Conceptual proposals for missions that would involve human explorers
started in the early 1950s, with planned missions typically being
stated as taking place between 10 and 30 years from the time they are
drafted. The list of crewed Mars mission plans shows the various mission proposals that have been put forth by multiple organizations and space agencies in this field of space exploration. The plans for these crews have varied—from scientific expeditions, in which a small group (between two and eight astronauts) would visit Mars for a period of a few weeks or more, to a continuous presence (e.g. through research stations, colonization, or other continuous habitation). Some have also considered exploring the Martian moons of Phobos and Deimos. By 2020, virtual visits to Mars, using haptic technologies, had also been proposed.
Meanwhile, the uncrewed exploration of Mars has been a goal of national space programs for decades, and was first achieved in 1965 with the Mariner 4flyby. Human missions to Mars have been part of science fiction since the 1880s, and more broadly, in fiction, Mars is a frequent target of exploration and settlement in books, graphic novels, and films. The concept of a Martian as something living on Mars is part of the fiction. Proposals for human missions to Mars have come from agencies such as NASA, CNSA, the European Space Agency, Boeing, SpaceX, and space advocacy groups such as the Mars Society and The Planetary Society.
Travel to Mars
The minimum distance between the orbits of Mars and Earth from 2014 to 2061, measured in astronomical units
The energy needed for transfer between planetary orbits, or delta-v, is lowest at intervals fixed by the synodic period. For Earth–Mars trips, the period is every 26 months (2 years, 2 months), so missions are typically planned to coincide with one of these launch periods. Due to the eccentricity of Mars's orbit, the energy needed in the low-energy periods varies on roughly a 15-year cycle with the easiest periods needing only half the energy of the peaks. In the 20th century, a minimum existed in the 1969 and 1971 launch
periods and another low in 1986 and 1988, then the cycle repeated. The last low-energy launch period occurred in 2023.
Several types of mission plans have been proposed, including opposition class and conjunction class, or the Crocco flyby. The lowest energy transfer to Mars is a Hohmann transfer orbit, a conjunction class mission which would involve a roughly 9-month travel time from Earth to Mars, about 500 days (16 mo) at Mars to wait for the transfer window to Earth, and a travel time of about 9 months to return to Earth. This would be a 34-month trip.
Shorter Mars mission plans have round-trip flight times of 400 to 450 days, or under 15 months for an opposition-class expedition, but would
require significantly higher energy. A fast Mars mission of 245 days
(8.0 months) round trip could be possible with on-orbit staging. In 2014, ballistic capture was proposed, which may reduce fuel cost and provide more flexible launch windows compared to the Hohmann.
In the Crocco grand tour, a crewed spacecraft would get a flyby of Mars and Venus in under a year in space. Some flyby mission architectures can also be extended to include a
style of Mars landing with a flyby excursion lander spacecraft. Proposed by R. Titus in 1966, it involved a short-stay lander-ascent
vehicle that would separate from a "parent" Earth-Mars transfer craft
prior to its flyby of Mars. The Ascent-Descent lander would arrive
sooner and either go into orbit around Mars or land, and, depending on
the design, offer perhaps 10–30 days before it needed to launch itself
back to the main transfer vehicle. (See also Mars flyby.)
In the 1980s, it was suggested that aerobraking at Mars could reduce the mass required for a human Mars mission lifting off from Earth by as much as half. As a result, Mars missions have designed interplanetary spacecraft and landers capable of aerobraking.
Landing on Mars
Inserts depict observation and analysis to find a safe landing site.
A number of uncrewed spacecraft have landed on the surface of Mars, while some, such as Beagle2 (2003) and the Schiaparelli EDM (2016), have failed what is considered a difficult landing. Among the successes:
When an expedition reaches Mars, braking is required to enter orbit. Two options are available: rockets or aerocapture. Aerocapture at Mars for human missions was studied in the 20th century. In a review of 93 Mars studies, 24 used aerocapture for Mars or Earth return. One of the considerations for using aerocapture on crewed missions is a
limit on the maximum force experienced by the astronauts. The current
scientific consensus is that 5 g, or five times Earth's gravity, is the
maximum allowable deceleration.
Survey work
Conducting a safe landing requires knowledge of the properties of the atmosphere, first observed by Mariner 4, and a survey of the planet to identify suitable landing sites. Major global surveys were conducted by Mariner 9,Viking 1, and two orbiters, which supported the Viking landers. Later orbiters, such as Mars Global Surveyor, 2001 Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,
have mapped Mars in higher resolution with improved instruments. These
later surveys have identified the probable locations of water, a
critical resource.
Funding
Sending
humans to Mars will be expensive. In 2010, one estimate was roughly
US$500 billion, but the actual costs will likely be more. Starting in the late 1950s, the early phase of space exploration was conducted as a space race by lone nations, as much to make a political statement as to study the Solar System.
This proved to be unsustainable, and the current climate is one of
international cooperation, with large projects such as the International Space Station and the proposed Lunar Gateway being built and launched by multiple countries.
Critics argue that the immense cost outweighs the immediate
benefits of establishing a human presence on Mars and that funds could
be better redirected toward other programs, such as robotic exploration.
Proponents of human space exploration
contend that the symbolism of establishing a presence in space may
garner public interest to join the cause and spark global cooperation.
There are also claims that a long-term investment in space travel is
necessary for humanity's survival.
One factor to reduce the cost of sending human to Mars may be space tourism. Growth in that business and technological developments would bring economies of scale
and thus a lower cost of human spaceflight. A similar concept can be
examined in the history of personal computers: when computers were used
only for scientific research, with minor use in big industry, they were
big, rare, heavy, and costly. When the potential market increased, and
they started to become common in businesses and later in homes (in
Western and developed countries), the computing power of home devices
skyrocketed, and prices plummeted.
Comparison of radiation doses – includes the amount detected on a trip from Earth to Mars by the RAD inside the MSL (2011–2013). Vertical axis is in logarithmic scale,
so the dose over a Mars year is about 15 times the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) limit, not less than twice, as a quick glance might
suggest. The actual dose would depend on factors such as spacecraft
design and natural events such as solar flares.
Several key physical challenges exist for human missions to Mars:
Loss of kidney function. On 11 June 2024, researchers at the
University College of London's Department of Renal Medicine reported
that "Serious health risks emerge (with respect to the kidneys) the
longer a person is exposed to (the Galactic Radiation and Microgravity
that astronauts would be exposed to during a Mars mission)."
Adverse health effects of prolonged weightlessness, including bone mineral density loss and eyesight impairment. (Depends on mission and spacecraft design.) In November 2019, researchers reported that astronauts experienced serious blood flow and clotting
problems while on board the International Space Station, based on a
six-month study of 11 healthy astronauts. The results may influence
long-term spaceflight, including a mission to the planet Mars, according to the researchers.
Social effects of several humans living under cramped conditions for
more than one Earth year (possibly two or three years, depending on
spacecraft and mission design).
Lack of medical facilities.
Potential failure of propulsion or life-support equipment.
Some of these issues were estimated statistically in the HUMEX study. Ehlmann and others have reviewed political and economic concerns, as well as technological and biological feasibility aspects. While fuel for roundtrip travel could be a challenge, methane and oxygen can be produced using Martian H2O (preferably as water ice instead of liquid water) and atmospheric CO2 with sufficiently mature technology.
Robotic spacecraft that travel to Mars require sterilization. The
allowable limit is 300,000 spores on the exterior of general craft, with
stricter requirements for spacecraft bound for "special regions"
containing water. Otherwise there is a risk of contaminating not only the life-detection experiments but possibly the planet itself.
Sterilizing human missions to this level is impossible, as humans are typically host to a hundred trillion (1014) microorganisms of thousands of species of the human microbiota,
and these cannot be removed. Containment seems the only option, but it
is a major challenge in the event of a hard landing (i.e., a crash). There have been several planetary workshops on this issue, yet there are no final guidelines for a way forward. Human explorers would also be vulnerable to back contamination to Earth if they become carriers of microorganisms.
Over the past seven decades, a wide variety of mission architectures have been proposed or studied for human spaceflights to Mars. These have included chemical, nuclear, and electricpropulsion, as well as a wide variety of landing, living, and return methodologies.
Artist's rendering of the planned Orion/DSH/Cryogenic Propulsion Module assembly
A number of nations and organizations have long-term intentions to send humans to Mars.
The United States has several robotic missions currently exploring Mars, with a sample-return planned for the future. The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is intended to serve as the launch/splashdown crew delivery vehicle, with a Deep Space Habitat
module providing additional living space for the 16-month-long journey.
The first crewed Mars Mission, which would include sending astronauts
to Mars, orbiting Mars, and returning to Earth, is proposed for the
2030s. Technology development for US government missions to Mars is underway,
but there is no well-funded approach to bring the conceptual project to
completion with human landings on Mars by the mid-2030s, the stated
objective. NASA-funded engineers are studying a way to build potential human
habitats there by producing bricks from pressurized Martian soil.
The ESA has a long-term goal to send humans but has not built a crewed spacecraft as of October 2024. It sent robotic probes, such as ExoMars, in 2016 and planned to send the next probe in 2022, but the project was suspended due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. As of November 2022, it was looking to send the probe in 2028 with assistance from NASA.
Technological innovations and hurdles
NASA has stated that robots will prepare an underground base for a human surface mission.
Significant technological hurdles need to be overcome for human spaceflight to Mars.
Entry into the thin and shallow Martian atmosphere will pose
significant difficulties with re-entry; compared to Earth's much denser
atmosphere, any spacecraft will descend very rapidly to the surface and
must be slowed. A heat shield has to be used. NASA is carrying out research on retropropulsive deceleration
technologies to develop new approaches to Mars atmospheric entry. A key
problem with propulsive techniques is handling the fluid flow problems
and attitude control of the descent vehicle during the supersonic retropropulsion phase of the entry and deceleration.
A return mission from Mars will need to land a rocket to carry
crew off the surface. Launch requirements mean that this rocket could be
significantly smaller than an Earth-to-orbit rocket. Mars-to-orbit
launch can also be achieved in single stage. Despite this, landing an
ascent rocket back on Mars will be difficult.
In 2014, NASA proposed the Mars Ecopoiesis Test Bed.
Intravenous fluid
One of the medical supplies that might be needed is a considerable mass of intravenous fluid,
which is mainly water, but contains other substances so it can be added
directly to the human blood stream. If it could be created on the spot
from existing water, this would reduce mass requirements. A prototype
for this capability was tested on the International Space Station in
2010.
Advanced resistive exercise device
A person who is inactive for an extended period of time loses
strength, muscle and bone mass. Spaceflight conditions are known to
cause loss of bone mineral density in astronauts, increasing bone
fracture risk. The most recent mathematical models predict 33% of
astronauts will be at risk for osteoporosis during a human mission to
Mars. A resistive exercise device similar to an Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) would be needed in the spaceship but would not fully counteract the loss of bone mineral density.
Breathing gases
While humans can breathe pure oxygen, usually additional gases such
as nitrogen are included in the breathing mix. One possibility is to use
in situnitrogen and argon from the atmosphere of Mars, but they are hard to separate from each other. As a result, a Mars habitat may use 40% argon, 40% nitrogen, and 20% oxygen.
An idea for keeping carbon dioxide out of the breathing air is to use reusable amine-bead carbon dioxide scrubbers. While one carbon dioxide scrubber filters the astronaut's air, the other is vented to the Mars atmosphere.
Growing food
Depiction of plants growing in a Mars base. NASA plans to grow plants for space food.
If humans are to live on Mars, growing food on Mars may be necessary – with numerous related challenges. Making soil useful for growing plants using existing Mars regolith is
made more difficult by the lack of any organic material in the regolith
and by the existence of about 0.5% perchlorates, a toxic salt that would
damage the thyroid, kidneys and human cells in general. The environment is also too cold and lacks water except possibly at the poles.
In 2022, NASA co-funded a multi-year grant of US$1.9 million
awarded to Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, and the
Florida Institute of Technology to explore the idea of using Dehalococcoides mccartyi bacteria, among other microbes, to reduce the perchlorate content and add organic material to simulated Mars regolith. D. mccartyi
also break down the perchlorates into harmless chloride and useful
oxygen along with leaving organics in the soil as excretions and when
they die, thus potentially solving several problems at one time.
Related missions
Some
missions may be considered a "Mission to Mars" in their own right, or
they may only be one step in a more in-depth program. Examples include planetary flyby missions, missions to Mars's moons, and study of the effects of the Martian environment on spacesuit materials by the Perseverance rover.
Missions to Deimos or Phobos
Many
Mars mission concepts propose precursor missions to the moons of Mars,
for example a sample return mission to the Mars moon Phobos – not quite Mars, but perhaps a convenient stepping stone to an
eventual Martian surface mission. Lockheed Martin, as part of their
"Stepping stones to Mars" project, called the "Red Rocks Project",
proposed to explore Mars robotically from Deimos.
Use of fuel produced from water resources on Phobos or Deimos has also been proposed.
Uncrewed Mars sample return missions
Sample return mission concept
An uncrewed Mars sample return mission (MSR) has sometimes been considered as a precursor to crewed missions to the Mars surface. In 2008, the ESA called a sample return "essential" and said it could
bridge the gap between robotic and human missions to Mars. An example of a Mars sample return mission is Sample Collection for Investigation of Mars. Mars sample return was the highest priority Flagship Mission proposed for NASA by the Planetary Decadal Survey 2013–2022: The Future of Planetary Science. However, such missions have been hampered by complexity and expense,
with one ESA proposal involving no fewer than five different uncrewed
spacecraft.
Sample return plans raise the concern, however remote, that an infectious agent could be brought to Earth. Regardless, a basic set of guidelines for extraterrestrial sample
return has been laid out depending on the source of sample (e.g.
asteroid, Moon, Mars surface, etc.).
At the dawn of the 21st century, NASA crafted four potential pathways to Mars human missions, of which three included a Mars sample return as a prerequisite to human landing.
The rover Perseverance,
which landed on Mars in 2021, is equipped with a device that allows it
to collect rock samples to be returned at a later date by another
mission. Perseverance, as part of the Mars 2020 mission, was launched on an Atlas V rocket on 30 July 2020.
The concept of virtual reality (VR) has been depicted in numerous fictional works since the 1930s.
Fiction
Many
science fiction books and films have imagined characters being "trapped
in virtual reality" or entering into virtual reality. Laurence Manning's 1933 series of short stories, "The Man Who Awoke"—later
a novel—describes a time when people ask to be connected to a machine
that replaces all their senses with electrical impulses and, thus, live a
virtual life chosen by them (à laThe Matrix, but
voluntary, not imposed). A comprehensive and specific fictional model
for virtual reality was published in 1935 in the short story
"Pygmalion's Spectacles" by Stanley G. Weinbaum.
Other science fiction books have promoted the idea of virtual reality
as a partial, but not total, substitution for the misery of reality, or
have touted it as a method for creating virtual worlds in which one may escape from Earth. Stanisław Lem's 1961 story "I (Profesor Corcoran)", translated in English as "Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy I", dealt with a scientist who created a number of computer-simulated
people living in a virtual world. Lem further explored the implications
of what he termed "phantomatics" in his nonfictional 1964 treatise Summa Technologiae.
A number of other popular fictional works use the concept of virtual reality. These include William Gibson's 1984 Neuromancer, which defined the concept of cyberspace, and his 1994 Virtual Light, where a presentation viewable in VR-like goggles was the MacGuffin. Other examples are Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, in which he made extensive reference to the term avatar to describe one's representation in a virtual world, and Rudy Rucker's The Hacker and the Ants, in which a programmer uses VR for robot design and testing. The Otherland series of 4 novels by Tad Williams, published from 1996 to 2001 and set in the 2070s, shows a world where the Internet has become accessible via virtual reality. Virtual reality stories based upon video games have also become popular in recent years, such as the 2011 novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline,
which is about a virtual reality system called the OASIS that people
use to escape from the grim reality of a dying Earth in 2045. Other
recent examples include Conor Kostick's 2004 children's novel Epic and Louis Bulaong's 2020 sci-fi book Escapist Dream.
Evolution of VR in fiction
Early
science fiction works predicted VR as an artificial world entered
mechanically or neurologically. One of the first elaborate models of VR
in science fiction was in Stanley G. Weinbaum's
1935 short story "Pygmalion's Spectacles," which described a device
capable of immersing a user in a fully interactive virtual environment.
Later works, such as William Gibson's Neuromancer (1984), predicted cyberspace, which influenced the cyberpunk movement and the public's perception of VR.
By the late 20th and early 21st centuries, VR fiction was dealing with its psychological and social ramifications. Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash (1992) introduced a virtual metaverse where digital avatars interact in a vast virtual society, a theme reiterated in Ernest Cline's novel Ready Player One
(2011), where VR has become a dominant social and economic sphere.
These narratives often depict VR as a utopian haven and also a potential
dystopian
method of control and isolation. Some of these fictional depictions
parallel real-world development of VR technology, showing both the
hopeful potential of VR and also the ethical questions of its use.
Additionally, many fictional representations of VR serve as a critique
of contemporary technology trends, providing cautionary tales about unchecked digital expansion. For example, the novel Neuromancer
(1984) by William Gibson critiques corporate dominance and the loss of
personal agency in a world where cyberspace is controlled by powerful
entities. Similarly, Ready Player One (2011) by Ernest Cline warns of a future where society becomes overly dependent on VR to escape real-world issues.
Technological and psychological themes
Fictional VR systems often emphasize sensory immersion, integration with artificial intelligence, and dissolution between reality and simulation.
Current academic discussions highlight how VR storytelling shapes user
aspirations and anxieties. VR fiction creates utopian fantasies
alongside nightmares of surveillance and data protection. Similarly, audience responses to VR-based non-fiction indicate that
immersive storytelling can enhance emotional engagement but also raise
ethical concerns about realism and manipulation. Additionally, VR fiction also explores the effects of long-term exposure to virtual worlds on human cognition
and behavior, such as issues of identity and mental health. The
psychological effects of VR engagement in fiction often mirror
real-world concerns about digital escapism and the impact of prolonged screen exposure on mental well-being. For instance, the novel Otherland (1996) by Tad Williams
explores the consequences of prolonged VR immersion, where users become
disconnected from reality. Additionally, studies on VR addiction have
highlighted potential risks similar to those depicted in fictional
works.
VR in gaming and interactive fiction
The application of VR in fiction is also used in more interactive fiction and gaming. Some fiction, such as Tad Williams' series of novels entitled Otherland,
depicts VR as a huge digital universe where users venture into complex
virtual worlds. This is mirrored in actual developments in VR gaming,
where interactive media incorporate artificial intelligence and
responsive narrative with increasing regularity. The use of VR in crime fiction
education has been studied, highlighting the potential for immersive
simulation to enhance narrative experience and audience participation. Furthermore, the creation of VR-based role-playing games and virtual communities
in contemporary gaming culture suggests a merging of reality and
fiction with increasing regularity. As VR technology becomes more
sophisticated, game developers are exploring new methods to heighten
player immersion, incorporating haptic feedback and AI-driven narratives
that adapt to user choices. For example, the game Half-Life: Alyx (2020) by Valve Software revolutionized VR gameplay by integrating highly interactive environments and realistic physics. Similarly, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (2020) by Skydance Production utilizes physics-based combat and decision-driven storytelling to enhance immersion.
Ethical and social implications
Virtual reality fiction is often a means of exploring ethical concerns, such as digital addiction,
identity disintegration, and corporate control of virtual worlds. It
has been revealed that VR can influence users' perception of reality, as
seen in movies like The Matrix (1999) by Lana and Lilly Wachowski,
which questions the nature of existence in a virtual world. However,
studies have also shown that VR has potential in medicine, illustrating
parallels between fiction and its daily applications, particularly in
therapeutic and training environments. Fiction also tends to examine the social ramifications of VR, with
privacy concerns, individual autonomy, and the consequences of excessive
reliance on simulated reality. The intersection of such moral issues
and technological innovation continues to shape both fictional narrative
and real-world discussion about the future of VR. The Rise of Virtual Reality Concerts and Their Impact on Live Music
Film
The concept of virtual reality was popularized in mass media by movies such as Tron (1982),Brainstorm (1983), and The Lawnmower Man (1992). The .hack multimedia franchise is based on a virtual reality MMORPG dubbed "The World". The French animated series Code Lyoko is based on the virtual world of Lyoko and the Internet.
The 1982 film Tron
told the story of a computer hacker sucked into a digital world
physically inside a computer system. He attempted to escape with the
help of the titular hero, a computer program within that virtual
reality.
The 1992 film The Lawnmower Man
tells the tale of a research scientist who uses a VR system to
jumpstart the mental and physical development of his mentally
handicapped gardener.
The 1993 film Arcade
is centered around a new virtual reality game (from which the film gets
its name) that actively traps those who play it inside its world.
The 1995 film Strange Days
is a science-fiction thriller about a fictional virtual reality trend
in which users buy illegal VR recordings of criminal offences recorded
from the offender's point of view (POV).
The 1995 film Johnny Mnemonic has the main character Johnny (played by Keanu Reeves) use virtual reality goggles and brain–computer interfaces to access the Internet and extract encrypted information in his own brain.
The 1995 film Virtuosity has Russell Crowe as a virtual reality serial killer name SID 6.7 (Sadistic, Intelligent and Dangerous) who is used in a simulation to train real-world police officer, but manages to escape into the real world.
The 1997 Spanish film Open Your Eyes and its 2001 US remake Vanilla Sky has the main character experiencing a simulated reality world while being cryogenically frozen for 150 years.
The 1999 film The Thirteenth Floor is an adaptation of Daniel F. Galouye's novel Simulacron-3, and tells about two virtual reality simulations, one in another.
In 1999, The Matrix and later sequels explored the possibility that our world is actually a vast virtual reality (or more precisely, simulated reality) created by artificially intelligent machines.
eXistenZ (1999), by David Cronenberg,
in which level switches occur so seamlessly and numerously that at the
end of the movie it is difficult to tell whether the main characters are
back in "reality".
In the film Avatar, the humans are hooked up via advanced technologies with avatars,
enabling the Na'vi avatars to remotely perform the actions of the
humans that they wouldn't do on the gas-based planet Pandora.
Surrogates (2009) is based on a brain–computer interface that allows people to control realistic humanoid robots, giving them full sensory feedback.
The 2010 science fiction thriller film Inception is about a professional thief who steals information
by infiltrating the subconscious. He creates artificial thoughts that
are so realistic that once they are implanted in a person's mind, the
person thinks these are their own thoughts.
OtherLife (2017) - about a form of biological virtual reality.
The 2018 film Ready Player One directed by Steven Spielberg
is an adaptation of Ernest Cline's novel of the same name about a VR
entertainment universe known as the OASIS. The film is set in the near
future of 2045 James Halliday creates this virtual reality world called
the oasis. Halliday left his immense fortune and control of the Oasis to
the winner of a contest designed to find a worthy heir.
Television
Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1973 television miniseries World on a Wire, based on Daniel F. Galouye's novel Simulacron-3, shows a virtual reality simulation inside another virtual reality simulation.
The British BBC2 sci-fi series Red Dwarf
features a virtual reality game titled "Better Than Life" that allows
its users to experience a utopia. In the novel adaptations of the
series, headsets for the game are treated like an illicit drug, and the
main characters end up spending many years unknowingly connected.
Saban's syndicated superhero television series VR Troopers also made use of the concept where the titular characters fight villains that seek to invade from the virtual world.
The holodeck featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation
is one of the best known examples of virtual reality in popular
culture, including the ability for users to interactively modify
scenarios in real time with a natural language interface. The depiction
differs from others in the use of a physical room rather than a neural
interface or headset.
In the fourth episode of the fourth season of Sliders, Quinn Mallory and his friends land on a world where everyone uses virtual reality all the time.
Episodes of the 1995 version of The Outer Limits have featured virtual reality:
In season 2 episode 11, "The Refuge" terminally ill patients are
cryogenically frozen and experience a virtual reality world while being
unconscious.
Season 2 episode 22, "The Sentence" features an experimental virtual
reality prison where inmates can experience decades of imprisonment in a
few minutes of real world time.
The 2012 anime series Sword Art Online
involves the concept of a virtual reality MMORPG of the same name, with
the possibility of dying in real life when a player dies in the game
due to the side effects of the NerveGear. In its 2014 sequel Sword Art Online II,
the idea of bringing a virtual character into the real world via mobile
cameras is posed; this concept is used to allow a bedridden individual
to attend public school for the first time. The next two sequels Sword Art Online take place in "The Underworld", another virtual world made with "mnemonic visuals" and bottom up AIs known as "Fluctlights".
The anime Accel World (2012) expands the concept of virtual reality using the game Brain Burst,
a game which allows players to gain and receive points to keep
accelerating; accelerating is when an individual's brain perceives the
images around them 1000 times faster, heightening their sense of
awareness. This series takes place in the same universe as Sword Art Online
Episodes of Black Mirror have featured virtual reality:
The episode Playtest features an American traveler (portrayed by Wyatt Russell)
who signs up to test a revolutionary new gaming system developed by the
video game company SaitoGemu, but soon can't tell where the hot game
ends and reality begins.
The episode San Junipero features a simulated reality set in different time periods at the titular beach resort town that the characters can inhabit, even past death, as seen with its main characters (portrayed by Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Mackenzie Davis). San Junipero is made by the company TCKR Systems as the robots there maintain it.
The episode USS Callister
features Callister Inc.'s MMORPG game "Infinity" that uses virtual
reality from TCKR Systems. Utilizing virtual reality technology in his
modded "Infinity" game, Callister Inc.'s CTO Robert Daly (portrayed by Jesse Plemons)
portrays the captain of the titular ship from his favorite show "Space
Fleet" where he orders around the crew members who are sentient digital clones
of his Callister Inc. co-workers made from the Digital Clone Replicator
that he has which scanned whatever DNA they had on an item that Daly
secretly obtained.
In the fourth season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Leo Fitz created the Framework as a training program that was expanded into a virtual reality by Holden Radcliffe. When AIDA reworked the Framework, she created a virtual reality in it in where HYDRA
ruled the world. After AIDA concluded her plan by creating a real body
for herself, she arranged for the Framework to be deleted as its virtual
inhabitants are slowly deleted. In season five, a possible future
involving a broken Earth and the Kree
ruling the Lighthouse had Deke Shaw rebooting the Framework allowing
the Lighthouse's inhabitants to use it for leisure in exchange for
currency. In season six, the Framework technology was used by a
time-displaced Deke Shaw to create the virtual reality game "Remorath
Rumble" that was produced by his unnamed tech company. "Remorath Rumble" enables the players to aid Quake in fighting the invading Kree and Remorath soldiers as well as flying a Confederacy Destroyer Ship.
In the fifth season of Supergirl, Andrea Rojas'
company Obsidian Tech started to develop the Obsidian Lenses that
enabled the users to enter virtual reality. Though this was secretly a
plot by Leviathan to secretly trap them in virtual reality. Leviathan's plot was thwarted by Supergirl and Lena Luthor.
The 2019 version of The Twilight Zone
had an episode titled "Downtime" that featured a virtual reality called
"SleepAway". This virtual reality has people entering it when sleeping.
When a man named S. Phineas Howell was using it while playing as a
hotel manager named Michelle Weaver (portrayed by Morena Baccarin).
When Howell had a heart attack while using SleepAway and is in a coma
explaining why she has no memory of her real life as Phineas, a customer
service worker on "SleepAway" named Tom (portrayed by Tony Hale)
informs her that Howell has died and offers her a deal to remain awake
as part of a deal to become an NPC. Michelle accepts the deal and
continues her work as a hotel manager.
The Creepshow episode "Night of the Living Late Show" featured the Immersopod invented by Simon Sherman (portrayed by Justin Long).
The Immersopod is outfitted with hundreds of cameras that acts as a
home theater, allowing people to immerse themselves into and interact
with any movie they want with Horror Express and Night of the Living Dead as examples.
The Peripheral series based on William Gibson's 2014 novel The Peripheral.
The series is set in the year 2032 and features futuristic virtual
reality technology worn by a gamer Finn Fisher (portrayed by Chloë Grace Moretz).
Radio
In 2009, BBC Radio 7 broadcast Planet B, a science-fiction drama set in a virtual world. Planet B was the largest ever commission for an original drama programme.
Currently, standard virtual reality systems use either virtual reality headsets
or multi-projected environments to generate some realistic images,
sounds, and other sensations that simulate a user's physical presence in
a virtual environment. A person using virtual reality equipment is able
to look around the artificial world, move around in it, and interact
with virtual features or items. The effect is commonly created by VR
headsets consisting of a head-mounted display
with a small screen in front of the eyes but can also be created
through specially designed rooms with multiple large screens. Virtual
reality typically incorporates auditory and video feedback but may also allow other types of sensory and force feedback through haptic technology.
Etymology
"Virtual" has had the meaning of "being something in essence or effect, though not actually or in fact" since the mid-1400s. The term "virtual" has been used in the computer sense of "not physically existing but made to appear by software" since 1959.
In 1938, French avant-garde playwright Antonin Artaud described the illusory nature of characters and objects in the theatre as "la réalité virtuelle" in a collection of essays, Le Théâtre et son double. The English translation of this book, published in 1958 as The Theater and its Double, is the earliest published use of the term "virtual reality". The term "artificial reality", coined by Myron Krueger, has been in use since the 1970s. The term "virtual reality" was first used in a science fiction context in The Judas Mandala, a 1982 novel by Damien Broderick.
Widespread adoption of the term "virtual reality" in the popular media is attributed to Jaron Lanier, who in the late 1980s designed some of the first business-grade virtual reality hardware under his firm VPL Research, and the 1992 film Lawnmower Man, which features use of virtual reality systems.
An operator controlling The Virtual Interface Environment Workstation (VIEW) at NASAAmes around 1990
One method of realizing virtual reality is through simulation-based
virtual reality. For example, driving simulators give the driver the
impression of actually driving a vehicle by predicting vehicular motion
based on the driver's input and providing corresponding visual, motion,
and audio cues.
With avatar image-based
virtual reality, people can join the virtual environment in the form of
real video as well as an avatar. One can participate in the 3D
distributed virtual environment in the form of either a conventional
avatar or a real video. Users can select their own type of participation
based on the system capability.
In projector-based virtual reality, modeling of the real
environment plays a vital role in various virtual reality applications,
including robot navigation, construction modeling, and airplane
simulation. Image-based virtual reality systems have been gaining
popularity in computer graphics and computer vision
communities. In generating realistic models, it is essential to
accurately register acquired 3D data; usually, a camera is used for
modeling small objects at a short distance.
Desktop-based virtual reality involves displaying a 3D virtual world on a regular desktop display without use of any specialized VR positional tracking equipment. Many modern first-person
video games can be used as an example, using various triggers,
responsive characters, and other such interactive devices to make the
user feel as though they are in a virtual world. A common criticism of
this form of immersion is that there is no sense of peripheral vision, limiting the user's ability to know what is happening around them.
A head-mounted display (HMD) more fully immerses the user in a virtual world. A virtual reality headset typically includes two small high resolution OLED or LCD monitors which provide separate images for each eye for stereoscopic graphics rendering a 3D virtual world, a binaural audio system, positional and rotational real-time head tracking for six degrees of movement. Options include motion controls with haptic feedback for physically interacting within the virtual world in an intuitive way with little to no abstraction and an omnidirectional treadmill for more freedom of physical movement allowing the user to perform locomotive motion in any direction.
Augmented reality
(AR) is a type of virtual reality technology that blends what the user
sees in their real surroundings with digital content generated by
computer software. The additional software-generated images with the
virtual scene typically enhance how the real surroundings look in some
way. AR systems layer virtual information over a camera live feed into a headset or smartglasses or through a mobile device giving the user the ability to view three-dimensional images.
Mixed reality
(MR) is the merging of the real world and virtual worlds to produce new
environments and visualizations where physical and digital objects
co-exist and interact in real time.
A cyberspace is sometimes defined as a networked virtual reality.
Simulated reality is a hypothetical virtual reality as truly immersive as the actual reality, enabling an advanced lifelike experience or even virtual eternity.
History
View-Master, a stereoscopic visual simulator, was introduced in 1939.
Morton Heilig
wrote in the 1950s of an "Experience Theatre" that could encompass all
the senses in an effective manner, thus drawing the viewer into the
onscreen activity. He built a prototype of his vision dubbed the Sensorama
in 1962, along with five short films to be displayed in it while
engaging multiple senses (sight, sound, smell, and touch). Predating
digital computing, the Sensorama was a mechanical device.
Heilig also developed what he referred to as the "Telesphere Mask"
(patented in 1960). The patent application described the device as "a
telescopic television apparatus for individual use... The spectator is
given a complete sensation of reality, i.e., moving three-dimensional
images that may be in color, with 100% peripheral vision, binaural
sound, scents, and air breezes."
In 1968, Harvard Professor Ivan Sutherland, with the help of his students, including Bob Sproull,
created what was widely considered to be the first head-mounted display
system for use in immersive simulation applications, called The Sword of Damocles. It was primitive both in terms of user interface
and visual realism, and the HMD to be worn by the user was so heavy
that it had to be suspended from the ceiling, which gave the device a
formidable appearance and inspired its name. Technically, the device was an augmented reality device due to optical
passthrough. The graphics comprising the virtual environment were simple
wire-frame model rooms.
1970–1990
The virtual reality industry mainly provided VR devices for medical,
flight simulation, automobile industry design, and military training
purposes from 1970 to 1990.
In 1979, Eric Howlett
developed the Large Expanse, Extra Perspective (LEEP) optical system.
The combined system created a stereoscopic image with a field-of-view
wide enough to create a convincing sense of space. The users of the
system have been impressed by the sensation of depth (field of view) in the scene and the corresponding realism. The original LEEP system was redesigned for NASA's Ames Research Center in 1985 for their first virtual reality installation, the VIEW (Virtual Interactive Environment Workstation) by Scott Fisher. The LEEP system provides the basis for most of the modern virtual reality headsets.
A VPL Research DataSuit, a full-body outfit with sensors for measuring the movement of arms, legs, and trunk. Developed c. 1989. Displayed at the Nissho Iwai showroom in Tokyo
By the late 1980s, the term "virtual reality" was popularized by Jaron Lanier, one of the modern pioneers of the field. Lanier had founded the company VPL Research in 1984. VPL Research has developed several VR devices like the DataGlove, the EyePhone, the Reality Built For Two (RB2), and the AudioSphere. VPL licensed the DataGlove technology to Mattel, which used it to make the Power Glove, an early affordable VR device, released in 1989. That same year Broderbund's U-Force was released.
In 1988, the Cyberspace Project at Autodesk was the first to implement VR on a low-cost personal computer.The project leader Eric Gullichsen left in 1990 to found Sense8 Corporation and develop the WorldToolKit virtual reality SDK, which offered the first real time graphics with Texture mapping on a PC, and was widely used throughout industry and academia.
1990–2000
The 1990s saw the first widespread commercial releases of consumer headsets. In 1992, for instance, Computer Gaming World predicted "affordable VR by 1994".
In 1991, Sega announced the Sega VR headset for the Mega Drive home console. It used LCD screens in the visor, stereo headphones, and inertial sensors that allowed the system to track and react to the movements of the user's head. In the same year, Virtuality
launched and went on to become the first mass-produced, networked,
multiplayer VR entertainment system that was released in many countries,
including a dedicated VR arcade at Embarcadero Center.
Costing up to $73,000 per multi-pod Virtuality system, they featured
headsets and exoskeleton gloves that gave one of the first "immersive"
VR experiences.
A CAVE system at IDL's Center for Advanced Energy Studies in 2010
That same year, Carolina Cruz-Neira, Daniel J. Sandin, and Thomas A. DeFanti from the Electronic Visualization Laboratory created the first cubic immersive room, the Cave automatic virtual environment (CAVE). Developed as Cruz-Neira's PhD thesis, it involved a multi-projected environment, similar to the holodeck, allowing people to see their own bodies in relation to others in the room. Antonio Medina, an MIT graduate and NASA scientist, designed a virtual
reality system to "drive" Mars rovers from Earth in apparent real time
despite the substantial delay of Mars-Earth-Mars signals.
Virtual Fixtures immersive AR
system developed in 1992. Picture features Dr. Louis Rosenberg
interacting freely in 3D with overlaid virtual objects called
'fixtures'.
In 1992, Nicole Stenger created Angels, the first real-time interactive immersive movie where the interaction was facilitated with a dataglove and high-resolution goggles. That same year, Louis Rosenberg created the virtual fixtures system at the U.S. Air Force's Armstrong Labs using a full upper-body exoskeleton,
enabling a physically realistic mixed reality in 3D. The system enabled
the overlay of physically real 3D virtual objects registered with a
user's direct view of the real world, producing the first true augmented
reality experience enabling sight, sound, and touch.
By July 1994, Sega had released the VR-1 motion simulator ride attraction in Joypolis indoor theme parks, as well as the Dennou Senki Net Mercarcade game. Both used an advanced head-mounted display dubbed the "Mega Visor Display" developed in conjunction with Virtuality; it was able to track head movement in a 360-degree stereoscopic 3D environment, and in its Net Merc incarnation was powered by the Sega Model 1arcade system board. Apple released QuickTime VR, which, despite using the term "VR", was unable to represent virtual reality, and instead displayed 360-degree interactive panoramas.
Nintendo's Virtual Boy console was released in 1995. A group in Seattle created public demonstrations of a "CAVE-like"
270 degree immersive projection room called the Virtual Environment
Theater, produced by entrepreneurs Chet Dagit and Bob Jacobson. Forte released the VFX1, a PC-powered virtual reality headset that same year.
In 1999, entrepreneur Philip Rosedale formed Linden Lab
with an initial focus on the development of VR hardware. In its
earliest form, the company struggled to produce a commercial version of
"The Rig", which was realized in prototype form as a clunky steel
contraption with several computer monitors that users could wear on
their shoulders. The concept was later adapted into the personal
computer-based, 3D virtual world program Second Life.
21st century
2000–2010
The 2000s decade was a period of relative public and investment indifference to commercially available VR technologies.
In 2001, SAS Cube (SAS3) became the first PC-based cubic room, developed by Z-A Production (Maurice Benayoun, David Nahon), Barco, and Clarté. It was installed in Laval, France. The SAS library gave birth to Virtools VRPack. In 2007, Google introduced Street View,
a service that shows panoramic views of an increasing number of
worldwide positions such as roads, indoor buildings and rural areas. It
also features a stereoscopic 3D mode, introduced in 2010.
2010–present
An inside view of the Oculus Rift Crescent Bay prototype headset
In 2010, Palmer Luckey designed the first prototype of the Oculus Rift.
This prototype, built on a shell of another virtual reality headset,
was only capable of rotational tracking. However, it boasted a 90-degree
field of vision that was previously unseen in the consumer market at
the time. Luckey eliminated distortion issues arising from the type of
lens used to create the wide field of vision using software that
pre-distorted the rendered image in real-time. This initial design would
later serve as a basis from which the later designs came. In 2012, the Rift is presented for the first time at the E3 video game trade show by John Carmack. In 2014, Facebook (later Meta) purchased Oculus VR for what at the time was stated as $2 billion but later revealed that the more accurate figure was $3 billion. This purchase occurred after the first development kits ordered through Oculus' 2012 Kickstarter had shipped in 2013 but before the shipping of their second development kits in 2014.[46]ZeniMax, Carmack's former employer, sued Oculus and Facebook for taking company secrets to Facebook; the verdict was in favour of ZeniMax, settled out of court later.
In 2013, Valve
discovered and freely shared the breakthrough of low-persistence
displays which make lag-free and smear-free display of VR content
possible. This was adopted by Oculus and was used in all their future headsets.
In early 2014, Valve showed off their SteamSight prototype, the
precursor to both consumer headsets released in 2016. It shared major
features with the consumer headsets including separate 1K displays per
eye, low persistence, positional tracking over a large area, and Fresnel lenses. HTC and Valve announced the virtual reality headset HTC Vive
and controllers in 2015. The set included tracking technology called
Lighthouse, which utilized wall-mounted "base stations" for positional
tracking using infrared light.
In 2014, Sony announced Project Morpheus (its code name for the PlayStation VR), a virtual reality headset for the PlayStation 4 video game console. The Chinese headset AntVR
was released in late 2014; it was briefly competitive in the Chinese
market but ultimately unable to compete with the larger technology
companies.[55][56] In 2015, Google announced Cardboard, a do-it-yourself stereoscopic viewer: the user places their smartphone in the cardboard holder, which they wear on their head. Michael Naimark
was appointed Google's first-ever 'resident artist' in their new VR
division. The Kickstarter campaign for Gloveone, a pair of gloves
providing motion tracking and haptic feedback, was successfully funded, with over $150,000 in contributions. Also in 2015, Razer unveiled its open source project OSVR.
By 2016, there were at least 230 companies developing VR-related products. Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Sony and Samsung
all had dedicated AR and VR groups. Dynamic binaural audio was common
to most headsets released that year. However, haptic interfaces were not
well developed, and most hardware packages incorporated button-operated
handsets for touch-based interactivity. Visually, displays were still
of a low-enough resolution and frame rate that images were still identifiable as virtual.
In 2016, HTC shipped its first units of the HTC Vive SteamVR headset. This marked the first major commercial release of sensor-based
tracking, allowing for free movement of users within a defined space. A patent filed by Sony in 2017 showed they were developing a similar
location tracking technology to the Vive for PlayStation VR, with the
potential for the development of a wireless headset.
In 2019, Oculus released the Oculus Rift S and a standalone headset, the Oculus Quest. These headsets utilized inside-out tracking compared to external outside-in tracking seen in previous generations of headsets.
Later in 2019, Valve released the Valve Index.
Notable features include a 130° field of view, off-ear headphones for
immersion and comfort, open-handed controllers which allow for
individual finger tracking, front facing cameras, and a front expansion
slot meant for extensibility.
In 2020, Oculus released the Oculus Quest 2,
later renamed the Meta Quest 2. Some new features include a sharper
screen, reduced price, and increased performance. Facebook (which became
Meta a year later) initially required users to log in with a Facebook
account in order to use the new headset. In 2021 the Oculus Quest 2 accounted for 80% of all VR headsets sold.
Robinson R22 Virtual Reality Training Device developed by Loft Dynamics
In 2021, EASA approved the first Virtual Reality-based Flight Simulation Training Device. The device, made by Loft Dynamics
for rotorcraft pilots, enhances safety by opening up the possibility of
practicing risky maneuvers in a virtual environment. This addresses a
key risk area in rotorcraft operations, where statistics show that around 20% of accidents occur during training flights.
In 2022, Meta released the Meta Quest Pro.
This device utilised a thinner, visor-like design that was not fully
enclosed, and was the first headset by Meta to target mixed reality
applications using high-resolution colour video passthrough. It also
included integrated face and eye tracking, pancake lenses, and updated Touch Pro controllers with on-board motion tracking.
In 2023, Sony released the PlayStation VR2, a follow-up to their 2016 headset. The device includes inside-out tracking, eye-tracked foveated rendering, higher-resolution OLED displays, controllers with adaptive triggers and haptic feedback, 3D audio, and a wider field of view. While initially exclusive for use with the PlayStation 5 console, a PC adapter was released in August 2024.
Later in 2023, Meta released the Meta Quest 3,
the successor to the Quest 2. It features the pancake lenses and mixed
reality features of the Quest Pro, as well as an increased field of view
and resolution compared to Quest 2. In October 2024 Meta released a lower cost entry headset the Meta Quest 3S with the same fresnel lenses as the Quest 2 and a lower resolution of 1832x1920 as compared to 2064x2208 on the Quest 3.
In 2024, Apple released the Apple Vision Pro.
The device is a fully enclosed mixed reality headset that strongly
utilises video passthrough. While some VR experiences are available on
the device, it lacks standard VR headset features such as external
controllers or support for OpenXR and is instead branded as a "spatial computer".[74][75]
In 2024, the Federal Aviation Administration approved its first virtual reality flight simulation training device: Loft Dynamics' virtual reality Airbus Helicopters H125FSTD—the same device EASA qualified. As of September 2024, Loft Dynamics remains the only VR FSTD qualified by EASA and the FAA.
Modern virtual reality headset displays are based on technology developed for smartphones including: gyroscopes and motion sensors for tracking head, body, and hand positions; small HD
screens for stereoscopic displays; and small, lightweight and fast
computer processors. These components led to relative affordability for
independent VR developers, and led to the 2012 Oculus Rift Kickstarter
offering the first independently developed VR headset.
Independent production of VR images and video has increased alongside the development of affordable omnidirectional cameras, also known as 360-degree cameras or VR cameras, that have the ability to record 360 interactive photography, although at relatively low resolutions or in highly compressed formats for online streaming of 360 video. In contrast, photogrammetry
is increasingly used to combine several high-resolution photographs for
the creation of detailed 3D objects and environments in VR
applications.
To create a feeling of immersion, special output devices are
needed to display virtual worlds. Well-known formats include
head-mounted displays or the CAVE. In order to convey a spatial
impression, two images are generated and displayed from different
perspectives (stereo projection). There are different technologies
available to bring the respective image to the right eye. A distinction
is made between active (e.g., shutter glasses) and passive technologies (e.g. polarizing filters or Infitec).
In order to improve the feeling of immersion, wearable
multi-string cables offer haptics to complex geometries in virtual
reality. These strings offer fine control of each finger joint to
simulate the haptics involved in touching these virtual geometries.
Special input devices are required for interaction with the virtual world. Some of the most common input devices are motion controllers and optical tracking sensors. In some cases, wired gloves are used. Controllers typically use optical tracking systems (primarily infrared cameras) for location and navigation so that the user can move freely without wiring. Some input devices provide the user with force feedback
to the hands or other parts of the body so that the user can orientate
themselves in the three-dimensional world through haptics and sensor
technology as a further sensory sensation and carry out realistic
simulations. This allows the viewer to have a sense of direction in the
artificial landscape. Additional haptic feedback can be obtained from omnidirectional treadmills (with which walking in virtual space is controlled by real walking movements) and vibration gloves and suits.
Virtual reality cameras can be used to create VR photography using 360-degree panorama videos. VR cameras are available in various formats, with varying numbers of lenses installed in the camera.
Software
The Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML), first introduced in 1994, was intended for the development of "virtual worlds" without dependency on headsets. The Web3D
consortium was subsequently founded in 1997 for the development of
industry standards for web-based 3D graphics. The consortium
subsequently developed X3D from the VRML framework as an archival, open-source standard for web-based distribution of VR content. WebVR is an experimental JavaScriptapplication programming interface
(API) that provides support for various virtual reality devices, such
as the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard or OSVR, in a web browser.
Visual immersion experience
Display resolution
Minimal Angle of Resolution (MAR) refers to the minimum distance
between two display pixels. At a distance, a viewer can clearly
distinguish the independent pixels. Often measured in arc-seconds, MAR
between two pixels has to do with the viewing distance. For the general
public, resolution is about 30–65 arc-seconds, which is referred to as
the spatial resolution when combined with distance. Given the viewing
distance of 1m and 2m respectively, regular viewers won't be able to
perceive two pixels as separate if they are less than 0.29mm apart at 1m
and less than 0.58mm apart at 2m.
Image latency and display refresh frequency
Most small-size displays have a refresh rate of 60 Hz, which adds
about 15ms of additional latency. The number is reduced to less than 7ms
if the refresh rate is increased to 120 Hz or even 240 Hz and more. Participants generally feel that the experience is more immersive with
higher refresh rates as a result. However, higher refresh rates require a
more powerful graphics processing unit.
Relationship between display and field of view
In theory, VR represents a participant's field of view (yellow area).
In assessing the achieved immersion by a VR device, we need to consider our field of view (FOV)
in addition to image quality. Our eyes have a horizontal FOV from about
107 or 110 degrees to the temporal side to about 60 or 70 degrees
toward the nose and a vertical FOV from about 95 degrees downward to 85
degrees upward, and eye movements are estimated as roughly 30 deg to either side
horizontally and 20 vertically. Binocular vision is limited to the 120
or 140 degrees where the right and the left visual fields overlap. With
eye movements, we have an FOV of roughly 300 degrees x 175 degrees with
two eyes, i.e., approximately one third of the full 360-deg sphere.
Virtual reality is most commonly used in entertainment applications such as video games, 3D cinema, amusement park rides including dark rides and social virtual worlds.
Consumer virtual reality headsets were first released by video game
companies in the early-mid 1990s. Beginning in the 2010s,
next-generation commercial tethered headsets were released by Oculus
(Rift), HTC (Vive) and Sony (PlayStation VR), setting off a new wave of
application development. 3D cinema has been used for sporting events, pornography, fine art,
music videos and short films. Since 2015, roller coasters and theme parks have incorporated virtual reality to match visual effects with haptic feedback. VR not only fits the trend of the digital industry but also enhances
the film's visual effect. The film gives the audience more ways to
interact through VR technology.
In social sciences and psychology, virtual reality offers a
cost-effective tool to study and replicate interactions in a controlled
environment. It can be used as a form of therapeutic intervention. For instance, there is the case of the virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET), a form of exposure therapy for treating anxiety disorders such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and phobias.
A VR therapy has been designed to help people with psychosis and agoraphobia
manage their avoidance of outside environments. In the therapy, the
user wears a headset and a virtual character provides psychological
advice and guides them as they explore simulated environments (such as a
cafe or a busy street). NICE is assessing the therapy to see if it should be recommended on the NHS.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, social VR has also been used as a
mental-health tool in a form of self-administered, non-traditional cognitive behavioural therapy.
Virtual reality programs are being used in the rehabilitation processes with elderly individuals that have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
This gives these elderly patients the opportunity to simulate real
experiences that they would not otherwise be able to experience due to
their current state. 17 recent studies with randomized controlled trials
have shown that virtual reality applications are effective in treating
cognitive deficits with neurological diagnoses. Loss of mobility in elderly patients can lead to a sense of loneliness
and depression. Virtual reality is able to assist in making aging in
place a lifeline to an outside world that they cannot easily navigate.
Virtual reality allows exposure therapy to take place in a safe
environment.
In medicine, simulated VR surgical environments were first developed in the 1990s. Under the supervision of experts, VR can provide effective and repeatable training at a low cost, allowing trainees to recognize and amend errors as they occur.
Virtual reality has been used in physical rehabilitation
since the 2000s. Despite numerous studies conducted, good quality
evidence of its efficacy compared to other rehabilitation methods
without sophisticated and expensive equipment is lacking for the
treatment of Parkinson's disease. A 2018 review on the effectiveness of mirror therapy by virtual reality
and robotics for any type of pathology concluded in a similar way. Another study was conducted that showed the potential for VR to promote
mimicry and revealed the difference between non-autistic and autistic individuals in their response to a two-dimensional avatar.
Immersive virtual reality technology with myoelectric and motion
tracking control may represent a possible therapy option for
treatment-resistant phantom limb pain. Pain scale measurements were
taken into account and an interactive 3-D kitchen environment was
developed based on the principles of mirror therapy to allow for control
of virtual hands while wearing a motion-tracked VR headset. A systematic search in Pubmed and Embase was performed to determine
results that were pooled in two meta-analysis. Meta-analysis showed a
significant result in favor of VRT for balance.
In the fast-paced and globalised business world, meetings in VR are used
to create an environment in which interactions with other people (e.g.
colleagues, customers, partners) can feel more natural than a phone call
or video chat. In the customisable meeting rooms all parties can join
using the VR headset and interact as if they are in the same physical
room. Presentations, videos or 3D models (of e.g. products or
prototypes) can be uploaded and interacted with. Compared to traditional text-based CMC, Avatar-based interactions in 3D
virtual environment lead to higher levels of consensus, satisfaction,
and cohesion among group members.
U.S. NavyHospital Corpsman demonstrating a VR parachute simulator at the Naval Survival Training Institute in 2006
VR can simulate real workspaces for workplace occupational safety and
health purposes, educational purposes, and training purposes. It can be
used to provide learners with a virtual environment where they can
develop their skills without the real-world consequences of failing. It
has been used and studied in primary education, anatomy teaching, military, astronaut training,flight simulators, mining and metallurgical operations training, medical education, geography education, architectural design, driver training, and bridge inspection. Immersive VR engineering systems enable engineers to see virtual
prototypes prior to the availability of any physical prototypes. Supplementing training with virtual training environments has been claimed to offer avenues of realism in military and healthcare training while minimizing cost. It also has been claimed to reduce military training costs by
minimizing the amounts of ammunition expended during training periods. VR can be used for the healthcare training and education for medical practitioners. Further, several application have been developed for multiple types of safety training. The latest results indicates that virtual reality safety training is
more effective than traditional training in terms of knowledge
acquisition and knowledge retention.
In the engineering field, VR has proved very useful for both
engineering educators and the students. A previously expensive cost in
the educational department now being much more accessible due to lowered
overall costs, has proven to be a very useful tool in educating future
engineers. The most significant element lies in the ability for the
students to be able to interact with 3-D models that accurately respond
based on real world possibilities. This added tool of education provides
many the immersion needed to grasp complex topics and be able to apply
them. As noted, the future architects and engineers benefit greatly by being
able to form understandings between spatial relationships and providing
solutions based on real-world future applications.
The first fine art virtual world was created in the 1970s. As the technology developed, more artistic programs were produced
throughout the 1990s, including feature films. When commercially
available technology became more widespread, VR festivals began to
emerge in the mid-2010s. The first uses of VR in museum settings began
in the 1990s, seeing a significant increase in the mid-2010s.
Additionally, museums have begun making some of their content virtual
reality accessible.
Virtual reality's growing market presents an opportunity and an alternative channel for digital marketing. It is also seen as a new platform for e-commerce,
particularly in the bid to challenge traditional "brick and mortar"
retailers. However, a 2018 study revealed that the majority of goods are
still purchased in physical stores.
In the case of education, the uses of virtual reality have demonstrated being capable of promoting higher order thinking, promoting the interest and commitment of students, the acquisition of
knowledge, promoting mental habits and understanding that are generally
useful within an academic context.
A case has also been made for including virtual reality
technology in the context of public libraries. This would give library
users access to cutting-edge technology and unique educational
experiences. This could include giving users access to virtual, interactive copies
of rare texts and artifacts and to tours of famous landmarks and
archeological digs (as in the case with the Virtual Ganjali Khan
Project).
Starting in the early 2020s, virtual reality has also been
discussed as a technological setting that may support people's grieving
process, based on digital recreations of deceased individuals. In 2021,
this practice received substantial media attention following a South
Korean TV documentary, which invited a grieving mother to interact with a
virtual replica of her deceased daughter. Subsequently, scientists have summarized several potential implications
of such endeavours, including its potential to facilitate adaptive
mourning, but also many ethical challenges.
Growing interest in the metaverse has resulted in organizational efforts to incorporate the many diverse applications of virtual reality into ecosystems like VIVERSE, reportedly offering connectivity between platforms for a wide range of uses.
Medical uses of VR
Virtual reality (VR) technology has emerged as a significant tool in
medical training and education. Specifically, there has been a major
leap in innovation in surgical simulation and surgical real-time
enhancement. Studies done at North Carolina medical institutions have demonstrated
improvement in technical performance and skills among medical students
and active surgeons using VR training as compared to traditional
training, especially in procedures such as total hip arthroplasty. Alongside this, other VR simulation programs such as LapSim, improve
basic coordination, instrument handling, and procedure-based skills. These simulations aim to have high ratings for feedback and haptic touch, which provides a more realistic surgical feel.
Studies show significant improvement in task completion time and
scores after 4-week training sessions of LapSim. This simulation
environment also allows surgeons to practice without risk to real
patients, promoting patient safety.
Based on data from research conducted from the University
Hospitals Schleswig-Holstein and collaborators from other institutions,
medical students and surgeons with years of experience, show marked
performance boosts after practicing with LapSim VR technology.
Another recent study at North Carolina University of Chapel Hill
has shown that developing VR and Augmented Reality (AR) systems have
allowed surgeons to keep their eyes on a patient while accessing CT
scans. This VR system allows for laparoscopic imaging integration,
real-time skin layer visualization, and enhanced surgical precision
capabilities.
These are both examples of how studies have shown surgeons can
take advantage of additional virtual reality simulation practices, which
can create incredible experiences, provide customized scenarios, and
provide independent learning with haptic feedback. These VR systems need to be realistic enough for education tools alongside being able to measure performance of a surgeon.
Some potential future challenges of this technology would be
enhancing complex scenarios alongside the realism aspects. These
technologies would need to incorporate stress-inducing factors along
with other realistic simulation ideas. Furthermore, there would be a need to have better AR integration to
help the surgeon have better eyes-on precision guidance. Lastly, there
would be a strong need to keep things cost-effective with an abundance
of availability.
Concerts
In June of 2020, Jean Michel Jarre performed in VRChat. In July, Brendan Bradley released the free FutureStages web-based
virtual reality venue for live events and concerts throughout the 2020
shutdown, Justin Bieber performed on November 18, 2021 in WaveXR. On December 2, 2021, non-player characters performed at the Mugar Omni Theater with audiences interacting with a live performer in both virtual reality and projected on the IMAX dome screen. Meta's Foo Fighters Super Bowl VR concert performed on Venues. Post Malone performed in Venues starting July 15, 2022. Megan Thee Stallion performed on AMAZE at AMC Theaters throughout 2022.
On October 24, 2021, Billie Eilish performed on Oculus Venues. Pop group Imagine Dragons performed on June 15, 2022.
Concerns and challenges
Health and safety
There are many health and safety considerations of virtual reality. A
number of unwanted symptoms have been caused by prolonged use of
virtual reality, and these may have slowed the proliferation of the technology. Most
virtual reality systems come with consumer warnings, including seizures;
developmental issues in children; trip-and-fall and collision warnings;
discomfort; repetitive stress injury; and interference with medical
devices. Some users may experience twitches, seizures, or blackouts while using
VR headsets, even if they do not have a history of epilepsy and have
never had blackouts or seizures before. One in 4,000 people, or .025%,
may experience these symptoms. Motion sickness, eyestrain, headaches,
and discomfort are the most prevalent short-term adverse effects. In
addition, because of the virtual reality headsets' heavy weight,
discomfort may be more likely among children. Therefore, children are
advised against using VR headsets. Other problems may occur in physical interactions with one's
environment. While wearing VR headsets, people quickly lose awareness of
their real-world surroundings and may injure themselves by tripping
over or colliding with real-world objects.
VR headsets may regularly cause eye fatigue, as does all screened
technology, because people tend to blink less when watching screens,
causing their eyes to become more dried out.
There have been some concerns about VR headsets contributing to myopia,
but although VR headsets sit close to the eyes, they may not
necessarily contribute to nearsightedness if the focal length of the
image being displayed is sufficiently far away.
Virtual reality sickness (also known as cybersickness) occurs when a person's exposure to a virtual environment causes symptoms that are similar to motion sickness symptoms. Women are significantly more affected than men by headset-induced symptoms, at rates of around 77% and 33% respectively. The most common symptoms are general discomfort, headache, stomach
awareness, nausea, vomiting, pallor, sweating, fatigue, drowsiness,
disorientation, and apathy. For example, Nintendo's Virtual Boy received much criticism for its
negative physical effects, including "dizziness, nausea, and headaches". These motion sickness symptoms are caused by a disconnect between what
is being seen and what the rest of the body perceives. When the
vestibular system, the body's internal balancing system, does not
experience the motion that it expects from visual input through the
eyes, the user may experience VR sickness. This can also happen if the
VR system does not have a high enough frame rate, or if there is a lag
between the body's movement and the onscreen visual reaction to it. Because approximately 25–40% of people experience some kind of VR
sickness when using VR machines, companies are actively looking for ways
to reduce VR sickness.
In January 2022 The Wall Street Journal found that VR usage could lead to physical injuries including leg, hand, arm and shoulder injuries. VR usage has also been tied to incidents that resulted in neck injuries (especially injures to the cervical vertebrae).
Children and teenagers in virtual reality
Children are becoming increasingly aware of VR, with the number in
the USA having never heard of it dropping by half from Autumn 2016 (40%)
to Spring 2017 (19%).
A 2022 research report by Piper Sandler revealed that only 26% of U.S. teens own a VR device, 5% use it daily, while 48% of teen headset owners "seldom" use it. Of the teens who don't own a VR headset, 9% plan to buy one. 50% of surveyed teens are unsure about the metaverse or don't have any interest, and don't have any plans to purchase a VR headset.
Studies show that young children, compared to adults, may respond
cognitively and behaviorally to immersive VR in ways that differ from
adults. VR places users directly into the media content, potentially
making the experience very vivid and real for children. For example,
children of 6–18 years of age reported higher levels of presence and
"realness" of a virtual environment compared with adults 19–65 years of
age.
Studies on VR consumer behavior or its effect on children and a
code of ethical conduct involving underage users are especially needed,
given the availability of VR porn and violent content. Related research
on violence in video games suggests that exposure to media violence may
affect attitudes, behavior, and even self-concept. Self-concept is a key
indicator of core attitudes and coping abilities, particularly in
adolescents. Early studies conducted on observing versus participating in violent VR
games suggest that physiological arousal and aggressive thoughts, but
not hostile feelings, are higher for participants than for observers of
the virtual reality game.
Experiencing VR by children may further involve simultaneously
holding the idea of the virtual world in mind while experiencing the
physical world. Excessive usage of immersive technology that has very
salient sensory features may compromise children's ability to maintain
the rules of the physical world, particularly when wearing a VR headset
that blocks out the location of objects in the physical world. Immersive
VR can provide users with multisensory experiences that replicate
reality or create scenarios that are impossible or dangerous in the
physical world. Observations of 10 children experiencing VR for the
first time suggested that 8-12-years-old kids were more confident to
explore VR content when it was in a familiar situation, e.g. the
children enjoyed playing in the kitchen context of Job Simulator, and enjoyed breaking rules by engaging in activities they are not allowed to do in reality, such as setting things on fire.
Privacy
Digital privacy concerns have been associated with VR platforms; the persistent tracking required by all VR systems makes the technology particularly useful for, and vulnerable to, mass surveillance, including information gathering of personal actions, movements and responses. Data from eye tracking sensors, which are projected to become a standard feature in virtual reality headsets, may indirectly reveal information about a user's ethnicity, personality
traits, fears, emotions, interests, skills, and physical and mental
health conditions.
The nature of VR technology means that it can gather a wide range
of data about its users. This can include obvious information such as
usernames and account information, but also extends to more personal
data like physical movements, interaction habits, and responses to
virtual environments. In addition, advanced VR systems can capture
biometric data like voice patterns, eye movements, and physiological
responses to VR experiences. Virtual reality technology has grown substantially since its inception,
moving from a niche technology to a mainstream consumer product. As the
user base has grown, so too has the amount of personal data collected
by these systems. This data can be used to improve VR systems, to provide personalized
experiences, or to collect demographic information for marketing
purposes. However, it also raises significant privacy concerns,
especially when this data is stored, shared, or sold without the user's
explicit consent.
Existing data protection and privacy laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU, and the California Consumer Privacy Act
(CCPA) in the United States, can be applied to VR. These regulations
require companies to disclose how they collect and use data, and give
users a degree of control over their personal information. Despite these regulations, enforcing privacy laws in VR can be
challenging due to the global nature of the technology and the vast
amounts of data collected.
Due to its history of privacy issues, the involvement of Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.) in the VR market has led to privacy concerns specific to its platforms. In August 2020, Facebook announced that Oculus products would become subject to the terms of use and privacy policy of the Facebook
social network, and that a Facebook account would be required to use
future Oculus headset models, and all existing models (via deprecation
of the separate Oculus account system) beginning January 2023. The
announcement was criticized for the mandatory integration of Oculus
headsets with Facebook data collection and policies (including the Facebook real-name policy), and preventing use of the hardware if the user's account is suspended. The following month, Facebook halted the sale of Oculus products in
Germany due to concerns from regulators that the new policy was a
violation of GDPR. In 2022, the company would later establish a separate "Meta account" system.
In 2024, researchers from the University of Chicago demonstrated a security vulnerability in Meta Quest's Android-based system software (leveraging "Developer Mode" to inject an infected app), allowing them to obtain users' login credentials and inject false details during online banking
sessions. This attack was considered to be difficult to execute outside
of research settings but would make its target vulnerable to risks such
as phishing, Internet fraud, and grooming.
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