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3. SUITEABLE VR HARDWARE

3.1 Introduction

One of the objectives of the E-Compendium is to give a brief overview of the current state of tech-
nical development in VR and a selection of recommended hardware.

We would like to say in advance that the VETREALITY project can only partially fulfil this. The main
reason is that this field is now extremely large, diverse and dynamic, with a great deal of technical

equipment being continually developed and brought to market. Above all, however, it is the con-
ceptual dynamism of this field that makes it so difficult to get an overview; as soon as one is done

with it, it is already partly outdated and replaced by innovations. In this context, we would only like
to mention the initially rather parallel developments of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality

(AR), which have meanwhile merged into Mixed or Extended Reality (MR/XR).

The project group is realistic enough to be able to assess what it can achieve and where its limits -

in terms of skills, money and time - lie. Therefore, in its research work, it has concentrated primarily
on those 9 selected hardware items which a) place VR at the centre of immersive activities, b) is of

interest to the formal education sector, c) is relatively inexpensive to acquire and d) is relatively
easy to handle - even for people who are not IT experts and especially for SEN students. We ask

for your kind understanding that we do not include detailed technical and background information

in our descriptions, which are of less importance for our non-technical target groups. If necessary,
this information can be quickly researched on the internet. In addition, we would like to refer to
the work of other EU projects on this topic, especially the "State of the Art Technology Report"

developed by several technical universities and published by the VAM*Rs project in June 2021

(https://vam-realities.eu/vam-realities-state-of-the-art-report).

However, we have attached great importance to subjecting selected hardware to a SWOT analysis,

which reflects the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of each item at a glance. To-
gether with some basic technical data, with an average market price (as of March/April 2021) and,

above all, with a brief assessment of their usability in WBL lessons with SEN students, it should
make it immediately clear whether the acquisition of this hardware makes sense for your plans or

not. In the best case, you choose two or three from our suggestions, do your own research and
talk to experts, and then decide on the item with the greatest benefit and value for money. In this

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