We’ve been hearing about it for decades, reading about sophisticated and overpriced systems designed for the privileged few to indulge in exotic experiences on a whim. In 2016, the popularization of virtual reality (VR) comes to an end with devices such as Oculus Rift glasses , initially focused on video games, but which will soon be used in disciplines such as medicine, teaching and tourism, marking a before and an after.
The development of VR is linked to the old desire to immerse ourselves in imaginary or distant scenarios that would otherwise be unattainable. Now we can fulfill that dream.
Teaching and tourism will change with these devices
Overflight Mallorca. A few months ago, a drone recorded 360-degree images of the island so that today, without leaving home, I feel the same as a seagull when it glides over the cliffs. If I look ahead I see the waves gently lapping on the rocks. If I turn my head, the green field stretches out at my feet. As I put on my VR glasses and started recording, it took me a few seconds to realize that the image in front of me was not flat . I nervously turned my neck in all directions to verify that the landscape did not end, as if I did not believe it.
“The world is changing and few know it,” says Edgar Martín-Blas, founder of New Horizons RV, a producer and consultant specializing in virtual reality. “I was creative director at, but when I received the glasses I stopped what I had in hand. I thought about how they were going to change everything. I have seen owners of Ibex 35 companies hallucinating like children when I taught them what could be done with virtual reality ”.
Palmer Luckey: The Young Man The Show Came With
The glasses Martín-Blas talks about are the Oculus Rift, one of the key names in this revolution. The other is Palmer Luckey , the Californian who invented them in 2012, when he was nineteen years old.
“Without being an engineer, only with common sense, Luckey correctly put together three very basic elements: the accelerometer of a mobile phone, two fisheye lenses and a stereoscopic vision “, explains Martín-Blas. “The biggest problem that previous attempts had had – he continued – was latency: when you put on a helmet and looked to the sides there was always at least one second delay between your movements and those of the image, so we were not fooling the brain, and it was dizzy. Palmer solved that problem by putting the accelerometer of a mobile phone in the glasses . “
In April 2012, Luckey completed the sixth prototype of his homemade VR rig. He called it Rift (gap or crack) thinking about the reduction – or elimination – of the distance between the real and the virtual world that his invention achieved. There were two factors that drove his work. On the one hand, the use of so-called open source or open source, since Luckey could share relevant information with professionals and technology geeks who were pursuing the same goal.
On the other, the crowdfunding that he launched in 2012 to finance the manufacture of his invention, promising to send a unit of the prototype to those who invested in it. The result was brutal, one of the most famous collections in the history of the internet. The initial goal of raising $ 250,000 increased tenfold to $ 2.5 million , thanks to 9,522 patrons.
So developers around the world received their prototype and discovered the dimension of what was coming . Among them Martín-Blas: “We saw its potential as soon as we tried it. The distance between the viewer and the content was ending. “
In March 2014, Facebook bought Oculus VR , Luckey’s company. Mark Zuckerberg entered the virtual reality business within two months of testing the Oculus Rift. ” The mobile is the platform of today, but we are preparing those of the future, ” said then the magnate, who gave clues about its possible applications. Like this: “Oculus can create an increasingly social platform and change the way we work, play and communicate.”
The commercialization of the Rift has begun , and perhaps it will suppose a decisive impulse for this technology. The device can be pre-ordered now on the Oculus website – it includes two games, EVE: Valkyrie and Lucky’s Tale; a remote control and an external camera – and the first orders will be delivered from April. The price? 699 euros , to which we must add shipping costs, which will leave the sum at about 750 euros.
Delve into other worlds with a fifteen euro cardboard viewer
Other very similar gadgets will arrive in the coming months, such as Sony’s PlayStation VR, which will be connected to the Japanese firm’s video game console; or the HTC Vive, created for PC and which can be reserved from February 29 at a price not announced at the close of this issue, but which is expected to be similar to that of the Rift.
The experience can also be enjoyed on a mobile since the end of 2015, thanks to the Samsung Gear VR , an affordable viewfinder (199 euros) to which some smartphones of the brand are attached. In addition, although it is not a device itself, anyone can get into other worlds with the help of the Google CardBoard , a cardboard viewer that costs fifteen euros and that, together with Android applications, offers us a low cost virtual experience to via mobile. With different levels of quality and prices, virtual reality will be popular this year, and it is expected to reach its peak of consumption next Christmas.
But what are we going to see through those glasses? In the beginning, games will be your main market . Of course, it is to be expected that virtual reality reaches all themes –shooters, sports, motoring… – and that the creators of the most famous sagas among gamers create sequels to their great successes for this technology. But virtual reality would not be the revolution that is expected if its emergence were limited to a mere –although radical– sophistication of the video game.
Very soon we will try on virtual clothes
We will see it in many other areas for which organizations such as New Horizons VR, the company led by Martín-Blas, are already developing content. “Those of us who have been in this for a long time are taking steps in various directions: advertising, cinema, brand experiences, virtual stores …”, says this expert. His company signed an agreement a few months ago with the advertising giant Havas Worldwide to work together on actions that include virtual reality.
“Brands want to offer customers experiences with their products, and this tool makes it possible. The channel is so powerful that many companies have jumped on the bandwagon without thinking about it. We went to the meetings with the glasses, we taught them what to do with them and they ended up calling other colleagues to try them on, ”continues Martín-Blas.
As Cristian Domínguez, founder of the Virtual Natives production company, explains, “ the advertising sector has been the first to enter , and in some way it is pulling the bandwagon of companies that produce audiovisual content for virtual reality. But the possible applications are endless . Right now I am speaking from an Antena 3 set, where we have just recorded the first 360-degree newscast. And this is going to be very important in sectors such as education, medicine, tourism … ”.
Domínguez and his partner Javier Herreros traveled to San Francisco two years ago to promote their own solution to simplify 360-degree video recording in the mecca of technology. “What differentiates us from other production companies is that we have modified the lenses of the GoPro cameras , so that with fewer of these we can make 360º videos . The normal thing is to use between six and ten cameras, but we are capable of doing it with only two ”, assures Domínguez.
An exciting video made by Google can be seen on the home page of the Virtual Natives website; it includes children from different schools around the world using virtual reality in their classes. With a simple and cheap cardboard CardBoard, students from Kenya or Japan can visit the ruins of ancient Egypt or walk along the Great Wall of China , while the teacher comments on the characteristics of the monuments. But why not go into the structure of an atom to understand it better? Or attend the pollination of flowers live?
You can now do the Camino de Santiago without leaving home
Ángel and César Urbina work in this line at their production company Iralta Films in Madrid. The imminent arrival of the devices that will popularize virtual reality has completely changed their lives . “We can’t even go on vacation, we are always involved in productions and events for brands.”
Some of his works are shown on the Iralta website, such as a beer advertisement in which a boy, bedridden by an accident, drives a motorcycle again thanks to virtual reality. You can also access brushstrokes from its star project: Camino 360 , an application with which any user with the appropriate technology – a Samsung Gear VR and a mobile phone, for example – can take part in the pilgrimage to Santiago , choosing with whom walk through it – there are two guides – and what to visit. “The project was completed in 360-degree video before we had the Oculus. Now we are adapting the content to virtual reality ”, explains Ángel.
Although they have external financing, at the moment these initiatives “consume more company resources than they contribute . But we are convinced of the potential of this technology in fields such as tourism or education ”. In fact, the owners of Iralta are already preparing their next project, Cervantes VR, “so that the kids can immerse themselves in the daily life of the Golden Age”. VR promises great solutions to great problems, also in fields such as psychology. And there, again, there is a Spanish company at the forefront.
It’s about Psious, created three years ago by Dani Roig. A physicist by training, he left a job in which he was bored to undertake, and quickly thought about using the mobile phone to mitigate phobias, since he suffered from one to an extreme degree: fear of flying. “I met with psychologist friends and we discussed the matter. Virtual reality has been used for more than twenty years to treat anxiety disorders, and its effectiveness has been more than proven . The problem is that, until now, it was not a technology accessible to the general public. In the United States, for example, some soldiers with PTSD from conflict zones are treated with virtual reality. But until recently, there were only two clinics in the entire country equipped with these equipment, which cost a lot of money, ”explains Roig.
New technology may help with schizophrenia and autism
Roig’s merit has been to democratize virtual reality technology in the field of psychology. “We create software, although we also offer hardware (glasses and mobile).” The system is very simple. The patient puts on a virtual reality device and is progressively exposed to what causes the phobia: insects, airplanes, needles … While the individual enters his dark virtual world, the psychologist can produce whatever he wants in that artificial environment. : air turbulence, a plague of spiders … At the same time, the therapist receives biometric data from the patient, so that he or she monitors their reactions at all times. In just two years, Roig has got 150 psychologists from around the world to use his software . But he wants to go further: “We want to create solutions for other much more complex disorders, such as schizophrenia or autism.”
