Not just gaming. VR technology is storming into other industries.

The English physicist Charles Wheatstone, creator of the stereoscope, is considered the progenitor of a technology that is flourishing and evolving into increasingly advanced forms. Its acronym is recognizable worldwide. There are fewer and fewer industries that do not use it. This technology has comfortably settled in our homes and has no intention of moving out. We're talking about VR. Although its beginnings are associated with video games, today it has many other applications: educational, therapeutic, technological, or production. And that's probably not all.

Virtual reality in education

The ossification of Polish education is a topic for separate considerations, but there is no doubt that it has a huge impact on students and their approach to learning. Boredom and stagnation. Young people raised in a largely digital world have trouble focusing on what is traditional and analog. But it can be done differently. You can help assimilate knowledge with an idea, interestingly, and in the language of the young generation. All you need to do is use virtual reality goggles in education, which allow you to, for example:

• transport yourself to the Viking times and witness the construction of drakkars; carry large logs of wood, chop them with an axe. Physically perform these tasks through VR.
• look at the skeleton of any chosen animal or human. Touch each bone, try to take it out, name it, learn its function. Put a layer of muscles, nervous system on it. This example was not invented for the article. Szkoła Główna Gospodarstwa Wiejskiego in Warsaw has implemented VR into the teaching process. Thanks to a similar application, veterinary students virtually transfer to a large animal clinic and participate in the operation being performed.
• participate in the inspection of a crime scene in safe and controlled conditions by the lecturer, learning how to proceed according to procedures in a similar situation. Sounds like science fiction? Welcome to the Criminal Law Department of Akademia Leona Koźmińskiego.

Is this an interesting alternative to watching complicated charts or assimilating a multi-page chapter from a book? And these are just a few selected examples of VR applications in education. There are many more of them.

VR - development possibilities

Let's take a closer look at the VCC Foundation, which has developed and implemented twenty qualifications sought after in the Polish labor market. For three industries (construction, gastronomy, and 3D printing), it enabled the entire training process and analysis of potential errors to be conducted and reproduced in VR. In the not too distant future, technology may allow for remote examinations and confirmation of acquired qualifications.

An example can also be InventionMed, a Polish tech company that creates medical simulators for education in clinical and aesthetic dermatology. One of them allows for necessary actions in the treatment of skin problems, while another simulates clinical procedures, enriched with cases of various complications. We must also not forget about the startup Unicorn VR World, which created a game supporting children with special educational needs. In virtual reality, a safe world can be created in which, under the supervision of a therapist, work is done on developing a child's cognitive, social or personal competencies.

VR as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool

Virtual reality technology can be responsibly called a diagnostic and therapeutic tool, which also to some extent supports the treatment of disease units. Largely thanks to the simulation that triggers specific psychological and physiological reactions.

Already now, VR is used in the rehabilitation of limb dysfunctions caused by cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis, as well as in facial muscle exercises after a stroke. And although it is not easy to imagine what other applications virtual reality can find in medicine, it is worth mentioning a few examples illustrating the endless possibilities of this technology.

• The BioMinds Healthcare team from Lublin is working on a therapeutic platform, more precisely on a simulation environment of daily life for patients recovering motor skills after a stroke, enabling neurological rehabilitation at every stage of return to health. The neurotherapeutic system is designed to support the treatment of adults in three key areas: psychological, cognitive and motor.
• Experts from Remmed VR designed special VR goggles and an application for vision correction. Seemingly being patients, children just play, in practice they perform appropriately selected exercises correlated with vision therapy. As the creators of the application claim, vision parameters improve significantly after such rehabilitation.
• Grydsen LAB offers a therapeutic tool using VR, counteracting the progress of dementia disorders in the elderly (e.g. Alzheimer's disease), more effective than the treatment techniques used so far. The result is keeping elderly people in good physical and cognitive condition, which translates into their independence and maintaining a high level of mental well-being.
• The Specialist Hospital MSWiA in Złocieniec, the Multispecialist State Hospital in Tarnowskie Góry, the National Autism Society in Kielce and the St. George clinic in Ciechocinek - all these institutions use VR TierOne, a virtual application for contact with nature, which imitates real experiences. Patients are shown films recorded in 360° technology, additionally enriched with audio materials and elements of relaxation and meditation. Thanks to this, patients can calm down the factors causing stress and rest. Just that much and that's all.

VR in psychotherapy

Of course, this does not mean that VR applications have bypassed psychotherapeutic issues and are not used in cognitive-behavioral therapy. It is with this technology that phobias and anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even addictions can be treated. Moreover, virtual reality is increasingly used as a support for therapy for both children and adults with autism spectrum.

However, how much of this is clever marketing and how much are solutions that actually improve the condition of patients? Are there studies confirming the effectiveness of VR therapy? Absolutely. In an article titled Effectiveness of Virtual Reality for Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Evidence-Based Systematic Review scientists presented the results of over 31 different studies conducted on the effectiveness of therapy using virtual reality for children and adolescents with autism spectrum. The studies are supported by evidence of the effectiveness of these forms of virtual therapies.

It is also worth mentioning researchers from Singapore who evaluated the use of immersive mixed reality interactive technology (IMR) in special education. The studies showed an improvement not only in the well-being of students, but also in their learning and social functioning skills, and an increase in job satisfaction among teachers.

Education, therapy and… that's it?

Video games remain the industry that makes the most use of VR technology, but the possibilities of using devices that allow you to stay in a created world seem unlimited. And we already know many of them.

For example, virtual reality technology can be used during health and safety training. Of course, there is nothing to prevent you from learning theory in a traditional way, but moving to a workplace embedded in cyberspace certainly enriches the message. Virtual reality also creates great opportunities in the field of entertainment. Thanks to it, we can recreate the most interesting moments from the concerts of our favorite stars. Fans interested in buying a ticket thanks to VR technology are transported to the concert hall to see what such an event looks like live.

This technology is also perfectly suited to train soldiers in combat. Similar training can then be conducted in a safe environment, allowing control of all its conditions. VR equipment also works excellently in simulators for pilots, and from there it is not far to military aviation. Pilots can train on different types of machines, preparing for various eventualities, failures or technical problems.

The examples could be multiplied for a long time. It would be necessary to mention IrisVR and Floored, companies dealing with architecture and home and apartment design, or VirtualSpeech, public speaking training in the auditorium.

All the examples mentioned have one thing in common: VR technology allows knowledge to be assimilated four times faster than traditional methods and is definitely more effective than e-learning. This is confirmed by the PwC report How virtual reality is redefining soft skills training.

According to estimates by the American company IDC, investments in solutions using virtual and augmented reality will grow annually by nearly 80%. Only in 2021 alone, the total amount of expenditure was around 11 billion dollars; in 2022 it was 37 billion, and MarketsandMarkets forecasts predict increases to the amount of 114.5 billion dollars by 2027. This shows that the market, although already rich in similar solutions, remains unsaturated, and industries previously overlooked are waiting for the creation of absolutely unique applications of virtual space.