Things you can do with Oculus Rift apart from gaming

 

Almost four years after it began as a Kickstarter campaign, the Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) headset has finally started being delivered to customers. While it is a great product for gaming, it also has the potential to revolutionize other fields as well. Scroll down to check out 5 things you can do with the Oculus Rift VR headset other than gamimg.

 

 

Architecture

 

Devices like the Rift are being used to change how architects work -- one New York-based company, IrisVR, uses its software to create VR-compatible 3D models which allow clients to feel like they're actually in a building, walking through the rooms and really getting a sense of the scale and feel of a space.

IrisVR also works with engineers and designers, letting them see their creations up close without needing to go through the lengthy and expensive prototyping process.

 

Art

 

VR, especially when used with motion-detecting controllers, can let artists to enter the world of their paintings and drawings.

Google's Tilt Brush, compatible with the upcoming HTC Vive headset, does just this -- users enter an expansive blank space, and use the Vive's controller to paint and draw in the space around them. They can move around their 3D 'canvas' simply by walking, while creating fully-realized paintings, dioramas and abstract creations.

 

Medicine

Virtual reality's applications in medicine were demonstrated in January, when doctors in Florida used the Google Cardboard headset to save the life of a baby.

Four-month-old Teegan Lexcen needed heart surgery, but doctors didn't have the confidence to go ahead since the standard 2D images of her body couldn't provide enough detail. However, by converting her MRI scans into a 3D model and viewing it through Google Cardboard, they managed to develop a complex strategy for the operation and eventually rebuilt part of her heart in a seven-hour procedure, saving her life.

Devices like the Rift can also be used in doctor training, remote surgery and all kinds of internal imaging.

 

Therapy

The practice of using virtual reality to treat mental health problems already has its own acronym -- virtual reality therapy, or VRT.

Dr Albert Rizzo from the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies has used VR to treat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by putting them through 'exposure therapy'. He uses the Rift to virtually place soldiers at the scene of a traumatic battlefield event in a controlled situation, helping them process their anxious feelings and overcome the worst of the disorder.

 

Tourism

If you've ever wanted to visit a foreign country but can't afford the plane tickets, VR may be the answer. Looking at the pyramids through a VR headset is never going match up to the real thing, but it can come pretty close. There's a number of programmes and applications out there which transport users to museums, historical sights and famous landscapes around the world, and they generally do a pretty good job.