On an ordinary Bahraini night, the family gathered around a sofa that has sparked a discussion two weeks ago. the color? Between the “sophisticated” gray and the “most sophisticated” gray, the decision is lost. The father opens the smart glasses and says with the confidence of the victor: Let us try the extended reality – XR. Suddenly, the virtual sofa appears in the lounge, elegantly turns, and it is filled under the light of the lamps. The mother tries different materials, and the son changes the size with a click, and the girl adds an oriental rug from the Manama market … by default, of course. Another pressure, so the application fly to a “copy” of the house at the time of dust, to make sure that the color becomes bleak. In a light moment, the family discovers that the virtual sofa is more beautiful than the real bank account, and the discussion returns to reality.
The extended reality is not magic, but a way to link digital things to our real place. Wearing glasses or raising your phone, so the words, images and triglycerides stand in front of you, interact with the wall, table and lighting as if from the foundation of the house. Technology brings us back to our senses: we walk amid the information instead of what we only read. It opens the appetite for the story: the student enters a class of science in a “journey” inside the lung through virtual reality, and the trainee in a factory that learns to maintain a fake model before he touches a single device through the training simulation, and the tourist stands at the Bahrain Castle and witnesses the layers of history are repeated in front of it, the old markets wake up with its shop and smells And its roads; Impact, not just a picture.
If we want a direct practical benefit in Bahrain, education first: a geographical lesson that turns the map into terrain that you walk on, and studied a history that is rebuilt the old Muharraq class layer. In health, a natural remedy places the patient’s exercises as shapes that move in front of him in the hall, and the application takes its performance and corrects it. In vocational training, safety simulation paths at work sites, without risk or stopping production lines. In tourism, pearly tours give us a visual “line” that leads the visitor between homes and alleys, with audible stories that appear automatically when it passes next to an old door. Until shopping changes: the mash dish appears three -dimensional on the table before ordering, with price, calories and nice advice: “Think twice”.
Of course, each sweetness. Some people affect the dizziness of the movement, and some devices monitor our room accurately raising questions about privacy: Where do our home pictures go? And who guarantees that our son will not spend his day in the alternative world and forget his duties? The answer is neither underestimation nor intimidation, but clear rules: a national guide to the use of the reality that extends in schools, determines the duration of use, the types of content, and data protection mechanisms. We need a standard for the tourism sector that guarantees the accuracy of the historical narration, so that the past does not turn into a “action movie”. We need a small incubator that supports emerging companies that build an authentic Bahraini content: from high craftsmen to ship makers, the skill is kept in interactive models that are not forgotten.
The idea is not an escape from reality, but rather the reality of our imagination. We do not replace the visit of the castle with its image, but rather put a layer that explains, lights and inspires. With a few policy intelligence and a lot of creators’ imagination, we can make a Bahraini version of the extended reality: practical, nice, and useful, respecting the family’s taste and privacy just as it respects the history of the place and the truth of the story. In the end, the father returns to the glasses to decide the decision of the sofa. He chooses a light pink color, and you have an invoice in front of him in installments; And he smiles like someone who says: “God willing, two dimensions,” and the device will be closed. This is the true extended reality: all the possibilities show you .. Then he gently reminds you that the decision and the budget are still in your pocket.
* Technical expert
