The time of virtual reality and augmented reality has come: all the tech giants are getting into the game with their own line of VR/AR products. Microsoft has Hololens, Facebook has Oculus, Amazon has sumerian, HTC has Live, Google has Daydream, Sony has VSFRApple plans to launch a line in 2021.
As prices drop and performance increases, these products reach ever greater user groups. Global spending on virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) research is estimated to be € 20 billion.
Five years, five changes
From 2019 to 2024, therefore, the transition from what could be called an experimental market to a real mass market will be completed: here are 5 predictions about small revolutions that will add more reality to what we live.
Total transition from PC-based systems to standalone systems
From its advent onwards, the best VR systems have always been those to be connected to a PC, with a whole set of hardware and cables that reduces a user's field of action. In these years, VR will enter the "dematerialization" phase, it will detach itself from its original umbilical cord and will be totally mobile, entering our daily lives.
The first pioneer of its kind, Oculus Go, requires only an app on the smartphone and benefits from WiFi to work: a 32GB set has a price of around 200 euros and can share the entire app ecosystem of the Samsung Gear VR, which still needs a mobile phone screen to function.
The next to "pull the plug" on systems connected to a PC will be Lenovo's Mirage Solo and Hololens 2 from Microsoft.
Total field of view
Microsoft's Hololens 2 is currently the leading system for visual comfort and display quality. The major problem linked to its previous version was the rectangular and limited field of vision. With the use of laser technology for the development of displays that exploit microelectromechanical systems, the field of vision will be more than doubled, guaranteeing a much more immersive experience closer to reality.
The first headsets will be on the market at the end of this year at a price close to 3500 euros, initially for business users and then for other consumers.
Magic Leap gives a similar field of view, but with a lower resolution. Goal 2, the flagship product of the company of the same name (which however is still "slave" to a connection to the PC) offers an even larger field of vision, which stands at 90 degrees. The race to reach humans' natural field of vision, 120 degrees, continues. When he reaches a goal everyone will forget they are looking in a box, and the immersion will be total.
Mapping the real world to create “parallel worlds in augmented reality”
One of the objectives of augmented reality is to create various "parallel worlds" that can overlap with ours to enrich it with information and experiences: while you are sitting in the living room, the floor of your house can become the surface of a calm lake, and your sofa a little boat. School desks can become touch screens, a simple pencil work like a magic wand and so on.
The first, “small” example on a global scale was Pokémon Go, and it showed very clearly the degree of involvement and the potential for interaction.
To create increasingly detailed "parallel worlds", augmented reality systems will have to literally understand the surrounding space: the scanning accuracy of these devices will increase enormously in the next 5 years, making experiences never seen before possible.
5G will reduce latency to subtle levels
The Ministry of Economic Development has started a 5G trial in the city areas of Milan, Prato, L'Aquila, Bari and Matera which will end next year. In the United States, the cities of Minneapolis and Chicago are already active, as are some smartphones and two main companies (Verizon and Sprint) have already activated a service. In other words, 2020 will be the year in which 5G takes its first real steps in the real world.
At full capacity, the newly emerging virtual and augmented reality platforms need 5G for real-time interactions, and with this new protocol they will help transform tomorrow's communication.
The tracking of facial expressions and eye movements will read our natural communication
Companies like Pupil Labs and Tobii already provide apps and software for VR/AR platforms today. Eye-tracking is already integrated into systems such as Microsoft's Hololens 2 and allows you to scan your eyes and change configuration to perfectly adapt to the user who wears it from time to time
One of the fundamental objectives of virtual reality and augmented reality is to interpret human communication, up to grasping the meaning of minimal expressions and micro-movements that reflect thoughts and emotions.
In combination with software such as Affectiva, capable of "reading" emotions with the help of artificial intelligence, VR/AR systems will allow greater interactions between users by overcoming physical boundaries, cultural and linguistic distances.
In short (Italian only)
With the advent of these changes, virtual reality and augmented reality are starting to transform the market and revolutionize our society no less than the internet and mobile telephony have done in recent years.
In the educational field, VR/AR will enrich the experiences of children and adults by introducing social, emotional and creative elements into simulated learning experiences: observing a historical battle "live", entering the nucleus of a cell to modify it or reviewing the planets in a Simulated space travel will be part of the educational experience of the future.
In the real estate market, those interested in buying a new home will have many more evaluation tools: they will be able to afford to spend time in an already furnished version of the home, walk around inside and decide if it's right for them.
In the field of business the concept of "office" will change drastically, including both real and virtual spaces, and incorporating entire sectors in which the desk colleague you turn to greet is right in front of your eyes, but is physically located in another city.
In the health sector the way of making a diagnosis can improve exponentially by showing the results of a procedure that has not yet been implemented in real time to the surgeon.
And the industry? Crafts, transport… Entertainment!
In a few years VR and AR will allow the convergence of entire industrial systems, and will favor the creation of new industries and new markets still unknown. New needs, new employees, new job figures.
