COVID-19 Impact on Augmented Reality and Virtual Realityin Information and Communication Technology Industry
The pandemic started with its epicenter in China in 2019 and has been continuously spreading by then to all over the world, so far 216 countries and territories have been affected with COVID-19, U.S. being on the top with cases reaching to about 4.38 million, followed by Brazil, India and then by many European countries such as Russia, Spain, Italy and others. The COVID-19 cases reaching to the big named countries with strong dominance in the global market which has adversely affected the economy globally.
The spread of Coronavirus has led to the global recession, many companies are being bound to take stringent actions of laying of their employees, small business are being shut, manufacturing facilities are being put on hold. There has been a disruption in supply chain of many industries due to restriction in logistics and closing of manufacturing facilities. In addition, the slowdown in economy has lowered the spending capability of individuals and people are saving money for emergencies.
Virtual reality can be defined as a technology that creates fully immersed simulated environment through the use of computer technology. Virtual reality provides an immersed 3D environment to the user by simulating various senses such as vision, touch hearing and even smell.
The virtual reality uses devices such as head-mounted displays, projectors and display walls for generating realistic visuals and sounds for providing the experience of real world in virtual environment. Augmented reality on other hand provides with the digital elements on a live view often by using camera on smartphone. The most common examples of augmented reality are the Snapchat lens and the game of Pokemon Go.
The pandemic has led to the growth of digital era, the users and industries have shifted to online sources and digital platforms for their daily operations. The augmented and virtual reality has thus been benefited by the increasing requirement of augmented and virtual reality in healthcare, e-commerce, education and other industries.
"Many organizations, from giants like Walmart to small companies, use virtual reality in the education and training of their employees, and VR is also very popular in schools in the educational context."
• Industry Expert
The industry expects the use of augmented and virtual reality to become more prominent and common after the pandemic. “One is the remote-assistance scenario. Another is guided workflow, where you see work instructions in AR in front of you in a hands-free environment. Another is retraining, or re-skilling the workforce.” Read in detail...