:00:00. > :00:00.Coming up shortly is Newswatch, but now on BBC News,
:00:00. > :01:00.It's fun, but it's not going to change the world...
:01:01. > :01:03.It wouldn't fit in as much as, say, my phone would.
:01:04. > :01:10.Not really what you want to hear when you are talking about VR.
:01:11. > :01:12.Especially since the technology has actually been around
:01:13. > :01:23.But it wouldn't be the first bit of amazing looking tech to simply
:01:24. > :01:27.One of the problems is the media goes mad over it and then everything
:01:28. > :01:30.gets overhyped, not that we would be guilty of course...
:01:31. > :01:35.But the truth is, sometimes stuff gets overblown and the people
:01:36. > :01:41.who buy the thing end up getting disappointed by the thing.
:01:42. > :01:44.Well, this week, the BBC, in partnership with Ipsos Mori,
:01:45. > :01:48.has published research into the reality of virtual reality.
:01:49. > :01:51.16 ordinary people were given Samsung Gear VR headsets for three
:01:52. > :01:56.months, and asked to use them in their free time at home.
:01:57. > :01:59.And for any long-term observers of tech, the results
:02:00. > :02:07.Actually finding your headset in the first place, it might be
:02:08. > :02:10.shoved in a drawer or somewhere, under your bed, dust it off,
:02:11. > :02:13.it might be dirty, it might not be totally clean.
:02:14. > :02:17.Getting your phone and putting it into the headset,
:02:18. > :02:20.if you have a mobile-driven VR headset, and making sure
:02:21. > :02:23.that the phone has high battery because that will often be
:02:24. > :02:33.Finding a piece of content to actually watch, the phone might
:02:34. > :02:35.overheat and the experience will then stop.
:02:36. > :02:37.You might be a family, friends or flatmates pranking
:02:38. > :02:40.you as you are doing it so you will feel self-conscious.
:02:41. > :02:43.Your hair might be messed up, or your make up, whatever.
:02:44. > :02:46.And all of those various barriers come to be quite significant
:02:47. > :02:56.behavioural hurdles to get people to do this.
:02:57. > :02:59.These things just aren't ready for prime time yet.
:03:00. > :03:02.They are not easy to use and they are not easy to share.
:03:03. > :03:05.For example, as soon as I take this off my head,
:03:06. > :03:08.it switches off to save power which means I cannot get something
:03:09. > :03:11.going and then give it to someone else to enjoy.
:03:12. > :03:14.It will switch off and they have to navigate to the content
:03:15. > :03:19.It means I've ended up putting a sticker over the sensor so it does
:03:20. > :03:22.not know when it's been taken off, which is stupid!
:03:23. > :03:26.There's really no argument that VR can blow your mind.
:03:27. > :03:33.But after those initial experiences, keeping people interested
:03:34. > :03:38.Once they are exhausting the key experiences,
:03:39. > :03:40.the novelty experiences around the roller-coaster rides,
:03:41. > :03:42.and the horror experiences, those kinds of things,
:03:43. > :03:49.then their enthusiasm ebbs away quite quickly.
:03:50. > :03:53.And one of the reasons why people get bored is that there was not much
:03:54. > :03:57.With VR content, I think there is a bit of a chicken
:03:58. > :04:04.Obviously, to encourage more people to buy VR headsets,
:04:05. > :04:08.it would be good to have more and more VR content.
:04:09. > :04:12.But it costs a lot of money to make and you don't necessarily
:04:13. > :04:15.want to invest in making the content unless you are confident a lot
:04:16. > :04:20.So, it is difficult to put a lot of money into something
:04:21. > :04:23.if you do not know that people will buy the headset but then
:04:24. > :04:27.to convince them to buy the headset, maybe you have to do that?
:04:28. > :04:29.It's a problem that's also beset Blu-ray, 4K,
:04:30. > :04:33.We've moved incredibly far in the last two is in terms
:04:34. > :04:36.of what has been produced, but there was a lot
:04:37. > :04:41.There is consumer uptake of headsets, technology needs to be
:04:42. > :04:46.better for production tools to produce that.
:04:47. > :04:49.All of these things are happening at once and incredibly fast,
:04:50. > :04:53.This might explain why last week Facebook cut the price
:04:54. > :04:56.of their Oculus headset for the second time.
:04:57. > :05:00.It's a lot to shell out for something that might just end up
:05:01. > :05:03.By reducing its prices, oculus will probably appeal to more
:05:04. > :05:05.people who were already considering buying the headset,
:05:06. > :05:09.but I'm not sure it will convince many people to buy it,
:05:10. > :05:21.It still costs about the same as a games console.
:05:22. > :05:24.And it's not just the price of the headset itself,
:05:25. > :05:27.you need to have a pretty high-end machine to run these things on.
:05:28. > :05:30.And even Sony, the company that provides a high-end PlayStation 4
:05:31. > :05:33.with its VR headsets, which has sold 1 million
:05:34. > :05:36.of the things, told us not to get too excited about it.
:05:37. > :05:39.I think that, in the last six months to a year,
:05:40. > :05:41.we have seen a little bit of overhyping of
:05:42. > :05:52.We saw this as the start of a very long process of bringing VR
:05:53. > :05:55.You will see a lot more technology innovation.
:05:56. > :06:00.I think content makers, game makers, and others,
:06:01. > :06:04.including folks making television programmes,
:06:05. > :06:08.they are really only just starting to learn what the tools are to make
:06:09. > :06:13.Everybody knows it will take some time before we produce really good
:06:14. > :06:15.and compelling content, but we are inventing a new medium
:06:16. > :06:18.here and that is obviously going to take time.
:06:19. > :06:20.But unless we start somewhere, we will never do it.
:06:21. > :06:24.So we need to wait a few years while you guys get it right,
:06:25. > :06:26.so there is something worth watching?
:06:27. > :06:29.LAUGHTER You cannot develop anything unless it is in conjunction
:06:30. > :06:32.with the audience too, say if we have no audience,
:06:33. > :06:35.we would never be able to create something and make it really
:06:36. > :07:12.This robot has been built to detect landmines, and sadly, sometimes he
:07:13. > :07:22.finds them. Understandably, some can be expensive. But he has been made
:07:23. > :07:26.on the cheap. Made with a raspberry Pi computer, this is ?50 a pop.
:07:27. > :07:33.Every time it makes a good move, it essentially gives itself positive
:07:34. > :07:40.reinforcement in terms of trying back again. If it is negative, does
:07:41. > :07:45.not do well, then that is negative reinforcement. It does not try that
:07:46. > :07:52.type of motion, reinforcing it by giving it good and bad feedback. Not
:07:53. > :07:59.only could it potentially save lives on Earth, it could also be used to
:08:00. > :08:06.further research in space. We want to use this to manufacture robots in
:08:07. > :08:12.space. Rather than changing the design of the robot on Earth where
:08:13. > :08:20.we don't have the environment it will be deployed, we can actually
:08:21. > :08:23.just trek the material into space and manufactured the robots on the
:08:24. > :08:41.spot. -- take. Currently, it gets tied after three
:08:42. > :08:48.hours. So they want to put solar panels on the back. They also want
:08:49. > :08:53.to automate them so swarms of them working together can quickly cover
:08:54. > :08:59.large areas. This robot is good at going through sand. Not just
:09:00. > :09:05.landmine detection, but farming, anywhere you don't want an expensive
:09:06. > :09:06.robot interacting with dirty environments, this robot is good for
:09:07. > :09:45.that. I have had a stutter since I was
:09:46. > :09:51.six. It doesn't get in the way of things I do. Although it is not
:09:52. > :09:58.curable, he has found a way to treat it as best as he can through virtual
:09:59. > :10:07.reality. I hope to aim to benefit people who stutter. He is using a
:10:08. > :10:11.headset which can track eye movement, something which can be
:10:12. > :10:19.severely affected when someone is stuttering. The eyes came close,
:10:20. > :10:26.Flickr, adjust on a place. -- flicker. It can work as therapy for
:10:27. > :10:30.those who start. He is able to suggest similar exercises and
:10:31. > :10:36.techniques, and in the future, he hopes his research may be used by
:10:37. > :10:42.speech therapists in treatment. When a person is in the environment, they
:10:43. > :10:49.will see an animated avatar. They can talk to them about a certain
:10:50. > :11:00.topic like a favourite holiday. At that time I will be tracking their
:11:01. > :11:07.eyes. I will advise what to do and how to improve speech as well.
:11:08. > :11:11.Gareth has previously used a more basic headset to improve confidence
:11:12. > :11:17.by simulating an entire audience for them to speak in front of. Although
:11:18. > :11:21.he is only addressing the eye movement and not speech directly, he
:11:22. > :11:35.hopes this research will improve the confidence of those who stutter, and
:11:36. > :11:38.indeed, those who don't. And that is it for me short Click. The
:11:39. > :11:41.full-length one is on line right now. Thank you for watching. We will
:11:42. > :11:43.see you soon.