Category Archives: Virtual Reality

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Scared of the dentist? Virtual reality could be the solution Metro You'll therefore be pleased to hear the news that there may be a (fairly surprising) way of mitigating the absolute horror of the dentist: virtual reality. A new study, published by Environment and Behaviour, found that calming nature scenes conveyed ... New Research Shows Virtual Reality Can Be Used To Make Your Dentist Visits Less PainfulIndiatimes.com How Virtual Reality Can Make Visiting The Dentist Less Painful, Especially If It Involves NatureMedical Daily Virtual reality helps patients 'escape' dental painMultiBriefs Exclusive (blog) Digital Journal all 10 news articles »

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Scared of the dentist? Virtual reality could be the solution - Metro

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Rievaulx Abbey rediscovers Victorian 'virtual reality' BBC News A Victorian version of virtual reality has been brought to life by historical photographs of a ruined abbey. Rievaulx Abbey, in North Yorkshire, is exhibiting the collection of late 19th and early 20th Century slides, which create a 3D effect when ... Victorians' 'virtual reality' showcased in photographs at ruined abbeyBT.com all 3 news articles »

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Rievaulx Abbey rediscovers Victorian 'virtual reality' - BBC News

Considering the flashier features of LOrals 352,000 square-foot New York City headquarters a full Essie nail salon and a Hudson River-facing terrace, for instance its easy to walk right past the companys virtual reality room.

It looks like a typical conference room. But the LOral Beauty Lab, as its referred to internally, is stacked with virtual reality glasses and installed with a VR screen that occupies a full floor-to-ceiling space on the wall. Two other screens in the room are used to display 3D modeling demonstrations.

LOral invested a pretty penny in this buzzy technology, but not to woo customers into thinking itscutting edge. (The company wouldnt disclose how much it spent on the screen, but it was enough for visitorsto be warned not to get too near the wall.)

While VR has been prophesied by bullish vendors and big-eyed brands as the next frontier of fashion and beauty, true utility for the technology has failed to materialize on the grand scale. Past attempts include a virtualized runway show at Tommy Hilfigers Manhattan store, which involved a clunky headset, and a Piaget-run polo match that felt like a stretch. In beauty, brands are developing augmented reality tools, VRs close relative, at a breakneck speedto mimic the process of trying on makeup.

But its still yet to be shown that this technology can have a real impact on sales. Manybrands dont even know what to do with the data that results from a VR test, andthe industry is full of skeptics.

Im not a big believer in virtual reality as it relates to retail, said Scott Friend, a managing director at Bain Capital Ventures, in a previousinterview. Maybe it has a place in an industry like gaming, but having seen the best retail VR experience out there, I walked away from it thinking, Why would I ever do this?

In order to drive real use from its in-house VR Beauty Lab, LOral is turning the technology away from consumers, and focusing it instead on internal teams.

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The companys 42 cosmetics, hair-care and skin-care brands are encouraged to use the virtual reality roomin order to drive efficiency and productivity when making decisions around product merchandising, packaging and overall branding. These processes which can take months, from brainstorm to launch can be turned around in a matter of weeks in the Beauty Lab. Thanks to the visuals of the virtual reality and 3D renderings, brands can save money and time on creating prototypes and recreating in-store demos.

Dermablend, a dermatologist-created brand of foundations and concealers, is the first LOral property to test the ways the virtual reality room could change howits lean team of 14 people makes decisions. Malena Higuera, the general manager of Dermablend, said she knew that she wanted the brand to make a strategic and aggressive leap forward in 2017, but the extensive market research required for a total rebranding and package redesign would take too long and cost too much money.

This type of thing takes very complicated, cumbersome and expensive live merchandise demonstrations, said Higuera. But I really wanted my team to be exposed to as much real, potential feedback as we could get.

So Dermablend sent its proposed new packaging design and the rebranding for an in-store display unit to the Beauty Lab, where the packages were rendered using 3D modeling and the unit, in the context of a virtual Ulta store, was overlaid in the VR world. Dermablend brought in a focus group, and had them respond to the different branding and packaging. They found that the new unit was clear enough in its messaging that customers new to the brand could repeat back its core differentiator (that its made by dermatologists) and, thanks to a more diverse group of models, recognize a greater range of makeup shades.

The process of rebranding its Ulta unit took three months. Without the VR demonstration, Higuera said it likely would have taken closer to eight.

She added that, as a small, indie brand, it was a big deal to be able to take advantage of LOrals resources while staying a tight and focused team. As big beauty companies like LOral, Revlon and Este Lauder set their sights on buying up indie brands that have gathered mighty followings, maintaining the brands initial appeal is key to not getting swallowed up whole.

LOral brands are also working together more. Elsewhere in the new headquarters, which houses 1,600 employees across all brands at the Manhattan Hudson Yards development, is a collaboration-encouraging environment. Brands with similar goals and features can cross-communicate in the space, which was designed by the architecture firm Gensler, in an attempt to remove silos.

Still, since the Beauty Lab opened in October, Dermablend is the only brand that has taken full advantage of its features. That suggests theres a learning curve involved with working VR into internal processes. But as the beauty world gets increasingly competitive, moving at a faster clip is essential.

Were undergoing a renaissance of sorts. Every time we need to see something in real life, we come here, said Higuera. Speed is important. But its about doing the right thing, fast.

Banner image courtesy of LOral

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How L'Oreal uses virtual reality to make internal decisions at its New York HQ - Digiday

When I think of virtual reality, I think of playing games or being immersed in a 360 degree video experience where the action takes place all around me. But when Kim Bullock and Andrea Stevenson Won talk about VR, they have something else in mind helping patients cope with pain. Bullock, a psychiatrist, is the founder and director of Stanfords Neurobehavioral and Virtual Reality clinics and laboratories. Won directs Stanfords Virtual Embodiment Lab.

I had a chance to speak with both researchers during a recent visit to Stanfords Virtual Reality-Immersive Technology Clinic, where I learned about some proven techniques and promising research when it comes to using VR for pain management. You can listen to the entire interview at larrysworld.com/vrpain.

Bullock and Won are working on ways to use VR to help people with psychosomatic pain remap the way they visualize those parts of their body where they experience the pain so thats its less prevalent and less debilitating.

The technology builds on what is known as mirror therapy where doctors traditionally used a mirror to create what Psysiopedia refers to as a reflective illusion of an affected limb in order to trick the brain into thinking movement has occurred without pain. But VR is much more powerful than a mirror because it allows the patient to visualize more than just the swapping out of, say, a left foot for a right foot.

If I move my right hand in real life and I cant move my left hand in real life, I can transform the movement of my right hand so that I see both my left hand and right hand moving freely and naturally, said Bullock. But with virtual reality you can push it even further so you can move your hand in real life and see your foot move in virtual reality, she added.

The Stanford researchers are focusing on psychosomatic pain, but virtual reality has already been shown to distract patients from physical pain, such as when cleaning burn wounds to prevent infection.

Our interdisciplinary team is putting burn patients (especially children and teenagers) into VR during wound care and physical therapy, wrote University of Washington cognitive psychology research scientist Hunter Hoffman. In preliminary research Hoffman and colleagues found huge drops in how much pain the patients experience during their short visit to virtual reality, that exceeded the pain relief from morphine according to research summarized on the website of the Human Photonics Laboratorys website, vrpain.com.

During our interview at Stanford, Bullock described the VR effect as going well beyond distraction.

Instead of just having your head and eye movements tracked, your whole body is tracked and now you can create the illusion that your inside another body, youre inhabiting an avatar, Bullock said.

Its about tricking what Bullock describes as our reptilian brain, which reacts to injuries through pain as a mechanism to discourage movement of an arm or a limb.

The brain says we better turn up the pain, so well have time to recover and not have any movement, so were programmed that movement and pain are intimately connected and they feed on each other, Bullock said. With VR ,we can stop the vicious cycle of immobility and pain, and give the body the illusion of movement.

Im not a medical doctor and I dont play one on TV or even on the web, but I have experienced the power of persuasion when it comes to managing physical symptoms. A couple of years ago I suffered an intestinal blockage and, after I posted about it on Facebook, a friend of mine, Dr. Danielle Rosenman, advised me to imagine a river flowing freely through my intestines. Although my results are anecdotal, the technique has been effective. On her professional website, Rosenman writes that she uses neuroplasticity, imagery, meditation, psychotherapy, and other techniques in her medical counseling practice.

Ive used distraction as a way of dealing with occasional discomfort, pain and anxiety by watching TV, playing games or even working at my computer, literally taking my mind off what was bothering me, and that turns out to be a well documented remedy. But when you add in the element of virtual reality, youre going way beyond distraction because of the transformative impact it can have on the way youre experiencing the world.

You dont need to feel pain to understand VRs emotional impact. Try donning a VR headset and running an application that has you standing on the ledge of a building. When I experienced this at the Facebook headquarters when they were about to launch their Oculus Rift VR headset, I found myself stepping back to avoid falling over. The intellectual part of my brain knew that I was safe on the ground floor but the emotional part of my brain was convinced that I would fall to my death if I took a step forward. That was actually anxiety inducing, so its pretty easy for me to imagine turning the tables and using VR as a way of reducing anxiety or even pain.

Dr. Bullock is a psychiatrist, not a pain specialist, and only sees patients dealing with psychosomatic disease.

She is bullish on augmented reality, which which allows you to superimpose computer generated images over your real world visual experience. She said they have a program for spider phobia that allows you to experience virtual spiders in your actual environment. She said that she looks forward to enabling patients to experience the real world plus the virtual world, without stumbling into things.

I too am excited about doctors using virtual reality to help us cope and perhaps recover from medical and psychological illnesses. If only we could figure out a way to virtualize the way we pay for medical care.

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Can virtual reality help control pain? - The Mercury News - The Mercury News

Even without virtual reality goggles, the Kraken rollercoaster at SeaWorld can be scary. It climbs to 150 feet, turns riders upside down seven times and reaches speeds of 65 mph.

But starting Friday, the 17-year-old coaster will be the first major ride in Florida with the high-tech option of virtual reality goggles that project an undersea showdown with the ride's namesake monster.

The Tampa Bay Times was among a gaggle of coaster fans and media members allowed to test out the new feature Thursday. The upgrade joins a trend of technology-driven thrills in Florida theme parks.

THEME PARK GUIDE: Everything you need to know about what's new this summer.

Stephen O'Donnell of Port Charlotte said the new virtual reality ride was like nothing he's ever experienced.

"I don't feel like I rode a roller coaster. I felt like I was riding a high-speed submarine," said O'Donnell, 58, a retired carpenter who loves coasters. "Once your ears are covered, it's like your senses are changed and it's another world."

Once you buckle in, you put on the headset and make it at snug as possible to block out the real world. As other riders are adjusting their goggles, you already are seeing a virtual world. It's an undersea laboratory that has many of the same physical details as the coaster's loading zone. But it looks like you are in a loading zone for a submarine.

A soundtrack muffles the real noise of the coaster and you are soon underwater among realistic-looking sharks, fish and Kraken, a legendary mythical sea monster that looks like a giant squid.

Here and throughout the ride you can look in every direction and see new details. But some of those details will be lost when you are flying by at 65 mph and some were hard to keep in focus with your head rattling around on a coaster.

The storyline in the virtual world mirrors the ride. As the submarine is drifting toward the surface, the coaster in Orlando is making its ascent to the top of the first 150-foot drop.

Unless you have every turn of the coaster memorized, you don't know what's coming next.

O'Donnell said he often gets queasy on simulators, like the Spider-Man ride at Universal's Islands of Adventure. But he rode the Kraken with the VR goggles eight times. Some at Thursday's test were a bit disoriented after the ride, however.

You can still feel the sensations and hear the coaster, but like the old rumble seats in movie theaters, it feels like an enhancement to the experience on the screen.

"When it turns you upside down, it feels right because visually that's what you are doing" on screen, O'Donnell said.

SeaWorld is just the latest of Florida's theme parks to use technology to give visitors a feeling of simulated reality. Disney makes guests feel like they are taking flight and plunging down the side of a floating mountain from the movie Avatar in the new Flight of Passage ride. It's Animal Kingdom's signature ride in the recently opened $500 million Pandora-World of Avatar experience.

At Universal Orlando, riders feel like they are chasing Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon at the new Race Through New York attraction. And Legoland's Ninjago World has young theme parkgoers karate-chopping their way to victory over evil forces on screen.

The Kraken ride, which held the record for the tallest and longest roller coaster in the state when it opened in 2000, has been closed for two months while the park retrofitted it with the technology.

The SeaWorld company, which also owns Busch Gardens in Tampa, is considering adding the technology to more parks.

"We see great potential for virtual reality use across the parks," SeaWorld CEO Joel Manby said in a call with investors earlier this year. "We're also looking to have a version of virtual reality for our animals where guests can see them live and other things you typically can't see as a human today except through virtual reality."

Not all theme parkgoers are fond of screens and virtual experiences.

Coaster fan Chris Kraftchick, who represents Florida for the American Coaster Enthusiasts club, said many theme park purists are worried that some parks are starting to overdo all the screens and virtual simulator rides.

"When you ride Cheetah Hunt (at Busch Gardens) you are in the wide-open cars flying across the Serengeti, you are living and breathing something real," Kraftchick said. "You can simulate that but you can't really experience the true thrill of going up 335 feet and falling face first" like riders do on Falcon's Fury.

But the virtual reality addition to roller coasters could be something even purists can embrace because you still get the wind in your hair, Kraftchick said.

"I think people will like those better than the simulators because you still get the sensation, but you get a bonus. You are going on an adventure now. You are no longer looking at the horizon or over the lake. Instead we are flying through this underwater realm being chased by the Kraken."

The negative can be that it slows down load time tremendously, Kraftchick noted, because it can take longer for the workers to help riders make sure the goggles are set up. "But I think it's a great idea to get people interested in an older coaster again."

One big bonus, experts say, is technology can be a cheaper way to upgrade an old ride.

"VR headsets are an inexpensive way to create a new ride experience without having to make a major capital expenditure," said professor Martin Lewison, an expert on the global theme park industry at Farmingdale State College in New York.

Contact Sharon Kennedy Wynne at swynne@tampabay.com. Follow @SharonKWn.

Sneak peek: We rode SeaWorld's Kraken coaster while wearing virtual reality goggles 06/15/17 [Last modified: Thursday, June 15, 2017 4:56pm] Photo reprints | Article reprints

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Sneak peek: We rode SeaWorld's Kraken coaster while wearing virtual reality goggles - Tampabay.com

C4ISR

U.S. Navy engineers used 3-D imaging capabilities of LIDAR technology to measure designated spaces on board the USS San Diego (LPD 22), USS Truxtun (DDG 103), and the USS Anchorage (LPD 23) down to the exact millimeter, according to a SPAWAR media report. Then, virtual reality and virtual environment software processed the hundreds of gigabytes worth of scanned data into a less than one hundred gigabyte file of a virtual reality model of the scanned areas.

A Secretary of the Navy 2016 Innovation Award was presented to a 3-D scanning team from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) last week for their use of Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology to make virtual reality scans a tool for future onboard technological development and sailor training.

LIDAR technology requires only a small team of two to three people who know the equipment and can create an accuratevirtual 3-D representation of a ships installation compartment, said Lt. Jessica Fuller, a member of the SPAWAR 3-D scanning team.

The LIDAR system uses a special, near-infrared laser that emits electromagnetic pulses in the form of light and measures the return wavelengths to discern the distance and 3D shape of objects in its path. SPAWAR reports that the 3-D scanning team used commercial-off-the-shelf technology and software to ensure state-of-the-art results.

Once the model was created, sailors could don the virtual reality goggles head piece and virtually navigate through a remote part of the ship.

In addition to using these scans for installationssailors can now train virtually on their ship, in their exact spaces, with their exact equipment because of these scans, explained Heidi Buck, Director of Battlespace Exploitation of Mixed Reality Lab. Also new systems can be prototyped and inserted into the virtual ship environment for design and testing purposes.

The next goal is to be able to input the scan data into augmented reality software, which will allow sailors to access 3-D augmented reality maps and scans while on the job, giving the sailors a mobile capability to better understand and maintain the ship, according to Dr. Mark Bilinski, a Mathematician at SPAWAR.

The LIDAR scanning itself took only nine days when first performed on the USS San Diego, and the other two vessels were scanned and modeled within the same year. There is no timeline for implementing the new method and technology across the Navy, however SPAWAR officials are confident that it will become a model for Navy virtual

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Navy virtual reality technology will help upgrade ships and train sailors - Defense Systems

Smaller stores and virtual reality: Is this the future of Ikea? fox2now.com Ikea has been encouraging shoppers since February to test a new in-store virtual reality app that lets people explore an Ikea kitchen and cook virtual pancakes. Buying a new kitchen is often a big investment and we want our customers to feel confident ... and more »

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Smaller stores and virtual reality: Is this the future of Ikea? - fox2now.com

STEM and VR

MEL Science, based in London, has launched a series of virtual reality (VR) chemistry lessons for K12. The 3-year-old company this week released a MEL Chemistry VR app, featuring a virtual chemistry lab, for free on Google Daydream. This free version, which contains the first six chemistry lessons, is available at this MEL Science site.

According to MEL Science, chemistry is filled with abstract concepts that may prove difficult for young students to understand. The best method for kids to learn is through hands-on interaction, so MEL Science developed these VR chemistry lessons to enliven molecular-level science and illustrate it on an immersive, enlarged level.

The lessons follow K12 curricular guidelines, and are designed to be used in the classroom or at home. A special version for educators will be released soon, the company said.

In these first six lessons, students should be able to see what its like to dive into a pencil (graphite) or a diamond and discover what these objects look like on an atomic level.

Students should be able to learn about basic chemistry principles in an interactive, friendly way, including topics such as:

Students will also get the opportunity to build an atom of any known element with their hands and/or a guiding tool. Anything that appears on the modern periodic table should be available to build, said Vassili Philippov, CEO of MEL Science.

MEL Science aims to release more than 150 lessons covering all the main topics included in K12 schools chemistry curriculum. Later this year, MEL Science also aims to add support for other VR platforms, including Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear VR.

MEL Science is known for its subscription service, offering educational science sets through the mail. Through this service, parent subscribers get two new chemistry sets every month, allowing them to perform engaging educational experiments at home with their children.

Wed like to change science education, Philippov said in an interview. Virtual reality is the perfect language for science, because you can see what is happening on the micro level. You cant see molecules. But with virtual reality, you can be inside a chemical reaction. You can memorize facts and forget later, or I can put you inside a chemical reaction. Then youll really understand what is happening there. So fundamentally, its a better way to teach science.

Philippov continued, If you understand how to motivate kids, youll really teach them. In science, there is one trick hands-on experience. They have to see it with their eyes. Then theyll really fall in love, and youll inspire their natural curiosities. If you combine those two together engagement and using VR theyll understand what is happening on a fundamental level. Thats the way to teach science.

To witness the MEL Chemistry VR app in action, view the video below:

More information on MEL Chemistry VR can be found at the companys site.

About the Author

Richard Chang is associate editor of THE Journal. He can be reached at rchang@1105media.com.

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MEL Science Launches Virtual Reality Chemistry Lessons - T.H.E. Journal

In the north, reindeer are starving. In the south, nature reserves are turning into deserts. This isnt a dystopian future but the reality of the present. All over Europe climate change is forcing humans and animals to adapt or abandon their homes.

To understand what all the politicians speeches and news reports actually mean when they talk about climate change, Euronews invites you to travel the length and breadth of Europe in this virtual reality experience. What is happening and what is being done to prevent the worst consequences?

Inside the experience, you can watch seven different reports, either with a VR headset or through your normal browser on computer, tablet or phone.

You can choose your destinations by looking at the icons on the map or by hovering the round cursor on them.

On a desktop browser, you can enter full screen mode by clicking on the glasses.

You can watch reports about

Please use Wi-Fi and headphones for the best experience

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Virtual Reality report: how climate change is affecting Europe now - euronews

June 14, 2017 7:13 PM

FREEHOLD, N.J. (CBSNewYork) A first of its kind facility in New Jersey takes first responder training to the next level beyond reality and into the unknown.

Stepping inside the situational and response simulator, an officer responds to a noise complaint. It escalates quickly and the officer must react, CBS2s Meg Baker reports.

As a member of law enforcement, we can only hope that we will never have to shoot a suspect. But we must train in preparation to provide for a successful outcome when making a split second decision to use lethal force, Spring Lake Police Chief Edward Kerr said.

During training, officers wear a zapper to simulate what its like to be hit. The idea is to make the encounter as real as possible.

Learn and make mistakes in the simulator, instead of making them on the streets, Kerr said.

The new Monmouth County high-tech facility and $275,000 virtual reality room is the first of its kind in New Jersey.

Fighting crime has taken a new toll and challenge for law enforcement in the recent years. We constantly have to deal with threats, and threat assessment, and de-escalation of crisis, Sheriff Shaun Golden said.

Police, fire, EMS and other first responders can run exercises on active shooter incidents, like one demonstration in a cafeteria setting and a SWAT team response inside a school. Outside, K9 officers can run through an agility course.

The minute we think we have it figured out is the minute we ought to check our badge and gun and find other employment. Its our job to be innovative and on the tip of the sphere, Monmouth County prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said.

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Virtual Reality Helps Police Train For Active Shooter Situations ... - CBS New York