Up to quite recently, virtual reality was mainly associated with gaming. However, as VR has been gaining traction at a host of consumer electronics shows, and with the age of the Internet of Things upon us, virtual reality is no longer just restricted to gamers looking for an immersive gaming experience.
VR has many interesting applications that do not relate to gaming in any way. Here are some unusual uses for VR that will most certainly blow your mind.
Ride the rollercoaster that is the stock exchange
The American stock exchange, Nasdaq, recently released the Nasdaq Index Rollercoaster, which is a virtual reality guided tour of 21 years of the Nasdaq. Have a look at a video of the Rollercoaster here. Despite the elevator music in the background, it’s a pretty wild ride!
Reduce anxiety for cancer patients with VR
Oncomfort uses VR to help reduce anxiety and pain in cancer patients by combining it with clinical hypnosis. Oncomfort uses five virtual reality immersive experiences to help patients with everything from relaxation to education about chemotherapy.
Use VR to understand Big Data
There aren’t capital letters in the term “Big Data” for nothing. We live in a world where we often can’t use standard plots like bar charts or 2D scatter plots to visualise larger quantities of data. In a 3D environment, the extra dimension allows users to become immersed in data and understand it in a totally new way. Have a look at an example of this below:
Use VR to help you memorise
One PhD project aims to use VR to aid users with memorisation. This is done by creating a virtual environment which users have to navigate. The principle is based on techniques used by memory masters, who often visualise walking through a space and seeing objects in different rooms. This later helps them to recall large numbers of objects.
Travel back in time
An archaeologist from the Achavanich Beaker Burial Project recently created a VR app to revive a 4000-year-old village in Scotland. A similar project has been launched to recreate Luna Park on Coney Island, which was in operation at the turn of the last century. Who said time travel was impossible?