State of the Art of Extended Reality Tools and Applications in Business

Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality (VR) is the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. Virtual Reality is currently used in several fields.

It can be categorized in three main types, based on the level of immersion that the user can perceive:

• 1.

  Non-immersive

• 2.

  Semi-immersive

• 3.

  Fully immersive

Non-immersive VR refers to those VR experiences in which only one of the user’s senses is stimulated, allowing for peripheral awareness of the reality outside the VR simulation. For example, user can see and/or interact with the virtual experience through conventional desktop workstations (or laptop), smartphone, or projections.

In a semi immersive simulation, the user is partially immersed into the virtual environment. An example of semi immersive VR applications are flight simulators.

In a fully immersive simulation, the user wears a head-mounted display to see the virtual experience and motion detecting devices able to stimulate senses. This kind of experience is very realistic and lets the user feel totally immersed into the environment.

State of Art Devices and Tools

Currently, the most popular VR headsets are: HTC Vive, HTC Vive Pro, Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift S, HP Mixed Reality, Oculus GO, Valve Index.

The evaluation of Virtual Reality headsets in terms of performance and capabilities is due to several parameters. The main parameters are: Field of View, Resolution, Refresh Rate, Storage. VR headsets can be either PC -Empowered (in case the headset needs to be tethered to a computer to run the experience), or Standalone VR (in case the headset can run the experience independently). PC-Empowered VR headsets’ performance highly depends on the computer specifications: a powerful computer will lead to a better VR experience. In case the virtual reality headset is Standalone VR, additional parameters are considered, such as processor, RAM, integrated graphics and internal storage – these headsets have the advantage of portability, as no wires are necessary during the experience, but they are limited by these hardware parameters in terms of performance.

Applications in Industry and Education

It can be used to explore a museum remotely, as demonstrated by The Kremer Collection VR Museum (Brooks, 2018), a Virtual Reality museum experience containing more than 70 classic works of Old Masters rendered in stunning details, and accompanied by both text and audio.

In Space Exploration, as demonstrated by BBC’s Home: a VR Spacewalk: Inspired by real-life NASA training simulations and commissioned by the BBC, Home: A VR Spacewalk allows users to experience a space walk in first-person as they float 250 miles above Earth. After opening the airlock, players must traverse the exterior of the space station - with an accompanying view of Earth below - to a radiator panel. Home won the Audience award at the Sheffield film festival in 2016 and is available now on HTC Vive and Oculus (BBC, 2018).

Another example of Virtual Reality application is the navigation within the virtual environment of a robotic laboratory, with the possibility of interacting with some elements, as shown in the Figure below (Gironacci, 2012).

Figure 1.

Virtual environment in Unity3D (Gironacci, 2012)