, education, and simulations training leading the way. The report assesses leading companies, strategies, products and services. It provides analysis and forecasts for VR gaming, education, and simulations for 2020 through 2025.

Report Benefits

The report's analyst sees fully immersive virtual reality systems gaining substantial market momentum in consumer markets within the next few years. These VR systems will provide an unprecedented digital experience for humans, often including multiple senses as well as interaction with virtual objects and/or interaction between the real and virtual worlds.

In terms of the consumer segment, we see current VR gaming evolving from current offerings such as HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and PlayStation VR to more sophisticated entertainment that involves elements of casual gaming combined with real-world interests involving economy and social status.

In many respects, VR gaming is a greenfield opportunity, which will bring many new market entrants into the fray as application and content providers aggressively compete to establish a loyal user base. For example, Skydance Interactive, a division of Skydance Media, has recently unveiled The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, initially available on Oculus Rift, Rift S, Quest, and HTC Vive.

Successful companies will be those that develop communities of interest based on game-play and follower dynamics including innovation in interactive e-sports entertainment, in-game reward systems, and real-world to VR gamification integration. Long-term success will be dependent upon game delivery platform, system, and connectivity independence. This will occur coincident with a few key trends in platform/network transformation and service delivery such as the shift from console to cloud supported platforms and 5G communications supported by edge computing.

Some very compelling enterprise VR applications are anticipated to emerge over the next three to five years. Many of these will be solution-focused upon achieving very specific internal business goals such as risk mitigation, expense reduction, and employee training.

For education, we see everything from situational training (such as Verizon using Striver to train its employees how to better deal with robberies) to more traditional expectations such as VR enhanced simulations for flight and vehicle training.

We also see enterprise applications extending beyond internal use and B2B as businesses embrace the use of VR to reach consumer markets. Real estate is a prime example where VR may be used for education-sales such as training new home buyers while simultaneously marketing properties.

The analyst sees the virtual reality market gaining ground once 5G is more firmly in place commercially, but not entirely due to wireless VR. Instead, we see a massive build-out of broadband as a whole (due to competition from the 5G market) as one of the fundamental drivers for VR adoption. This will be driven in part by substantially greater availability of FTTX and HFC as well as greater bandwidth overall at lower costs.

5G will act as a launchpad for enhanced consumer wireless services such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and cloud gaming. Previously encumbered by a combination of technology gaps and consumer readiness issues, virtual reality market is poised for substantive global growth, providing abundant opportunities for service providers, content developers, and ecosystem component providers.

While today many apps and services within the XR universe are very device-dependent and network constrained, convergence is on the horizon from a device perspective as well as substantial opportunities through untethering via 5G and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC).

MEC will be particularly important in support of latency-sensitive apps and services for various consumer, enterprise, and industrial use cases. This will be particularly the case for VR portability, and to some extent, mobility to the extent that there is good 5G coverage.

Substantially lower latency facilitated by the combination of 5G and MEC will lead to many new and enhanced applications. For example, VR based telepresence will ultimately become the norm, starting with private enterprise solutions and the SMB markets through the likes of Zoom.

Through Voice over 5G (Vo5G), there will also be support for Ultra High Definition (UHD) audio communications, streaming video and ultra-clear voice communication for next-generation virtual reality applications and services. Vo5G will benefit VR for consumer and enterprise applications in many respects such as UHD becoming the norm in immersive experiences.

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Key Topics Covered

1. Executive Summary1.1 Target Audience1.2 Company Coverage

2. Introduction2.1 Immersive Technologies2.2 Virtual Reality Market Overview2.2.1 Virtual Reality Systems2.2.2 Virtual Reality Technologies, Systems, and Architectures2.3 Virtual Reality Ecosystem2.3.1 Virtual Reality Devices2.3.1.1 Head Mounted Displays2.3.1.2 Gesture Tracking Devices2.3.1.2.1 Haptic Gloves2.3.1.2.2 Haptic Suits2.3.1.2.3 Other VR Devices2.3.1.3 Projectors and Display Walls2.3.1.4 Heads-Up Displays2.3.2 Virtual Reality Hardware Components2.3.2.1 Sensors2.3.2.1.1 Accelerometers2.3.2.1.2 Proximity Sensor2.3.2.1.3 Magnetometers2.3.2.1.4 GPS System2.3.2.1.5 Gyroscopes2.3.2.1.6 3D Image Sensor2.3.2.2 Semiconductor Component2.3.2.2.1 Haptic Controller and Integrated Circuits2.3.2.2.2 Graphic Processing Units2.3.2.2.3 VR Displays2.3.2.2.4 Central Processing Units2.3.2.2.5 Memory2.3.2.2.6 Tracking System2.3.2.2.7 Process Acceleration Cards2.3.2.2.8 Input Devices2.3.2.2.9 USB Connector2.3.2.3 Audio Hardware2.3.3 Virtual Reality Software Market2.3.3.1 Virtual Reality Applications2.3.3.2 Software Component2.3.3.2.1 Reality Engine2.3.3.2.2 Software Development Kits2.3.3.2.3 3D Modeling2.3.3.2.4 2D Graphics2.3.3.2.5 Digital Sound Editing2.3.4 Virtual Reality Services Market2.3.4.1 Virtual Reality Simulation Services2.3.4.2 Virtual Reality Application Store Services2.3.4.3 Deployment and Management Service2.3.5 Virtual Reality Content Market2.3.5.1 Games and Entertainment2.3.5.2 VR, Video, and an Emphasis on Instructional Content2.3.5.3 VR Theme Park: An Immersive Experience2.3.5.4 VR Content Developer Engagement2.4 Virtual Reality Market Drivers2.4.1 Increasing Popularity of Immersive Vision2.4.2 Usability to Increase Adoption of VR Devices2.4.3 Virtual Reality Functions Embedded in Devices2.4.4 Virtual Reality in Training and Simulation2.4.5 Increasing Affordability of Devices and Components2.4.6 Virtual Reality in Enterprise

3. Virtual Reality Ecosystem Analysis3.1 Virtual Reality Stakeholder Analysis3.1.1 Virtual Reality Device Manufacturers3.1.2 Virtual Reality Component Manufacturers3.1.3 Virtual Reality Software Solution Providers3.1.4 VR Service Suit Providers3.1.5 Virtual Reality Content Providers3.1.6 Virtual Reality End Users

4. VR Company Analysis4.1 Oculus VR, LLC4.2 Sony Corporation4.3 Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.4.4 HTC Corporation4.5 EON Reality Inc.4.6 Google Inc.4.7 Microsoft Corporation4.8 Vuzix Corporation4.9 Cyber Glove Systems4.10 Sensics Inc.4.11 Leap Motion Inc.4.12 Sixense Entertainment Inc.4.13 Avegant Corp.4.14 FOVE Inc.4.15 Open Source Virtual Reality (OSVR)4.16 Zeiss VR One4.17 Intel Corporation4.18 Alcatel Mobile4.19 ZTE Corporation4.20 Unity Technologies4.21 Magic Leap4.22 NVidia Corporation4.23 BARCO4.24 MYO4.25 NGRAIN Corporation4.26 WorldViz4.27 Wevr4.28 NextVR4.29 Osterhout Design Group (ODG)4.30 Niantic Inc.4.31 Virtual Reality Company (VRC)4.32 VIRTALIS4.33 Facebook4.34 Huawei Technologies4.35 Qualcomm Inc.4.36 SK Telecom4.37 LG Corporation4.38 Nokia StarGazing VR Application4.39 VREAL4.40 StreamVR4.41 Analog Devices Inc.4.42 Atmel Corporation4.43 Cypress Semiconductor Corp.4.44 NXP4.45 Integrated Device Technology Inc.4.46 Maxim Integrated4.47 NKK Switches4.48 Rohm Semiconductor4.49 Semtech Corporation4.50 Texas Instruments

5. Virtual Reality Market in Gaming, Learning, and Simulations 2020-20255.1 Virtual Reality by Consumer and Enterprise 2020-20255.2 Virtual Reality Consumer Applications 2020-20255.3 Virtual Reality Enterprise Applications 2020-2025

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/68pklv

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Virtual Reality (VR) Market in Gaming, Education, and Simulations 2020-2025 - Yahoo Finance

Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a mental health condition that can develop after a person witnesses or experiences a traumatic event.

It can be triggered by a life-threatening event like a car accident, a sexual assault, a natural disaster - or combat.

In Texas, a new virtual reality treatment is being used to help veterans suffering from PTSD.

For some, maybe they were on a crowded Iraqi street, or maybe, in a rural afghan village, but for as many as 30 percent of veterans, something happened

They are hiding from to this day.

The Strongmind system is designed to take them back there.

"We're trying to help patients to confront and reprocess difficult emotional memories, but in a safe place, Dr. Skip Rizzo from USC Institute for Creative Technologies said.

The system Dr. Skip Rizzo has developed for 15 years is being introduced to clinicians at the North Texas VA this week for them to use with their post-traumatic stress patients.

Traditionally, patients are asked to imagine the scenario they're troubled by.

"And then we can of course, blow stuff upall of a sudden things start to come back. They've been trying to avoid thinking or talking to anybody about it. And once you break that seal, you start to hear more and more and more, Rizzo said.

"it goes beyond what you see and what you hear. Down to what you were holding that day, and even what you were feeling that day," Jason Allen from Dallas said.

Charitable organization Soldierstrong has donated Strongmind to 13 Veteran Affairs Hospitals including three in Texas.

And that real-world use is expected to help develop the system further.

And I think we can move the needle forward not just for veterans but the whole civilian sector and improve the lives of people who are confronted by high stress," Rizzo said.

The Department of Veterans Affairs says up to 20 percent of vets who served in Iraq or Afghanistan have PTSD in any given year.

The VA says about 30 percent of Vietnam vets have had PTSD in their lifetime.

Read more here:

Texas New virtual reality treatment brings veterans with PTSD back to where it all began 11 - KXXV News Channel 25

A planetarium in your living room might not be as far away as you think. NASA built a VR simulation that animated the speed and direction of 4 million stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, and has many other VR projects underway.

The work is being done through NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center. The virtual reality team, led by Thomas Grubb, animated stars in a simulation to make the classification and creating groupings easier.

Using this VR simulation, researchers were able to classify which stars were put into the wrong groups as well as star groups that could belong to larger groupings, according to NASA researcher Susan Higashio.

Observing stars in VR will redefine astronomers understanding of some individual stars as well as star groupings, Higashio said. Rather than look up one database and then another database, why not fly there and look at them all together.

Grubb began looking at ways to develop for VR ever since the first viable headsets came to market in 2016. The team is also working on virtual hands-on applications for engineers working on next-generation exploration and satellite servicing missions.

However, there is still progress to be made to realize VRs full potential.

The hardware is here; the support is here, Grubb said. The software is lagging, as well as conventions on how to interact with the virtual world. You dont have simple conventions like pinch and zoom or how every mouse works the same when you right click or left click.

To work around these shortcomings, the team created a framework called the Mixed Reality Toolkit, which assists in science-data analysis and enables VR-based engineering design: from concept designs for CubeSats to simulated hardware integration and testing for missions and in-orbit visualizations like the one for Restore-L.

For engineers and mission and spacecraft designers, VR offers cost savings in the design/build phase before they build physical mockups, Grubb said. You still have to build mockups, but you can work out a lot of the iterations before you move to the physical model.

Read this article:

NASA is pushing virtual reality software to aid scientific discovery - SDTimes.com

January 29, 2020 -A business accelerator launched out of the University of California at San Francisco is studying how digital therapeutic platforms, including virtual and augmented reality, can be used to improve access to care for underserved populations.

USCFs S.O.L.V.E. Health Tech is partnering with AppliedVR, a Los Angeles-based developer of virtual reality treatments, on the program.

The opportunity to work alongside AppliedVR in its quest to deliver virtual reality treatment to all patients helps fulfill our mission because of the sheer unmet need in the space of safe and effective pain management, Urmimala Sarkar, MD, MPH, a professor of medicine at UCSF Professor and co-founder of S.O.L.V.E. Health Tech, said in a press release. The unique ability of virtual reality to create an immersive and interactive environment has the potential to be a cost-effective strategy to deliver pain management for diverse patients, in the time and place of their choosing.

Patients who face socioeconomic or social determinant-related burdens and challenges should not be limited in treatment options especially if or when in need of novel or non-pharmacological treatment alternatives, added Matthew Stoudt, AppliedVRs co-founder and chief executive officer.

The project, which began in December, involves interviews with healthcare providers who are using virtual reality and other mHealth platforms in treating underserved populations. By identifying barriers to sustainability and scalability, researchers hope to create best practices that would allow providers and companies like AppliedVR to improve their AR and VR services.

Championed by health systems like Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai, which hosts an annual conference focused on VR applications in healthcare, the mHealth platform is now in use in dozens of locations around the country to help patients with issues like pain management, physical therapy and treatment of nervous disorders like anxiety. Earlier this year, Cedars-Sinaipresented the results of a studythat found VR to be effective as a digital therapeutic for in-patient treatment of pain.

We found that on-demand use of VR in a diverse group of hospitalized patients was well tolerated and resulted in statistically significant improvements in pain versus a control group exposed to an in-room health and wellness television channel, the study, led by Brennan Spiegel, MD, concluded. These results build upon earlier studies and further indicate that VR is an effective adjunctive therapy to complement traditional pain management protocols in hospitalized patients.

More:

UCSF Business Accelerator Studying Digital Therapeutics, Virtual Reality - mHealthIntelligence.com

Enigma You'd think virtual reality's biggest problems right now are breaking into meaningful mainstream adoption, and not making wearers of the headsets look utterly ridiculous. But no, it's possible you are wrong.

For we're told the re-emergence of virtual and augmented reality hardware may bring with it hackers tormenting folks in new ways, or so believes an organization that says it's tackling said hackers.

Speaking at this year's USENIX Enigma conference in San Francisco, Kavya Pearlman, founder of the non-profit XR Safety Initiative (XRSI), outlined a number of ways miscreants could cause mischief after compromising headsets.

Her initiative is seeking donations to, among other goals, "establish safety and ethics standards" in virtual reality. The organization fears hackers could pwn internet-connected headsets just like they can break into home and corporate networks which isn't too unbelievable, truth be told. Witness the hijacking of poorly secured Ring devices by scumbags to intimidate and scare families.

On the one hand, it's perhaps a little premature to be worrying about future security problems with virtual reality gear, given it's a fad that surfaces and sinks every few years. On the other hand, fiends love finding new stuff on the internet to pwn be it printers, hospitals, cloud servers, security cameras, and so on so perhaps, with more net-connected techno-specs in use, this is something we can look forward to this decade.

"The attack surface that used to be your server or your network or your backend," as Pearlman put it, "has now expanded to your living room, your objects that you surround yourself with."

The most obvious dangers, according to Pearlman, are physical. Pointing to research conducted by XRSI and university eggheads, Pearlman warned of people being turned into "human joysticks" by hackers manipulating paths and directions in virtual worlds to redirect folks into harm's way. Like stubbing your toe on a cupboard or tripping up over a coffee table, we presume. At a stretch, someone could, we dunno, fall on a buzz saw or into a vat of molten iron if they were, for some reason, using the gear in an industrial plant.

Meanwhile, folks could maybe fall victim to "chaperone" attacks in which boundaries preventing people from wandering into danger areas are removed. Then there's the usual threat of ransomware scrambling device data, denial-of-service attacks knocking multi-user environments offline, remote-code execution bugs exploited to inject spyware into the techno-goggles, and, yeah, you get the idea.

Speaking of spyware: it's possible, we're told, to surveil someone by monitoring their compromised head gear. "Most of these devices have a front-facing camera," Pearlman said, adding a team of researchers were "able to turn on the camera without the person's knowledge and stream the video back to their server."

Then there's the potential for psychological attacks that use the immersion of virtual reality environments to freak out the wearer... until they pull the goggles off. "These technologies are so compelling," Pearlman opined. "We can use these technologies to hijack somebody's system and put them in a horror environment."

While XRSI's efforts to secure these gadgets are commendable and forewarned is forearmed with security with no documented exploits or attacks in the wild, and no mainstream adoption, panic ye not.

Sponsored: Detecting cyber attacks as a small to medium business

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Virtual reality is a bonkers fad that no one takes seriously but anyway, here's someone to tell us to worry about hackers - The Register

SAN JOSE, CA - JANUARY 19: Fans experience the Clear the Ice Zamboni VR experience at the NHL ... [+] Centennial Truck Tour at SAP Center at San Jose on January 19, 2017 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Don Smith/NHLI via Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***

The trucking industry in the United States has been in arecession since 2019. Despite the fact that companies like Amazon and e-commerce companies are stressing an already weakened trucking industry, the industry needs to replace close to 90,000 drivers in this decade to keep up with demand.

A2019 studyfrom Brandon Hall Group showed theres an increase in using VR as a training tool in high-consequence industries where operator or driver mistakes can cause significant property damage and fatalities.

Companies in the survey said VR tools were a top learning priority for the next 24 months.

UPS started putting drivers in virtual reality (VR) simulators in 2017 as part of basic safety training. Other trucking companies are turning to VR simulation companies to create immersive learning opportunities for drivers.

We see that in the motor freight industry, saidJohn Kearney, CEO, Advanced Training Systems LLC. Kearney. Trucking companies, driving schools, and the general public are increasingly aware that simulation trainingthat is to say, virtual realityhelps produce drivers who are better prepared to deal with any situation they might encounter.

Historically, we used to have books and video. Now we have VR where we can physically operate equipment and gain the additional insight needed for comprehensive learning, added Kearney. VR solves a classic training dilemma: how do you safely prepare trainees to deal with dangerous or extraordinary situations?

Kearney says that if a truck driver had traditional training in a classroom with a book and ride-along methodology and then experiences an accident, theres no proof he or she was trained in a particular skill and road hazard.

With digital simulation, there is a record of the training and a record of the responses the simulation, said Kearney. For example, we cant have someone run out in front of a real truck, but can in VR; we cant experience ice and skidding in actual truck but can in VR so for trucking companies and driving schools thats a plus for documentation and chain of custody training and could even have an impact on liability.

Kearney says he hopes that VR training will help bring new candidates to the trucking profession and create better prepared, safer drivers.

See the original post:

Training A New Generation Of Truck Drivers With Virtual Reality - Forbes

2019 was a growth year for virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) known collectively as extended reality (XR). The presence of these breakthrough technologies began to be felt far away from the fields of gaming and entertainment, where they first became popular.

The 5 Biggest Virtual And Augmented Reality Trends In 2020 Everyone Should Know About

Virtual reality where users wear a headset and are fully immersed in computer-generated environments has been developed to meet design, marketing, education, training, and retail needs. Augmented reality where computer images are superimposed onto the user's view of the real world, through a screen or headset is a more complex challenge, as it requires the software to "see" what is in front of it. But we're getting used to seeing it used for more than adding cartoon features to selfie pictures or spotting Pokemon in the wild.

With global spending on XR technology is forecast to increase by 78.5% next year compared to this year, both technologies will be key trends to watch out for in 2020. We are likely to see a whole load of exciting new hardware offering even greater immersion and realism, as well as innovative use cases as industry gets to grips with what it can do.

Industrial use outpaces gaming and entertainment

Most people's first experiences of VR and AR today are likely to be in gaming and entertainment. That's likely to change, as research shows that the development of enterprise XR solutions is overtaking that on consumer solutions. The 2020 XR Industry Insight report collated by VR Intelligence states that 65% of the AR companies surveyed said they are working on industrial applications, while just 37% working on consumer products and software.

This shouldnt be surprising although games made the headlines in recent years thanks to Pokemon Go and Facebook's Oculus Rift, the potential to boost productivity and safety using XR makes it an attractive proposition for industry. VR can be used to simulate working in dangerous environments or with expensive, easily damaged tools and equipment, without any of the risks. AR, on the other hand, can be used to relay essential information directly to the user about whatever happens to be in front of them reducing the time spent by engineers, technicians, or maintenance staff referring to manuals and looking up information online while on the job.

XR takes off in healthcare

The potential uses for these technologies in healthcare are obvious, and over 2020 we can expect to see many of these use cases transition from trials and pilots and gradually into general use. Virtual reality has already been adopted in therapy, where it is used to treat patients with phobias and anxiety disorders. Combined with biosensors that monitor physiological reactions like heart rate and perspiration, therapists can get a better understanding of how patients react to stressful situations in a safe, virtual environment. VR is also used to help people with autism develop social and communication skills, as well as to diagnose patients with visual or cognitive impairments, by tracking their eye movement.

The adoption of AR in healthcare is forecast to grow even more quickly with the value of the market increasing by 38% annually until 2025. AR can be used by surgeons both in the theater and in training to alert them to risks or hazards while they are working. One app which has been developed uses AR to guide users towards defibrillator devices, should they need one when they are out in public. Another one helps nurses to find patients veins and avoid accidentally sticking needles where they arent wanted. As these innovations and others like them lead to improved patient outcomes and reduced cost of treatment, they are likely to become increasingly widespread throughout 2020.

Headsets get smaller, more mobile and more powerful

One of the biggest limiting factors with current XR technology is the need for encumbering headsets and display units. This is more of a problem with VR, where the powerful processing hardware needed to generate the graphics is usually contained within the headset. However, hardware devices have started to trend towards being "untethered" For example, Facebook's Oculus headset initially needed to be connected to a powerful PC, but this year became available as the self-contained Oculus Quest version.

As well as more mobile, headsets will be able to generate increasingly realistic "worlds" for the VR user to explore as the devices are fitted with more and more powerful processors. While early VR worlds were clearly computer-generated using low-resolution polygons, the vistas available to us in 2020 will move closer to reality, allowing for more immersive experiences. Possibly the most anticipated breakthrough will be Apples forthcoming 8K combined VR/AR glasses that will not be tethered to a computer or phone. The consumer tech giant is hoping that it will be the one to breakXR into the mainstream with a high-end but affordable device, in the same way it did with the iPhone.

5G opens new possibilities for VR and AR

Super-fast mobile networks will further boost the potential of XR to strengthen its presence in entertainment and make further inroads into industry during 2020.

The potential for data transfer speeds of up to 3 gigabits per second by comparison, the average home broadband delivers well under 100 megabits per second means 5G should be fast enough to stream VR and AR data from the cloud. Rather than needing to be wired up to powerful PCs, or encumbered by on-board hardware, viewing devices will upload tracking data to data centers where the heavy processing will be done. The rendered images can be delivered back to the user in real-time thanks to the speed of 5G and other advanced networks.

Streaming VR has been possible in a limited way for a few years now Facebook lets you do it with your phone, but the experience is limited due to data transfer speeds and low on-device processing power. Combining it with the cloud and 5G technology means designers of VR and AR tools will be unencumbered by the need to deliver their experiences into a low-bandwidth, low-powered environment. The result will be cheaper headsets and viewing devices and more realistic VR simulations.

More of us will learn through VR and AR

Educational experiences in VR and AR will continue to become increasingly common throughout 2020. The immersive nature of VR means that pupils can engage with learning in fun new ways, and AR brings new flexibility to on-the-job training.

Already students can take a trip through time to visit the ancient Romans, or through space to experience conditions on other planets. But as the technology becomes moves away from niche and becomes part of the fabric of everyday education, were likely to see growth apart from simply providing "experiences," into solving problems with current education systems. Distance learners could be taught in VR classrooms, meaning they dont miss out on the benefits of learning in a collaborative environment, while AR training aids can ensure that access to the information needed to carry out a job is always on hand.

You might also be interested in some of the best examples of how AR is already being used in business, which I discuss in this video:

Read the original here:

The 5 Biggest Virtual And Augmented Reality Trends In 2020 Everyone Should Know About - Forbes

The leading companies in virtual reality are developing domain-specific tools for functions such as training, education, and data visualisation. At the same time, consumer-focused VR companies continue their search for the semi-mythical killer app that would make VR a mainstream hit. The market remains heavily gaming-oriented but is gaining traction in areas such as live streaming and social media.

Listed below are the leading companies in virtual reality, as identified by GlobalData.

Googles VR ambitions are changing from products to services. The smartphone-based Cardboard is losing out to untethered headsets. Google has also shut down its in-house VR development units, Jump and Spotlight Stories, and removed the Play Movies & TV app from Daydream. As a result, the Daydream View headset is struggling with lack of content. At its I/O 2019 event, the company announced that it would be shifting its focus from VR hardware to software (apps and games), expanding the coverage of Tilt Brush, YouTube VR, Google Street View, and other services.

Amazon positions itself as a VR service provider, rather than a device maker. In 2017, Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched Amazon Sumerian, a managed service that aims to help VR developers create VR, AR, and 3D apps and games. The service is integrated with other AWS services. Sumerian is compatible with a range of VR platforms including Oculus Go, HTC Vive, Google Daydream, and Lenovo Mirage. Amazon has also introduced VR shopping kiosks, and partnered with HTC to add Viveport apps and games to Amazons online store.

Facebook entered the VR market in 2014 with the acquisition of Oculus for $2bn. The companys VR portfolio includes PC-tethered headsets such as Oculus Rift and Rift S, and untethered headsets, Oculus Go and Quest. Content for these devices comes from the Oculus Store. In 2019, it acquired exclusive rights to the VR versions of popular Ubisoft games Assassins Creed and Splinter Cell. The companys expanding VR ecosystem also includes Oculus Medium, Oculus Venues, and Facebook Spaces.

HP introduced its second Windows VR headset, Reverb, in May 2019. The device features the Windows Mixed Reality platform and supports SteamVR and Viveport for content. Reverbs technical specifications put it ahead of Windows Mixed Reality headsets from Samsung and Acer. It offers 4K resolution, 114-degree FOV, improved pixel density, built-in spatial audio, on-ear headphones, and inside-out tracking.

At the time of writing, HTC sells four headsets (the Vive, Vive Pro, Vive Pro Eye, and Vive Focus), with a fifth (Vive Cosmos) expected to become available later in 2019. The companys subscription-based app store, Viveport, includes over 3,000 compatible apps. HTC also maintains a separate gaming subscription service, Viveport Arcade. At the headset level, the company has invested in areas such as visual quality, comfort, and experience. HTCs offering for enterprise users is based around the Vive Pro, Vive Pro Eye, and Vive Focus Plus headsets, and Vive Enterprise Solutions.

Microsofts Windows Mixed Reality platform is used in headsets from Samsung, Acer, Lenovo, and HP. These headsets are powered by content from the Microsoft Store and SteamVR and include universal apps such as the Microsoft Edge browser. Microsoft does not have a VR headset of its own, but is bundling the Oculus Rift S with its upcoming next-generation Xbox consoles.

Nvidia is a leader in the VR GPU market, with its GeForce RTX series used by Oculus and HTC in their headsets. The companys aim to develop a VR ecosystem is reflected in VRWorks. Nvidias neural network-powered Turing Chip, claims to deliver cinema-quality interactive experiences, while the company also promotes its Tesla T4 series inference chips as an accelerator for cloud-based VR initiatives. However, low-cost GPUs from AMD, and new GPUs arriving from Intel, Qualcomm, and ARM present significant competition for Nvidia.

Qualcomm is taking an aggressive approach to VR. It launched the XR1 chipset in 2018, claiming improved battery life and performance on VR headsets. Its 2019 Cloud AI 100 chipsets will also fuel the development of cloud-based VR services. At the Mobile World Congress 2019, Qualcomm announced the XR-optimised certification programme, which enables smartphones running on the Snapdragon 855 processor to access 5G-powered VR content. It also introduced the Boundless XR to develop standalone, wireless PC-connected VR headsets. The company is also exploring eye tracking technologies with Tobii.

Samsung launched the Gear VR, in collaboration with Oculus, in 2015. It shipped 7.8 million units by the end of 2018. Samsung competes with Googles Daydream View and Oculus Go, and has not updated the hardware since 2017. Samsungs S10 is compatible with the Gear VR, while its VR ambitions will be hit by the emergence of untethered headsets.

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Sony announced in March 2019 that it had sold a total of 4.2 million PSVR devices since it launched in 2016. The success of PSVR can be attributed to Sonys strong position in the gaming industry and its willingness to reduce prices to attract consumers. However, PSVR sales are still a fraction of the total PS4 installed base. Sony has announced the next-generation PlayStation to boost its VR offering.

Ubisoft is making significant moves in VR. It has given Facebook exclusive rights to put VR versions of Assassins Creed and Splinter Cell on its Oculus headsets. It also launched Assassins Creed themed VR escape rooms in more than 100 locations across the US and Europe. With new VR-supporting consoles scheduled to arrive in 2020, Ubisoft is looking to position itself as a leading VR game developer.

Unity is the most widely-used VR development platform. Unity offers 2D and 3D models, templates, SDKs, and VR tools for developers through the Unity Asset Store. The company supports leading VR devices and serves as an integrated platform for Apples ARKit and Googles ARCore.

Virtuix is best known for its Omni VR treadmill. The Omni uses a stationary platform to simulate motion, which makes it ideal for VR arcades and theme parks.. In 2018, Virtuix launched the VR Arena in Austin, Texas, which combines VR with esports. The VR Arena also incorporates social elements of modern gaming Virtuix also offers live streaming on Twitch.

Walt Disney holds a majority stake in streaming platform Hulu, which has a strong portfolio of premium VR content Disney Movies VR brings Pixar and Disney characters to life using VR, while Walt Disney Animation Studios is developing original VR films Disney has also demoed a VR game for Uber vehicles.

This is an edited extract from the Virtual Reality Thematic Research report produced by GlobalData Thematic Research.

GlobalData is this websites parent business intelligence company.

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What are the leading companies in virtual reality? - Verdict

An interview with Veena Somready about her Journey to bring Neuro Rehab VRs technology to clinics around the US.

Veena Somareddy

In the US, it is estimated that the wait time for a physical therapy appointment is close to 30 days. When you finally arrive at the appointment, you will often see patients queued up to visit with a handful of physical therapists. At rehabilitation centers, physical therapy assistants often work closely with physical therapists to alleviate the burden of care.

For patients who have been through traumatic injury such as brain injury, the road to recovery can last months or years. This recovery process includes different types of therapies such as speech therapy, physical therapy, cognitive therapy, occupational therapy, etc.. Often, the long wait and long commute to different healthcare facilities can be just as difficult as the therapy itself.

After the long wait, when patients finally come face to face with a physical therapist, it takes a while to engage with the therapy that often push the patients to their physical limits. Physical therapists can spend a good portion of the time coaching patients to engage with the therapy so that progress can be made.

In the age of innovation, with a combination of virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and big data, Neuro Rehab VR is bringing new tools to hospitals, clinics, and rehabilitation centers around the US. These tools will transform the way patients engage in physical therapy, and how physical therapists manage the therapy sessions.

In the last two years, Neuro Rehab VR has grown from a small startup working with one clinic in Fort-Worth, Texas to an expanding startup that is FDA registered, providing a suite of virtual reality applications to physical therapists for clinics in seven states in the US.

This month, I had the great pleasure of sitting down with Veena Somready, cofounder of Neuro Rehab VR to find out more about her journey from being a researcher and a technologist to becoming one of the leading entrepreneurs who is bringing cutting-edge technology such as AI (Artificial Intelligence) and VR (Virtual Reality) into the healthcare industry.

What inspired you to start Neuro Rehab VR?

In 2017, I was a Ph.D. student, developing Virtual Reality simulation and training systems. My partner Bruce Conti, founder of the Neurological Recovery Center, found me through my research and contacted me. His son was recovering from a brain injury at the time. He wanted to see if there was a way that we could work together to develop tools for the Neurological Recovery Center. I was inspired by his sons story and decided to work with him on the project. Eventually, we started Neuro Rehab VR to develop a suite of products that will allow patients to engage in physical therapy inside the virtual reality environment.

Initially, it mustve been a difficult decision to drop out of your Ph.D. program to work on Neuro Rehab VR full-time. What were your deciding factors?

Initially, the clinic that we worked with inFort-Worth, Texas had an amazing team of therapists, assistants, nurses, and patients. They were all very excited to try the therapy tools that we developed. They gave us very useful and quick feedback on everything that we asked them to try.

By combining cognitive therapy and physical therapy together in our VR therapy applications, immediately, I saw an increased level of motivation and engagement in the patients therapy sessions. The progress these patients made using our applications was inspiring. With big data, I also saw how much the progress reports in our applications helped physical therapists manage their patient relationships.

I realized that we were creating useful tools for both patients and therapists. The motivation from being able to develop tools that had a huge impact made it easier for me to drop out of my PhD program to focus on Neuro Rehab VR full-time.

How does virtual reality physical therapy differ from traditional physical therapy?

Virtual reality physical therapy is used to supplement traditional physical therapy. Often, patients who are recovering from traumatic injuries have a mental barrier due to the internalization of their diagnosis. They often think that due to their diagnosis, they may not be able to perform certain functions. Physical therapists often spend a lot of time during therapy sessions to coach patients through such mental barriers.

Immersed in the virtual reality world, patients often lose their inhibitions quickly. Our virtual reality worlds are engaging and modeled after practical daily tasks such as going shopping in a supermarket, cooking, making the bed, etc.. Patients who think that they cant perform these actions in real life will often end up performing these actions in the virtual reality world.

At the same time, the immersion in the VR world allows the patients to focus on their therapy more than they would in real life. Without distractions, even patients with ADHD can concentrate during their entire therapy session.

By pushing through their own mental barriers and being more focused in their therapy sessions, patients often make more progress during their VR therapy sessions.

Why do you think physical therapists were quick to embrace Neuro Rehab VRs Virtual Reality therapy?

Physical therapists are amazingly creative people. They use many other tools, and equipment to do their job besides the tools that we provide them with. Our tools, such as data and reporting, help physical therapists to better manage their training sessions. They provide evidence of progress for evaluation and payment.

At the same time, our VR therapy applications provide therapists with additional ways to engage with their patients. Often, the physical therapists that we work with teach our engineers to think about physical therapy differently. In turn, our engineers can help to build tools to realize the physical therapists vision. From the beginning, because physical therapists were such an integral part of helping us develop our VR therapy applications, they had a natural motivation to use these VR therapy applications in their day-to-day work.

What challenges did you face in developing Neuro Rehab VRs suite of VR therapy applications?

The biggest challenge that we overcame was the User Interface. Tweaking the initial version of our applications and making the User Interface easy to use took a lot of iterations. Now, our applications take zero setup time. You simply turn on our application and you are good to go. We went through many iterations with physical therapists and watched them as they used our VR therapy applications. It took us almost a year to develop and refine our initial product.

Another challenge we had was to keep pace with the technology. VR technology is constantly changing. In a way, its good because it gives us new possibilities of improving our product. But, it is a big effort to keep up. For instance, recently, the new version of Oculus allowed us to create a completely portable system with just the headset and controller, without dependency on any other devices. This opened up new possibilities for us to market our product.

Whats the one lesson that you learned early that helped you grow Neuro Rehab VR?

From the beginning, we tried to instill communication into our companys culture. We asked our engineers to talk to physical therapists directly so that the design of the product is a team effort. Even now, many enhancements come directly from the conversations between the physical therapists and our engineers. We started with one therapy application. Now, we have eight therapy applications. As we expand to more clinics this year, we are mindful of keeping close relationships with the therapists who use our products.

What is your vision for the future of Neuro Rehab VR?

We hope to expand to cover more therapy areas such as occupational therapy, orthopedics, etc.. We also hope that more clinics will use our line of therapy products. We are going to have a focused period of development soon to rollout more enhancements for some of our products. But, after that, we want more people to gain access to our therapy products. We want to democratize the access to our products. People who want to use our products, who may not have insurance to pay for it, can still be able to gain access to our products.

If you had to identify one critical step that set you on the path to success, what would that be?

In the beginning, when we just started Neuro Rehab VR while I was still in my PhD program, I won this competition called the Big Idea Competition from UT Dallas. This opportunity allowed me to gain access to many mentors.

At that time, I was just a technologist. I did not have any business experience. But, I learned how to pitch, how to have a business sense around technology, and how to grow a business. Most importantly, I learned how the healthcare industry works. Having this background knowledge of the healthcare industry has been crucial for our companys success.

As a female entrepreneur, what is your one piece of advice youd like to give to upcoming female entrepreneurs in the innovation startup space?

Not to be disappointed by setbacks. There are always setbacks. Learn from every experience. Every time you are doing something thats out of your comfort zone, you are leveling up. Its such a good time to be a female entrepreneur and a technologist. There are so many opportunities out there because of the rapid growth of innovation.

Even though VC funding is still low for companies started by female founders, it is growing every year. There are many supportive organizations such as WXR, Backstage Capital, etc.. focused on supporting female entrepreneurs in the innovation startup space. For me, along the way, many mentors helped me connect to the right resources and set me on the right path to success. Some of these mentors are on our companys board today.

For a lot of first time founders, the steep learning curve can be a difficult challenge to overcome, how would you advise these first time founders?

Try to learn new skills. If you are on the business side, try to learn about technology. If you are a technologist, then learn about the business. For example, I had to read books about neuroscience, entrepreneurship, startups, etc.. There are a lot of resources out there to help you. You just have to reach for it.

In the beginning, you can make a lot of mistakes. These resources are out there to help you avoid some of these mistakes. Once you have this mindset, you will be more motivated to learn. For example, one of the biggest lessons I learned early was to give my MVP to our customers and have them try it out. This led to almost a year of refining our product before we put it on the market. By the time we rolled out our product, we knew the value we were creating for our customers.

As we progress in this age of innovation, the use cases of AI and VR will become more prevalent. Neuro Rehab VR is a pioneering company that is making the best use of AI, VR, and big data to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the therapy industry. Veena Somreadys valuable experience can serve to inspire a generation of startup founders in this space.

See the article here:

This Woman Is Changing The Therapy Industry With VR And AI - Forbes

A virtual reality headset is helping children overcome their fear of hospitals.

Nervous children are fitted with the headset, ahead of a simple procedure, to watch a seven-minute film featuring Roomi, a doctor rabbit who treats patients in a virtual world.

The aim of the programme is to ease their hospital anxiety by showing children the simplicity of common medical procedures.

The clever technology was presented on the second day of Arab Health, the regions largest medical exhibition, in Dubai.

When children come into a hospital they are usually scared or frightened, that makes giving them certain medical treatments difficult, said Shauna Heller, project manager at Clay Park VR, a US company working on the project.

[This] makes it easier for nurses to take blood, provide a vaccine or put a limb into a cast.

Designers worked with doctors at Los Angeles Childrens Hospital to understand what procedures cause the most stress for children, and have created a world populated by characters with similar ailments.

Health companies Pharmatrade and SyMed are delivering the application to care networks across the region.

A follow-up mobile phone app uses AR technology to give children advice on how to care for their injury or illness, with the same cartoon character on hand to answer questions they may have.

Updated: January 29, 2020 05:03 PM

Go here to see the original:

Virtual reality headsets used to tackle child anxiety in hospitals - The National

Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that relates to a future version of Apple Pencil with a huge twist. On one hand the invention relates to delivering tactile feedback to a future version of Apple Pencil. On the other hand, Apple's engineers describe how an Apple Pencil could be used with a mixed reality headset for both augmented and virtual reality. Users will be able to write on virtual paper or have this Apple Pencil used as another tool interacting with virtual objects.

Haptics are used on a touch display found on an iPhone or iPad to convey a variety of different information to a user, such as information regarding one or more touch inputs that a user has provided such as alerts or status of the electronic device or one or more applications.

However, when using Apple Pencil, as it is today, the user misses out on feeling the particular haptic related to alerts and so forth.

In accordance with Apple's invention, improvements to Apple Pencil will be able to produce shear forces that act on a user to provide unique tactile sensations. For example, a shear device can be included at a grip region of a stylus to provide shear sensations at the user's hand (e.g., fingers). The sensation can be targeted directly to the user's hand, rather than generally across the entire stylus.

Augmented and Virtual Reality Application

Apple's patent takes an interesting twist at one point and notes that "Shear forces can be used with a virtual reality, augmented reality, or mixed reality system to simulate tactile sensations of interacting with physical objects even when no such objects are present.

More specifically, the invention at this point veers off and doesn't limit 'Shear Forces' to a future version of Apple Pencil.

Apple specifically states that "A touch-based input device in accordance with embodiments disclosed herein can include any device that is held, worn, or contacted by a user for providing input and/or receiving feedback. The touch-based input device can be used alone or in conjunction with another device."

For the sake of simplicity, "another device" is shown to be an iPad in patent FIG. 1 below as Apple's patent returns to non-virtual applications until we get to patent FIG. 6 further below.

In patent FIG. 2, Apple points us to the grip area of this future Apple Pencil and focuses on where the 'Shear' tactile forces will be delivered. In this one design, the shear feedback is delivered by vertical types of strips.

Beyond tactile haptic feedback, Apple notes that shear forces include unaligned forces that urge one part of the user's hand (e.g., finger) in one direction and another part of the user's hand in an opposite direction.

The shear feedback components include sliding elements #220 shown further below in patent FIG. 11. Apple clarifies that the grip region could actually take up 10% to 90% of the surface of the grip area, even though the patent figures limit the size of the shear feedback components/elements.

In patent FIG. 5 we see that this future version of the Apple Pencil will include an accelerometer #170, a gyroscope #172, and/or a compass #174. During use, the accelerometer can track and record acceleration of Apple Pencil. Acceleration can be measured in a three-dimensional (x, y, and z) coordinate system.

The haptic device #178 can be implemented as any suitable device configured to provide force feedback, vibratory feedback, tactile sensations, and the like.

Free Space Application

In Apple's patent FIG. 6 below Apple Pencil can be used to provide feedback during use in free space. For example, this future version of Apple Pencil can simulate tactile sensations that correspond to a user experience in a mixed reality system.

As shown in FIG. 6, Apple Pencil will be operated by a user in a manner that moves the Pencil through space. Each point in space corresponds to a point within a virtual environment of a mixed reality system.

A region #198 of space can correspond to a region of the virtual environment. For example, a virtual object can be rendered in the virtual environment and displayed or otherwise output for reference by the user. The display can include a headset, a head-up display, and/or an optical head-mounted display in communication with Apple Pencil.

A surface, volume, interior, or other portion of the virtual object can correspond to the location of the region #198 in space. Accordingly, when the future Apple Pencil is moved to the region in space, it is understood by the user to be positioned at the virtual object in the virtual environment.

In Apple's patent FIG. 9 above we're able to see the bridge segments #212 in the sliding elements #220 can be evenly distributed along a length of the user grip region. For example, the user grip region can present radial and/or bilateral symmetry.

In Apple's patent FIGS. 10 and 11 above, the future Apple Pencil can be used to provide feedback during use in free space. As shown in FIG. 10, the future Apple Pencil could be operated by a user in a manner that rotates through space.

Apple's patent application that was published today by the U.S. Patent Office was filed back in Q4 2018. Considering that this is a patent application, the timing of such a product to market is unknown at this time.

Apple's Inventors

Benjamin Jackson: Failure Analysis Engineer - iPad Tech Ops

David Bloom: Sr. Quality Assurance Manager in Portland, Oregon

Steven Taylor: Mechanical Design Engineer

Go here to see the original:

Apple Reveal a Future Apple Pencil that delivers tactile feedback to users in a Real or Virtual World using a Headset - Patently Apple

Here's the thing about virtual reality that might not be immediately apparent: it can be a bit dangerous. Venturing out into a virtual experience itself isn't necessarily dangerous; it's virtual, after all. The problem is really when the virtual and physical worlds collide -- sometimes quite literally, as a recent video demonstrates.

Now, some important context is necessary first and foremost: many virtual reality headsets that allow for any significant movement require boundaries to be established. So, for example, if I plop on a virtual reality headset, one of the important steps is basically telling it where obstacles are by defining exactly how much free space there is to play around in. Anyone that's played around in VR is likely familiar with this setup.

This is all to say, it's still pretty dang funny to watch someone completely overestimate the amount of space they have and run face-first into a wall. You can check out exactly that in the video, shared on Reddit, below:

Thankfully, both the person wearing it and the Oculus Quest headset itself are fine. "He's fine," Reddit user amandasox8 later shared. "Quest still works. Minor scratch." There is also, apparently, a black mark on the wall. But considering the collision in the above video, that seems like a relatively small consequence.

The VR game being played here, according to other social media comments, is Crisis VRigade from developer Sumalab, and it puts players in the role of a SWAT member dealing with a hostage situation. Given the adrenaline likely involved in playing, maybe running into walls is more common than other VR games? Hard to say.

"Together with a SWAT team you will have to deal with the situation and take care of the terrorists who are robbing the bank," the game's official description reads in part. "Your mission is crystal clear: finish off all hostile elements and keep your teammates and hostages alive. Make your way through the bank to the safe where the terrorist have made a stronghold and threaten to kill the hostages if their demands are not met."

Have you ever had any trouble with virtual reality headsets like this? Or have you seen anyone having problems? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!

The Oculus Quest, among other virtual reality headsets, is currently available wherever such things are sold. You can check out all of our previous coverage of virtual reality right here.

Read more:

Virtual Reality and the Physical World Literally Collide in Hilarious Video - Comicbook.com

Exeter is getting a brand new virtual reality centre - letting you train as a Jedi or run away from zombies.

iVR is the latest facility to be added to popular destination iBounce trampoline park and iPlay soft play centre in Exeter, Marsh Barton.

VR, which stands for Virtual Reality, is an immersive gaming concept available for single or multiplayer use.

With a wide variety of games there is something suitable for everyone as the levels go from beginner to expert.

It's easily tailored to you based on your interests, which gives you a highly personalised experienced using the latest emerging gaming technology.

The new VR centre will cater for a range of ages and is even available for private hire of up to 12 people at a time. It's also very popular when it comes to team building and corporate activity (a fun and different office day out!)

Virtual experiences:

Training as aStar Wars Jedi. Repairing and defending theMillennium Falconfrom attack byImperial Stormtroopers.

Immersing yourself deep into the heart of aZombie Apocalypse,put yoursurvival skillsto the test inArizona Sunshine.

You can use yoursports skillsto climb all the way to the top of the leader board inVR Super Sport.

Or test your fear of heights and take theride of your lifeon one of their theme parkinspired attractions

Feeling brave? not one for those scared of heights, walk the plankfrom 80 storeys high.

With a wide range of games available it's offering a next level virtual reality experience for families, friends and colleagues.

Here at Devon Live we will be giving you an exclusive first look when they are open to test out their new studio, and having a look at all of the different games.

Visit their website for more information.

Here is the original post:

Brand new virtual reality centre set to open in Exeter very soon - Devon Live

Motion capture and electromyography sensors measure a study participants movement and muscle activity while performing common VR gestures. Credit: Jay Kim

Carpal tunnel, stiff shoulders, eye-strain headaches these are all well-known side effects of prolonged computer use. But what happens when you step away from the desktop and into virtual reality?

A recent study from Oregon State University assessed how some common virtual reality movements contribute to muscle strain and discomfort. Its an effort to ensure future user safety in this fast-growing technology that is used not only for gaming, but also increasingly for education and industrial training.

There are no standards and guidelines for virtual and augmented reality interactions, said researcher Jay Kim of OSUS College of Public Health and Human Sciences. We wanted to evaluate the effects of the target distances, locations, and sizes so we can better design these interfaces to reduce the risk for potential musculoskeletal injuries.

The study was published recently in Applied Ergonomics with Northern Illinois University co-authors Sai Akhil Penumudi, Veera Aneesh Kuppam and Jaejin Hwang.

Virtual reality users wear a headset and engage in full-body, three-dimensional movements unlike conventional computer users, where a desk or the arms of a chair offer some level of support for the hands and arms.

With sensors placed on participants joints and muscles, researchers used motion capture to record their movements and electromyography to measure electrical activity in their muscles while performing common VR gestures. Wearing an Oculus Rift VR headset, participants were tasked with either pointing to specific dots around a circle, or coloring in a certain area with their finger.

Researchers repeated the tests with the visuals placed at eye level, 15 degrees above eye level, 15 degrees below eye level and 30 degrees below eye level.

Regardless of the angle, extending the arm straight out causes shoulder discomfort in as little as three minutes, Kim said. With prolonged use, as VR often requires, this may lead to major health problems like gorilla arm syndrome and rotator cuff injuries.

In addition, the heavy VR headset may increase the burden on the cervical spine, risking greater neck strain.

In computer users, the relationship between awkward postures or repeated movements and musculoskeletal disorders is well known, Kim said. We wanted to see how the VR compares to conventional computer-human interactions.

The goal of the study was to establish a baseline of optimal object placement and angles, so VR developers going forward can design games and programs that minimize user discomfort.

Researchers focused on neck and shoulder movements. They found performance in the coloring task was worst when participants had to tilt their heads down 15 and 30 degrees. The most extreme postures and highest muscle activity were observed with targets at 15 degrees above eye level, as participants were forced to constantly maintain their extended neck and elevated arm position. And discomfort was greatest in the pointing task at 15 degrees above eye level.

Based on this study, we recommend that objects that are being interacted with more often should be closer to the body, Kim said. And objects should be located at eye level, rather than up and down.

The findings could have a massive impact, given VRs growing demand: Tech analysts project that roughly 168 million people worldwide will have some form of VR installed by 2023. A major portion of users are gamers, but VRs practical applications extend to health care, the military, education, and training. In coal mining, for example, trainees use VR to practice new skills that would be dangerous to learn on-site.

Kims main goal is to avoid the mistakes of the past. When personal computing was first emerging in the 80s and 90s, he said, people often didnt think of the risks of overuse until it was too late.

With VR, he said, Wed like to learn now rather than later.

Reference: The effects of target location on musculoskeletal load, task performance, and subjective discomfort during virtual reality interactions by Sai Akhil Penumudi, Veera Aneesh Kuppam, Jeong Ho Kim and Jaejin Hwang, 27 November 2019, Applied Ergonomics.DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2019.103010

See the article here:

Virtual Reality Is Causing Real Injuries Heres How to Reduce Physical Risk in VR - SciTechDaily

CORVALLIS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Carpal tunnel, stiff shoulders, eye-strain headaches these are all well-known side effects of prolonged computer use. But what happens when you step away from the desktop and into virtual reality?

A recentstudyfrom Oregon State University assessed how some common virtual reality movements contribute to muscle strain and discomfort. Its an effort to ensure future user safety in this fast-growing technology that is used not only for gaming, but also increasingly for education and industrial training.

There are no standards and guidelines for virtual and augmented reality interactions, said researcher Jay Kim of OSUS College of Public Health and Human Sciences. We wanted to evaluate the effects of the target distances, locations and sizes so we can better design these interfaces to reduce the risk for potential musculoskeletal injuries.

The study was published recently in Applied Ergonomics with Northern Illinois University co-authors Sai Akhil Penumudi, Veera Aneesh Kuppam and Jaejin Hwang.

Virtual reality users wear a headset and engage in full-body, three-dimensional movements unlike conventional computer users, where a desk or the arms of a chair offer some level of support for the hands and arms.

With sensors placed on participants joints and muscles, researchers used motion capture to record their movements and electromyography to measure electrical activity in their muscles while performing common VR gestures. Wearing an Oculus Rift VR headset, participants were tasked with either pointing to specific dots around a circle, or coloring in a certain area with their finger.

Researchers repeated the tests with the visuals placed at eye level, 15 degrees above eye level, 15 degrees below eye level and 30 degrees below eye level.

Regardless of the angle, extending the arm straight out causes shoulder discomfort in as little as three minutes, Kim said. With prolonged use, as VR often requires, this may lead to major health problems like gorilla arm syndrome and rotator cuff injuries.

In addition, the heavy VR headset may increase the burden on the cervical spine, risking greater neck strain.

In computer users, the relationship between awkward postures or repeated movements and musculoskeletal disorders is well known, Kim said. We wanted to see how the VR compares to conventional computer-human interactions.

The goal of the study was to establish a baseline of optimal object placement and angles, so VR developers going forward can design games and programs that minimize user discomfort.

Researchers focused on neck and shoulder movements. They found performance in the coloring task was worst when participants had to tilt their heads down 15 and 30 degrees. The most extreme postures and highest muscle activity were observed with targets at 15 degrees above eye level, as participants were forced to constantly maintain their extended neck and elevated arm position. And discomfort was greatest in the pointing task at 15 degrees above eye level.

Based on this study, we recommend that objects that are being interacted with more often should be closer to the body, Kim said. And objects should be located at eye level, rather than up and down.

The findings could have a massive impact, given VRs growing demand: Tech analysts project that roughly168 millionpeople worldwide will have some form of VR installed by 2023. A major portion of users are gamers, but VRs practical applications extend to health care, the military, education and training. Incoal mining, for example, trainees use VR to practice new skills that would be dangerous to learn on-site.

Kims main goal is to avoid the mistakes of the past. When personal computing was first emerging in the 80s and 90s, he said, people often didnt think of the risks of overuse until it was too late.

With VR, he said, Wed like to learn now, rather than later.

View original post here:

Virtual reality, real injuries: OSU study aims to ease VR's aches and pains - KTVZ

The last Kauai bird died in 1987. After the species went extinct, a user uploaded a recording of the Hawaiian birds unique mating call to YouTube in 2009 and it has since been played by humans more than a half-million times since.

One of them was the Danish-born, New York-based artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen, who usesVirtual Reality as a tool to remix and create a new kind of landscape that is not bound to time or space, and that recalls the irretrievable, lost nature of history.

For his recent installationRE-ANIMATED(2018-19), which was on view in the Future Generation Art Prizes exhibition in Venice during last years biennale, Steensen brings the Kauai bird back to life via an imagined virtual-reality world.

We spoke with Steensen about how he captures an irreconcilable sense of loss in his work and the collective memories that exist between the parallel digital and physical worlds, all through the lens of VR technology.

Your VR workRE-ANIMATED was inspired by the environmental catastrophe that occurred in 1826 when a ship carrying horses to Mexico stopped in Kauai and introduced malaria-carrying mosquitoes into the islands ecosystem, rendering dozens of birds extinct. In a poetic intervention, you virtually recreate one of these extinct birds and Kauais lost ecosystem. What was it about this ecological event that made you want to make this work, and how did you go about doing it?

Four years ago, I came home from a long day of work and was randomly looking at things on the internet, and then I came across this recording of the bird. It was the voice recording of the last Kauai bird that existed on Earth. The birds mating call was uploaded to YouTube and was listened to by people more than a half-million times.

I then read through the comments. There were more than 2,000 very emotional comments to this call. It was as if I had this picture of 2,000 people sitting alone, in front of the computer, responding emotionally to this recording of this extinct bird, and it struck me as something really specific to our time.

Jakob Kudsk Steensen, RE-ANIMATED (2018). Future Generation Art Prize, 2019 Venice Biennale. Courtesy of the artist.

Theres another layer of this story, which is personal, and I dont want to go into details, but its about family and losses. Even though I grew up in a digital time and am used to archiving things with social-media pictures and everything, people still die and vanish and can never come back.

If you think about that, we are living in a time where were trying to bring back extinct species, which is a weird relationship with our past. We have a collective anxiety that everything will vanish, and more and more nature is being destroyed.

I started this project by going to the Museum of Natural History, which collected this bird in the 1800s. So I collected all the materials, the feathers, along with the big archive of plants and trees with all sorts of different species, and I used this archive to recreate the whole landscape. And then I used the satellite images of the island, and then traveled to this island and explored myself. Its a very slow and laborious process, but thats how I usually work on a project.

I like that you describe yourself as a digital gardener. Its very poetic and speaks to your work of recreating lost landscapes to raise awareness about climate change. What is your opinion on VR as a medium for creativity? What is its potential and what are its limits?

VR is a very interesting medium because its corporalyou have to use your body. And my interest is also to bring certain virtual landscapes to people who normally dont use computers. I make works that are very accessibleyou just put on a headset, and thats it. Everyone knows how to move their head and body. So, all of a sudden you can show your art in an intuitive way.

I tried to use minimally complicated controls, I tried to make it very intuitive and playful. And thats something that speaks to the nature of VRyou can take a virtual media and make it a human language. Thats how I look at it. It speaks to you on a human level.

In a way, paintings and projections on screen are one-directional. It is an old way of looking at the world, like the perspective in Western art history. Installation is perhaps a better analogy to VR. Walking into a physical space in an installation is similar to the VR experience; thats also why I built installation around my work sometimes, when the conditions allowed.

Jakob Kudsk Steensen, The Deep Listener (2019), VR visualization. Courtesy of the artist.

What about the limits of VR as a medium?

The limits of VR as medium would be the size of the audience. I have eight headsets now, and after each exhibition they just broke down because the technology is so new. All these complications can play in when dealing with a big audience.

Immersive virtual technologies have enabled us to experience both distant locales and imagined worlds like never before, and your works are great examples of storytelling in VR. However, it seems no one has yet fully cracked the code of creating a truly participatory narrative experience where the viewer has real agency. What do you think needs to happen to get VR to take the leap into the next frontier of storytelling? How do you see this medium evolving over time?

When I show in film festivals, people talk a lot about storytelling, but for me, the way I have been creating my work is almost like moving away from that. A story is a narrative, but I am looking for the experiential part of it, like the senses of the body. Before you understand the mediumfor example, how VR relates to the human bodyregardless of the story you want to tell, its going to fall apart. If youve never played video games or created 3D, it can be quite challenging to use this medium well, because you might make something like when youre looking at 2D on a screen, but you actually need to think about how the body moves in your eyes.

Regarding AR [augmented reality] and VR, the first and foremost challenge is to understand how human bodies are navigating in a space. And I believe before you understand that, its hard to utilize the medium in a compelling way.And you also need to respect your audience. Imagine this: All of a sudden, their body is part of your art; they are no longer just standing, watching, or listening. Youre inviting them to use their bodies to explore the world you created, and I think that really requires a lot of attention and respect.

If you are just violently throwing another human into a 3D world and they dont know how to move themselves, thats when a lot of clashes happen.

You have to think about the human, not the technology. When I design, I think about where the person will be looking and I create a virtual scene. I think about what kind of feeling I want to convey, and then I add the colors, light, and the atmosphere. I think about how I want people to hear, and then I use the technology around to achieve that, instead of trying to force something into the technology. In the past two years, the technology has evolved super fast and the audience now is more used to the medium as well. I am optimistic. I think in the end it just takes time.

Jakob Kudsk Steensen, RE-ANIMATED (2018). Future Generation Art Prize exhibition during the 2019 Venice Biennale. Courtesy of the artist.

The way you incorporate audio, 2D images, and 3D animation into a holistic VR experience is not through a linear narrative. Your work conveys the eerie, unsettling sense of jumping around in time. What is your intention here?

My interest lies in exploring different space and time in natural history. These spatial transformative technologies like VR are a very powerful medium when youre interested in past natural histories because you can literally 3D scan the whole landscape. And I use satellite images, and I digitize plants that I collected in nature and put them on the landscape. I literally go to landscapes and collect organic materials, I collect and photograph them, and transform that into virtual spaces. In other words, I build imaginary landscapes based on the actual materials I collected.

The technologies allowed me to show things to youfor example, how past landscapes can change overtime, how you can look from the scale of a beetle, how you can change your perspective. These things are what this technology is very good at. You can also jump around in time and you can slow down time in virtual realityyou can change your scale in different dimensions.

Your workThe Deep Listener at the Serpentine Galleries last year (commissioned in collaboration withGoogle Arts & Culture and Sir David Adjaye) involved creatingan AR experience of the Kensington Gardens surrounding the gallery. Through extensive research and work with biologists, you focused on one species in each of the five spots you chose and recreated the visual and sonic experiences that users interact with. Where did the inspiration for this work come from?

It takes place in the whole park in London and there are five different locations. You have to go there with your phone. When you arrive at the location, you find these large creatures that are based on the different species in the park that lived at this location, each with different visualized audio recordings. When you physically move around with the phone in your hand, youre also changing the speed of the audio, as if youre changing the speed of time as you walk through the park and interact with the audio.

It basically allows you to hear things you usually dont hear with your phone. Like bats, for example. When you walk around, youre changing how fast the audio is playing, and the pitches, so your ears wouldnt hear these sounds usually. Theres an App you can download and will always be available to use when you visit the park. Everyone can download it.

Where do you find the most inspiration for your work these days?

My inspirations are usually based on the conversations with my friends and biologists, then I go and spend many months in the landscape. I am always out exploring places and talking to people. For example, I spend two months researching the species, and then I find five locations that I want people to go to and explore.

Starting next month, I will be spending nine months in the landscape and collaborating with my wife. We are trying to create a project together. We are going to Sorrel Island; its an island in between Europe and the States where the tectonic plates meet, where three continents meet in one spot, and they formed a mini continent, deep in the sea. We are going to see if we can work with the robots therethe robots that are collecting data for scientistsand then from there we can create a new landscape.

Your works evolve around nature and its histories, and I am curious whether you think we are in the best of times or the end of times? One oddity of our current era is that extreme pessimism about the world coexists with extreme optimism.

There are two answers to that: One is, statistically, we are at a point where we dont have something truly comparable to the past. Its hard to predict what will happen in the future because of that. We have a lot of knowledge and tools available, but at the same time, it could just go the completely opposite direction.

I think were at the middle point between this utopia and dystopia. We are at a point in time when they are clashing together, and barely holding right now, and it could go many different ways.Thats also why Im making works that combine different times. Its more emotional and psychologically challengingthats the kind of ground I have been trying to create. In my works, I tried to create from this old realistic landscape and transform it into something new in the future. All my works exist in the middle of this coexistence of times.

Jakob Kudsk Steensen, RE-ANIMATED (2018) film still. Future Generation Art Prize, 2019 Venice Biennale. Courtesy of the artist.

Secondly, I do believe that much more has to be done, and we need to actually spread the messages, as well as to give resources to people. Consequently, I am thinking more and more about how, as an artist, can my projects help to achieve that? How can they be more specific than in the past, to help share the stories about places that need to have more work be done?

Recently I have been talking to this NGO in Panama that protects the frogs there. And we were talking about how there are 12 different species of frogs that are all extinct in the wild because of a fungus. Because theres a fungus crisis spreading out, and the fungus is making all frogs extinct, all frogs will disappear eventually, from Panama to South America. And people still dont know how to stop it.

This NGO is collecting the frogs that survived the fungus and preserving them, working to see how they can become resistant and then releasing them back to the wild. If they release these frogs back to the wild, all of them will die, unfortunately, because the politics has changed. The NGO doesnt work with the Smithsonian anymore; as a result they are facing financial difficulties to continue the preservation program.

Its pretty obvious if they dont continue to get financed, eventually there will be no frogs in Panama in the future. Its a fact. And these things I find more and more relevant to share with people.I still want to make art thats emotional and powerful, but I am also thinking about how to connect to the stories that are happening right now in our world.

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You Can Slow Down Time in Virtual Reality: Why This Artist Is Using VR to Recreate Lost Ecosystems in the Era of Climate Change - artnet News

Because employees are more vocal about these expectations, they now strongly influence IT decisions to deploy new technologies sooner.

Sinclair warned that if future workplace technologies, such as AR/VR devices, are not created to suit workers preferences, employees might resist using them, causing further delays in adoption.

Invisible computingThe study also had respondents consider the idea of Invisible Computing, in which future workplace tech are to be made so small or discreet that workers wont even be able to notice them.

This would help employees focus on their tasks or people they are dealing with not on the tech they are using.

Despite the benefits of modern workplace tech, Sinclair believes the devices workers use today can be very distracting. However, he is optimistic future tech will be able to address this issue.

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Virtual reality will soon be as common as the smartphone - Human Resources Director

NEW DELHI -- Seated on a sofa in her home in London, an elderly Pakistani woman is quietly absorbed in the digital world unfolding inside a cutting-edge virtual reality device placed over her eyes.

More than 70 years after the most dramatic episode of her life -- her flight from India to Pakistan on the eve of the Partition of British India in August 1947 -- Saida Siddiqui is watching a computer-generated simulation of her childhood in an interactive, 3D VR environment.

Siddiqui is one of 75 participants in the events of 1947 who are working with Project Dastaan, an Oxford University-backed VR peace-building initiative that is reconnecting displaced survivors of Partition with their childhoodthrough bespoke 360-degree digital experiences. Dastaan means "tale" or "story" in many Indian and Central Asian languages.

All the survivors involved with Project Dastaan were among the millions of residents of British India displaced by the partition of the colonial state into independent India and Pakistan, whose eastern territories became the separate state of Bangladesh in 1971. Amid intercommunal violence, many Hindus fled east to independent India, while many Muslims fled west to Pakistan -- including Siddiqui, who crossed from Lucknow, now the capital of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, to Karachi.

Project Dastaan grew directly out of family memories of Partition. "A year ago, I and [co-founder] Ameena Malak sat down over a coffee and exchanged our grandparents' stories of Partition," said Sparsh Ahuja, an Oxford University student who directs the project. Ahuja's grandfather, Ishar Das Arora, who was 7at the time of Partition, lived in a village called Bela in what is now Pakistan. He eventually moved to Delhi, "after living in many refugee camps and escaping mass-scale communal violence," Ahuja told the Nikkei Asian Review.

Malak's grandfather, Ahmed Rafiq, migrated in the opposite direction, from Hoshiarpur in what is now India to Lahore in Pakistan. Both grandparents yearned to go back home, but never realized their dreams because of advancing age, the traumatic aftermath of their experiences and the impact of subsequent wars between India and Pakistan. Seven decades after Partition it remains difficult to cross the India-Pakistan border. But the two grandchildren realized that, even if their grandparents could not physically return to their homes, they could be brought back via VR.

Other Project Dastaanteam members share these family links to Partition. Saadia Gardezi grew up listening to her mother's stories about refugees she had helped in Lahore, while Sam Dalrymple is a grandchild of the late Sir Hew Fleetwood Hamilton-Dalrymple, a British officer stationed in India during the last years of British rule. Dalrymple, whose father is the British historian William Dalrymple, said his grandfather was so disturbed by the events of Partition that he never wanted to visit family in Delhi.

The team connects to Partition survivors through social media, although witnesses can also submit their stories through the project's website. "One refugee we have shown the VR experience to 'teared up' and told us we had transported him back into his childhood," said Dalrymple. "We are still editing the remaining eight [sessions] that we filmed last month. It's a deeply emotional experience. Sometimes we have even called the refugees from their hometowns, and they get very emotional."

Despite being only just over a year old, Project Dastaan has earned support from Oxford University's Global Area Studies Department, Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, and influential figures in the VR world such as Gabo Arora, a former creative director of the United Nations. The project has also earned funding of $30,000 from the CatchLight Fellowship, a San Francisco-based nongovernmental organization, and the team was invited to speak at the U.K. Parliament.

Besides the 360-degree VRexperiences, Project Dastaan is also at work on "Child of Empire," a documentary that will put viewers in the shoes of a 1947 Partition migrant, and will be presented at film festivals.

Dalrymple said Project Dastaan also aims to map contrasting experiences of Partition in various parts of India and Pakistan. "In Indian Punjab and Calcutta, for example, virtually every Partition witness we have spoken to has lamented leaving their homes, and expressed a wish for the two countries to be friends again," he said. "By contrast, the Rajasthani Partition witnesses that we interviewed were more critical of Pakistan and seemed less interested in returning to their ancestral lands. As a result of this, one of our main aims in the project has become to highlight the geographical variety of Partition experiences."

But the most important aspect of Project Dastaan is probably that it is driven by Indians, Pakistanis and Britons who are trying to make sense of how the history of Partition affects the present. It is hoped that the project will keep inspiring young Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis to reflect on the strife between their countries and to try to change opinions for the benefit of future generations.

"Given how viciously the hatreds unleashed by Partition still divide India and Pakistan today, it's critical that new generations come to grips with what happened and why," said Nisid Hajari, author of "Midnight's Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India's Partition," an award-winning history of Partition and the ensuing violence.

"We've received very positive reactions from millennials," said Ahuja, who thinks that second- or third-generation descendants of the survivors are probably the most committed and enthusiastic supporters of Project Dastaan. "We surprisingly find a lot of our leads through Instagram," he added. "These young people know modern media and use it to help survivors who are not tech-savvy enough to tell their life experiences. They often send in stories of their grandparents for us to track down."

Hajari added: "Any technology that can help Indians and Pakistanis better appreciate the experience of their forefathers, on both sides of the border, is to be welcomed. With luck, these virtual trips will be just the precursor to physical journeys across the border, in both directions, so the two sides can see firsthand how much more unites them than divides them."

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Virtual reality reconnects casualties of Partition with ancestral homes - Nikkei Asian Review

KYLE, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Harbir Singh, MD, MBA, FACEP explained his hospitals innovative use of virtual reality in detox at CES Digital Health Summit on January 8, 2020. A board certified emergency room physician, Singh is CEO of Kyle ER & Hospital in Kyle, TX, the first hospital to use the tools, and a co-founder of Cynergi Health Partners, which provides the virtual reality programs.

Our community hospital paired a suite of virtual reality experienceswhich can reduce apprehension and panic during withdrawalwith a traditional medication-assisted detox program for patients suffering from substance abuse. We've used the latter for many years, but the VR component adds soothing imagery and sounds and leverages proven psychological techniques to make the process easier, explained Singh.

So far, the combination has been successful in helping our patients, while generating substantial revenue. Our technology can be used alongside medical treatment for many addictive conditions, including alcohol, opioid and benzodiazepine (benzo) addictions.

Digital Health Summit Producer Jill Gilbert commented, "This years Summit spotlighted the exponential tech-assisted transformation underway in healthcare, including the breakthrough benefits offered to patients by adding VR to traditional medication-assisted detoxification programs.

Patients struggling with addiction should know there is additional hope now because of the assistance VR can lend to their medical treatment, said Arshya Vahabzadeh, MD, MRCGP, a co-founder of Cynergi Health and the psychiatrist who developed the virtual reality protocols. And community hospitals now have a better way to help the overwhelming number of people in their areas who are affected by addiction.

About the Digital Health Summit

Featuring more than 175 innovative companies in Health & Wellness Technology, the Summit is produced annually by Living in Digital Times, a series of conferences and events presented in partnership with CES Las Vegas, the worlds largest showcase for innovation in consumer technologies.

About Kyle ER & Hospital

Learn about Kyle ER & Hospital at https://kyleer.com/.

About Cynergi Health Partners

Cynergi Health Partners suite of virtual reality experiences leverages proven psychological techniques and soothing images and sounds to make medication-assisted detox easier and to help patients succeed once their treatment has ended. Its turnkey services help community and rural hospitals bring needed treatment options to their communities while supporting revenues.

See https://www.cynergihealth.com/ for more information.

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Virtual Reality's Role in Detox Featured at CES' 2020 Digital Health Summit - Business Wire

SharePoint Spaces, a tool originally revealed in 2018 at the SharePoint Virtual Summit, is now available in private preview. As noted in a post by Upload, SharePoint Spaces is one step closer to being generally available. SharePoint Spaces will be available for use with the Microsoft HoloLens and Oculus Quest, along with other Windows Mixed Reality headsets sometime in the next few months.

According to Microsoft, SharePoint Spaces will allow anyone to create mixed reality experiences where data, documents, and files can be used empowering everyone to create visually compelling spaces that are available to anyone, on any device. SharePoint Spaces will allow users to create content in these three areas.

Recruiting and onboardingRecruits or new employees can learn about a company in a compelling, 360-degee virtual welcome and orientation, including a 360-degree video message from leadership. They can navigate the campus or building with 3D maps, learn the organizational structure with an interactive organization chart, or explore rich information about coworkers and the organizations products.

LearningWith mixed reality, learning comes to life by captivating your focus and attention. Gain broad perspective with a panoramic view of a topic and learning objectives. Then explore personalized, relevant, and dynamic content. Ignite your curiosity by discovering new insights, and dive deep into topics that matter to you. Learn not just by reading or watching, but by experiencing, with your senses engaged.

Product developmentCreate an inspiring space for your team to spark innovation. Surround yourself with experts to look at data, content, and processes from every angle. Explore a prototype in 3D to identify new opportunities, attach annotations, and visualize improvements.SharePoint Spaces will be integrated within SharePoint offering users a user-friendly experience. SharePoint users will be able to see a preview of their work in a VR space once uploaded. SharePoint Spaces will also support other media content, including 360 photos and videos, and 3D models and objects.

If you are interested in taking part in the SharePoint Spaces private preview, sign-ups are here. Do you think SharePoint Spaces will be a useful VR tool for companies? Let us know in the comments.

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SharePoint in VR? Virtual Reality SharePoint Spaces coming this year from Microsoft - OnMSFT