Introduction With over a hundred million players able to catch different Pokémon based on their location in the real world and view said Pokémon overlaid over their actual surroundings, Pokémon Go helped bring augmented reality to mainstream awareness in 2016. However, its implementation of augmented reality is fairly basic (Merel, 2016); the technology behind virtual and augmented reality has been in development for multiple decades, and has significant applications beyond the gaming and entertainment industry. According to the CEO of the XR Association, augmented, virtual, and mixed reality technologies are being adopted across sectors including "healthcare, education, workforce training, manufacturing" (Perkins Coie LLC, 2020).
Augmented and virtual reality can be distinguished from each other based on the degree to which they incorporate the physical world, creating a virtuality continuum as defined by Milgram and Kishino (1994), wherein a fully virtual environment sits on one end of the scale, and the real environment on the other. Augmented reality adds virtual elements to our perception of the real world, while augmented virtuality incorporates physical elements into a primarily virtual environment. Which type of mixed reality technology is used varies depending on the industry and situation.
Applications of Virtual Reality Training
Virtual reality has found a use in workplaces in the form of employee training. Instead of traditional safety drills or sending people to introduce new equipment, Verizon and Walmart, among a range of other companies, have taken to giving their employees virtual reality headsets with training programs. According to Verizon employees who have both survived actual armed robberies and have tried the training, the simulated version is realistic enough to evoke the same feelings of stress; the training, however, allows employees to learn how to handle such situations without actually being in any physical danger (Noguchi, 2019). Similarly, mine operators are not permitted underground unless they have sufficient training, which is best achieved from going below ground; virtual reality training is thus used to gain experience in an approximation of the real environment, overcoming a Catch-22 situation (Swan, 2018).
Using a virtual environment is crucial to this approach, as the experience would be less immersive and thus less effective without a head-mounted display to replace the view of the employee's actual surroundings and suitable accompanying audio. While unaccounted for in many commercial games and not included with most virtual reality headsets, haptic devices enhance the immersiveness of virtual environments by providing users with tactile feedback. Wang et al. (2019) noted that various categories of haptic devices all have potential applications in the workplace: desktop haptic devices, where the user holds a stylus attached to a multi-jointed robotic arm, are useful for "virtual surgery, mechanical assembly, and other tool-based entertainment". Wearable devices such as haptic gloves and vests can simulate physical impacts and fine manipulation of virtual objects, while touchscreens with haptic feedback may find use in meetings.
According to Wilson and Soranzo (2015), while personality and emotional state also affect a user's psychological response to virtual scenarios, an immersive environment is more memorable, "elicit[s] more intense emotional responses", and can "more successfully replicate the anxiety associated with real-life stressful situations" than an environment with lower fidelity. These qualities mean that training employees in virtual reality can also produce faster results than traditional training. Within the manufacturing industry, the AGCO Corporation commented in 2017 that instead of needing "between 50-90 days to train a new hire in one operation", their new training methods took "30-45 days for multiple operations" and improved the quality of work done (Kroc, 2017). Additionally, information retention from such training programs is higher, as they can be set up and repeated easily. Thus, using virtual reality simulations to train employees has multiple benefits across a range of industries.
Interactive Models
The ability to view and interact with three-dimensional environments afforded by virtual reality technology also has applications in the architecture industry. While the usage of computer-aided design with three-dimensional models is unsurprising, the team at StudioMB found that the ability to view such structures from a first-person perspective, whether to scale or otherwise, helped them to communicate designs to clients. The perspective also allowed them to notice spatial details and make changes accordingly, including "extending a bar area, adjusting the wallpaper patterns, or increasing a space's height". Furthermore, the incorporation of virtual reality technology into their workflow in 2017 quickened the iterative design process, as it made it easier to check how an area felt and adjust it. (Kovach, 2017).
As categorised by Naimark (1991), there are various approaches to realspace imaging, or making images that appear "indistinguishable from unmediated reality". The method employed in virtual reality head-mounted displays such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive is stereoscopic imagery, wherein each eye is shown a slightly different image to create the illusion of depth (Yoo, 2017). In addition to this, tracking the motion of the user's head and their position within a room enables the images shown to change with the user's movement. Although the displays within the headset are not panoramic, the interactivity still makes the images immersive, as they appear to extend beyond the field of view (Naimark, 1991).
Binaural audio also helps to enhance the immersiveness of virtual environments. As headphones can be connected to or built into virtual reality headsets, sound can be played through each side separately. By using audio filters that modify the frequency of sound effects to mimic the Doppler effect (Bettex, 2010) and other techniques that simulate "hearing cues created by acoustic interaction between […] bodies and the environment", a user's perception of a virtual object's position in space can be made more believable (British Broadcasting Corporation, no date).
Applications of Augmented Reality Information Overlays
The combination of real surroundings with virtual elements reduces the immersiveness of augmented reality technology, but has its own unique benefits. Being able to overlay a digital display from a headset or glasses over a view of the real world allows information to be accessed more easily in the middle of a task than having to refer to a handheld device. As of 2017, Boeing employees switched from checking computers to using augmented reality headsets that display steps for assembly work directly in their field of view, reducing "assembly time by 25 percent" and "the error rate to nearly zero".
Similarly, in place of tablets, the AGCO Corporation started giving workers smartglasses that also functioned as safety goggles in 2014. These smartglasses only displayed information when activated, preventing them from obscuring an employee's view when unnecessary; after three years, the facility utilising augmented reality technology "reduced its inspection times by 30 percent, and its tractor production times by 25 percent". (Kroc, 2017).
It is key that the augmented view of the real world corresponds to the user's actual surroundings. Classified in 1994 by Milgram and Kishino and still used today are two main approaches to achieving this: either a camera built into the head-mounted device that provides a live feed, or a display that is see-through with graphics superimposed over it. The former method is utilised by mobile augmented reality applications such as Pokémon Go, while smartglasses use the latter. Although some smartglasses are controlled by touching the frame or a separate device, there are also hands-free options available, such as voice commands or gesture recognition. (MacDonald, 2019). These voice- or movement-based control schemes are more suitable to environments where employees need their hands free to do work.
Replacing Computers
From 2017 to 2019, employees at augmented reality headset company Meta used headsets and hand gestures to do traditionally computer-based work such as checking their emails (Kroc, 2017). Compared to a two-dimensional computer screen, augmented reality devices can display application windows around the user; the increased working space not only reduces overlap between windows but also allows users to organise them in three-dimensional space, resulting in greater ease of navigation and productivity for workers (Alger, 2015).
Due to the differences in presentation and interaction method between a traditional computer and an augmented reality headset, the arrangement of content and the appearance of interactive elements should similarly be different. By combining data from existing office ergonomics and research into virtual reality content zones, Alger (2015) created a template for positioning content and user interfaces in the context of a comfortable working environment, where the user would have "a primarily seated experience with minimal wrist movement".
Using a headset instead of a desktop computer has the potential to mitigate common problems with posture that arise from spending the majority of the workday in front of a screen. As the display is head-mounted, it can move with the user, meaning that they are not required to sit for long periods of time while working. Furthermore, the virtual workspace can be customised, such that windows can be raised to eye level in place of the user needing to hunch forward to view them. (Thomas, 2019).
Limitations Virtual reality has been a topic of research and development for over two decades, but it has only become commercially viable recently. While no longer as major a concern in 2020 as it was two years ago, the cost of virtual reality devices - and to a lesser extent augmented reality ones - for the average consumer remains an obstacle to its widespread adoption (Perkins Coie LLC, 2020). Even on a corporate level, not all businesses are able to afford investing in augmented reality tools (Kroc, 2017). If the trend of hardware and software costs dropping continues, however, it is likely that cost will become a secondary concern. In 2018, Perkins Coie LLC found that poor user experience arising from technical limitations, performance issues, and bulky hardware was considered more of a barrier than the cost of mixed reality technology. Their findings in 2020 reflected this, although the lack of high quality content and lack of content in general was considered a greater problem for virtual reality than augmented reality.
However, virtual reality has encountered technical difficulties since its inception. The failure to commercialise the virtual reality industry in the 1990s has been attributed to the fact that devices lacked the resolution and processing power to present a convincingly realistic simulation of a virtual environment, subsequently triggering nausea in users (Alger, 2015). While virtual reality sickness still occurs to a lesser degree with modern displays, it follows that technology will continue to improve; in the augmented reality industry, smartglasses developers are aiming to make them sleeker and cheaper (MacDonald, 2019). Furthermore, as the price of mixed reality hardware and software drops, it will likely become accessible to more developers, who will then create more content; it is only a matter of time.
Though the cameras built into Google Glass smartglasses raised privacy concerns when they were first released, there are now smartglasses that lack cameras entirely (MacDonald, 2019). In workplace applications where an augmented reality headset requires image recognition to supply relevant information, the device is unlikely to be used for personal reasons, and thus will not violate the employee's privacy. Similarly, headsets that use see-through displays with no cameras raise only the same surveillance issues as regular work computers, as equipment supplied by employers.
Conclusion For businesses, it is predicted that mixed reality solutions are most likely to be used for employee training and development, followed by workflow management and real-time feedback (Perkins Coie LLP, 2020). Some have already begun incorporating virtual or augmented reality into their workplaces; though there are still limitations preventing mixed reality technology from widespread use across sectors, they are being overcome as the industry develops. In time, it is possible that some workplaces will become fully virtual environments, with employees working from home and communicating digitally.
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