Virtual and augmented reality is not all fun and games. This technology has actually come to be quite useful in many different industries and sectors. Here is a list of 5 unexpected uses of virtual reality.
1. Crime scene reconstructions:
Virtual reality could ‘transport’ juries directly into the crime scenes or to the moment of a crime itself.
This kind of immersive reconstruction helps to answer decisive questions in the courtroom: could this person really have reached for the gun from where he was standing? Could someone really have come in through that window without being seen? And so on. Through detailed reconstruction of locations or events, juries are able to make a decision based on what they experienced themselves, rather than simply listening to witness accounts. This promising application of VR is being researched and developed by different European institutions. The Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University of Zurich in Switzerland has presented a low-cost system that allows interactive visualisation of crime scenes.
Similarly, a project at Staffordshire University in the UK, in collaboration with the UK Police Forces, also looks at developing alternative way of presenting crime scenes through virtual reality.
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3. Archaelogy:
European researchers are transforming archaeological and cultural sites into 3D environments, to be explored in VR. This project has recently been featured in Euronews’ Futuris science research series, which you can watch below.
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Source: Euro News