Simulation-based learning takes online learning to the next level. It’s ideal for situations that are enhanced by introducing a virtual reality component, especially when you want the learning but don’t have the space for it.

Simulation-based learning can make users feel like they have acres of room when in reality everything they are doing is taking place within a few physical feet. The Arkansas Razorbacks football team has a room where they train with virtual reality and simulation-based learning in a mixed reality where the virtual reality becomes reality when they are not on the field.

Mixed reality is a blend of the world we live in enhanced by technology that brings an added dimension to what we are seeing, feeling, and tasting. The applications within the event sphere are incredibly interesting. At the 2016 SXSW, virtual reality was all the rage and at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show tech pundits were touting virtual and mixed reality as one of the biggest factors that would change the everyday human experience over the next decade.


Mixed reality within the education industry to both enhance students’ ability to learn and take in information while also giving them the opportunity to personalize the way they learn.

  1. Using 3D projections and simulations, students can interact with and manipulate virtual objects in order to study them in a way that is relevant to themselves and their studies.
  2. By inserting three dimensional objects into a classroom as a means of gauging the size, shape, or other features of something, students can gain a deeper sense of understanding as to what it is they’re studying.
  3. Students at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio were able to take advantage of the Microsoft HoloLens in order to teach anatomy as well as enable professors to teach and interact with students despite being hundreds of miles away.

Mixed reality in engineering is slowly but surely becoming a game-changer. From 3D modelling and virtual sculpting to remote repair guidance and project monitoring apps, there are various ways in which the engineering sector has begun to take advantage of mixed reality devices.

  1. Using 3D modelling apps on mixed reality devices, professionals are able to build their projects up in a shared virtual environment so as to give them the best chance of spotting errors while also allowing for real-time manipulation of designs that can then be evaluated and checked.
  2. Project monitoring apps are also growing in popularity owing to their ability to project 3D or 4D design models over structures as they are being built. This can then help engineers and construction workers visualize progress as well as inspect the quality of what has already been built.

Entertainment

VR entertainment has been around for decades and because of this, it’s the most acclimatized and most widely available of the three technologies from an entertainment perspective.

  1. Augmented reality games and apps are coming out thick and fast since the success of Pokémon Go and there’s little reason to suspect they’ll peter out anytime soon.
  2. However, mixed reality entertainment is already here with companies like Magic Leap, Lucasfilm and Industrial Light And Magic all looking to delve into mixed reality entertainment. Magic Leap’s attempt at mixed reality is a little different to most, however. Using what they call a Dynamic Digitised Lightfield Signal, Magic Leap’s tech projects images directly into the eye, without the need for it to bounce of an object and then head towards the eyes. This tricks the brain into think the object is there, when in reality, it is a projection.

Healthcare

From over-the-shoulder surgeries, whereby surgical students could be taught remotely by experts as they performed actual surgeries, to studying the anatomy using mixed reality environments to map the different layers of the human body, the potential for mixed reality applications in healthcare and medicine cannot be overstated.

  1. Being able to produce three-dimensional models of the anatomy complete with information accessible at a mere gesture could change the way health care and medicine is taught while also transforming the way in which medical students learn, using three-dimensional holograms in a virtual environment rather than two-dimensional diagrams from medical textbooks here in base reality.
  2. There is also the potential in healthcare for mixed reality and machine learning to combine their talents and create healthcare experiences that allow doctors to take advantage of the intelligence and data provided by machine learning with the visualization and interactivity capabilities of mixed reality technologies.

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