In his weekly video VR/AR Bytes Podcast, Orlando Chapter President and VRARA COO John Cunningham provides short interviews with the movers and shakers in the VRARA industry who share their insights into how VR & AR is impacting their businesses. Watch his interviews below with Kris Kolo, our Global Executive Director, and Nathan Pettyjohn, Founder & President of VRARA.
Watch the entire series here, and subscribe to receive the weekly podcast!
The newly announced Acer SpatialLabs View Pro 27 was on display for the first time, along with other SpatialLabs devices at the Immerse Global Summit (IGS) in Orlando, Florida from October 17-19.
The Acer SpatialLabs View Pro 27 is a canvas for creators and developers, turning ideas into vivid 3D worlds, glasses-free. With SpatialLabs technology, designs leap out with clarity. Every detail stands out, bringing concepts closer to reality.
Acer SpatialLabs View Pro 27 fuses art & tech in a 27-inch 4K display. The advanced 3D system, from visuals to acoustics, is crafted for immersion. Explore detailed models or vast landscapes, bringing designs to life with unmatched realism.
Enjoy flawless 3D visuals, even in low light. Our tech precisely tracks eye positions in dim environments, ensuring the 3D experience is always perfectly tuned to the viewer. Whether you prefer working in low light settings or want to showcase your creations in soft-light ambience, visuals perfectly adjust to your movements for consistently captivating and clear view.
Dive into your projects with a 160Hz refresh rate, making animations fluid and lifelike. A detachable hood ensures focused immersion, while the truest colors shine through, thanks to a Color Gamut Delta E < 2. With the SpatialLabs View Pro 27, live every detail of your creation.
Acer Immerse Audio is an advanced AI-driven sound system, along with beamforming and head tracking, that creates a spatial audio experience that surrounds you. Every detail, from hardware to algorithms, is optimized to immerse you in sound. Whether in a digital realm or cinematic content, the audio adjusts in real-time like a virtual headset, syncing with every movement and emotion.
The SpatialLabs View Pro 27 epitomizes adaptability. Perfect for interactive exhibits, educational hubs, or professional workspaces, its ErgoStand design offers versatile tilt, swivel, pivot, and height adjustments. Enhanced by VESA compatibility, it supports diverse mounting options. You can also pair it with a mini PC to transform it into a dynamic centerpiece for any environment.
XR Today’s Rory Greener speaks with Dr Linda Ciavarelli, Co-Founder of HouseCall VR, at Immerse Global Summit 2023 in Orlando, Florida.
In this interview, we discuss the following:
What is democratized health care, and how does XR assist in promoting accessible healthcare?
How does XR improve patient care and experiences?
What unique opportunities does XR provide to healthcare pros in a vertical that historically leverages new and legacy tech?
Immerse Global Summit (IGS) 2023 saw a successful first day, with many leading brands filling the Dr. Pillips Center, its exhibition hall and atriums. Moreover, the day ended with a city-wide immersive scavenger hunt that pushed IGS attendees to explore the downtown Orlando area – in a collaborative effort with event partners MetaCenter and Synapse to showcase the local area.
For those still awake following the late-night scavenger hunt, Meta’s Global Executive of Engagement, Reality Labs, Dan Nieves, took the stage on Wednesday morning to inform IGS 2023 attendees with the latest Meta updates, including deep considerations for business and productivity.
Nieves explained:
Metaverse technologies and AI are really reshaping how we experience the physical and digital worlds. If we think about obviously this moment right here, all of us in the same room, being together in the physical world will always be the richest way. – But more and more, people in teams are being distributed and more spread out. So, it’s really the combination of both the physical and digital worlds that are defining our reality.
Moreover, Dan Nieves noted how businesses today are “already using” technologies such as VR and MR to “create new opportunities that benefit our society.” Nieves further explained how a “wide range” of XR for enterprise use cases already exists for clients representing education, healthcare, and workplace collaboration – “we are seeing a number of organisations see real impact today,” Nieves remarked.
During the opening keynote, the Global Executive of Engagement showcased how professionals are leveraging Meta’s immersive workplace product portfolio to complete complex tasks such as eye surgery, upskilling careers, engine maintenance, and helping athletes come back from injury.
During the opening Wednesday keynote, Nieves highlighted how Meta Quest for Business is coming “very soon.”
Nieves explained:
Very soon, we’re going to be launching Meta Quest for Business, which will bring together a solution around user management, app management, device management, which we see as a huge opportunity to help businesses and organisations who are looking to open up new ways of working.
Dan Nieves explained how Meta “firmly” believes that immersive technology is “the future” of human connection.
Moreover, Nieves added that other emerging technologies, such as AI and the cloud, will come together to become greater than the sum of their parts and “work together to help build the future of human connection, and one very focused on around the human experience.”
Nieves went on to explain how, alongside related emerging technology, new hardware with improved form factor – notably the firm’s recently released Ray Ban smart glasses – lowers the barrier to entry and helps to “democratise how people connect and interact with new information.”
“We talk often about this concept of social presence,” remarked Nieves. According to the Meta spokesperson, a “key part” of the Metaverse’s success relies on the feeling of human-to-human connectivity and matching real-life interaction as closely as possible – “how do we recreate that sense of presence so that it can feel like we’re all together.”
Nieves said:
The phone has been an incredible way for how we stay connected. But too often, we rely on screens to tap into virtual worlds or other content. It pulls us away from the moment that we’re in and the people that we’re physically with. So, we see this barrier dissolving over time, especially with the rise of mixed reality and, ultimately, augmented reality, where the technology starts to fade right into the background, and that allows us to simply enhance the world around us and stay more present in the moment that we’re in.
AR/VR/MR helps to power a deeper level of connection and sense of presence, notes Nieves. At IGS 2023, the event’s halls see a trove of XR vendors and end-users all pushing together to achieve a shared goal of immersive connectivity. While forecasts of when XR will become a day-to-day commonality vary greatly per person; the community’s shared goals and outreach could push the industry in the right direction.
Originally posted on Xrtoday.com by Rory Greener.
XR Today's Rory Greener speaks with Caleb Trees, Director of Operations and Recruitment at Immersed, at Immerse Global Summit 2023 in Orlando, Florida.
In this interview, we discuss the following: 1) Introducing the Visor headset and the device's place in a busy 2024 market. 2) Behavioural considerations for deploying productivity hardware. 3) Potential benefits for enterprise end-users.
If you're looking for more information on this topic visit https://immersed.com/
Hosted by Rory Greener at XR Today News - Extended Reality Tech News #mr #spatialcomputing #applevisionpro
What a way to kick off Immerse Global Summit (IGS) 2023! This year is more significant than ever thanks to deep event partnerships, which boost IGS 2023 by showcasing local innovative technology talents from Orlando, Florida, while also bringing together some of the best international minds and companies in the AR/VR/MR space.
For 2023, IGS is collaborating with Metacenter Global Week and Synapse to create a heightened event that presents more opportunities for its speakers, attendees, and exhibitors to meet face-to-face and drive tomorrow’s technology today.
Starting the event was an inspiring introductory keynote hosted by David Barilla, Executive Director of Downtown Development Board/Community Redevelopment Agency and Jerry Demings, Mayor of Orange County, which saw the pair highlight why Orlando is the perfect location for the expanded IGS 2023 event.
During the Keynote, David Barilla noted:
Orlando is the Metacenter, as the leading region in the US that is building the Metaverse. In AR/VR, Orlando is the modelling and simulation training capital of the world, with more than $6 billion in contract work annually. AR/VR technology is at core of creating the Metaverse in Orlando.
Moreover, Barilla highlighted the region’s historical excellence in supporting enterprise technology innovation, explaining how Orlando has been developing a “strong tech ecosystem for decades.”
The Executive Director also added:
We [Orlando, Florida] have globally recognised companies and organisations like Lockheed Martin, CENTCOM, Siemens, Deloitte, and NASA. They selected the region decades ago, and they continue to invest and expand here based on years of proven success.
Mayor Demmings also highlighted how the Orlando region has recently accumulated more than six billion dollars via annual simulations-related contracts with companies such as Jet Blue and Lagos – “[the] Orange County simulation technology sector is driving innovation that is now having a global impact,” Demmings remarked.
However, despite grand investments from the Orlando region and its governmental bodies. The success of XR – or any emerging technology – also relies on its decision-makers, thought leaders, and communities.
A famed group spearheading immersive technology innovation for enterprise and beyond is IGS 2023’s key organiser, the VRAR Association.
Led by Nathan Pettyjohn, the CEO of Immerse Growth Network, Founder & President of VRAR Association, and Founder & President of Immerse Global Summit, the association network aims to drive technology innovation worldwide with chapters representing countless regions such as London, Hong Kong, and of course Orlando (with John Cunningham acting as chapter present for this region, helping to host IGS 2023).
During the IGS 2023 opening keynote, Pettyjohn added:
We [the VRAR Association] hold over 100 events per year when you include all of our chapters, but really, it’s about helping companies grow, helping companies learn and connect – bringing together a global community in partnership and that’s what we’re trying to embrace here today [at IGS 2023].
IGS 2023 aims to provide a hotbed for global XR innovation, continuing its vision of hosting leading industry figures who offer core market insights via keynotes, speaker sessions, and demos that showcase emerging immersive technologies and solutions across the AR/VR/MR, Metaverse, and spatial computing spectrum. Moreover, day one provided countless valuable insights into the latest enterprise-ready XR use cases led by vendors and end-users.
Be sure to keep up with XR Today across the following days to learn more about the rich learning experience for innovative business leaders that is IGS 2023.
Originally posted on XR today by Rory Greener.
Post originally appearing on xrtoday.com by Rebecca Carter.
The Immerse Global Summit 2023, now part of the Metacenter Global Week event, is just around the corner. For innovators in the XR world, this incredible event is packed with opportunities to learn, network, and test the latest innovations.
For ten years, the Immerse Global Summit (IGS) has stood as a leader in the XR and metaverse event landscape, featuring the biggest speakers and exhibitors from the industry.
The show hosts have gone above and beyond to deliver fresh content, exceptional research, and exclusive insights to attendees every year. The collaboration with Synapse Orlando promises to make the exhibition even more incredible.
Here’s everything you can expect from the Immerse Global Summit and Metacenter Global Week in 2023.
Produced by the VR/AR Association, the Immerse Global Summit is one of the world’s most exciting technology conference series. Hosting virtual and in-person conferences across the United States and Europe, the event encapsulates the VR/AR Association’s quest to facilitate innovation in the immersive technology space.
Over the last ten years, this premier XR event has proven to be a valuable source of education and insight for those interested in next-generation technology. Previous events haven’t just covered common topics related to extended, virtual, and augmented realities. They’ve also enlightened attendees with information on AI, blockchain, 5G, and the metaverse.
Attendees can engage with industry visionaries, participate in product demos, and collaborate with like-minded professionals with fantastic networking opportunities.
Moreover, the Immerse Global Summit goes beyond simply showcasing the newest creations in the immersive space. Keynote speakers and educational sessions offer insight into these solutions’ impact on various industries, from real estate to healthcare.
Aligning innovation, education, and community opportunities, this year’s event promises to be an unforgettable experience for tech leaders. In 2023, the Summit will occur in the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center in Orlando as part of Metacenter Global Week.
This year, the Immerse Global Summit is evolving thanks to a partnership with Synapse Orlando, a group dedicated to fostering innovation in Florida’s thriving tech community. Synapse is a community resource providing entrepreneurs access to research, opportunities, ideas, and knowledge.
Through annual events, Synapse encourages leaders from all industries and backgrounds to showcase their unique products and demonstrate thought leadership. These events have helped companies find new talent and partners, secure funding, and connect with customers.
Combining Synapse and the Immerse Global Summit allows for synchronizing global and regional leaders in the immersive technology space. The ground-breaking partnership aims to create an event that cements Orlando as one of the leading US regions for metaverse creation.
At the Metacenter Global Week event, attendees will have access to the incredible insights and speaker sessions they’d expect from the Immerse Global Summit. Plus, there will be additional support and resources from the Synapse team to help visitors forge new relationships.
While knowing exactly what we can expect from any XR industry event is difficult, exploring previous seminars can offer some valuable insights.
In 2022, the Immerse Global Summit featured speakers from some of the world’s best-known brands, including Amazon, Meta, Qualcomm, Microsoft, and Unity, and demonstrations of some of the most exciting metaverse technologies.
Unity shared how digital twins were helping its customers unlock new levels of innovation. Meta shared its XR journey for the future and its vision of the impending metaverse. Even Qualcomm revealed insights into its world-changing XR chips.
Alongside insights into new and emerging solutions, attendees learned more about concepts like metaverse marketing and EQ in XR. There were even “choose your own adventure” metaverse experiences on show from Lenovo.
So, what’s on the roster for this year’s Immerse Global Summit?
With a diverse lineup of exhibitors, speakers, and attendees worldwide, the Immerse Global Summit and “Metacenter” Global Week will surely be brimming with value. Some of the core things you can expect to see from this year’s event include:
The Immerse Global Summit has earned an incredible reputation for its insightful speeches from some of the world’s leading XR brands. This year, there’ll be a keynote speech from Meta’s Dan Nieves, the Global Executive responsible for Meta Reality Labs.
Other speakers include:
Kurt Leucht: Simulation Software Developer for NASA
Kurt Scheuringer: Principal Spatial Computing and Prototyping Architect for AWS
Jules Shumaker: Senior Vice President for Revenue and Create Solutions at Unity
Amy Peck: Founder and CEO of Endeavour XR
Eliot Danner: Managing Director of Customer Engineering for Google Cloud
Takeshi Tawarda: Ad Research and Insights, Augmented Reality lead at Snap Inc
You can find the complete speaker list here.
You’ll need to plan your schedule carefully to check out the fantastic educational sessions available at this year’s summit. There are dozens of excellent topics on the agenda, ranging from discussions about generative AI to insights into 3D development.
Just a few exciting sessions you can look forward to include:
Discover the future of Sports and Entertainment: A session covering the opportunities in immersive technology in the sporting world and media landscape. Speakers include Andrew Macaulay and Mike McCarley from the TMRW Sports Group and Jason Siegel from the Greater Orlando Sports Commission.
Generative AI in education: Insights into how Generative AI technologies can revolutionize education. Speakers include Dr. Haifa Maamar, the Director of Emerging Technologies at Full Sail University, Luis Garcia (Collectiva), and Hernan Londono (Dell Technologies).
Engaging the Metaverse with AI-powered avatars: Insights into next-level avatars, with the global debut of Meta Karaoke. Speakers include David Lucatch (Aftermath Islands Metaverse) and Vanessa Mullin (Agora).
Powering AI Experiences and Innovation: A comprehensive session presented by Google Cloud managing director Eliot Danner, Darryl Maraj from GA Telesis, and Doug Dockery of ConstructConnect.
Changing the future with Spatial Data Planes: A panel discussion on 3D innovations and integrations, presented by AWS. Speakers include Kurt Scheuringer of AWS, Brian Nevinksy of Lockheed Parton, and Direk Reiners from the University of Central Florida.
During speaker sessions, attendees will have a chance to learn about the latest discoveries in the AI, XR, and metaverse landscape from academic and business leaders alike. Snap Inc’s Research lead, Takeshi Tawarada, will highlight the benefits of combining AR and sustainability in a mainstage speaker session.
Svarmony Technologies’ CEO, Arne Schönleben, will explore how companies can build more authentic experiences in augmented reality. CEO and Founder of EndeavorXR, Amy Peck, will also use insights to explore how technology can elevate human performance in the modern world.
There are also tons of research-backed educational sessions covering a variety of other topics, such as:
Scaling XR and emerging tech in the enterprise
AI’s disruptive impact on society
3D Commerce and immersive retail experiences
The security and risks of VR applications
Immersive real estate and digital twins
The evolution of XR wearables
Building communities in the metaverse
Immersive audio for XR
In between inspirational speaker sessions and panels, attendees can experiment with the next generation of immersive technology. Metacenter Global Week will feature an interactive exhibit hall featuring live demos and prototypes.
Higher Prana VR will be visiting the demo stage to show how a VR meditation app can offer users unique ways to improve and preserve mental well-being. In a live demonstration walkthrough, attendees will learn about Niantic Lightship and building a location-based AR experience in Unity.
MotionReel Academy will also be visiting the demo stage to show would-be students how to learn about the latest innovations in 3D modeling.
The Immerse Global Summit combines education and information with endless opportunities for networking and collaboration. This year’s event will start with a VIP pre-party and welcome reception on Monday, the 16th of October, with rooftop cocktails and live music.
During the three-day event, the Metacenter Global Week team will host immersive breakout sessions organized into four themes. In each session, attendees can connect with innovators, discussing AI, sustainability, virtual reality, and blockchain topics.
Plus, there are some fun relationship-building exercises to explore, such as:
The Orlando Downtown Discovery Dash: A free team scavenger hunt with prizes
Metacenter After Hours Live: A free concert for all attendees
The MCGW closing party: An official closing party for all attendees
Lost Frequency Concert: A live concert from a leading Belgian DJ and record producer
This year’s Immerse Global Summit, part of the broader Metacenter Global Week experience, will occur from October 17th to October 19th, 2023. However, we recommend getting there early if you want to participate in the VIP pre-party on the 16th.
If you don’t have tickets already, they’re available to access from the Metacenter Global website. Full general admission is available for $599, with access to all keynote talks and panel discussions. You can also access a VIP ticket for $999, which includes the VIP welcome reception, closing party, and off-the-record Q&A sessions, as well as lounge access.
Written by Marco Santana on orlandotechnews.com.
Amy Beaird has a duty to build community in Central Florida’s technology sector. So she said she expects MetaCenter Global Week in mid-October to be a catalyst for just that.
“We are bringing together and showcasing what is in the region,” said Beaird, Florida High Tech Corridor’s chief strategy officer. “There is an emphasis and energy to really engage corporate companies more with startups. We are starting to see momentum and I hope we see more of that.”
To foster an environment where that happens, she said, means to get all tech sectors to push toward the same goal.
“Growth comes from cross-cluster collaboration,” she said. “So many companies and industries have their own way of working and developing innovative solutions but then you apply innovation from energy, modeling and simulation or start applying VR tech into life sciences, that’s where a lot of really rapid innovation and creativity can come out.”
Beaird is just the latest community leader to share their thoughts about how MetaCenter Global Week will benefit the city of Orlando.
As the event approaches quickly – it kicks off on Oct. 17 – we thought we’d round up all of the comments we have heard in the leadup to the week.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer:
“We have a thriving tech ecosystem here with both big companies and small ones but I don’t know that the world is necessarily aware of it.”
“It gives our companies and entities the opportunity to meet with people they might eventually collaborate with, perhaps. It lets the outside world know about the educational and various industries and how well we have parlayed our industry clusters.”
Blue Wave Resource Partners, CEO and Innovate Orlando board member Charlie Lewis:
“It’s bringing in an element of global attention to our city. But to do that, you need buy-in from the city and county so we can execute and show the highlights as they want them to be shown.”
Simone Babb, chief innovation and emerging technologies officer, Orange County
“I value the synergistic energy and passion in our community around technology. Together, we can shape the direction and footprint toward being a recognized and respected tech and innovation hub.”
Orlando entrepreneur Angela Alban, CEO, Simetri
“We have continued to evolve and that growth justified revising our message. That eventually improved our ability to attract talent and notoriety across the globe as a high-tech region.”
“We’ve made it. We are delivering on what was promised.”
Tim Hill, director of Central Florida operations, Intuitive Research and Technology Corporation
“This notion of coalescing all of these factions is a really big thing. When you start to get a central branding campaign, that’s a big deal.”
Kris Kolo, global executive director, VRAR Association
“Our members from Orlando deserve this. Orlando has already proven itself to be the metacenter for spatial computing and the opening of the Metacenter, and this event will showcase Orlando and Central Florida talent and innovations to the world.”
“INNOVATE ORLANDO PROVIDES CONTEXT TO CITY’S TECH NARRATIVE”
“INNOVATE ORLANDO’S TENX TECH ADDS ‘BIG BUMP’ TO ATTENDEES’ REACH”
“CEO: METACENTER GLOBAL WEEK A SIGN ‘WE’VE MADE IT’”
Reposted from hypotamus.com
Synapse Orlando and Immerse Global Summit are joining forces to showcase the best tech in the world beside the best innovators of Central Florida, all in one electrifying 3-day event: MetaCenter Global Week (MetaCenter).
Collectively combining over 10 years of dynamic delivery, this ground-breaking partnership will bring together global and regional leaders to celebrate, discover, and engage with the bleeding edge of innovation in XR/AR/VR, AI, Gaming, Fintech, Space, Simulation, Metaverse & Blockchain, DefenseTech, HealthTech, Sustainability, Sports & Entertainment, Smart Cities and much more.
This innovation conference and exhibition will bring together the best regional and international tech events under one roof.
With a diverse lineup of speakers, exhibitors, and attendees from around the world, MetaCenter is the perfect opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and organizations, expand your knowledge, and discover new business opportunities. Attendees will have access to keynote presentations, workshops, panel discussions, and networking events that cover a wide range of topics in XR, AR, VR, Metaverse & Blockchain, DefenseTech, HealthTech, and more.
Whether you’re a business leader, entrepreneur, developer, investor, or industry expert or simply love immersive technology, MetaCenter has something for everyone.
Join fellow tech enthusiasts in Orlando, Florida, October 17-19 for an unforgettable event that will leave you inspired, informed, and empowered to take your business to the next level. Grab your tickets here!
Post originally appearing on xrtoday.com.
The Immerse Global Summit (IGS) will kick off its 2023 edition in Orlando, Florida, between 17 and 19 October. The VRAR Association is helping to host the annual event alongside the MetaCentre and Synapse.
Following ten years of operations, IGS 2023 is launching as part of the Metacenter Global Week, an event packed with the latest XR industry innovations and trends.
Moreover, IGS 2023 continues its vision of providing attendees with leading industry figures who will offer core market insights via keynotes and speaker sessions, showcasing emerging immersive technologies and solutions across the AR/VR/MR, Metaverse, and spatial computing spectrum.
IGS 2023 also covers the latest enterprise-ready XR use cases that assist with varied workplace industries, including healthcare, defence, and automotive.
The event should prove another successful instalment, highlighting yearly innovations and providing a rich learning space to promote XR as a ubiquitous technology solution for businesses.
This year’s event promises to be a significant one. IGS 2023 has the support of leading firms via its sponsors, including Google Cloud, Snapchat, and Meta – all of which will have exhibitor spaces and speaker sessions.
IGS 2023 is hosting its esteemed lineup of speakers with a deep agenda that seeks to spread knowledge of enterprise-grade XR across various knowledge levels and end-users.
Moreover, the agenda will cover XR-related technologies that developers commonly integrate into an immersive workplace product – including but not limited to genAI, NFTs, and avatars.
The event’s exhibition space will also host a range of XR vendors ready to show attendees the latest AR/VR/MR innovations with some hands-on demonstrations.
IGS is keen to show the various potential use cases of XR. Its focus on enterprise-leaning technology also provides insight into the future of immersive entertainment, such as broadcasting and gaming.
IGS 2023 is expanding its yearly offerings, thanks to the MetaCenter and Synapse event partnership that grows the content on show for attendees.
Alongside its targeted agenda sessions, IGS is part of MetaCenter Global Week—an accompanying event which hosts XR-powered, in-person live events that showcase the local region.
The MetaCenter is a hub to support Orlando developers, companies, and innovators trying to build Metaverse services locally. Additionally, the MetaCenter assists local talent trying to leverage related technologies such as IoT, RT3D modelling, simulation, and AI.
For IGS 2023, the MetaCentre is hosting the “Orlando Downtown Discovery Dash”, a team scavenger hunt gaming experience – free to all IGS attendees – which allows players to collect immersive assets dotted around the city, which helps visitors see more of the surrounding Orlando area.
Moreover, the MetaCenter is hosting two after-hours live music events. The two events, “Mayor Dyer presents: Local Jam” [a free event] and the “Lost Frequencies Concert” [for ticket holders only], will take place at The Beacham and Church Street, respectively. Both events highlight the potential of live experiences that leverage emerging immersive technology solutions.
IGS 2023 comes at the perfect time for the XR industry. Following major year-wide announcements from countless leading XR firms like Meta, Apple, Microsoft, HTC VIVE, Varjo, Xreal, and many others, the technology space is facing an upturn in audience interest.
Following a massive media hype wave, the XR industry settled. Now, landscape-altering devices are emerging on the market, ready for 2024 and attempting to secure XR as a workplace technology.
From Apple’s productivity-focused Vision Pro device to Meta’s dive into workplace MR headsets and Microsoft’s upcoming 2024 industrial Metaverse roadmap, the enterprise XR industry could soon be ready to enhance work.
Moreover, the consumer market is equally going forward with strength. With constant new use cases, like gaming, marketing, and live events, how broader consumers understand and use XR will shape the technology’s place in the office – remote, hybrid or otherwise.
From tourism to lifestyle, Orlando is a destination for millions around the globe to travel each year and experience our world class entertainment to thousands moving here weekly to make this amazing metro area their home.
Next month, a significant event will be held here for the first time, bringing local businesses together with mega global brands, such as Meta, Amazon, and more.
What’s bringing them here? Immersive technology.
Kyle Morrand is the CEO of the gaming technology company, 302 Interactive.
Growing up in Miami, Kyle found his way to Orlando when he chose to attend UCF. After experiencing life in Orlando, he chose to stay.
Kyle and his team at 302 Interactive are getting ready for MetaCenter Global Week, a 3 day event that puts Orlando front and center with immersive technology brands from all over.
We met up with Kyle at Creative Village in downtown to have a conversation about the event, his thoughts on the future of immersive technology and what separates Orlando in comparison to other national tech hubs.
For the full interview click here
source: The Orlando Life
Originally appearing on orlandonews.com by Marco Santana.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer has watched the city’s economy undergo multiple transformations since his first election in 2003.
Sometimes, it’s a matter of necessity.
As the coronavirus battered Orlando’s tourism industry the previous three years, he turned his attention to economic diversification.
At the same time, he noticed the tech industry thriving, even as COVID-19 completely hamstrung the city’s 500-plus hotels.
So, among other things, he leaned into the Orlando tech industry.
He famously held his 2022 State of Downtown address in virtual reality in December.
Then, in May, he threw his support in early to announceMetaCenter Global Week during his annual State of the City.
As that weeklong celebration and showcase of Orlando’s tech community approaches – as the major tech event in Orlando next month – Orlando Tech News caught up with him to get his thoughts on the industry and the upcoming event.
It’s a great opportunity to raise the profile of Orlando’s reputation as a tech community. We have a thriving tech ecosystem here with both big companies and small ones but I don’t know that the world is necessarily aware of it. The whole notion of the MetaCenter (Global Week is) having all the people come to Orlando and expose them to what we have to offer.
It gives our companies and entities the opportunity to meet with people they might eventually collaborate with, perhaps. It lets the outside world know about the educational and various industries and how well we have parlayed our industry clusters. These include military, simulation and training, Creative Village, Lake Nona and some of these tech-focused businesses at incubators like Starter Studio.
The whole notion of having an entity like Innovate Orlando break out of the Orlando Economic Partnership and stand on its own is certainly significant in terms of demonstrating where we stand as a tech community. We have gained notoriety around the country in terms of what we have to offer here. That’s continuing to get exposure by having a week focused on Orlando’s innovation and tech offerings.
If you think about this in terms of our tourism industry, some of the high-tech aspects of the theme parks absolutely go hand-in-hand. These are some of the forebearers of these technology innovations. Modeling, simulation and training and the live experiences offered at theme parks go hand-in-hand in terms of the type of people that would have that expertise and it’s transferable between industries.
Combining Synapse and the Immerse Global Summit into one week was a big deal. What we need to do is look around us. I think this will grow. It might be reminiscent of South by Southwest, which didn’t really know what they would become in the early days. I am hoping in 2043 we can say, ‘Gosh, remember what this was like in 2023?’
I think it’s a big deal that it happened. It’s not unlike the fact that Visit Orlando was once a part of the chamber a long time ago and then came out to stand on its own. In some sense, this is a similar move. It’s cool to see. Visit Orlando was there to help a growing economy and has since become a huge part of our economy. I believe Innovate Orlando could serve that same purpose.
The growth in our tech community continued during the pandemic as if it weren’t a pandemic. We always talk about diversifying the economy and having a segment that can continue to grow and thrive while other pieces are impacted. Having that is important to the overall health of the community.
XR Today's David Dungay hosts David Adelson, CEO of Innovate Orlando & Nathan Pettyjohn, President of VRARA.
XR Today’s David Dungay hosts David Adelson, CEO of Innovate Orlando & Nathan Pettyjohn, President of VRARA to discuss the new combined event involving Immerse Global Summit and Synapse.
In this conversation the panellist discuss the following:
The nature of the relationship and the combined event
What attendees can expect from the exhibitors and speakers.
How the latest Generative AI and Apple Vision Pro trends will shape the agenda.
Why businesses should attend.
The Immerse Global Summit (IGS) 2022 took place in Miami 5 to 7 December, and concluded its final days in the sunny backdrop of Miami Beach’s historic Fontainebleu Hotel.
Hosted by the Summit’s President and Founder Nathan Pettyjohn, Virtual and Augmented Reality Association’s (VRARA) Kris Kolo, and many others from the IGS and VRARA teams, the organisation’s latest iteration rallied some of the tech industry’s most prized companies, thought leaders, and experts.
The event also kicked off a series of stellar keynote speeches, workshops, product demos, and other feature presentations for the global tech industry. Many products showcased at the conference included flagship releases of VR headsets and solutions such as the Meta Quest Pro, Magic Leap 2, Lenovo ThinkReality A3, and AT&T’s Volumetric Video Photo Booth, among many others.
XR Today is honoured to summarise several featured stories from the meeting as part of our final event coverage of the global virtual, augmented, mixed, and extended reality (VR/AR/MR/XR) industry.
For our IGS summary, XR Today is pleased to welcome,
Timothy Allen, Founder, Chief Executive, and President, Oberon Technologies
Veronica Costa Orvalho, Founder, Chief Executive, Didimo
Khalid al-Muawad, Chief Experience Officer, Midwam
Casey Jensen, Vice President of US Sales and Marketing, rooom
Tony Wang, Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer, Agora
Marcin Klimek, Chief Executive, Exploded View
The six interviewees shared with XR Today their greatest takeaways from the global XR industry, challenges and hopes for the industry, and analysis of the future of the Metaverse.
Allen discussed the benefits of immersive learning platforms, citing a company study on the return on investment (ROI) for clients via VR training. It revealed a fourfold increase in learner retention rates and long-term ones of up to 90 percent.
Regarding customer experiences (CX), Oberon also reported a 50 percent decrease in dissatisfied customers and 9.9 percent decrease in customer handling times, indicating both hard and soft ROIs.
He added his firm assessed industry averages and worked with customers to specify savings targets. According to his finds, energy industries such as nuclear power plants could save millions of dollars by expediting repair times, deploying technicians for less time, and avoiding accidents such as radiation exposure and other environmental risks.
Regarding upskilling challenges across multiple verticals, Allen discussed the costs and expenses of creating immersive learning experiences. Such tools needed a strong ROI to “compensate for those costs,” namely by reducing risks and creating on-demand training solutions.
Oberon’s virtualised training for power plants and other dangerous facilities “helped with the ROI for [their clients’] investments,” he stated, adding it was key to work with heavy industry companies “where the safety of communities, workers, the environment” was a “critical factor.”
Explaining further, he said,
“That’s been our focus: anything we can do to help customers reduce the amount of time in a critical incident or dangerous insert, or avoid hazards, is the kind of savings areas we’re exploring. It’s more soft savings, but in the end, it’s hard savings for everyone”
Allen added that instructors could conduct training modules remotely and learners no longer needed to visit secure facilities or in-person instruction with potentially dangerous or costly mistakes.
Digital twins used in the trainer provided one-eighth inch accuracy of facilities to familiarise learners with environments before travelling or working there. Delivering VR experiences and support for trainees, including service support, certification training, and operation instructions streamlined educational modules to fully prepare learners for their jobs.
The platform also supported legacy data for previous standard operation procedures (SOPs) and other VR content. This avoided fully redesigning content and combining old and new data.
Jensen first explained that rooom founder Hans Elsner originally created the solution as a 3D platform with advanced 3D compression technologies.
Later, the company moved towards the Metaverse, with the COVID-19 pandemic triggering rooom’s demand to develop immersive spaces complete with new 3D technologies.
rooom’s event platform “took off” due to its immersive capabilities to host products, 3D assets, and enterprises in virtual showrooms, leading to events, festivals, training modules, and other use cases.
When asked about the benefits of using rooom’s virtual spaces, Jensen stated the platform was “all about sustainability.”
Continuing, he explained,
“We’re working with a lot of companies to cut down travel and training costs. Currently, we have a big problem in the US and abroad with hiring and retraining, with constant turnover rates. many companies are automating their upskilling procedures, which is standard across many industries. We’re helping companies collaborate and train in virtual spaces to cut costs due to constant retraining”
He stated rooom also aimed to offer products across verticals, rather than salespeople showcasing devices at physical events.
The platform’s virtual labs provided a full range of device demos, including explosive views, product descriptions, and real-time product demos.
Following last year’s beta testing, rooom won several innovation contests with Deutsche Telekom. The new comprehensive system hosts full-scale events, virtual CX stores, product views, and other functions.
Explaining further, he said,
“We’ve done a lot of interesting demos with clients to learn how to make the more fluid, nut just for internal and business matter, but also for consumers. We wanted to bridge the gap between the real and virtual world while helping with customer service and product knowledge”
Additionally, the enterprise aims to “be a place where brands and different companies can get involved.” Such companies included those monitoring brands such as Nike and Gucci, who have adopted their own Metaverse strategies, and find metaverse adoption overwhelming.
Continuing, he said,
“Forbes called us the ‘WordPress of the Metaverse, and we want to make it a really democratised platform. We want to make it easier for people to test and adopt these solutions, understand metrics, experiment and take baby steps into it. We’re building the foundation right now for, down the road, when we have interoperability and a true Metaverse.
The Jena, Germany-based firm has also collaborated with the Khronos Group and Metaverse Standards Forum along with some of the world’s top tech firms.
Didimo’s Orvalho started by discussing her company’s recent Series A fundraiser in early November, which she said was a “huge milestone” amid the ongoing global economic outlook.
The funding, worth $7.1 million USD, was proof the company had built technologies essential to the future of the Metaverse, she said. It would also use the funds to “put the product in the hands of [its] customers” by scaling technologies and building commercial teams.
When asked about its solutions, Orvalho explained that Didimo’s technologies take selfie photos of objects or people. Using AI-generated algorithms, she stated the platform automatically uploads 1,000s of photos to create digital avatars “even from people that don’t exist.”
Future interaction models would become a “digital extension” of users and offer a virtual identity for metaverse shopping, gaming, and try-on clothing.
Citing one of her favourite use cases, she predicted that in five years’ time people with disabilities could use the technology to reconstruct faces or bodies while interacting in the Metaverse. Additional use cases included educational purposes, where avatars could interact with real-time language translations.
Orvalho added such efforts would lead to “building the next interaction model to support new ways of communicating.”
Explaining further, she said that people typically idealised their online personalities by applying photo filters, adding,
“We choose which represents us the best because we can customise, personalise, add makeup and tattoos to, change garments, and other adjustments. We provide the fundamental elements, and then users can personalise them for different environments, whether for work or leisure.
When asked why enterprises were leveraging avatar technologies, the executive said it was “very industry-dependent.” Some used avatars for fashion try-ons to reduce the cost of returns and avoid overproduction by allowing companies to scale production to order.
In gaming or social metaverses, people could also use avatars to reduce costs related to creating digital characters. Artists previously used very expensive hardware and software to create digital assets, namely with delayed throughput. Didimo’s technologies eliminated this by producing avatars “at scale.”
She added: “What we have built is a single destination for creating digital characters across verticals.”
She explained two main processes when asked whether avatars would incorporate future technologies such as blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and other digital assets.
From a top-down perspective, technology firms needed to create “complex” systems for digital assets with “the geometry, rig, animation, shaders,” and other tools.
She said,
“It’s really complex and you need to provide it to companies creating the games and [platforms] for metaverse experiences and integrate the technologies for compatibility. We use open standards and are completely interoperable”
Regarding consumer adoption, she said that interoperable platforms could embed digital characters on multiple environments and metaverses, leading to the integration of blockchain technologies, increased identity protections, and other security measures.
According to Orvalho, people only needed to provide selfies or descriptors for creating digital characters with AI-backed voice commands, allowing users to secure and own their identities. Users could also choose where their avatars would interact with digital assets in different environments.
Midwam
According to AlMuawad, Midwam’s solutions were key to developing Saudi Arabia as a strategic tech and metaverse incubator. He explained in his interview that the Middle Eastern country was playing a major role in incubating emerging technologies and firms dedicated to the industry.
The company, founded in 2012, believed that Middle Eastern projects and the global market strengthened the industry with numerous experiences and knowledge for developing projects.
Midwam currently has a 30-person-strong team from multiple backgrounds with over 20 years of combined experience. It develops immersive experiences based on knowledge across verticals such as entertainment, tourism, culture, sports, and others.
Speaking on Midwam’s industry and global partnerships, he explained that real-time 3D (RT3D) platforms such as Unity Technologies and Epic Games’ Unreal Engine had collaborated “for many years” and were “reliable companies.”
He continued, stating,
“We like to work with a lot of partners because we are a local company with local knowledge. We deal with local sectors and each of them require subject matter experts for consulting projects. We have technology partners depending on the type of development for each project and exchange programmes for knowledge transfers”
AlMuawad added that Midwam worked with firms like Unity for training programmes that “uplifted the capabilities [of] developers in Saudi,” along with tech hubs in Dubai, the United States, and others.
Concluding on the direction of the Metaverse, he stated that it was an exciting space to have and a “reality check” on people’s transactions, behaviour, communications, and connections.
Developing the industry would take more time for people to “understand the real dynamic of that space,” he said.
He continued that younger generations would offer added value with enthusiasm, but would need “a little bit more time for people to adopt and understand what’s possible in that space.”
He concluded that companies such as Midwam could help create interesting developments to educate people in the space and boost their interactions.
Similarly to Didimi, ExplodedView’s Klimeck explained the importance of avatar firms, stating that, for the first time, people could have “actual representations” of themselves to navigate the Metaverse.
Platforms like Ready Player Me were developing interoperable, bespoke platforms for avatars, creating a new economy around the concept.
Speaking further, he said,
“All the experts at [the IGS] agreed that avatars would become a ‘thing.’ They were all using them, including myself, and my avatar is an expansion of my personality [in the Metaverse]. Imagine a future where every single person uses an avatar [to interact]”
Avatar technologies received more funding to create a new economy for enterprises. This created new business models to reach people “in a completely new way.”
He explained that younger audiences had become accustomed to “living with their avatars since their infancy” and building them from the beginning, from three to four years old.
Continuing, he said,
“For brands to expand and explore opportunities across younger demographics, [they must understand that this] will generate much of the revenue in the very near future”
He segued to his firm’s Web3 technologies, including face, hand, and eye-tracking, stating research conducted roughly two years ago had built and developed frameworks for Google’s ARCore and Apple’s iOS ARKit. Such platforms provided live data for face tracking, including facial expressions, eye movement, and other features. Currently, ExplodedView is iOS exclusive.
The company focused on developing its quality of content and expressions due to positive feedback to create added realism.
ExplodedView also aimed to build emerging technologies such as AI and machine learning (ML) but needed to determine the best applications for such tools. Currently, face tracking for platforms like MediaPipe did not function interoperably, presenting new challenges for developers.
Explaining further, he said,
“Most don’t consider that [one of the world’s main platforms] only gives you six frames per second, and is sometimes unusable. Face tracking and camera resolutions need to improve. Meta’s face tracking is a game-changer for communication [which was] a completely different level of communication.”
Companies developing solutions similar to HTC VIVE’s lip-tracking tools would deepen immersion and lead to greater levels of realism for avatar development.
Concluding, Klimeck discussed the potential of deeper emerging technology integration for avatars in the Metaverse, by solving similar current and future problems. He said he was also fortunate to see “the development of mobile devices from the very beginning” as an example of previous challenges.
Conversely, ethics were an important concern for developers to avoid discrimination based on physical appearances, similar to passport travel and others forms of transport.
Explaining, Klimeck said in the interview,
“The Avatar itself will be treated as part of a user’s identity. Systems will not validate the avatar itself, but the blockchain-based records behind them. In reality,m you get your passport assigned in the future, but what happens when you have different avatars? A person can fake a passport, but cannot have multiple versions using different passports. If a person has up to 20 or more avatars with each doing something, and one committing a crime, do you ban one or all of the avatars?”
He concluded that many people were not concerned enough about privacy. As avatars received more functionality in the Metaverse, people would value them more as an extension of themselves.
The trigger would come as people increasingly valued these identities, avatars, and creative content as further discussions took place in future events.
Speaking to XR Today for the first time since his keynote speech at the Real-Time Engagement (RTE) 2022, Wang stated the event was “a very successful one” and that future ones would remain “globally distributed, decentralised, and immersive.”
Agora would also also advance its full-release solution stack, covering technologies such as spatial, high definition (HD), and ambisonic audio formats, as well as video latency for broadcasting, voice-powered apps, and others. The company also planned a full-stack solution for app developers “as the content creator for the web age.”
He added: “We believe that if you have five, ten, or even 1,000 apps, the industry will begin to take off and everybody will benefit downstream at the hardware level.”
Agora also has numerous companies exploring the Metaverse with new technologies, which aimed to empower content creators, metaverse platforms, and democratise Web3 solutions.
He also stated the Metaverse needed to supercede national boundaries, political events, and other differences. Wang added,
“We have the chance in the virtual world to form a new community — one that is purely organised in a distributed global fashion, based on passions and common interests. Despite national boundaries, people will gather in communities, sometimes from 50 different countries. Cryptocurrencies and decentralised finance (DeFi) would provide the base to sustain such communities, without fiat currencies in the distant future”
Secondly, he added that nations were moving away from globalisation 1.1, which had “bugs” similar to many technologies. Nations were also retreating back to older, protected systems, he said.
Despite this, the online world would merge in an “unprecedented way,” and Agora would provide software developer kits (SDKs) to build the Metaverse as a “dream weaver of the future world.” Developers would use their passion and visions to build solutions to break communication barriers.
Live translation software would also facilitate such measures, allowing unprecedented interactions. This would also lead to new monetisation models outside YouTube or Facebook advertisements.
Regarding the potential of the Metaverse to empower content creators with new devices and hardware maturity, he said that changing user behaviours and hardware was difficult.
Wang congratulated companies attending the event for their efforts to develop hardware via research and development (R&D), prototyping, and mass production, which was “pushing this industry forward.”
He also called for the industry to build standards for greater interoperability. Citing Elon Musk’s patenting and developing auto-drive technologies, he said the tech magnate “advanced the entire industry with one base standard.”
These breakthroughs would “quickly promote consumer adoption,” which he urged the industry to address and expedite adaptation. Concluding, he said: “We all believe we have the conviction that this will happen. The challenge is when and how.”
Post originally appearing on xrtoday.com by Demond Cureton.
XR Today spoke to Amy Peck, Founder and Chief Executive of EndeavorXR about the top tech trends in 2023 on the sidelines of her keynote speech at the Immerse Global Summit (IGS) 2022 in Miami.
EndeavorXR is a strategy and consulting firm for virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) solutions and symbiotic frontier technologies. Peck is also the Board Chair of Prospera Women and hosts the Future Construct podcast.
Amy recalled some top takeaways from her keynote speech, many of which explained the dichotomy between metaverse creation for consumer and enterprise-facing companies.
She stated that the Metaverse and Web3 were becoming overused terms. Many companies aimed to determine their future products and services, outline benchmarks, and apply their strategies to the “real-world limitations of [Web3] technology.”
Peck added that companies should have a more than 20-year outlook on their strategies that also include environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals.
Explaining further, she said,
“A lot of companies have very lofty goals for 2030, and they won’t reach them without these technologies. They offer not only the opportunity for critical monitoring with digital twins and artificial intelligence (AI)-backed, also closed-loop optimisation strategies, but can also simulate outcomes so that you can improve processes today and meet those goals in the future, which is the near future”
Speaking on the biggest takeaway from the event, Peck stated that many speakers explored similar themes such as digital twin optimisation strategies, return on investment (ROI), and others.
ROI strategies targeted “futuristic innovation,” allowing enterprises to explore “the best results” as it was crucial to receiving further investments.
Companies also needed to push innovation strategies and build “an innovation pipeline that is cross-functional” not limited to innovation hubs and research and development (R&D) teams.
Speaking on the emerging trends for 2023, Peck explained that sectors in social media, fashion, entertainment, and games would intersect with a “multimedia approach” to engage consumers.
Digital twin technologies were rising as emerging trends, namely from major tech firms such as NVIDIA, Unity Technologies, and others. Enterprises were expected to adopt digital twin and 3D asset management strategy, she added.
Continuing, she said,
“I think what we’ll see in 2023 is a lot more companies plugging in, probably at the 3D asset phase, especially for companies that already have 3D pipelines, like consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies or retail and design. More broadly, companies may leverage digital twins of offices, manufacturing lines and retail spaces a lot more. I think mobile augmented reality (AR) will also get exponentially better.”
Smiling, she added, “and I really hope that, in 2023, we don’t hear the word phygital anymore”
Peck later segued to updates with her company, EndeavorXR, explaining it had always worked with larger original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as HTC, Magic Leap, Meta Platforms, and others.
Doing so allowed her clients to “keep a pulse on the hardware [side],” but her firm also explored front-end strategies to assess current company progress, their existing tech capabilities, and future products and services.
She recommended companies work towards internal development capabilities, even if just a single Technology Director to manage external relationships while ensuring future systems were interoperable with legacy systems.
Speaking on the “hype cycle” of the XR industry, she explained that post-COVID, many companies were “still reeling.” After restrictions eased, people could travel, see each other, and have meaningful conversations again about the industry’s future.
She added that many companies in the tech industry had just begun to ‘scratch the surface’ of collaborating in virtual environments. For her, immersive platforms were improving despite the limitations of current hardware devices.
Platforms such as Spatial allowed people to collaborate via the internet, mobile devices, headsets, and others, providing a “persistent environment.”
She said: “That’s really a big deal. I would have liked to see more of that and less of the hype cycle, where everything is called the Metaverse or Web3 while conflating the two terms.”
Peck also cited events “detrimental to the industry” such as fraud, rug pulls, the failure of FTX and other cryptocurrencies and exchanges, as well as “false scarcity with non-fungible tokens (NFTs)” and the crypto market collapse.
Continuing, she criticised some trends in the industry, stating,
“It doesn’t help the industry because again, I think [people] have lumped everything into the umbrella term of ‘Metaverse’. We as an industry haven’t done a good job of educating the general public on what the Metaverse, Web3, VR, AR, the blockchain, AI, and other underlying technologies mean at a very high, decoder-ring level that is accessible to everyone. I don’t think we did a good job in 2022 – I hope we do a better job in 2023”
Concluding, she said it was important for the industry to follow industry experts who are “really deep in the space” rather than just technology influencers.
She concluded: “Whether you’re a company or just an individual interested in the technology, find as many case studies and subject matter experts (SMEs) as possible to help you build a well-rounded understanding of technology.”
Post originally appearing on xrtoday.com by Demond Cureton.
The Immerse Global Summit 2022 Miami concluded on Wednesday, where some of the biggest players in the tech industry gathered to explore the future of Web3 technologies. Qualcomm Technologies has remained at the forefront of developing top-tier solutions for the global virtual, augmented, mixed, and extended reality (VR/AR/MR/XR) industry, with its latest solution designed for AR devices.
The San Diego, California-based firm has become synonymous with delivering XR solutions capable of untethering head-mounted displays (HMDs) from PC.
This has allowed companies to access standalone headsets with the latest specs along with major support for software development via the company’s Snapdragon Spaces platform.
XR Today spoke to Brian Vogelsang, AR Product Leader at Qualcomm, on the sidelines of the event about ongoing updates with its latest product release, the Snapdragon AR2 platform.
The AR2 is set to empower the smart glasses sector with an innovative, standalone, and sleek processing platform to deliver the next generation of smart glass devices.
Brian Vogelsang: My biggest takeaway has been the excitement across the industry. It’s been a challenging couple of years due to the pandemic.
The tech industry responded by rallying as a community and a group. It was amazing to get together with everyone and see renewed interest and engagement.
Brian Vogelsang: The AR2 is in its first generational stage in a series of processors to enable AR. We wanted to help facilitate lightweight, wearable glasses with comfortable form factors, allowing people to use them for longer periods of time.
We also wanted to unlock that capability in AR smart glasses and spent some time thinking about achieving such goals. Qualcomm concluded that it needed to build dedicated processors for AR.
Previously, we had built XR processors for VR and AR, but through our engineering efforts and researching market demand, we realised it needed dedicated processing and spent several years working on the technology.
The platform contains multiple processing chips and we think it will empower both enterprise and consumer AR smart glasses with form factors capable of achieving mass adoption.
Brian Vogelsang: Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen tremendous adoption of VR for commercial use cases in verticals like health and wellness, training and immersive learning, and others.
VR has gone through a rapid transition from a primarily consumer-focused, tethered device for gaming and entertainment, to standalone headsets in similar verticals.
Before 2019, headsets were largely tethered to PCs, and Qualcomm helped to ‘cut the cord’ and enable the next evolution of standalone devices.
This began with devices from Lenovo, HTC VIVE, Pico Interactive, and Meta Platforms, so the growth we’ve seen for consumer use cases has been very strong since then.
The AR market has been primarily focused on assisted reality, or devices with monocular displays and sometimes cameras, but are wearable computers for tasks such as remote guidance.
With it, experts can see what you see to guide professionals with step-by-step work instructions via a micro display similar to Google Glass or Vuzix. Other devices from Magic Leap and Microsoft’s HoloLens headsets offer deeper levels of immersion.
We saw an opportunity to create a new category between the two with devices featuring AR viewers. These are AR smart glasses that are tethered to smartphones, which debuted in 2019.
The smart glasses tether via a USB cable to process most of the computing on the smartphone and content is viewed on the head-mounted displays (HMDs).
We also developed perception technologies for hand, eye, and position tracking in the physical environment. This allowed smart glasses and smartphones to synchronise seamlessly.
These are devices like the Lenovo A3 and similar, and we think that is the future. With the AR2, we wanted to determine how to make truly wireless devices and enable broader adoption of immersive technologies for enterprises and consumers.
Brian Vogelsang: Snapdragon Spaces is Qualcomm’s way of delivering technologies for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). We’re now bringing that directly to developers, who can download the software development kit (SDK) for Unity or Unreal Engine.
Developers can gain access to its deep AR, perception, hand-tracking, 3D reconstruction, and other technologies. These allow them to create experiences on our devices and we are excited to work with the developer community on these technologies.
We made them generally available in June this year and, more recently, announced its expansion to support not just AR, but also VR and MR. With Snapdragon Spaces, we support optical see-through AR smart glasses. These range from the Lenovo A3 [and Magic Leap 2]. We’re also expanding into MR and AR, allowing developers to build an AR device with greater interoperability with MR headsets.
Vogelsang added he was enthusiastic about the momentum across the XR industry and community. Along with its efforts with the AR2 and Snapdragon Spaces, the Meta Quest Pro, Lenovo VRX, Magic Leap 2, and Pico 4 and Pico 4 Enterprise had announced along with a “new wave of headsets.”
He concluded that future AR2-enabled glasses were on the way, so the community was “ramped up about” it and Qualcomm was “ready to build for this as well.”
The IGS 2022 Miami took place 5 to 7 December at Miami Beach’s iconic Fontainebleau Hotel and united some of the world’s most renowned tech firms for the future of XR.
Companies such as Meta Platforms, Lenovo, Magic Leap, Qualcomm, Unity Technologies, Sony, and many others attended the event to explore the future of immersive technologies, host workshops, and launch panel discussions on Web3 solutions reshaping the future of computing.
Post originally appearing on xrtoday.com by Demond Cureton.
The Immerse Global Summit (IGS) 2022 Miami continues to showcase enterprises across the virtual, augmented, mixed, and extended reality (VR/AR/MR/XR) space. Some of the world’s top institutions featured across the XR medical, defence, education, and entertainment sectors debuted and highlighted their latest immersive solutions.
Case Western Reserve University, a world-renowned medical institution, joined the event to reveal how it leveraged Microsoft’s MR tools by combining them with its educational software platform.
XR Today spoke to Nancy Farrow, Executive Director of Global HoloAnatomy & HoloNeuroAnatomy Software Suite at Case Western Reserve University.
She educates medical schools and universities around the world about her institution’s immersive application, which runs on Microsoft’s HoloLens platform.
Farrow stated that her medical school, one of the top 25 institutions in the United States, put plans to build a new facility in 2014. Rather than building a traditional dissection lab to teach anatomy, her institution considered spatial computing products readily available in 2015.
The company explored plastinated cadavers, 3D modelling, and other VR options. Later, Microsoft debuted its first-generation HoloLens at the time. After trying the headset, the “lights went on” and the university’s visionary, Mark Griswold, Ph.D, found that such platforms would become the future.
Speaking further, she said,
“We chose adopt the MR ecosystem because we believe medicine is a sports team. VR serves a great purpose as a self-study tool or an app with a procedural experience. When you’re together with a professor and students in the same environment, or even remotely, you interact collaboratively. Secondly, many students experienced motion sickness with VR, and mixed reality hardware prevented them experincing those feelings”
Speaking on the benefits to students, Farrow explained that “students engaged from day one.”
She added: “We have also learned that their engagement remains persistent. They want to learn and continue learning, and the excitement, collaboration, and engagement are always there.”
The executive added that students in the XR medical labs learned just as well or better than in traditional dissection labs. The university also found that medical students learned twice as fast, allowing them to have extra time to incorporate different modalities, such as living anatomy and radiology.
She continued: “That’s how we prepare our future doctors.”
She also cited a paper noting that students also retained information 40 percent to 50 percent more than with traditional learning methods, even eight months after the virtual course.
Speaking on her experiences at the IGS 2022 Miami, Farrow said the event allowed her enterprise to showcase what it had accomplished in a very short time as well as look at the available technology currently available on the market.
Explaining, she stated,
“I think the XR world is going to really engage not only in education and at medical schools, but across high schools as well. I hope that the prices of hardware come down and become more available, because that’s where we really need to start. [Starting] in high school, XR can engage students and encourage them to pursue their passion, whether it’s medicine, nursing, or any other type of industry, and also remain in the professional and educational worlds”
She concluded she was happy to see growing developments across immersive enterprises amid the “third wave” of computing. Computing devices and mobiles began as bulky devices later progressed to the modern-day smartphone.
She concluded: “It’s not going to be only for gaming or entertainment. It’s how we’re going to teach our next generation and how we’ll do virtually everything over the next five to ten years.”
The IGS 2022 Miami took place from 5 to 7 December at Miami Beach’s iconic Fontainebleau Hotel. Several of the world’s biggest tech giants, including Meta Platforms, Sony, Agora, HTC VIVE, Unity Technologies, Qualcomm, Magic Leap, Lenovo, and many others joined the event.
Key executives from their respective companies participated in three days of panel talks, keynote speeches, workshops, and product debuts.
Post originally appearing on ekathimerni.com by Apostolos Lakasas.
A successful balance between the real and the digital world will be the hallmark of future schools and universities, according to experts. In Greece this field is being pioneered by private schools, but the Institute of Educational Policy (IEP) is also setting the pace, starting with the new format of books.
A indication of what is in store for the future is recent research data of the National Training Laboratory in the US, which has demonstrated that the assimilation of knowledge through a lecture or speech will be 5%, through reading it’s 10%, while through virtual reality it increases dramatically to 75%. Just as it is now taken for granted that a business should have a website, in the metaverse a 3D display takes center stage. With the assistance of a teacher, school pupils will be able to visit a museum or an archaeological site and browse the exhibits.
“The use of the internet as it is utilized today is set to change drastically in the coming years as we move from two dimensions to three,” said Antonis Kartalis, a member of the administration of the Moraitis School, who recently attended the Immerse Global Summit conference organized by the VR/AR Association on developments in the field of virtual and augmented reality and the way it is integrated into education. “Advances in technology have already led to the ever-increasing documentation of information with video. We will gradually move toward so-called immersive technologies: The user experience on the internet will be participatory, we will be there as digital avatars and visit 3D sites.”
Among the challenges will be to address the gaps that will be created, according to Myrena Hatzivassiliou, an executive at the Moraitis School. “The information from the school about changes and developments in technology must be continuous for teachers as the speed with which children themselves adopt them is very high,” she told Kathimerini.
