Immersive Technology (VR, AR, MR, XR, The Metaverse)

- Overview

Immersive technology refers to technology that attempts to emulate a physical world through the means of a digital or simulated world, thereby creating a sense of immersion. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augment Reality (AR) applications currently suffer from bottleneck due to low bandwidths (4G LTE). With higher bandwidth (5G and Beyond), VR and AR headsets could be completely wireless.

The future of Immersive Technology (AR and VR) depends on reliable mobile wireless 5G (and beyond) networks. These technologies require a less expensive, wider network with lower latency to continue developing and reaching widespread adoption, as they require massive amounts of data processing.

A fully immersive, perceptually-real environment will consist of following components:

• Perception
• Interaction
• Software.

- Perception

Have you wondered why you see a black and blue dress, but your friend insists that it is white and gold? Perception is the process by which the brain gathers and interprets information about the world that it receives through our senses. But perception is much more than a passive relay of information from your eyes and ears to your brain. Instead, your brain interprets the information sent from your sensory organs, and actively creates your perception of the world. Despite the ease with which you are able to see and hear the world around you, this process is actually extremely complex. 

The following hardware technologies are developed to stimulate one or more of the five senses to create perceptually-real sensations.

• Vision: (3D display, Fulldome, Head-mounted display, Holography).

• Auditory: (3D audio effect, High-resolution audio, Surround sound).

• Tactile: (Haptic technology)

• Olfaction: (Machine olfaction)

• Gustation: (Artificial flavor)

- Interaction

VR has three distinct characteristics: interaction, immersion, and imagination. Interaction refers to the natural interaction between the user and the virtual scene. It provides the users with the same feeling as the real world through feedback. 

The following technologies provide the ability to interact and communicate with the virtual environment.

• Brain–computer interface

• Gesture recognition

• Omnidirectional treadmill

• Speech recognition

- Software

Virtual and augmented reality headsets are designed to place wearers directly into other environments, worlds and experiences. While the technology is already popular among consumers for its immersive quality, there could be a future where the holographic displays look even more like real life. 

Software interacts with the hardware technology to render the virtual environment and process the user input to provide dynamic, real-time response. To achieve this, software often integrates components of artificial intelligence and virtual worlds.

Research in VR is concerned with computing technologies that allow humans to see, hear, talk, think, learn, and solve problems in virtual and augmented environments. Research in AI addresses technologies that allow computing machines to mimic these same human abilities. Although these two fields evolved separately, they share an interest in human senses, skills, and knowledge production. Thus, bringing them together will enable us to create more natural and realistic virtual worlds and develop better, more effective applications. Ultimately, this will lead to a future in which humans and humans, humans and machines, and machines and machines are interacting naturally in virtual worlds, with use cases and benefits we are only just beginning to imagine.
 

- VR

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) has brought many solutions amidst the COVID-19 pandemic for collaboration to take place. With the capability to minimize training time and enable remote assistance, these new digital trends are expected to grow even more as the demand for technology increases in the market. With the extended reality (XR) revolution already underway, it’s easy to envision a future in which the lines between the real world and the virtual world become even more blurred than they are today. 

Virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) are emerging technologies utilizing a variety of digital (artificial) immersion and overlays on the real world that users can interact with. To cut a long story short, here’s the difference between virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies: 

Virtual Reality (VR) immerses users in a fully artificial digital environment. VR encompasses immersive experiences and content via a VR headset or HMD (head-mounted display). The content is 100% digital and computer generated. Current reality is replaced with a new 3D digital environment in which the user is isolated from the real world.

- AR, MR, and XR

Augmented Reality (AR) overlays virtual objects on the real-world environment. Augmented reality (AR) overlays computer-generated content on top of the real world. This superimposed digital overlay can superficially interact with the environment in real time. AR is primarily experienced via a wearable glass device or through smartphone applications.

Mixed Reality (MR) brings together real world and digital elements. In MR, you interact with and manipulate both physical and virtual items and environments, using next-generation sensing and imaging technologies. MR allows you to see and immerse yourself in the world around you even as you interact with a virtual environment using your own hands - all without ever removing your headset. It provides the ability to have one foot (or hand) in the real world, and the other in an imaginary place, breaking down basic concepts between real and imaginary, offering an experience that can change the way you game and work today.

Extended reality (XR) is an umbrella term that encompasses all real and virtual environments which include VR, AR and MR. 
  

- The Metaverse

The Metaverse is defined as an expansive virtual space where users can interact with 3D digital objects and 3D virtual avatars of each other in a complex manner that mimics the real world.

The Metaverse is what many in the computer industry see as a vision for the next-generation internet: a single, shared, immersive, persistent 3D virtual space where humans can experience life in ways they cannot experience in the physical world.

In futurism and science fiction, the term is often described as a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual and augmented reality headsets.

The Metaverse is still in their infancy. Many people have different ideas about what the metaverse should look like or how it should work. 

The Metaverse is built on the basis of multiple technologies, each of which has a close relationship with artificial intelligence.

- The Metaverse and Immersive Experience

In the future of the Internet, digital (online) activities will merge with the virtual and physical world to create realistic, immersive experiences. Brands, schools, employers and individuals will all operate their own virtual worlds where people can come together to learn, play, work or socialize.

The Metaverse is a persistent, shared digital environment where we can move from one activity to another using the same avatars, digital assets and preferences, incorporating technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and digital twins combined to create a more immersive, authentic and engaging internet.

[More to come ...]