18 Healthcare Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Companies to Watch

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are redefining what’s possible in healthcare, as well as other sectors. The 18 companies listed below are some of the top virtual and augmented reality companies in the medical industry. 

Defining Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is a technology that blends real-world elements with virtual ones. For example, a person might visit a trade show and aim their smartphone at a display to activate an AR experience that allows them to see a computer-generated version of a product.

This approach is particularly useful for getting people excited about prototypes or helping them understand the potential of any item not yet finalized. 

AR vs. VR: What’s The Difference?

Virtual reality is another buzz-worthy technology that continues to capture attention and fascinate people in the medical sector and outside of it. Although VR and AR have some similarities, they’re not the same. 

Both technologies typically respond to real-time changes, such as how a person moves. Thus, the technologies need extremely low latency to work seamlessly for users. Additionally, VR and AR seek to give people experiences that are not possible to achieve quickly in the real world alone. For example, home furnishing brand IKEA offered an AR app that allowed people to place virtual pieces in their homes to check dimensions. 

However, whereas AR incorporates some versions of the actual environment into its results, VR aims to give people a completely immersive experience that begins once they strap on the required headsets. A person engaging with a VR experience will see everything happening inside the headset, but the AR experience happens by enhancing things within an individual’s environment.