Virtual reality poised to step beyond gaming as start-ups look for skills and funding

Clunky and high-cost first generation devices are being superseded by sleeker goggles, opening up virtual reality to the consumer marketplace. European entrepreneurs are lining up to deliver new products

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Diðrik Steinsson is creating the virtual office

Icelandic entrepreneur Diðrik Steinsson is one of the few people in the world plotting the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) technology beyond games.

His Reykjavík-based company, Mure VR, is developing Breakroom, a convincing computer-generated office environment for anyone who wishes to escape the distraction of the open-plan office.

“We’re making software for hardware that doesn’t really exist yet,” said Steinsson, who started the company in 2014 with two friends.

That is all set to change during the first half of next year when several major companies, including the top two manufacturers of video game consoles, Sony and Microsoft, launch VR headsets for use in peoples’ homes.

It is the latest milestone in an industry that has had plenty of false dawns.

A Harvard University scientist showed off a face-mounted display in the 1960s, portentously nicknamed the ‘Sword of Damocles’. There followed an unsuccessful wave of virtual-reality technology in the 1980s and 90s, when limited computing power and cumbersome headsets failed to produce convincing experiences.

Today, a number of companies are betting that technology has advanced enough to try again, with new, improved VR software and hardware for applications ranging from video games, to films, education and social media.

Detractors, on the other hand, dismiss it as fad which can bring about motion sickness.

The watershed moment came in March 2014 when Facebook acquired a start-up called Oculus for $2.23 billion.

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http://www.sciencebusiness.net/news/77272/Virtual-reality-poised-to-step-beyond-gaming-as-start-ups-look-for-skills-and-funding