Category Archives: Virtual Reality

Instead of reading about cell biology, or even watching a very cool video on cell biology, imagine you could shrink down small enough to go inside a cell and observe biochemical reactions up close.

And what if you could use your own hands to smash molecules together, just to see what happens?

Thats what Connor Smith envisions when he considers the future of classroom learning. Using virtual reality technology to improve education is something the University of California, San Diego senior thinks about a lot, in fact, and hes already created a VR application that replicates the inside of the human body.

"Ive never seen kids so interested in cell biology in my life as when they tried out Cell VR," Smith said. He cites this as one example of how "VR can really get people passionate" about learning, without realizing they're learning.

"Its kind of like 'Magic School Bus'-esque: It can take you and make you smaller; it can take you across time," Smith said.

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But virtual reality has yet to go mainstream. Its still a wild west of tech: an environment where anything is possible. The issuefacing educators interested in bringing VR tech to their classrooms, though, isn't whether it's possible, but whether it's feasible. Although mobile VR only requires a headset Googles Cardboard headset costs as little as $15 and a smartphone, those costs can still be the limiting factor for classrooms on tight budgets.

And as Kevin Krewett writes in a July Forbes article, another crucial factor keeping VR from ubiquity is that smartphones are not optimized to run continuous, graphics-intensive VR applications. Even for the early-adopter gamer set, Krewett says, issues like a lack of an established social community around VR and even motion sickness have helped keep the tech nearthe fringes.

Those obstacles arent keeping innovative developers from trying, though. In addition to Cell VR, Smith also designed an application that replicates a high school chemistry lab.

Replacing a real-world lab with a virtual version, he said, has the potential to cut down on both the risks and the expense of maintaining a functional chemistry lab used by hundreds of students.

In the team's virtual lab, a student can move around just as she would in any real-life chem lab. But the student cant scald herself. She wont break an expensive beaker. She wont cause a devastating explosion if she mixes the wrong amounts of the wrong chemicals.

"Chem lab activities are very kinesthetic activities. Students are involved in the lab; theyre learning by doing, and thats fantastic. But its expensive, and sometimes intimidating," Smith said.

Learning within a particular place or context helps students not only find solutions to problems at hand, but to develop new ways of thinking,said Zoran Popovic, director of theCenter for Game Scienceat the University of Washington.

"You remember cognitively very differently when youre in the situation, directly experiencing something," Popovic said.

Smith is part of a UCSD virtual reality club, which has visited local schools to demonstrate the tech to middle and high school students.

Dr. Susan Domanico teaches high school science courses at La Jolla Country Day School, a private school in San Diego, and her students' interest in potential applications of VR technology prompted her to invite Smith and other members of UCSD's Virtual Club to put on a classroom demo.

"As I've learned more about VR over the course of this year, I see it fitting in different ways in different classes," Domanico says. She thinks it would work as a great supplementary learning tool in her neuroscience and biology classes, helping students "grasp many of the complex concepts we explore in biology."

Access is still an obstacle for getting VR into classrooms; virtual reality headsets like the Oculus or the Google Cardboard require the use of smartphones. As Popovic points out, "most affluent kids get phones in middle school, but for the majority of the student population, it's pretty much a luxury. It's not going to happen if everyone doesn't have access to the tech."

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The tech may be cost prohibitive at this point; then again, for many public schools, so are new textbooks, Bunsen burners and field trips to working farms or planetariums or national monuments.

Zachary Korth has taken classroom VR at least one step further: He had his Portland, Oregon, middle school engineering and computer science students come up with and build virtual reality applications, including one that recreated the inside of their school building. The application, the students reasoned, would be useful for a new student, who could use it before their first day to learn how to navigate unfamiliar surroundings.

Korth said he bought the six Cardboard headsets his class used with his own money, and he loaned his smartphone to students who didn't have their own to use in class.

Still, he and his students faced technological roadblocks in trying to bring their ideas to full fruition.

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"Some of the trouble, the reason why some of these didn't come to fruition, was because of the lack of technology," Korth said. "I will say that in my school, we had a lot of technology it just didn't have the right technology."

Korth explained that his school was equipped with tablets, but for students to build functional VR worlds they'd need PCs with certain amounts of memory and processing speeds.

"We tapped into an interest of theirs that could have gone so many places. It just didn't, because we didn't have the technology available," he said.

Smith thinks there's more to schools' hesitancy in adopting the tech than just the cost.

"Even if a school would get just a single VR system students could use, long-term that would be much cheaper than a science lab, for example," he said. "But right now its still very much in that early adopter phase."

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That's why he feels it is important for he and his fellow VR developers and enthusiasts to visit classrooms to give students, and teachers, the chance to become familiar with the technology.

"I dont think its something that is going to 'disrupt' the classroom," Smith said.

He thinks it's likely VR will continue to supplement students' more traditional textbook- or tablet-based learning. In fact, he envisions textbooks coming with supplemental VR applications, written by the same authors, so students can combine two- and three-dimensional learning.

"Three-dimensional learning is just what we do in real life," he said. "We pick things up with our hands. And we look at them."

Published at 5:42 PM CDT on Jul 19, 2017

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To See the Future of Classroom Learning, Some Look to Virtual Reality - NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Black-and-white striped angelfish glide past Mary Spencer as she scuba dives for the first time in her 84 years.

Above, the sun glows white at the top of the Thai sea. Below, a school of bright orange fish darts by.

Oh, its a beautiful blue ocean, the Orlando native said. There goes a diver. Hes floating by."

The retired Walt Disney World workers next adventure could take her to the Grand Canyon or on a safari without ever leaving her home in an east Orange County assisted-living facility. Shes among the residents testing whether virtual reality can help people with dementia.

We are trying to be on the cutting edge of what we provide to our residents, said Kimberly Edwards, executive director at Encore at Avalon Park assisted living and memory care.

Susan Jacobson/Orlando Sentinel

Mary Spencer, 84, watches a video that immerses her in deep-sea diving. She's participating in a virtual-reality trial of dementia patients at Encore at Avalon Park assisted living facility on July 14, 2017.

Mary Spencer, 84, watches a video that immerses her in deep-sea diving. She's participating in a virtual-reality trial of dementia patients at Encore at Avalon Park assisted living facility on July 14, 2017. (Susan Jacobson/Orlando Sentinel)

Encore at Avalon Park is the third senior residence in the country to test the virtual-reality system created by MyndVR, a Dallas start-up whose partners are Samsung and the University of Texas at Dallas.

All 89 residents will have a chance to try the 360-degree experience, but only 16 will participate in the four-week field trial eight with dementia and eight without.

Theyll spend no more than half an hour at a time looking at three- to five-minute scenes meant to evoke nostalgia, serenity and wonder. Choices include a 1950s jazz club with a live singer and patrons sipping martinis, a sunset on a farm and a painter creating a flower-filled canvas.

MyndVR hopes the scenes will soothe the patients with dementia and reduce agitation and depression.

Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel

Chris Brickler, left, CEO and co-founder of MyndVR, helps resident John Auchter, 89, with a headset to view a virtual reality video at Encore at Avalon Park assisted living facility on July 12, 2017.

Chris Brickler, left, CEO and co-founder of MyndVR, helps resident John Auchter, 89, with a headset to view a virtual reality video at Encore at Avalon Park assisted living facility on July 12, 2017. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)

During a past trial in Plano, Texas, a few residents without memory loss were allowed to try a skydiving segment that was a hit with an 85-year-old woman, Brickler said.

Our plan is to essentially be the Netflix of VR for seniors, MyndVR CEO and co-founder Chris Brickler, 45, said on a visit to kick off the trial last week at Encore at Avalon Park.

Thats why the equipment is designed to be light enough for comfort and easy to navigate.

It consists of a headphones and a headset powered by a specially programmed cellphone. The user sits in an office swivel chair under the supervision of a staff member trained by MyndVR. Slowly twirling the chair and moving the head create the panoramic effect.

The hurdles are far less than we thought, and the unintended benefits are starting to be more than we anticipated, said Brickler, who plans to lease the equipment to senior-care residences across the Sunbelt, where many older people live.

Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel

Jane Auchter, 85, a resident at Encore at Avalon Park assisted living facility, takes a virtual-reality trip to the Grand Canyon on July 12, 2017.

Jane Auchter, 85, a resident at Encore at Avalon Park assisted living facility, takes a virtual-reality trip to the Grand Canyon on July 12, 2017. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)

No scientific studies prove the value of the technology among patients with dementia or other seniors.

But with society aging fast the U.S. Census Bureau predicts the 65-and-older population will grow from 49.1 million in 2016 to 83.7 million in 2050 and 98.2 million in 2060 several other companies in the U.S. and abroad also are experimenting with or marketing VR to senior-care and senior-living communities, hospitals and consumers.

Dr. Rosemary Laird, a Winter Park geriatrician whose specialties include memory disorders, said the technology sounds promising if only to bring the world to people who no longer can venture out.

One caveat, she said, would be to avoid scenarios that might frighten or overwhelm seniors who cant distinguish reality from the virtual world.

Virtual reality is part of a leap in care from three or four decades ago, when nursing homes tied unruly patients to chairs or their beds to keep them from hurting themselves or others, said Daniel Paulson, a professor of psychology at the University of Central Florida.

Later, drugs took the place of restraints, said Paulson, who is not familiar with the VR project but is involved with a music-therapy pilot program that pairs middle schoolers with residents at Encore at Avalon Park.

No one wants to go into a nursing home and learn that grandma has been drugged into submission, he said.

At minimum, Encore at Avalon Park administrators hope to inject a novel diversion into the lives of their residents.

If it doesnt decrease their anxiety or depression, at the very least, it gives them an enjoyable experience for half an hour and increases their quality of life, Edwards said.

sjacobson@orlandosentinel.com or 407-540-5981

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Assisted living tries virtual reality to help seniors with dementia - Orlando Sentinel

Set in a post-apocalyptic America during the year 2089, players choose to play the role of Gabby or Gabriel Walker, codename "Guardian," who has been selected by the United States Free Forces to lead the resistance against the tyrannical corporation HUMNX, a private conglomerate that governs what is left of our ravaged nation. Players must use strategy and skill to fire upon enemies with a wide array of high-powered weapons while protecting their allies from onslaught.

"How better tointroduce players to Skydance Interactive's vision for the future of virtual reality gamingthantogive themhands-on controlofa giant mechin a waythat no other medium can deliver," said Peter Akemann, President of Skydance Interactive. "Now is the time to join the resistance, protect your friends and countrymen, and become the beacon of hope that America needs the Archangel!"

Archangel garnered "Best VR Game" Awards at E3 2017 from Geek Citadel, MMOGames, and MEUPS4. On August 2, 2017 it will be available on other leading virtual reality platforms, including HTC Vive and Oculus. A location-based version of the game will also be made available in IMAX VR Centres in August.

View the newest trailer for Archangel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoaFEXviJpE

To learn more about Archangel visit http://www.archangelgame.com and follow @archangelgame on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

About Skydance InteractiveSkydance Interactive creates and publishes original and IP-based virtual reality, PC, and console games. The division of Skydance Media was launched in 2016 through the acquisition of The Workshop Entertainment, whose prior credits include franchise and genre-defining work on "Gears of War 4," "XCOM 2" for PS4/Xbox One, "Borderlands 2: Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage," and "Sorcery" for Playstation Move. Skydance Interactive's first VR game the award-winning Archangel launches in July of 2017. The studio is located in Marina del Rey, CA.

ContactsShannon Olivas Corporate Communications (424) 2913485 solivas@skydance.com

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/skydance-interactives-award-winning-virtual-reality-game-archangel-is-available-now-on-playstation-vr-300489734.html

SOURCE Skydance Interactive

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Skydance Interactive's Award-Winning Virtual Reality Game 'Archangel' Is Available Now On Playstation VR - PR Newswire (press release)

A lab that opened last month in Fife, Scotland shows how the energy industry is embracing virtual reality systems considered futuristic justtwo years ago.

The Fife College Immersive Hybrid Reality lab is designed to enhance the training and development of the next generation of offshore wind turbine technicians, according to a press release.

It simulates the top of a nacelle on a 7-megawatt offshore wind turbine, allowing students to carry out fault-finding inspections without having to leave shore.

The virtual environment is modeled on a real-life demonstration turbine off the East Fife coast, used by the U.K.s Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult scheme for research and training.

Students can view the virtual environment through special goggles, but at the same time see their own hands and feet as well as being able to pick up and use real tools and manuals.

The virtual environment, created by the ORE Catapult along with Scottish public-private initiative the Energy Skills Partnership and animation studio Animmersion U.K., includes audio effects, such as wind noise, and can even simulate changing weather conditions.

A second virtual environment, currently being worked on, will simulate the interior of the turbine.

At the lab opening last month, the Scottish Government Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, Shirley-Anne Somerville, pledged further funding of GBP 50,000 (around $65,000) for the Energy Skills Partnership.

The money follows 300,000 ($389,000) already invested by the Scottish government in the virtual reality (VR) project.

Bill Hutchison, Fife College curriculum manager for electrical, electronic and petroleum engineering, predicted a rapid uptake of VR and augmented reality (AR) in the energy sector.

The renewable energy sector is already a primary user of VR for training, along with the aerospace, nuclear, construction and oil and gas industries, he said.

For offshore wind, in particular, VR and AR could provide very direct cost benefits compared to on-site training by avoiding the need to waste expensive components and spend money on travel to remote locations.

Students can use VR to "fly" through a virtual model of a turbine and become familiar with the work environment before visiting a site, which can help with logistics and job sequencing while reducing the likelihood of errors.

AR, meanwhile, allows engineers to complete work on site while benefiting from a VR overlay that provides information on assembly sequencing, tolerance measurement, tightening torque values and so on.

These are not the only areas where the offshore wind industry is beginning to use VR, though. The turbine maker MHI Vestas, for example, employs virtual environments as a sales tool at its exhibition stands.

One of the challenges in the offshore wind industry is that turbines are not accessible, said Michael Morris, external communication consultant at MHI Vestas Offshore Wind.

Located in remote areas of the North Sea and standing over 100 meters high, not many people get a chance to see these mammoth turbines, let alone actually see inside one of them. VR actually is the only cost-effective way to show people an offshore wind turbine.

MHI Vestas, which also uses VR for training, has conference stations where stand visitors don harnesses, protective vests and headsets before getting a guided tour around a virtual nacelle.

Thousands of people have experienced the film over the past few years, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, Morris said. When we need to show people what the turbines look like and how they operate, VR is undoubtedly the best way.

Today the main thing holding back greater adoption of VR is the number of systems there are to choose from, Hutchison said.

Certain systems may be better suited to given applications and it is still hard to pick market winners that stand a good chance of remaining in business in a few years time, he said.

However, there does appear to be a refinement process going on quite rapidly, with a number of systems moving out in front as preferred choices, he noted.

It would be reasonable to see all advanced engineering industries to be routinely using VR and AR within the next five to 10 years, he said.

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Renewables Sector Embraces the Promise of Virtual Reality - Greentech Media

For years now, I have been involved with Nothing But Nets, an amazing organization devoted to fighting malaria. I have always felt called to support them and their mission in any way I can, so for my 15th birthday this year, I decided to request something unique.

I invited some friends and family to come over and experience for themselves something that has been eye-opening for me. I had each of my guests put on a pair of virtual reality (VR) goggles which showed firsthand what life can be like for those who live in places overrun by malaria-infected mosquitoes. I showed them Nothing But Nets new virtual reality film, Under the Net. VR can be a moving experience, and can demonstrate just how much of a difference even a simple $10 protective bed net could make in someones world. (These nets can protect entire families from mosquitoes at night while they are sleeping!) Also, thanks to VR, my family and friends were able to learn more about how people deal with malaria, and how common (and scary) it can be. VR really can capture the effects malaria can have on the body in a powerful way. Having the chance to take a first-hand look into another human beings entirely different world is an opportunity that is both eye-opening and humbling. In seeing this different world, my family, friends, and I have become more grateful of what we have, and also have been reminded of the importance of philanthropy and giving to others.

While reading or hearing about something is one thing, actually seeing peoples lives and how they live, and seeing the effects of the nets you are buying for them via VR is so much more significant. It has the power to spark something within: whether that spark inspires you to to donate more energy, more time, or more funds into helping those dealing with the effects of malaria, I believe it is important to act on our feelings of empathy, and reach out to those in need. VR as a whole gives us an empowering experience that opens our eyes to others experiences; it lets us visualize moments in others shoes. We can read articles all we want, but nothing is as effective as actually seeing these issues, feeling empathy, and then, most importantly, acting on those feelings. VR can give us a sense of empathy for all those affected by this disease, inspiring us to go and actually create change.

What you all (hopefully) may be thinking now that youve read this post is how do I actually get involved? There are so many ways to bring awareness and bring about change. Whether its by supporting and spreading the word about great organizations such as Nothing But Nets, by fundraising, or even by scheduling meetings with your local members of Congress to ask for funding for key U.S. Government programs such as The Presidents Malaria Initiative and Global Fund, there are countless ways to help support the cause.

In fact, to learn more about malaria and fighting it, please go check out the Nothing But Nets official website here: https://www.nothingbutnets.net/

Of course, reading a website cant be as interactive as a virtual reality experience-- but, it can be the start of something bigger. Check out the website, and then, if you have access to VR goggles, check out the VR malaria experience for yourself. And if you dont, just come over anytime and borrow mine. Virtual reality might be just the thing we need to bring awareness to our actual reality.

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The Reality (and Virtual Reality) of Malaria - HuffPost

Facebook's (NASDAQ:FB) Oculus is reportedly planning to release a stand-alone virtual reality device next year to retail for just $200. The goal is to push VR into the mainstream.

Virtual reality has been a niche product for the better part of 30 years, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a big bet that VR is going to be the next big computing platform when his company bought Oculus for $2 billion in 2014.

Oculus released its first consumer product, the Rift, last year. While the device is relatively affordable, it requires users to hook it up to an expensive PC to run software. Meanwhile, low-cost devices that license Oculus technology, like Samsung's (NASDAQOTH:SSNLF) Gear VR, require a high-end smartphone. The new device will find a happy middle ground in terms of both capabilities and price. That may be just what the market needsfor mass consumer adoption.

Facebook Spaces. Images source: Facebook

Earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg stated, "It's going to take five or 10 more years of development before we get to where we all want to go." Considering, the new Oculus device will have limited capabilities -- for example, no positional tracking -- it's just another step for the company in its push toward making VR the next big computing platform.

Other consumer electronic companies are following suit. Samsung is reportedly planning its own stand-alone headset as well, which will rely on Oculus technology. Other players like HTC and Lenovo are working on similar devices using Google's Daydream platform.

But Zuckerberg would compare these upcoming devices to early smartphones like those from Blackberry or Palm circa 2003. In other words, it's still very early and it could be another five years or more before we see a device that sparks mass interest in the platform. Zuckerberg points out it took 10 years for the smartphone market to sell 1 billion devices.

"I don't know [if] there was something that folks could have done to make that happen fast, but I think that was pretty good. And if we can be on a similar trajectory of anywhere near 10 years for VR and AR, then I would feel very good about that," Zuckerberg said during Facebook's fourth quarter earnings call earlier this year. "We're going to invest a lot in this and it's not going to return or be really profitable for us for quite a while," he added.

One big hurdle for virtual reality to overcome is a lack of content. That could be anything from immersive video content to video games. The problem is it's hard for top video game studios to create games for the platform before a mass audience exists.

To that end, Facebook has committed $250 million to new VR content. Most of that money will go toward software -- like the Facebook Spaces app the company unveiled during its F8 developers conference this spring -- and video games.

The new stand-alone device could help build a sizable enough audience that Facebook would no longer have to seed the content ecosystem. VR projects would be viable of their own accord, and game studios and software developers could start investing their time and money in projects for both high-end and low-end devices.

There's a ton of interest in virtual reality right now from a development side, but consumer demand hasn't quite taken off. We may still be a few years away from that, and Facebook will likely continue to lose money on its VR investments, but a stand-alone device with a broader reach than current devices have may be a key step to getting to where Facebook wants to go.

Adam Levy has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Facebook. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Is 2018 the Year Virtual Reality Goes Mainstream? -- The Motley Fool - Motley Fool

The National Behavioral Health Innovation Center announced today that Rick Rekedal, a former senior executive with DreamWorks Animation, and Dr. Walter Greenleaf, a pioneer and leading authority on virtual reality for medical use, have joined its staff.

Walter and Rick are recognized internationally as leaders in their fields, said Matt Vogl, executive director of NBHIC at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Their knowledge and insight are powerful assets to our mission of finding bold new solutions to the countrys mental health crisis.

In 2016, Rekedal completed over 20 years with DreamWorks as Chief Creative of franchise development and the global franchise director of the hit movie Trolls. Rekedal has also worked on properties such as How To Train Your Dragon, Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and The Lost World: Jurassic Park, developing merchandising, interactive and licensing programs. Rekedals work has been recognized with two Annie Awards, two Kids Choice Awards and Toy of the Year. He is a frequent speaker and serves on advisory boards for The Wedgwood Circle; Michael W. Smith Group and Seabourne Pictures; and Belmont Universitys film school.

Rekedal joins NBHIC as Senior Creative Advisor, consulting on how to elevate an open and urgent national conversation on mental health.

Greenleaf is a behavioral neuroscientist and a medical product developer who has been on the cutting edge of virtual reality and augmented reality applications in healthcare for more than 30 years.

In his role as NBHICs Director of Technology Strategy, Greenleaf brings his considerable knowledge to the Centers approach to digital initiatives. He continues to work as a Visiting Scholar at the Stanford University Virtual Human Interaction Lab.

He has developed several clinical product streams, founded medical companies, and served as a scientific advisor and reviewer for the U.S. Public Health Service, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, NASA and the U.S. Department of Education. He holds a PhD in Neuro and Bio-behavioral Sciences from Stanford University.

Our approach is to seek out unexpected partners as we look beyond the current mental health system for new solutions, said Vogl. Walter and Rick fit that approach. Walters depth of knowledge in virtual reality and Silicon Valley are leading us to work with new technology partners in developing cutting edge tools for mental health treatments. Ricks extraordinary creative abilities can help steer powerful human connections to combat the awful stigma that is so harmful to many people in need.

Guest contributor: Lauren Baker, marketing and communications strategist for the National Behavioral Health Innovation Center at CU Anschutz.

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Senior Executives from Film and Virtual Reality Industries Join NBHIC - CU Anschutz Today (press release)

Chinese media dubbed 2016 as the birth year of virtual reality (VR) in the country. Tech companies, including the big threeAlibaba, Tencent and Baiduall sought to set up their own VR initiatives. China may become the first market to see mass VR adoption by consumers thanks to drivers like government support, a willingness by consumers to adopt new tech and a highly competitive environment that will force prices down and foster innovation.

Here are five takeaways from a 2017 report on the state of VR in China from consultancy iResearch Consulting Group and VR market research firm Greenlight Insights.

No. 1: Revenues generated by the VR market in China will skyrocket between 2016 and 2021

The virtual reality marketwhich includes revenues from headsets, content, experience centers, peripheral hardware, marketing and VR camerasis projected to grow from RMB3.46 billion ($520.8 million) in 2016 to RMB79.02 billion ($11.9 billion) in 2021. Thats a more than twentyfold increase during that timeframe.

No. 2: Consumer content will soon generate massive revenues for Chinas VR sector

In 2016, sales of VR headsets accounted for 59.2% of total virtual reality revenues in Chinaby far the largest sharewhile consumer content made up just 7.7%. However, consumer VR content is set to explode, and is expected to account for 35.3% of all VR revenues in the country by 2021. By then, games will lead the VR content category, generating RMB9.62 billion ($1.45 billion), followed by films and movies at RMB8.79 billion ($1.32 billion) and live streaming at RMB 4.46 billion ($671 million).

No. 3: Companies will increasingly rely on VR to drive innovation and lower costs

Enterprise solutions will be one of the fastest growing VR segments in China, rising from RMB3.46 million ($521,000) in 2016 to RMB8.77 billion ($1.32 billion) by 2021. VR technology is already being applied in a number of disparate fields in China, including architecture, engineering, real estate, healthcare and retail, just to name a few. VR will eventually replace all screens in our lives and enhance efficiency in all industries, Alvin Graylin, head of operations in China for HTC, which makes the Vive VR headset, told eMarketer. Its likely going to be the technology that will ultimately enable a full remote workforce model for most businesses in the world, while greatly increasing the available talent pool for any business.

No. 4: In the short term, VR will remain a niche tool among marketers

Though VR has the potential to help brands drive a more immersive and possibly more memorable marketing experience, the technology will not become a mainstream tool for marketers until it reaches mass adoption among consumers. According to the iResearch/Greenlight study, VR marketing outlays in China will grow from RMB30 million ($4.52 million) in 2016 to RMB1.98 billion ($298.05 million) by 2021. To give some sense of scale, eMarketer predicts digital ad spending in China will reach $96.52 billion in 2021.

No. 5: Budget-conscious consumers are investing in low-cost headsets (for now)

In 2016, the vast majority of the roughly 9.63 million VR devices shipped in China consisted of cardboard-type devices (e.g., Google Cardboard)understandable given their affordable price in a relatively untested market. However, mobile VR headsets, such as the Samsung Gear, will surpass cardboard headsets by 2021. By then, total VR headset shipments will hit 105.25 million in China, according to the report.

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Five Insights into China's Virtual Reality Sector - eMarketer

There's a baby boy on a stretcher in a children's hospital emergency room. His mother is standing nearby, begging the doctors to do something, as her baby lies there. He is drooling and shaking; his diaper is soaked; he is making a disturbing snoring noise. An EMT comes in and says, "Doctor, this is a one-year-old male found by the mother at home, having a seizure. The seizure's been lasting about seven minutes. Blood glucose on scene was 90." The EMT leaves.

A nurse exclaims to the doctor, "You have to do something! He is seizing! He is seizing!"

"Are you just going to let him die?" the mother wails.

The doctor has just a few seconds to make a decision. Should she put an oxygen mask on the baby? Give the baby Ativan or another anti-seizure medication? Quickly, she has to makes her choice, or the baby is going to die.

Well, not actually. This was a virtual reality simulation designed by doctors at Children's Hospital Los Angeles in conjunction with Oculus's VR for Good program and the companies AiSolve and Bioflight, intended to help medical students and residents get training in the kinds of low frequency, high stakes situations that children's ER doctors encounter situations that are particularly expensive and logistically complicated to teach.

According to Dr. Joshua Sherman of CHLA and the USC Keck School of Medicine, VR helps solve several problems for medical training programs: expense, accessibility, and verisimilitude. (Sherman also helped develop the training.) Hands-on training for medical students and residents is time-consuming and expensive mannequins run upwards of $50,000, plus maintenance and tech support and also requires a room full of actual people to play the doctors and nurses. The other type of training currently used is screen-based training, but that doesn't closely mimic a real-life situation. VR manages to replicate the atmosphere of an emergency room situation while also being accessible a trainee can easily do it on his or her own time. Besides the simulated nature of the experience, the main drawbacks right now are lack of voice control and inability to have more than one person in the experience at the same time. There's also currently only two training modules, so the applications are limited.

Shermans first VR experience was the Oculus Dream Deck which puts users at the top of a very tall building. Sherman, who is afraid of heights, felt his heart rate go up and his palms get sweaty. "I knew it was not real but I couldn't get myself to jump," he said. "When I felt that physiologic response and how similar it was to the real world, I immediately thought, why can't we use this to simulate the response on resuscitations? We can train people who we can't train in real life, up to an extent, so then when they face it in real life, it still will be very stressful but they will be able to select the correct items and protocols under pressure."

I'm not a doctor, nor am I training to be one, but when I tried the simulation (or as it's officially called, the "VR Pediatric Resuscitation Module 1: Status Epilepticus"), I found myself getting anxious about choosing the right protocol for this fake baby. Though I was guided through it by Clay Park VR founder and former Oculus developer relations specialist Shauna Heller, who produced the project, it was still nerve-wracking to be inside this emergency room, responsible for saving the life of an infant.

Sherman said that's entirely the point. "We compared the physiology of stress in real-life emergency situations to that of people going through VR their heart rate, breathing rate, and salivary cortisol, which is a stress hormone. The preliminary data shows that the heart rates definitely correlate between the real world and VR world."

Much like a video game, the simulations have different levels that students can progress through; the more advanced levels have more distractions. Marie Lafortune, a chief resident at CHLA, said she'd never used VR before and isn't good at video games, but quickly took to the medical simulation, which she described as a complement to mannequin and screen-based training. "It can be more challenging to think straight in highly stressful situations," she said. "Virtual reality puts you in that situation. And there's also a virtual reality parent there that's triggering some emotional responses. She's like, 'My baby, do something to help my baby.' Inside you, you're hearing this parent and you are in a way almost distracted by them and you need to refocus. So you get to experience that stress and practice putting into action some of the medicine that you know or that you're learning."

Several other medical-related VR experiences exist a neurosurgeon at UCLA uses it to interpret MRI scans, for example, and there's another group using it to help train people on doing colonoscopies, as well as people using it for psychological reasons like anxiety reduction and pain relief but this seems to be the first specifically dedicated to children's emergency medicine. Oculus financed the entire project through its VR for Good initiative.

Though a spokesperson declined to give specific budget numbers, she told BuzzFeed News via email that the cost of the project was less than the cost of a year of medical simulation training at CHLA. With additional funding, Sherman envisions a future where medical schools and hospitals can have a library of VR training modules for different scenarios. "A trainee a medical student, resident, or EMT could go to their computer in their staff lounge or at home and decide, 'Today I want to practice how to take care of someone having a heart attack.' The next day, they could practice a seizure," he said. "I want this to be available internationally, in places where they don't have funds for mannequins."

Also on his wish list for the future is voice control right now, the "doctor" can only respond to what's happening in the room by using hand controls and team play, which would help people practice communication and teamwork. But that's all up in the air until the team can get more funding. Sherman has applied for federal grants and has approached different organizations, like epilepsy foundations, about helping to fund the VR training, but so far nothing has come through. He also recently presented at the National Board of Medical Examiners, which he said is potentially interested in using VR as an assessment tool.

"People want more research and more proof that it works before they throw down that kind of money to develop it," he said. "We're working on that and that getting it out there. Spreading it might spark interest with people who might want to fund more."

Doree Shafrir is a senior tech writer for BuzzFeed News and is based in Los Angeles.

Contact Doree Shafrir at doree@buzzfeed.com.

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Virtual Reality Is Medical Training's Next Frontier - BuzzFeed News

Facebook's (NASDAQ: FB) Oculus is reportedly planning to release a stand-alone virtual reality device next year to retail for just $200. The goal is to push VR into the mainstream.

Virtual reality has been a niche product for the better part of 30 years. But Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a big bet that VR is going to be the next big computing platform when his company bought Oculus for $2 billion in 2014.

Oculus released its first consumer product, the Rift, last year. While the device is relatively affordable, it requires users to hook it up to an expensive PC to run software. Meanwhile, low-cost devices that license Oculus technology like Samsung's (NASDAQOTH: SSNLF) Gear VR, require a high-end smartphone. The new device will find a happy middle ground in terms of both capabilities and price. That may be just what the market needs in order for mass consumer adoption.

Facebook Spaces. Images source: Facebook

Earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg stated, "It's going to take five or 10 more years of development before we get to where we all want to go." Considering, the new Oculus device will have limited capabilities -- for example, no positional tracking -- it's just another step for the company in its push toward making VR the next big computing platform.

Other consumer electronic companies are following suit. Samsung is reportedly planning its own stand-alone headset as well, which will rely on Oculus technology. Other players like HTC and Lenovo are working on similar devices using Google's Daydream platform.

But Zuckerberg would compare these upcoming devices to early smartphones like those from Blackberry or Palm circa 2003. In other words, it's still very early and it could be another five years or more before we see a device that sparks mass interest in the platform. Zuckerberg points out it took 10 years for the smartphone market to sell 1 billion devices.

"I don't know [if] there was something that folks could have done to make that happen fast, but I think that was pretty good. And if we can be on a similar trajectory of anywhere near 10 years for VR and AR, then I would feel very good about that," Zuckerberg said during Facebook's fourth quarter earnings call earlier this year. "We're going to invest a lot in this and it's not going to return or be really profitable for us for quite a while," he added.

One big hurdle for virtual reality to overcome is a lack of content. That could be anything from immersive video content to video games. The problem is it's hard for top video game studios to create games for the platform before a mass audience exists.

To that end, Facebook has committed $250 million to new VR content. Most of that money will go toward software -- like the Facebook Spaces app the company unveiled during its F8 developers conference this spring -- and video games.

The new stand-alone device could help build a sizable enough audience that Facebook would no longer have to seed the content ecosystem. VR projects would be viable of their own accord, and game studios and software developers could start investing their time and money in projects for both high-end and low-end devices.

There's a ton of interest in virtual reality right now from a development side, but consumer demand hasn't quite taken off. We may still be a few years away from that, and Facebook will likely continue to lose money on its VR investments, but a stand-alone device with a broader reach than current devices have may be a key step to getting to where Facebook wants to go.

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