30 December 2021
Newsdesk
Although we have all become incredibility familiar with the acronym over the last two years, VR is very much still an emerging technology. Because of this, the space is brimming with innovative new technologies which promise to shape the future of the form.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the technologies which we think will shape the VR of tomorrow.
Alternative Controls
Controllers, of some form, have been around since the days of the arcade cabinet. And although VR controllers are jam-packed with exciting tech in the form of trackers, capacitive sensors and more, it’s sometimes hard to feel fully immersed when grasping two hunks of plastic.
Hand tracking is the prime alternative which has already been given a trial run after being included in a free software update for Facebook’s Oculus (or should I say Meta) Quest 2. An immediate hit, hand tracking is immersive, realistic and wholly exciting for the user. Thus, I think it’s fair to say that we’re going to see a lot more hand tracking in the years to come.
But that’s not the only alternative for control. The increased inclusion of eye tracking technologies in VR headsets suggests that we may soon be given a new level of control through our eyes. While the current use of eye tracking technologies is, pretty much, secluded to social applications to create more authentic avatars, the potential for eye tracking is huge. From games reacting to where and when you look to double-down on their affect to more direct eye-centric control, there is a lot of innovation to still be had.
Even more experimental, we have mind control. Although it sounds ripped straight from Sci-Fi, companies like NextMind have been innovating the very idea of controlling digital interfaces by using little more than the electromagnetic pulses given out by your very own brain. While these technologies are still a while off, it’s not hard to imagine a future where we can begin to control digital worlds and interfaces with little more than our minds.
Full Body Tracking
While the idea of tracking is central to VR, most players will have never experienced full body tracking. Currently, headsets only track themselves and their controllers—whether that be from inside-out tracking or from bay stations. This results in the computer always knowing where your head and hands are but having to estimate the relative position of your body.
Full body tracking remedies this by covering your body’s key joints with trackers, allowing your full-body motions to translate into the digital world. While this concept may be familiar to enthusiasts, who dish out on a handful of trackers, I think we can expect the future of VR to integrate full-body tracking for every user.
Whether that be through included trackers, improved sensors or something entirely new, we’ll have to wait and see.
Haptics
While controllers and tracking translate to how we interact and are visually represented in VR, the big hurdle of the industry is getting VR to feel right. This is where haptics come in.
Haptic feedback devices provide tactile feedback relative to the virtual world. For example, say you’re punched during a boxing simulator, haptics would let you feel that. Or, perhaps more pleasantly, if you put your hand up against a hard object, haptics would simulate the exact feeling of the object and its given shape.
While this can be hard to get our heads around, haptics offers the next level of immersion. Introducing the tactility of touch to the medium—something which virtually no digital medium to date has managed to integrate.
Going Wireless
Not too long ago, the foremost VR devices saw you tethered to your computer, only able to walk and turn a certain amount before having that immersion broken by a snagging cable. The Quest and Quest 2 changed this, big time. Signalling an industry-wide shift to standalone VR, free of cables.
Because of the success of the device, it’s almost no question that future devices are going to aim to be wireless. And paired with endlessly smaller, more capable components it’s only a matter of time before we get the power of tethered VR in a portable headset.
Augmented and Mixed Reality
While VR may be in the spotlight, there’s no question that Augmented and Mixed reality are the next in line to explode.
With LiDAR technologies becoming more widespread, devices from iPhones to the next generation of VR headsets are all being equipped with better ways of interfacing with the real world. Bridging the gap between the real and the virtual.
Given, augmented reality has had a bumpy road so far with the most widely adopted app being the simple, but undeniably revolutionary, game of Pokémon GO. But with AR and MR being incorporated into the next level of VR headset, it’s clear that we have a lot of exciting prospects on the horizon.
VR is here to stay, and with new technologies, gameplay styles and applications being released on a daily basis it’s clear that the growth of the medium is only going to explode further. And I for one can’t wait to see the future that propels us into.
