Publish at June 04 2017 Updated March 30 2023
Virtual reality owes its growing success particularly to the video game industry. Indeed, the video game industry is interested and offers more and more immersive experiences thanks to headsets like Oculus Rift or PlayStation VR.
Or, these projects have interest not only in the entertainment industry. More and more, other fields are thinking about the uses that virtual reality could bring. Among these is education, which sees many uses for it, particularly in areas where mistakes could be dangerous or costly for students.
In some areas, mishandling has much riskier effects than others. For example, when it comes to installing a gas line, apprentices could put their lives and the lives of others at risk if they were to make a mistake in execution. Virtual reality makes it possible to perform maneuvers without risk. Especially since it reproduces more and more efficiently the movement of the hands. It is therefore becoming a technology of choice for technical training.
This Swedish company is working on, among other things, a project that will allow apprentices to learn how to use different tools without risking injury. Without perfectly reproducing the weight of a tool in hand, it still gives an idea of the most appropriate manipulations. A concrete transmission from virtual to practical.
As a result, more and more sectors are looking at virtual reality as a training solution. From transportation companies to medical schools. Indeed, the health sciences are taking advantage of this technology that allows for the practice of movements without causing disastrous consequences such as losing a patient. Since 2014, Surgvery has been used to very accurately replicate conditions and manipulations in connection with various operations.
Other players have entered the fray and offer simulations, but also, as in this startup, a kind of immersive YouTube to explore with virtual reality glasses. Experienced surgeons film their procedures with a 360-degree head-mounted camera. This way, interns can experience a full immersion in an operating room and watch the different steps and manipulations as if they were at the controls.
And then, in the medical environment, to simulate situations and evaluate staff or students, you need an entire organization including actors who must be paid to play victims or family. With virtual reality, it is possible to replicate emergency room conditions and students can then practice classifying patients and reacting to major emergencies such as a car crash, terrorist attack or epidemic. If they make mistakes in the simulation, they can write them down and work to rectify them.
Virtual reality can also be a great way to simulate more dangerous contexts in order to raise awareness or prepare individuals for that situation if it happens in real life. For example, Bouygues Construction and HTC Vive are working on simulations that replicate hazards on a construction site: sudden fire, falling tools, missing barriers or even intoxicated employees. Employees testing these different scenarios will then be able to understand the importance of different safety measures on a job site.
This prevention can also reach the general public in general. The French association Prévention routière and Allianz France have set up a virtual reality application allowing adults to see the road like an 8-year-old child. The different situations address crossing a crosswalk or avoiding cars backing out of their yard, among other things. Users can thus understand the difficulties of concentration and see all the details that escape them given their size.
So virtual reality is not just for immersing yourself in a fictional world. It can also reproduce complex real-life situations. This technology could thus greatly change professional training and the way the general public is made aware of health, environmental, etc.
Illustration : NASA Johnson iss050e016480 via photopin (license)
References
Charmeil, Lara. "Virtual Reality: She Creates A 'Surgery Youtube' For Future Doctors." We Demain. Last updated June 17, 2016. https://www.wedemain.fr/Realite-virtuelle-elle-cree-un-Youtube-de-la-chirurgie-pour-les-futurs-medecins_a1942.html.
Fuchs, Olivia. "EIT Digital Develops New Virtual Reality Tool For Industrial Training." EIT Digital. Last updated February 22, 2017. https://www.eitdigital.eu/newsroom/news/article/eit-digital-developpe-un-nouvel-outil-de-realite-virtuelle-pour-la-formation-industrielle/.
"Virtual Reality: A Foot in Another Learning Tool?" ABILWAYS DIGITAL. Last updated April 13, 2017. http://www.abilways-digital.com/magazine/la-realite-virtuelle-un-pied-dans-un-autre-outil-du-learning/.
"Virtual Reality In The Service Of Emergency." UTC. Last updated February 13, 2017. https://interactions.utc.fr/thematiques/science-de-linformation-information-automatique-decision/la-realite-virtuelle-au-service-de-lurgence.html.
"Virtual Reality To Prevent On-Site Accidents." Cayola Construction. Last updated March 22, 2017. http://www.constructioncayola.com/infrastructures/article/2017/03/22/111218/realite-virtuelle-pour-prevenir-les-accidents-sur-chantier.php.
"Association Prévention Routière And Allianz France Launch The VIZIOKid VR App." Association Prévention Routière. Last updated March 8, 2016. https://www.preventionroutiere.asso.fr/2016/03/08/lassociation-prevention-routiere-et-allianz-france-lancent-lapplication-viziokid-vr/.
Rivard, Julie. "Virtual Reality: From Knowledge Transfer to Practice." Connexence Virtual Reality. Last updated October 17, 2016. http://vr.connexence.com/index.php/2016/10/17/la-realite-virtuelle-du-transfert-des-connaissances-a-la-pratique/.
Surgevry. accessed 1er June 2017. http://www.surgevry.com/.
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