Virtual Reality, as its name suggests, is a simulated 3-Dimensional (3D) environment that enables you to explore and interact with a virtual surrounding in a way that feels entirely real to your senses.

A combination of computer hardware and software is used to generate the simulated environment, which is helped using wearable devices such as a headset or goggles to enable you to interact with the virtual environment.

There are three types, or categories, of Virtual Reality:

1. Non-immersive– this is typically a 3D simulated environment that’s accessed through a computer screen or similar device, for example a video game
2. Semi-immersive– this is where a virtual 3D environment is accessed through a computer screen or some form of glasses or headset, for example being in a flight simulator
3. Fully immersive– this form of VR incorporates a 3D environment including sight, sound and often touch where you wear special equipment such as goggles, a headset and/or gloves to experience and interact with the virtual environment and its objects. This form of VR ‘hides’ the real world and you are completely immersed in the digital or virtual environment

Our team at Optivly can develop a training experience using virtual reality to enable an organisation’s team to learn various skills in an environment which feels ‘real’ for the learner. This form of training is highly engaging, extremely safe and enables you to provide ‘life-like’ hands-on training but in a simulated environment.

VR-based training gives you the ability to upskill team members in a way that’s not possible using traditional training methods.

You can train team members in tasks that could be potentially harmful if undertaken in the workplace or in a real-life situation, for example learning how to sharpen a knife or to fix electrical equipment.

It also provides you with the ability to place a team member, or an entire team for that matter, into a simulated environment to learn new skills or experience an environment or situation without having to be physically located there, for example providing induction training of your factory or office environment so a new team member can be productive from day one.