An old guy putting on a VR Headset for the first time.
As more and more use cases emerge for mixed reality applications, we have had a high level look at the technology hardware and software. I usually find it best to try to experience something before researching it.
We acquired several Meta Quest II headsets to familiarise ourselves with Virtual Reality before delving deeper. Here is a link to the headset : Meta Quest 2
After adjusting and donning the headset, the first options appear as a sort of menu that floats in front of your face. Navigation is via hand held controllers that project a virtual light beam into the environment. You can direct the ‘beam’ towards the options and select them by pressing a ‘trigger’.
As an oldie with no real gaming experience, I was less impressed with the interface than I was enthralled by the environment itself. (However, when I discovered hand gestures a little later, I have to admit that navigation became much easier and more intuitive.) I was slightly disappointed by the cartoon like avatar that represented me in most of the apps, but quite impressed with the richness of the buildings and rooms that I could navigate around.
The first thing you need to do is set up a ‘Guardian’ which is a virtual fence to stop you walking into walls, furniture or other objects in real life (IRL). You do this by pointing your controller at the floor and the walls while holding the trigger. The step by step instructions that guide you are supported by animations that make everything clear and easy.
My interest was mainly in business applications that could promote sharing and collaboration between users. An app called Workrooms provided my first experience of interacting with fellow users. IRL I was located in Perth with a colleague nearby and another in Melbourne. We experimented with discussions and sharing desktops and whiteboards, and although navigation was sometimes counter-intuitive or clunky (again, remember I am old and this was my first experience) I could begin to see the potential for people in remote locations to work productively in any number of situations.
This is early days – and my experience was with Virtual Reality. Augmented Reality offers heaps more. Consider the possibility of sharing your physical environment and objects in it, with co-workers located elsewhere. Or engineers sharing designs in virtual spaces and implementing design changes in real time using virtual objects.
