Make virtual reality boring and it has a business case. This is the sad, but true, fact of the virtual reality industry according to Dr Mike Griffin, head of research and development at Colt. VR is a bit like artificial intelligence was in the 1980s and is going through the same pains and difficulties. Lots of claims have been made that are not sustainable, he says. Compare a laser with VR. No-one wants to buy a laser. It is only useful if it is embedded in a product to give a clear business benefit. In the same way, VR is a wonderful technology, but it has not been clear what to do with it, he argues. Colt reckons it is different because it invests its cash looking at what VR will do in a business situation. It has two current products: Vector, a command and control simulator developed to train senior officers in the fire service to deal with large fires that would otherwise cost a fortune to simulate; and the Virtual Production Planner, designed along with the British Broadcasting Corp’s training group to aid television set design and planning. In addition to a virtual set design, the system is integrated with Microsoft Excel so that the costings of new set can be evaluated. VR only makes up part of the system, says Griffin. Colt says it makes money out of virtual reality because VR only makes up around a quarter of any of its systems. Unfortunately, this makes them seem less exciting. Colt is a privately held firm set up four years ago. It now hopes to sell its Vector training system to the US Department of Defense.
