When Apple launched its Vision Pro earlier this yr, it joined a crowded virtual reality headset market that features entries from Meta, Playstation, HTC, and extra.
That market acquired slightly extra crowded this week as Varjo, a Finnish firm, launched its XR-4 headset. And whereas it might be much like the opposite headsets in the marketplace, there’s one huge distinction.
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The brand new VR headset, which carries a price ticket of $3,990, capabilities very similar to fashions from Apple and Meta. It has a 120-degree discipline of view, twin 20-megapixel cameras, two 4K shows, and a gaze-driven XR autofocus system — all specs that rival the Vision Pro.
However Varjo’s system is aimed squarely at companies as a substitute of customers. And with dozens of Fortune 100 firms utilizing VR in myriad methods — from coaching astronauts and pilots to reconfiguring manufacturing processes to advancing medical analysis — there are many purposes to be discovered.
Whereas most VR headsets spotlight 2D makes use of with some combined actuality, the XR-4 focuses on combined actuality.
Along with the bottom model, there is a “Focal Version” that options considerably improved passthrough (and a considerably greater worth at $9,900) and a “Safe Version” that provides what Varjo describes as “government-grade compliance” and “pilot-grade visible constancy.” (No worth is listed for this model, solely a message to “Contact us for pricing.”)
The Safe Version is maybe probably the most intriguing, because it’s designed to work with high-end coaching software program like VBS Blue IG from Bohemia, Prepar3D from Lockheed Martin, Unity’s Unreal Engine, OpenXR 1.0, and FlightSafety Important. In August, the corporate was chosen to offer head-mounted shows for the US Military’s Reconfigurable Digital Collective Coach Air Program, a transportable program used for pilot coaching in numerous helicopters.
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A few of the purposes Varjo has in thoughts seem to lean towards navy pilots and flight coaching. (The corporate does describe the headset as enabling “extremely efficient and cost-efficient coaching eventualities.”) Nevertheless, contemplating the excessive stage of combined actuality this headset delivers, it is simple to see the way it could possibly be utilized in different environments the place safety is paramount — say, for making a map of a constructing’s inside that may be interacted with and even weapons coaching.
And in contrast to different headsets, the most important distinction is that the Safe model Version of the XR-4 does not require on-line connectivity.
Because the XR-4 is meant for enterprise, and the very best model is meant for safe authorities purposes, there is a fairly slim likelihood that almost all customers will ever get their palms on one. However, the truth that a headset like that is hitting the market is vital, in that it exhibits the place VR for the typical shopper might finally go and it showcases the aptitude of VR far past leisure.
