When you think of virtual reality (or VR), you probably think of gaming and the enthusiastic culture that surrounds it. If you didn't know too much about VR before the pandemic, then you definitely heard more about it during the pandemic when VR sales soared!
Brands have been exploring how VR can help in different industries and it's quickly becoming a massive value-add for many companies. Here at echo3D we compiled a list of exciting use cases and examples of VR being used in the real world today!
Healthcare
Formerly called EaseVRx, RelieVRx is an FDA-approved therapy that uses VR to help sufferers of chronic lower back pain using cognitive behavioral therapy. It's meant to be paired with additional therapies to maximize the benefits and comes as a standalone headset, controller and breathing attachment. The treatment lasts 8 weeks and includes 56 VR sessions. According to blind tests, 66% of RelieVRx patients reported significantly higher pain relief than those that didn't use the treatment.
What's unique about RelieVRx is it's designed to work in lieu of opioids when paired with the other suggested treatments which vary case by case. It's also prescription-based, making it a controlled experience with measurable results.
Credit: RelieVR 
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Oxford Medical Simulation has fully immersive medical training in VR. Whether they're training to get vitals for patients, administer medicine or operate, they can practice in VR. Training on actual people can be dangerous and expensive with high risks. Data has shown that practicing in VR has helped improve performance and patient safety while lowering costs and malpractice cases. It's easily repeatable which provides consistent training environments for all students.
Industrial Training
PaleBlue creates highly detailed VR simulations for training in oil, gas, and space to name a few industries! Heavily industrial fields are notoriously difficult to work in. Some reasons for this are the complexity and size of equipment, specialization of skills and training environments, operating and training costs, limited manpower and harsh working conditions.
By training and using simulations in VR, it's cost effective, easily accessible, inexpensive, duplicatable, safer and lowers overall risk. Engineers are able to train with and operate machinery remotely now. For example, oil workers can remotely operate vehicles underwater for subsea operations and aspiring astronauts can experience being in space without having to be in space.
Credit: PaleBlue Product Demos
Dyson's always had a reputation for using cutting edge technology and now they're sharing that technology with their customers in VR. They've created virtual showrooms demonstrating details of the actual products. Users get to see the actual 3D models used company-wide, their components, how to use them and how they look in home environments. This highly rated experience is available on the Oculus quest for free here.
Tours
This well-known museum in Paris built an elaborate VR experience for those that cannot travel to see the iconic artworks. You can get just as close in VR to see the Mona Lisa in "Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass". They took it a step further and made it so you are immersed in the painting and not just within the museum walls. You can take the virtual reality tour of the Louvre museum and demo their experiences at home by visiting their website here.
The market for commercial and enterprise applications for VR is booming, with healthcare, retail, education, and location-based VR seeing early traction and expected to continue pushing the VR market forward. Training, 3D visualization, and other applications like virtual meetings and productivity are also becoming increasingly common and we can't wait to see what the future has in store for VR.
Check out echo3D if you're interested in creating your own cloud-connected VR application that can be updated in real-time.
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echo3D (www.echo3D.co; Techstars '19) is a cloud platform for 3D/AR/VR that provides tools and network infrastructure to help developers & companies quickly build and deploy 3D apps, games, and content.
