Recap of our HoloLens is dead, long live Orion

Thomas Hoger hosted our online session with 20+ executives to discuss the discontinuation of Microsoft's HoloLens and Meta’s smartglasses Orion.

The meeting focused on the discontinuation of Microsoft's HoloLens and the implications for companies that invested in it, alongside discussions about Meta's upcoming Orion headset and its potential in the augmented reality (AR) space. Participants expressed concerns regarding the viability of mixed reality devices, particularly HoloLens and Magic Leap, while highlighting the rapid development of Meta's products. Significant concerns were raised about Meta's data security practices, especially in sensitive environments, and skepticism about the integration of Microsoft services in enterprise solutions. Challenges in obtaining clear policy answers and frequent software updates were also discussed. The conversation included trends in AR/VR, emphasizing the need for affordable headsets in the defense sector, and the potential of gamification in training. Insights on XR4 technology were shared, noting its tethered nature and cost-effectiveness for training applications.

Topics & Highlights

1. Discussion on HoloLens Discontinuation and Meta's Orion Headset

• Participants expressed concern over the discontinuation of HoloLens and the impact on investments made by companies in this technology.

• The HoloLens from Microsoft has been discontinued, and there will not be a HoloLens 3, with services set to be discontinued at some point.

• Meta has announced the Orion headset, which is not yet on the market, but there is optimism about its potential in the AR space.

2. Current State of Mixed Reality and Augmented Reality

• Participants express concerns about the future of mixed reality devices, particularly mentioning the uncertain status of Magic Leap and the challenges faced by HoloLens.

• rapid development of Meta's products, noting the transition from Quest to Quest 3 and Quest 3S, indicating a positive trend in consumer product development.

• enterprises will invest in the development of AR glasses, which will subsequently influence consumer products in the next three to five years.

3. Concerns Regarding Meta's Data Security

• concerns about Meta's data security, stating that their history of surveillance makes him unwilling to use their devices, especially in sensitive environments like defense.

• Meta's devices are designed to collect data for advertising purposes, which he finds unacceptable for business use, particularly in defense.

• frustration over the lack of engagement from Meta regarding his concerns about their Oculus for Business setup, indicating a disconnect between Meta and enterprise users.

4. Concerns Regarding Microsoft and Meta in Enterprise Solutions

• concerns about the need to integrate into Microsoft's environment, specifically mentioning the challenges with Azure and HoloLens, indicating a preference for offline operations.

• concerns about the trustworthiness of Meta and Mark Zuckerberg, suggesting that enterprises would avoid deploying their products due to security breaches and poor optics.

5. Challenges in Policy and Software Development

• frustration over the lack of clear answers regarding policy, indicating that the need to attend multiple meetings to get information is problematic. He also raises concerns about the frequent updates required for development software, suggesting it feels intrusive as if the company is 'spying' on his business.

6. Trends in Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR)

• trend where location-based entertainment is becoming expensive, hinting at a future where XR experiences could be rented at locations like taco trucks in parks.

• challenges of using current technology outdoors, particularly regarding tracking and operation in daylight, but expresses optimism that these issues are solvable, similar to past advancements with cell phones.

• strategy of leveraging commercial off-the-shelf headsets for defense applications instead of relying on expensive custom solutions, indicating a shift towards more practical and cost-effective options.

7. Gamification and Certification in Training

• many organizations invest significantly in training but fail to convert that training into certification, indicating a missed financial opportunity.

8. Discussion on XR4 Technology

• XR4 is a tethered experience requiring a direct GPU connection, which limits its mobility but enhances its performance for specific applications like medical training and observation posts.

• compare the cost of the XR4 headset at $10,000 to a quarter million dollar projection dome, highlighting the cost-effectiveness of the XR4 for training purposes.

Overlay introduces Asset Vision, new AI identification tool

Access the video recordings from our Forum here

Post by Matt Collins originally appearing on geoweeknews.com.

Last week, the VR/AR Association held their VR Enterprise and Training Forum, discussing the increasingly viable business applications for mixed reality technology. As part of the one-day event, Overlay CEO and co-founder Christopher Morace gave a keynote talk in which he introduced the company’s new Asset Vision feature, which utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) within the augmented reality (AR) app to quickly and automatically identify features in water utility spaces. Recently, Morace spoke with Geo Week News to discuss the new feature as well as to provide more background on the company as a whole.

Prior to founding Overlay, Morace had spent his career primarily working with enterprise software, including with a social collaboration platform called Jive. There, he says he got experience working with Fortune 500 companies and began to “understand what it takes to really transform a business.” This was about a decade ago, as many different tools were starting to be developed for enterprise uses, and Morace started to become intrigued by technology like AI and AR. However, he says, he and Overlay co-founder and CTO Josh Ricau “felt pretty strongly that the white collar workers inside the four walls had been a bit overserved.” 

He continued, “They were kind of drowning in technology, and everybody out in the real world trying to keep the internet up and running, and keep water flowing, they’re just struggling.” Morace notes that technology designed for those in the field did exist, but it was extremely expensive. That led to the ultimate development of Overlay, providing simple-to-use technology to water agencies for solving their problems in the field.

As alluded to above, Overlay uses AR and AI to provide easy access to crucial data in the field right on a user’s phone. For example, information from GIS systems can be brought into Overlay, and then a user can hover over an asset – such as a sewer in a road – with their iPhone and instantly receive all available metadata for that asset. Additionally, Overlay takes advantage of all of the sensors available on iPhones, including the relatively recent addition of lidar, to enable 3D scanning of modeling to, among other reasons, cut down on return trips for professionals in the field - a significant and persistent issue in the industry - and create digital twins of assets by incorporating Internet of Things (IoT) data.

The ability to do all of this with just an iPhone was a crucial piece of Overlay’s foundation. Morace acknowledges that scanning with these mobile devices certainly don’t solve every issue and there are still plenty of projects that require high-end laser scanners, but for many of their users working on water utilities, projects are small enough to take advantage of simpler technology, to say nothing of the accessibility (or lack thereof) of more traditional devices. He told Geo Week News, “It was important to us that everything was off-the shelf, inexpensive hardware like an iPhone, because we feel like when real transformation happens, it happens because you can put the device in everyone’s pocket.”

That brings us to the recent development of Asset Vision, which as mentioned above utilizes AI to identify assets automatically and keep an inventory for agencies. Morace notes that as he and his colleagues started going out in the field and seeing the real problems faced by professionals, he learned from utilities that they don't actually have a great idea of what assets they have. They know, of course, where their pump stations are, for example, but not necessarily every asset within the stations. That’s a clear barrier for maximum efficiency. As Morace puts it, “It’s great to have IoT sensors, but IoT sensors aren’t that valuable if you don’t know what it’s on.” 

That’s where Asset Vision comes in. Trained to recognize assets typical for these types of water utility stations, the tool is able to take a 3D model scanned using the Overlay app and automatically recognize and register assets within the model, thereby creating an accurate inventory that the industry has largely been lacking. While the AI can’t necessarily identify exactly which asset it is looking at, but rather just the type, it can read things like serial numbers and QR codes – and is location-aware – which allows users to subsequently attach identified assets to those IoT sensors, maximizing the value of that real-time data and creating a functional digital twin.

In a conversation with Morace about the current AI boom as well as some of the shortcomings – like “hallucinations” with ChatGPT – and he noted that this is obviously a different kind of AI than the generative tools that are dominating the mainstream news cycle. One of the crucial features with Asset Vision is that it gives a percentage of how sure it is that it has correctly identified an asset, providing some guidance as to when a little more human intervention may be needed.

Morace also talked about the process for identifying asset types that are not already in the Overlay database, something that they say is significantly more efficient than more traditional AI training. Within Asset Vision, if there is an asset that is not identified by the AI, a user can simply put a digital box around the asset within the 3D model and enter the asset type within the app. After just a few seconds, that asset is in the programming and will be identified moving forward. Additionally, Morace mentioned that if a utility has some sort of “proprietary relationship to an asset,” they would be able to quarantine that to just their business’ account, though he notes that since most of these assets are third-party purchases they have yet to come across that scenario.

We’re in a time where there is more pressure on utilities than perhaps any other time for a variety of reasons, with climate change looming large over water and energy utilities around the world, and ever-increasing reliance on remote work and global connectivity putting pressure on communication utilities. It’s something that is on the mind of the Overlay team, which is why they are looking to take advantage of recent technological developments and lean on relatively simple tools to complete complex tasks. Morace reiterated points above about using phones for digital twin creation, looking back at when iPhones first came out.

He said, “When the iPhone first came out, they had these really terrible cameras, and everyone was like, ‘Why would I use that camera? It’s so terrible.’ And the answer became, the best camera is the one you have with you. We see the same approach to this technology, which is: The best technology you can have is the one that’s going to be in your truck or in your pocket.”

They are using this mantra to try and address the issues in the field being experienced by those in the pressurized utility fields. “I think at this time when there’s so much pressure on all these spaces – energy and water and communication – we all just need to get a lot more with a lot less, and we think this type of technology can help play that role.”

Asset Vision will officially launch on June 1.

AR Post: "A Very Interesting VR/AR Association Enterprise & Training Forum"

See top Sessions, Speakers, and Video Recordings from our Forum here

The VR/AR Association held a VR Enterprise and Training Forum yesterday, May 24. The one-day event hosted on the Hopin remote conference platform, brought together a number of industry experts to discuss the business applications of a number of XR techniques and topics including digital twins, virtual humans, and generative AI.

The VR/AR Association Gives Enterprise the Mic

The VR/AR Association hosted the event. In addition to keynotes, talks, and panel discussions, the event included opportunities for networking with other remote attendees.

“Our community is at the heart of what we do: we spark innovation and we start trends,” said VR/AR Association Enterprise Committee Co-Chair, Cindy Mallory, during a welcome session.

While there were some bonafide “technologists” in the panels, most speakers were people using the technology in industry themselves. While hearing from “the usual suspects” is nice, VR/AR Association fora are rare opportunities for industry professionals to hear from one another on how they approach problems and solutions in a rapidly changing workplace.

“I feel like there are no wrong answers,” VR/AR Association Training Committee Co-Chair,Bobby Carlton,said during the welcome session. “We’re all explorers asking where these tools fit in and how they apply.”

The Convergence

One of the reasons that the workplace is changing so rapidly has to do with not only the pace with which technologies are changing, but with the pace with which they are becoming reliant on one another. This is a trend that a number of commentators have labeled “the convergence.”

“When we talk about the convergence, we’re talking about XR but we’re also talking about computer vision and AI,” CGS Inc President of Enterprise Learning and XR, Doug Stephen, said in the keynote that opened the event, “How Integrated XR Is Creating a Connected Workplace and Driving Digital Transformation.”

CGS Australia Head, Adam Shah, was also a speaker. Together the pair discussed how using XR with advanced IT strategies, AI, and other emerging technologies creates opportunities as well as confusion for enterprise. Both commented that companies can only seize the opportunities provided by these emerging technologies through ongoing education.

“When you put all of these technologies together, it becomes harder for companies to get started on this journey,” said Shah. “Learning is the goal at the end of the day, so we ask ‘What learning outcomes do you want to achieve?’ and we work backwards from there.”

The convergence isn’t only changing how business is done, it’s changing who’s doing what. That was much of the topic of the panel discussion “What Problem Are You Trying to Solve For Your Customer? How Can Generative AI and XR Help Solve It? Faster, Cheaper, Better!”

“Things are becoming more dialectical between producers and consumers, or that line is melting where consumers can create whatever they want,” said Virtual World Society Executive Director Angelina Dayton. “We exist as both creators and as consumers … We see that more and more now.”

“The Journey” of Emerging Technology

The figure of “the journey” was also used by Overlay founder and CEO, Christopher Morace, in his keynote “Asset Vision – Using AI Models and VR to get more out of Digital Twins.” Morace stressed that we have to talk about the journey because a number of the benefits that the average user wants from these emerging technologies still aren’t practical or possible.

“The interesting thing about our space is that we see this amazing future and all of these visionaries want to start at the end,” said Morace. “How do we take people along on this journey to get to where we all want to be while still making the most out of the technology that we have today?”

Morace specifically cited ads by Meta showing software that barely exists running on hardware that’s still a few years away (though other XR companies have been guilty of this as well). The good news is that extremely practical XR technologies do exist today, including for enterprise – we just need to accept that they’re on mobile devices and tablets right now.

Digital Twins and Virtual Humans

We might first think of digital twins of places or objects – and that’s how Morace was speaking of them. However, there are also digital twins of people. Claire Hedgespeth, Head of Production and Marketing at Avatar Dimension, addressed its opportunities and obstacles in her talk, “Business of Virtual Humans.”

“The biggest obstacle for most people is the cost. … Right now, 2D videos are deemed sufficient for most outlets but I do feel that we’re missing an opportunity,” said Hedgespeth. “The potential for using virtual humans is only as limited as your imagination.”

The language of digital twins was also used on a global scale by AR Mavericks founder and CEO, William Wallace, in his talk “Augmented Reality and the Built World.” Wallace presented a combination of AR, advanced networks, and virtual positioning coming together to create an application layer he calls “The Tagisphere.”

“We can figure out where a person is so we can match them to the assets that are near them,” said Wallace. “It’s like a 3D model that you can access on your desktop, but we can bring it into the real world.”

It may sound a lot like the metaverse to some, but that word is out of fashion at the moment.

And the Destination Is … The Metaverse?

“We rarely use the M-word. We’re really not using it at all right now,” Qualcomm’s XR Senior Director, Martin Herdina, said in his talk “Spaces Enabling the Next Generation of Enterprise MR Experiences.”

Herdina put extra emphasis on computing advancements like cloud computing over the usual discussions of visual experience and form factor in his discussion of immersive technology. He also presented modern AR as a stepping stone to a largely MR future for enterprise.

“We see MR being a total game changer,” said Herdina. “Companies who have developed AR, who have tested those waters and built experience in that space, they will be first in line to succeed.”

VR/AR Association Co-Chair, Mark Gröb, expressed similar sentiments regarding “the M-word” in his VRARA Enterprise Committee Summary, which closed out the event.

“Enterprise VR had a reality check,” said Gröb. “The metaverse really was a false start. The hype redirected to AI-generated tools may or may not be a bad thing.”

Gröb further commented that people in the business of immersive technology specifically may be better able to get back to business with some of that outside attention drawn toward other things.

“Now we’re focusing on the more important thing, which was XR training,” said Gröb. “All of the business cases that we talked about today, it’s about consistent training.”

Business as Usual in the VR/AR Association

There has been a lot of discussion recently regarding “the death of the metaverse” – a topic which, arguably, hadn’t yet been born in the first place. Whether it was always just a gas and the extent to which that gas has been entirely replaced by AI is yet to be seen.

While there were people talking about “the enterprise metaverse” – particularly referring to things like remote collaboration solutions – the metaverse is arguably more of a social technology anyway. While enterprise does enterprise, someone else will build the metaverse (or whatever we end up calling it) – and they’ll probably come from within the VR/AR Association as well.

Post originally appearing on Arpost.co by Jon Joehnig.

930 People from 55 countries joined our annual Enterprise & Training Forum. See top Sessions, Speakers, and Video Recordings.

Access the video recordings here

Our annual forum was a full day of best practices, guidelines, and insights as we brought together industry leaders in VR/AR, digital twins, industrial metaverse, AI, and digital transformation.

We had 60 speakers from Qualcomm, CGS Inc, Overlay, Microsoft, ArborXR, Boeing, Michelin, US Air Force, Bridgestone, Magic Leap, UPS, Accenture, Lenovo, Varjo, Raytheon, Unity, Booz Allen, Porsche, Schlumberger, Veteran Affairs, and more.

Access the video recordings here.

Below are the top sessions and countries:

Access the video recordings here.

Bobby Carlton appointed as Co-Chair for VR/AR Association's Training Committee

“Like many of us, my obsession with XR technology began through science fiction movies and TV shows. What I saw was the potential of how virtual environments could change the classroom, change the way we approached learning and training. To me XR technology is the ultimate tool for engagement with people. We can bring training to a completely different level that isn’t possible through traditional training methods.”

— Bobby Carlton

We are thrilled to have Bobby Carlton help lead our VRARA Training Committee. Join us this week for our Online Meets, check schedule here

Bobby has dedicated his professional career to exploring how XR technology can be used to reshape how an industry could approach education, training, and engagement, as well as the impact the technology will have on Industry 4.0 such as automation, warehouse, and robotics.

His work also explores how immersive technology such as unique XR initiatives and Web3 will change digital marketing and company branding, and how it will change social behavior and consumerism by creating more agile thinking that leads to brand loyalty.

In 2016, Bobby joined the Masie Center working with e-learning pioneer Elliott Masie as the Masie Center's Director of VRLearn, a program focused on how industries and companies could use AR/VR technology for training. Carlton left the organization in 2017 to consult with other organizations on their AR/VR training goals however, staying on as the AR/VR subject matter expert for the Masie Center.

Along with his current duties at FS Studio as their XR/VR Content Manager and Head of Business Development, he is also a regular contributing writer for VRScout, is on the SXSW XR Pitch Advisory Board, a judge for the AIXR VR Awards, and makes frequent appearances on the UK’s TalkTV and TalkRadio as their tech expert.

You can learn more about Bobby Carlton via his Linktree.

Christine Janssen, PhD, appointed as Co-Chair for our VRARA Training Committee

We are thrilled to have Christine provide her thought-leadership for our community and help us lead our Training Committee.

“I am ready to leverage the amazing VRARA network and bring my expertise in education and immersive technologies to the table. I’m looking forward to leading the Training Committee so we can show the world how and why the metaverse will open up countless opportunities for trainers/instructors/coaches to educate the workforce of tomorrow.”

— Christine Janssen, PhD

Dr. Christine Janssen is the Founder and CEO of Edstutia, a 21st century virtual learning platform positioned at the intersection of business and technology. The goal of Edstutia is to address the skills gap in the U.S. by:

1) Helping corporate L&D partners integrate immersive technologies and relevant content to prepare the workforce of the future for the workplace of the future.

2) Offering a variety of B2C programs to traditional high school graduates, the unemployed, and upskillers to score in-demand, tech-driven jobs.

Prior to Edstutia, Dr. Janssen was a Clinical Associate Professor and the Director of Entrepreneurship for twelve years in the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University. A self-proclaimed visionary and builder, she stayed true to her passions by regularly building new assets, such as the Fordham Foundry, Fordham’s small business incubator, and new opportunities for her students, such as experimenting with virtual reality in her classes. Dr. Janssen’s commitment to hands-on entrepreneurship instruction, based on a constantly changing curriculum designed to sync with the forward-thinking skills business demands earned her various awards, press acknowledgements, and recognition for her top-ranked programs. 

Dr. Janssen’s professional background spans several industries aside from academe, including consumer products, financial services, and technology. She holds a BS in Marketing from the University of South Florida, a Global MBA in Communications & Information Systems (CIS) and Finance with a specialization in e-Business from Fordham University, and a PhD from New York University, where her dissertation focused on how entrepreneurs learn. Her research interest lies squarely in the future of learning.

Training that is out of this world! Interview by CargoForwarder Global with Brian Parzer

By Brigitte Gledhill

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR): These technological advancements are positively disrupting approaches to all kinds of traditional processes, such as cargo training, in this case. CargoForwarder Global spoke to the Co-Chair of VR/RA Association’s Training Committee, Brian Parzer, to understand more on what is changing.

CFG: What is the VR/AR Association?
BP: The VR/AR Association (VRARA) is an international organization designed to foster collaboration between innovative companies and brands in the VR and AR ecosystem that accelerates growth, fosters research and education, helps develop industry standards, connects member organizations, and promotes the services of member companies. As the use of VR/AR is still fairly new in all industries, it makes sense that those with experience and success come together on a global scale to bring the entire movement forward and at a high level. Therefore, like-mind individuals come together every 2 weeks to share, exchange information, and network. There are various Industry Verticals in VRARA, such as Training, for which I am a co-chair.

CFG: Is VR/AR changing the way companies train employees?
BP: Yes, VR/AR is definitely changing the way companies are training employees. It adds a new dimension to classroom trainings, as well as offers new options on a remote basis. We are no longer limited to web-based trainings, when speaking of remote training.

CFG: What are the benefits of VR/AR?
BP: With AR, I am able to add a 3D object into a classroom training, for everyone to see and work/learn with. With VR, I can place a participant into a virtual room/situation and put them through a learning sequence. In both cases, we are able to train in a secure environment, offering identical and learning controlled trainings to all employees.

There are some interesting statistics supporting learning with VR/AR: 

• 2.3x increased emotional connection to content: It is one thing to take part in a classroom training with other participants, and it is another thing to go through a web-based training. With VR/AR, you use more senses to learn, thus increasing your emotional connection to the subject matter, and improving the chance of remembering and using what you have learned.

• 4x faster training completion compared to classroom: In a classroom setting, it takes time to teach the subject, practice it, and then review it. With VR/AR you can combine these learning processes which definitely increases not just the speed of learning, but also the capacity.

• 275% more confidence in applying the new skills: In a standard classroom setting, participants learn, practice and successfully passes a test. However, they miss the practical implementation of what they learned. VR/AR enables them to practice this skill too, which better prepares them for subsequent application in daily work.

CFG: How, in particular, is it being employed in cargo trainings?
BP: I have been involved in AR/VR training conception since mid-2018, in my trainer function at the Lufthansa Cargo Training Academy. Currently, we have two rolled-out trainings using VR/AR, as well as one we are developing for 2021.

The first concept was developed as an AR Build-Up course designed to meet IATA requirements for automobile build-up for air transport. Given than most classrooms are not large enough to hold a vehicle, and it is not always possible to get all participants into a secured warehouse to see an automobile build-up (as this does not happen every day), I used AR to bring an automobile as a 3D into the classroom. This was our first venture into AR-training, which was supported by the Lufthansa Group Innovation Fund, and co-developed with an AR-vendor called 3spin, located in Darmstadt, Germany. The project was piloted several times in the first half of 2019 with much success. The failure rate went from 36% to 7% on the piloted trainings: a number I could have never imagined.

CFG: Why do you think that was?
BP: The training had such great success because the staff who build-up cargo for air transport, are individuals who learn best by doing, and they work in teams on a daily basis. Therefore, I combined these elements into the training. The automobile is brought into the classroom as a 3D object, enabling the staff to learn in a secured/safe environment. I split the class into teams of 4, and each person receives a Microsoft Hololens to wear, along with a personal coaching session on how to operate and navigate the Hololens. Working with each individual group of 4, I guide them through the task of securing the automobile for airlift using the tie-down strap (which is also a 3D object). Each participant gets one tire to work with and secures the tire to the pallet using the techniques they learned in the theoretical part of the course. Everyone sees the same car, and can see what their colleagues are doing. That means they can also help each other out during the session, just like in real life. Combining learning by doing with teamwork in a real-life setting within a secure training atmosphere brings out the best in the participants.

By the way, for this project we were awarded the eLearning Journal Award both for the best Augmented Reality Project in 2020, as well as the Best Project of 2020, and I have been invited as a guest speaker at many events and fairs since then.

CFG: Congratulations, Brian! You mentioned a second and third concept?
BG: Yes. With the second concept, we developed a 360-degree tour of our B777F Freighter. Since many course participants have never been inside the freighter, such a tour is crucial to an employee’s overall training. If a participant cannot visualize what we are teaching, it makes it more difficult for them to connect to and retain the subject being taught. For this, we use the Oculus Quest (VR). Wearing the headset, each participant can tour the freighter at their leisure. Along the way, there are hot spots that they can click on and learn information and facts. Once they complete the tour and know how it looks and functions, they are ready to continue learning about the freighter in a classroom training.

Our third concept currently being developed, is focused on sales. Though sales staff are unable to come to our training headquarters during the pandemic, we still want to teach them the art of making a sales visit. We are creating avatars that are able to react to the words of the participant. The participant will have a choice of sentences to pick from, and depending on what they pick, the avatar will hear the sentence and react in a life-like way. The participant will have the opportunity to take the session often, trying out different options, and learning from their outcomes. I expect this to be a hair-raising event that the participant will soon not forget!

CFG: Has cargo training changed due to the pandemic?
BP: Yes, the pandemic has, of course, also created issues for us in training. The majority of the participants cannot travel to the training headquarters, nor are trainers able to get to them. Since the pandemic reached us quickly, we were limited in the amount of time we had to react and offer solutions/options. We now offer a blended learning concept, using web-based trainings in combination with webinars. These are seen as temporary solutions, until classroom trainings are available again. Long-term, we will continue to offer international colleagues various training options, to allow us and the participants to be able to choose the best possible learning method at that time. Digitalization is here, it has proven to work, and will guide us for the years to come. In the end, we as trainers, will do our utmost to teach our participants as best as possible.

CFG: What have your major learnings been as a trainer over the years?
BP: After 17 years of working for Lufthansa Cargo in New York, I decided to live my dream of becoming a Lufthansa Cargo trainer, at the Training Academy in Seeheim, Germany. That was in 2012. Now almost 10 years later, I definitely have seen the evolution of our trainings in this time, as well as influenced the VR/AR movement myself.

There are several things that are important to me:

• I believe in having an imaginary toolbox that I can go to at any situation. This allows me to react situationally to the moment and the participant(s). This comes with experience.

• Think out of the box.

• Know your participants, and find the best way to reach them.

• Be open to new ways.

Here are some mottos I hold:

• Strive for perfection, but perfection is to learn from one’s mistakes

• Trainer is human, so are participants.

• There is never a dumb question. The smartest people in the world ask the most questions.

Thank you for your insights, Brian. I look forward to following your association’s developments!

Brian Parzer of Lufthansa Cargo appointed Co-Chair of our Training Committee

The Training Committee creates best practices, guidelines, and call to actions (e.g., recommendations for standards) for the VR/AR Training industry sector. 

Brian is the Manager of Warehouse & Operations at Lufthansa Cargo and has been with Lufthansa since 1995. Brian has been active in VRARA’s activities and we are privileged to have him provide thought-leadership for this Committee and our Association!

"It is with great honor and pleasure to be appointed co-chairman of the Training Committee.  I eagerly await the opportunity to work with the VRARA community to share experiences, BDPs, and develop guidelines, all for the common good of training and those being trained! " - Brian Parzer

We invite you to join our Online Meets and meet Brian and other executives in the Training sector and share common challenges and solutions!

Announcing new Leadership for VRARA Training Committee: Emily Smits (Canada), James Watson (Europe), Marlo Brooke (USA)

The VR/AR Association is thrilled to announce new co-chairs for our Training Committee. This committee creates best practices and guidelines for the VR/AR Training industry sector. The committee meets every 2 weeks online to present recent case studies, projects, research, and is forum to discuss common problems and solutions. Plus, the active participants get preference to speak at our chapter events and Global Summits.

The new c0-chairs are:

1. Emily Smits, Modest Tree (Canada)

2. James Watson, Immerse (Europe)

3. Marlo Brooke, AVATAR Partners (USA)

EMILY SMITS, COO, MODEST TREE

Emily Smits is the Chief Operating Office at Modest Tree, a Halifax software company that focuses on providing XR training for enterprise clients and is the creator of the Xplorer software for rapidly creating collaborative XR training and sales presentations. Modest Tree has worked with leading organizations to transform their customer sales and training through the use of virtual and augmented reality. Modest Tree is a North American Microsoft Mixed Reality Partner. 

Over the past 9 years, Emily has worked with the company through its continued growth, providing operational leadership.  Emily holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Laurentian University and is a designated accountant (CPA-CMA) and Project Management Professional (PMP).  Emily has been the Vice-Chair on the Digital Nova Scotia Board for the past 3 years  and is passionate about VR/AR technologies, bringing advanced digital solutions to the enterprise, and supporting entrepreneurship. 

JAMES WATSON, CMO, IMMERSE

James started his career in digital marketing and innovation over 20 years ago. The past 7 years he seen him work with companies including Major League Baseball, Shell, and DHL, to identify and deliver enterprise VR solutions. Currently, as Chief Marketing Officer at Immerse, he is working across industry sectors to help drive the adoption of enterprise VR training.

“Virtual Reality is enhancing human performance in ways that were once unthinkable. Today, it is transforming the way we learn, explore and interact. As a frontrunner in training and education, Immerse recognised this potential early and focused on developing an open platform to help companies increase their ROI from VR training.”

Immerse is the technology company behind the industry-leading virtual reality platform, Immerse VEP. Built for enterprise from the ground up, the platform helps companies create, scale and deploy VR training and maximise their ROI. 

Some of the world’s largest companies use Immerse VEP for training and assessment. They include firms as wide-ranging as Shell and GE Healthcare to DHL. While these companies come from a diverse mix of sectors and industries, they all have one thing in common: they recognise how VR training can increase their efficiency and want to extract the most value from it.

MARLO BROOKE, CEO, AVATAR PARTNERS

Founder & CEO of AVATAR Partners, Inc., an innovative woman-owned business serving Military and Commercial markets through the Extended Reality Ecosystem. AVATAR develops advanced Training Solutions and Software to improve Employee Safety, Corporate Profits and Drive Local, US-Based Business growth. Products include Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality productivity tools, Video and Interactive Multimedia Instruction (IMI) and Nex-Generation Visual Technical Manuals (NGVis). I am honored to lead the most talented, innovative team of employees in our industry, innovating cost-effective, practical, best-in-class solutions to our customers.

Innoactive Launches VR Training Visionary Roundtable

participating corporations…

TL:DR - On November 18, 2019, VR/AR Association Germany moderated a full day roundtable on Enterprise VR learning . Representatives from Transportation, Energy, Logistics and Aviation attended to better understand the challenges and benefits of scalable immersive training

First a Little Background

VR training for employees has numerous benefits which is convincing more and more companies to consider the technology as it evolves and awareness grows. However, Virtual Reality is still novel to most workplaces and therefore not as easily integrated into standard training procedures. Adopting VR comes with its challenges and hurdles just as regular innovation does. How can we fix this? Consequently, we have decided to help tackle this problem by uniting like-minded peers who are at the forefront of discussing VR in their organisation. Together with HTC and Unity and the support of VRARA, Innoactive has launched a platform for industry professionals which gives them the opportunity to exchange best practices. We decided to create our VR Training Visionary Roundtable

Structure of the Event

The main discussion is in the form of a classic roundtable which gathers a group of like minded visionaries from different industries. By doing so, we unite them to exchange about overcoming VR training adoption hurdles together. The moderated roundtables are designed to open a discussion amongst participants to help them overcome VR Adoption hurdles. These hurdles include difficulty with hardware roll out, content distribution and permissions, funding, workers safety issues and much more. As a result of listening and engaging with industry professionals, the community works together to solve these hurdles.

The Roundtable also incorporates “demo” sessions at the end of the event. During these sessions, participants can try out each other’s VR training solutions. As well as this, a dedicated Best Practices Instance on the Innoactive Hub aggregates the VR Trainings and allows all the Event Community members to access and try diverse applications.

One Final Thought

The next step of the VR Training Visionary Roundtable includes a workshop for storyboarding and calculating business cases. This gives participants the opportunity to get inspired before designing their next Virtual Reality training. In doing so participants can also learn new ways of estimating the value of a business case.

From VR Training Newbie to Rollout Master in 4 Days

https://www.vr-training-summit.innoactive.de/

Learn from others in our Community! Recap from our Training Committee Conference Call

Come meet our Training Committee at the VR/AR Global Summit Nov 1-2

Our Training Committee meets via conf calls/web every 2 weeks and participants share their lessons learned, challenges, and success stories. Join us on our next call! Email info@thevrara.com

For example, below is a quick recap (of what we can share publicly) of what the conf call participants are working on:

Julie Smithson: XR Ignite received over 180 applications, ~30 companies in the general area of training.

David Trainor: Completed project on VR-based training around data visualisation for high-value manufacturing.

Mike Wesolowski: Preparing for NEPTUNE mission. An international team of 5 scientist-explorers has announced the launch of the NEPTUNE MIssion, a 5-day research endeavor that will take place 20 feet underwater at the Jules Undersea Lodge. Short for “Nautical Experiments in Physiology, Technology & UNderwater Exploration,” the NEPTUNE mission will take advantage of Jules' isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environment to test our VR medical imaging system, SieVRt, in a simulated clinical scenario. 

Marlo Brooke: AR training system for US Coastguard boats (engine maintenance). System is now in production.

Ryan Chapman: Crisis scenario training for women’s hospital. For Women's Hospital, we're developing 6 training scenarios dealing with obstetric crisis scenarios. The goal is to augment simulation training for anesthesiologists and nurses, which is currently very time-consuming and expensive.

María Calvo Garrido: Immersive training. Hardware focus for training welders. Certification from welder’s associations.

Ramesh Verma: Working on 3 conferences. International Medicon (teleheath). Army Design Bureau. Patent program in Bangalore. All events have education/training focus.

Join us on our next call! Email info@thevrara.com

Seabery Sponsors the Training Industry Committee and has over 400+ clients worldwide. The Seabery Augmented Reality solutions are applied to skills training

Training Committee creates best practices, guidelines, and call to actions for our industry. 

Seabery is a global tech company pioneering the development of Augmented Reality (AR) edtech solutions applied to skills training. The Seabery platform is being used by more than 400 Government and Industrial clients in 45 countries, with Germany and USA as the early adoption markets. Seabery has 65 employees.

For more info contact Alejandro Villarán Vázquez avv@seaberyat.com

The VR/AR Association publishes the Training Industry Sector Report including over 100 companies specializing in Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality

GET A COPY OF THE REPORT (click here)

Training Industry Sector Report - Enter your email

You can also come see some of these companies at our VRARA Enterprise Summit at LiveWorx in Boston on June 10th. More info and tickets here

“Thanks to the folks at the VR/AR Association for moving the industry needle and serving as the connecting file for companies across the ecosystem. ”

— JAY FRASER, HP

There is a head scratching data point that I have been referencing lately: corporations collectively spend $350 billion on training each year. To put that in perspective, corporations spend more annually on training than the Gross Domestic Product of 83% of the countries in the world. And what are the results? Before we get there, think about the last time you experienced company training. Was it effective? Were you engaged? Did you remember anything? Answers are probably overwhelmingly no. And you aren’t alone. Most executives think that their company learning and development is ineffective and many employees do not think they are effectively trained to do their job and/or find their training useless. Read the full Foreword by Jay Fraser, Global Head of VR for Training at HP here.

The report features over 35 companies, for example:

In addition to featuring over 35 companies in detail, the report lists over 100+ companies who registered with our Directory. The infographic below is a sample of all the companies:

VR/AR in Training Industry Sector Report. 35+ Companies Featured (Update)

To get a copy of this report email info@thevrara.com

The VR/AR Association Training Committee is working on this industry report that will feature companies specializing in VR/AR for Training solutions. This report will be published in Jan 2019 and promoted to the industry globally.

Opening

The immersive technologies of virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) are poised to disrupt training in all sectors including corporate, healthcare, manufacturing, and education to name a few. This is a bold statement but one supported by the psychology and brain science of learning. Traditional approaches to training rely heavily on text, or one-off expert demonstrations and predominantly engage one learning system in the brain. This is the cognitive skills learning system that recruits the prefrontal cortex and relies heavily on working memory and attention.

Importantly, this system is not fully developed until one is in their mid 20s, begins to decline in middle age, and is negatively impacted by stress, pressure, and anxiety making this a fragile and suboptimal learning system. Immersive approaches, on the other hand, broadly engage multiple learning systems in the brain in synchrony including experiential, emotional, behavioral and cognitive systems that recruit many brain regions including occipital, temporal, parietal and frontal cortical regions. This broad-based synchronous engagement of brain-based learning systems leads to a powerful sense of “presence”, strong initial learning and enhanced long-term retention. Because many of these systems are less affected by age and stress, learning is more consistent across individuals and situations.

As Einstein said, “Learning is an experience. Everything else is just information.” Experience is at the heart of immersive training, whereas information is at the heart of traditional training. Our society is in desperate need of high-quality training. Training approaches are ripe for disruption and immersive technologies meet this need.

— Todd Maddox, Ph.D., Founder and CEO, Cognitive Design & Statistical Consulting

Featured companies already include:

• Absorb Reality

• AVATAR Partners

• Bizri Academy

• Concurrent Technologies Corporation

• Circuit Stream

• DiSTI

• Eliteceu

• 4Experience

• Halldale

• Heartwood

• Innoactive

• Motive.io

• Sentireal

• ONE Digital Consulting

• Sentireal

• SkillReal

• STRIVR

• PIXO VR

• Pixvana

• Portico.ai

• REVINAX

• Seabery

• Sprint

• Warp Industries

• Uptale

• UNLTD Inc.

• VRSim, Inc.

• Other Companies (see infographic below)

You asked the questions, and here are the answers from our Training Webinar Expert Panel

Our Training Committee held a very successful webinar on “The Impact and ROI of VR/AR in Training” on 16th January 2019.

You can watch the Webinar recording here

You can also watch the solution demos here

It proved a popular event, with over 300 people registering to watch four enlightening presentations on very different Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality training applications. During the lively question-and-answer session it became clear that the number of great questions was larger than the time available to answer them all! This post allows the presenters to respond the questions that couldn’t be answered during the webinar.

Presenter 1 : David Trainor, Sentireal

Presentation Theme

David presented the “AppUccino” software, which delivers AR experiences for special-needs trainees to learn how to be a barista and work successfully in a commercial coffee shop. AppUccino directs trainees through the process of making americano, espresso, latte and cappuccino drinks. It generates AR overlays on the physical coffee-making equipment, including the industrial coffee machine itself, the separate coffee bean grinder and the separate water heater. A short video of part of the AppUccino AR experience can be seen here. Trainee performance measurements are taken as they prepare the drink using AppUccino and these measurements are uploaded to a cloud application, which analyzes them and presents training progress information to authorized training managers. An initial pilot with AppUccino indicated that trainees retained twice the amount of information and developed their skills 50% faster using AppUccino.

Webinar Questions for David Trainor

You said it took ~9 months of definition and dev, how many people were working on your team in which roles in order to accomplish this?

We used one media/content creator and one software developer. The work was carried out over the course of 9 months, but neither the content creation nor the software development role was full-time.

How were the analyses done? Observation? Performance against criteria on task?

The analyses were done based on (i) time taken for the trainee to perform certain tasks (ii) measurements of how accurately the trainee performed certain tasks and (iii) estimates of where the trainee’s attention and focus was at specific points in the procedure.

How many users has Appuccino had? What has been the impact? In how many months after development did you achieve that impact?

We’ve just completed an initial evaluation/pilot involving 15-20 trainees within a coffee shop managed by a partner training organization. At some point in February 2019 we intend to expand this to all barista trainees within that training organization.

How long did it take to create AR content for training?

The 3D models for the AR overlays were completed in approximately 1 week. The media is actually quite simple. Strong, simple content proved to be the best way to present the required information to special needs trainees who are affected by autism, Downs Syndrome or general learning difficulties. However we needed to spend much more time - about 4 months - on the instructional design and the directions, animations and transitions within the AR scenarios.

How did you already go about gathering data on ROI prior to the development (and also launch) of the app?

The data was gathered from a pilot study at one location. This was after the app was developed but before it was publicly released.

Very exciting project! Curious why you selected that small, unique demographic to start? Unique requirements? Expect to scale up to other populations?

We picked barista training as it’s an area where there is expected to be a lack of qualified employees in the future. In the UK, where I’m from, it is estimated that there is a shortfall of 40000 trained baristas. We selected special-needs barista trainees because there is a high degree of underemployment in that group and if we can create a good intuitive solution for special-needs trainees then it should scale up well to other groups and other types of catering or hospitality training applications.

Are these analytics published somewhere?

Not yet - the small pilot study that we’ve carried out gave us some indications on the training improvements and return on investment from AppUccino but we’re starting a larger evaluation in February 2019, when more trainees start to use the app at our partner training organization. We plan to publish the detailed outputs from this larger study.

Presenter 2 : Jeff Meador, Portico

Presentation Theme

Jeff presented Portico’s Diversity and Inclusion VR Seminar, which provides learners the opportunity to practice and master their skills with inclusive language. This program was designed to complement traditional classroom learning by preparing learners with practical applications of the skills discussed during classroom sessions. With Portico’s software, learners speak directly to AI-powered digital avatars and engage in simulated conversations that put their skills to test. Learners also get real-time feedback on their performance through a virtual trainer, who uses AI to guide users towards better language choices.

Webinar Questions for Jeff Meador

How did you factor in orientation to the VR experience to overcome novelty or unfamiliarity with the technology to get straight to the experience?
We didn’t want to rely on the learner having any previous experience with VR. We give users time to look around and explore prior to beginning the scenario. This gives them a chance to understand the parameters and boundaries of the exercise. We also engage in some light chit-chat (“how’s the weather” sort of stuff) to let the learner know that they are expected to talk and that the AI is listening and will respond.

Do you need a quiet room?

A quiet room certainly helps. Current speech-to-text technology is very strong, but having a quiet place for the training is very helpful. It also helps the learner concentrate on the task at hand.

Is Portico looking at including body language (proximity to client gestures, etc.)?

Yes; we’ve done some preliminary work with this and have set some behaviors that change based on the learner’s position and/ or focal point during the training.

How is the real time interaction happening? is it a sort of multiplayer training and a mentor is interacting with you? or the AI is giving you feedback?

Everything within our scenarios is driven by AI, including the feedback. Our goal is to have these role playing experiences run without the need for actors or facilitators.

Presenter 3 : Marlo Brooke, AVATAR Partners

Marlo presented a Mixed Reality Training System for aircraft and aircraft subsystem maintenance. Primarily an Augmented Reality / Mixed Reality solution, this high-fidelity, industrial-grade maintenance training system scales from a tabletop model design, to a full-sized aircraft, allowing the maintainer to train on the job, hands free, at the point of need, without any jitter or drift. The system utilizes object tracking (as opposed to stickers or markers) to ensure highly accurate lock on target, even as the user moves around the aircraft. It also  integrates to any backend system to both retrieve and record/send information about the maintenance task. It supports collaborative tasks and remote assistance.

Webinar Questions for Marlo Brooke

How did you come up with your pricing for your offerings?

Pricing is based on the specific requirement of the customer. AVATAR Partners can develop the application in its entirety, and/or the customer can purchase SimplifyXR to build/extend all or some of the functionality. Furthermore, because we use open source products such as Unity, the customer does not need to purchase SimplifyXR to extend any AVATAR Partners built XR solutions.

Is SimplifyXR proprietary to you or is it 3rd party?

SimplifyXR is is developed by AVATAR Partners using open source development tools, and can integrate to any backend system through APIs. It is licensed and sold through AVATAR Partners and its certified resellers. SimplifyXR is not required to extend any AVATAR Partner XR applications.

Could you please clarify how 97% reduction was calculated? Does it mean that instead of 100 hours of training without glasses only 3 hours with glasses are required?

You are correct. The training task was calculated based on the current training method for that particular wire failure, which involved an experienced maintainer gathering information from 3 different source materials (ETM, Wire Illuminator, and 2D schematics) to trace and identify the wire failure. The current training method is documented as taking 4 hours on average. The AR training experience is 7 minutes in duration, which is a 97% reduction in time to train.

Marlo, you said you have offices around the country.  I didn't hear if Portico has the same, but do either of your companies look to establish satellite offices in more remote locations? If so, what type of environments do you look for? Developed workforce, local colleges, etc?

AVATAR Partners has regional offices in Huntington Beach CA, Arlington (Crystal City) VA, Virginia Beach VA, and Patuxent River MD, with personnel working in 8 different states within the USA. AVATAR has teaming partners with offices in Atlanta GA, Orlando FL, San DIego CA, Dayton OH, and Fort Worth, TX. We are expanding based on a variety of factors including the locations of teaming partners, certified resellers, and universities both within the USA and Allied Nations.

Marlo, how did you measure those analytics?

The performance metrics were derived from test results by AVATAR Partners based on the comparison of the current methodology versus the use of XR. These tests included accuracy,  time to train, and time to complete the task. Cost savings were derived based on an assumed reduction of errors based on increased accuracy, and will vary depending on the application and cost of parts. We also discussed other studies such as the Boeing/Iowa State Study on wing assembly (Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2014).

I’m not familiar with SimplifyXR -- can you describe what that is and whether that is proprietary to AVATAR?

SimplifyXR is a software product developed by AVATAR Partners that allows non-programmers to develop their own Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, and Virtual Reality experiences. It also speeds development time by tenfold by using a user-friendly interface. The product also evaluates the user’s desired XR application and notifies the user whether or not the application is well suited for XR, or if a different training media (e.g. video training) would be more effective. SimplifyXR is owned and licensed by AVATAR Partners, and is developed using open-source tools and industry standards, and also integrates to any backend system using APIs. The product is available directly through AVATAR Partners or certified resellers.

Was there a problem using AR on an object as large as an aircraft?

We overcame several challenges to make the solution commercially usable. Using the basic development tools and markers didn’t work - it caused significant drift, jitter and an inability to accurately track the object as the maintainer walked around the aircraft. AVATAR Partners was able to overcome all of these issues by developing algorithms to lock on target without any drift or jitter to the user. Our solution being hardware agnostic, we found the Microsoft Hololens and android tablet supported higher fidelity. Also, we used Mantis Vision 3D scanners to scan the aircraft, gaining an accurate 3D model so that we could use object tracking (instead of markers). This along with our programming algorithms provides the maintainer with absolute precision as they walk around the aircraft, regardless of the unit’s size (from 1:6 the model size, to full aircraft).

Presenter 4 : Carlos Ochoa, ONE digital consulting

Presentation Theme

Carlos presented XR platform for immersive training, operation and maintenance of industry plant services, eolic farms, which includes advanced reality technologies in 3d interactive environments (extended reality, 360º video and digital data integration), methodologies in a modular architecture (on/off line). Innvestion deploy an intelligent XR ecosystem with the specialized know-how to turn unstructured data into value-adding information, for specific subject when providing services such as preventive maintenance, security management or operational management. Simulation-based training, prefaced with traditional training methods on process fundamentals, is the most efficient and fastest way to train new employees and prepare them for their daily work providing huge added value and benefits.

ONE digital consulting has been working for more than 20 years in the eLearning and Training arena, and with our selected partners network in Europe, Saudi, India, Africa and Latam.

Webinar Questions for Carlos Ochoa

What hardware configurations are everyone on the panel currently using for their XR applications?

For a full INNVESTION experience, the user only needs a mobile device and VR glasses that fit the device. The training centre will need an internet connection to download different modules.

INNVESTION can be used in a single “low cost” VR environment based on Samsung Gear Mobile VR, through the most advanced VR Oculus Rift, HTC Vive configuration. The key issue of INNVESTION is data integration in one device. From reality to virtual reality or vice versa.

INNVESTION can be used in a multi window spheric environment, for multiuser training environments.

What are KPI’s?

The acronym KPI sounds for Key Performance Indicator. This is a general business term referring to any metric used in understanding how an organization is doing. While the term can be tossed around the business world ostentatiously or irrelevantly, the fundamental rationale derives from the simple concept that if you don’t know how you did in the past, you don’t know if you have improved in the future. Because every business has its own economic niche, customer acquisition models, geographic localities, production methods, etc., each business must define for themselves what makes them successful. Therefore, the “key” in KPI, should be a metric key to your enterprise. These indicators are as varied as your imagination, but a number of familiar indicators include monthly recurring revenue (MRR), cost to acquire a customer (CAC) and the term used in this webinar’s title, Return on Investment (ROI).

When you are looking to improve your ROI in your training strategy, you need to understand clearly the training savings metrics, saved commute hours, lifelong expense of your LMS solution, overall productivity and revenue increase, other factors specific to your business and training model.

In conclusion, we can see selected companies  transforming their business opportunities for the XR technology and adopt it regardless of cost and ‘clunkiness.’ Today we see leader enterprises utilizing XR for training, maintenance, engineering, and marketing purposes. These companies eventually pull everyone else in their direction as the industry caters to their operational needs and chases enterprise benefits.

Foreword by Jay Fraser, Global Head of VR for Training at HP, to our VR/AR Training Industry Sector Report

** If you are interested in being featured in this report or want to receive a copy, email info@thevrara.com **

Come see Jay Fraser speak at our VRARA Enterprise Summit at LiveWorx on June 10th

First off, thanks to the folks at the VR/AR Association for moving the industry needle and serving as the connecting file for companies across the ecosystem. Before you get cracking on this wonderful report, allow me to share some perspective on training and how VR/AR disrupts the norm.

Training Overall

There is a head scratching data point that I have been referencing lately: corporations collectively spend $350 billion on training each year. To put that in perspective, corporations spend more annually on training than the Gross Domestic Product of 83% of the countries in the world. And what are the results? Before we get there, think about the last time you experienced company training. Was it effective? Were you engaged? Did you remember anything? Answers are probably overwhelmingly no. And you aren’t alone. Most executives think that their company learning and development is ineffective and many employees do not think they are effectively trained to do their job and/or find their training useless.

So what’s the problem?

In a word, practice. To be effectively trained, employees must be afforded the opportunity to practice what they learn. Ask any athlete, first responder, or military service member how often they practice. One of my favorite quotes is from Olympic Gold Medal Swimmer Rowdy Gaines: “I swam around the world for a race that lasted 49 seconds.” I came across this quote in a book analyzing the characteristics of top performers. Practice is not easy, both physically, but also, and more importantly for the purpose of this audience, financially. Think of the economic cost of delivering effective training to a workforce: the logistics, facilities, content, instructors, and employee “downtime”. It’s tough to scale good training but training is crucial to having productive employees. Add to the mix an aging workforce, a skills gap, fleeting employees and we are bordering on a training crisis!

Why should you care?

As an employee, you should want a safe, productive work environment and well-trained, capable teammates. Safety shouldn’t be overlooked. In the US alone, 14 people per day die at work in preventable accidents. As a member of society, you should want humans to stay sharp, adaptable, and relevant, particularly with the onset of artificial intelligence and the employment implications. A recent McKinsey Global Institute Report purported that over the next decade, as many as 375 million workers may need to switch occupations.  As an executive, you need to balance two objectives: 1) taking care of employees and 2) hitting profit goals (not mutually exclusive). Better training results in more effective employees who can make better decisions and ultimately boost productivity.

What to do about it?

Innovate or die! Embrace immersive technologies. VR/AR provide a unique ability to enable deliberate practice on a mass scale. Because it’s a virtual rendered world, any scenario can be replicated and practiced over and over again with randomization injected to throw multiple scenarios at the trainee. Randomization is a key variable as it avoids “teaching to the test” and exposes trainees to an infinite number of scenarios. Think of a pilot. How many times do they get to experience an actual crisis? Hopefully, never. Yet, they are expected to be able to make split second decisions when placed in that situation.

Who is using VR/AR for training?

To quote the great Jim Collins, “the flywheel is in motion.” Companies across just about every industry are either testing, piloting, or deploying VR/AR for training; the momentum is real. Let’s focus on only a few. Retail: Walmart recently announced that it will deliver VR Training to all stores in the United States and train more than a million employees (thanks STRIVR for making this happen!). Aerospace: several major airlines are leveraging VR to familiarize its flight attendants with the aircraft and the proper protocol in getting underway. Energy: Siemens has started to implement VR to train personnel on the maintenance and operations of its large gas turbine engines within its Energy division. Technology: look no further than my own company, HP! Our learning and development organization is developing inclusion training in VR. Also, our print global services business is piloting a VR procedural trainer on one of our large printing presses. Military: at least one large country in the Middle East is deploying squad sized dismounted troop trainers and the US Army recently announced a $480M deal with Microsoft. Law enforcement: Netherlands police department is testing VR for crime scene investigation, domestic violence, and presentation skills. The list goes on and on.

It's time to reinvent training

Another favorite quote of mine from my time as a Marine Corps officer: “we don’t rise the occasion; we sink to the level of our training” – Archilochus. HP and the many companies featured in this report are committed to enabling effective training (i.e. practice) on a mass scale. Our founders Bill and Dave believed in reinventing themselves and their company. To mark HP’s 80th anniversary this year, let’s work together to reinvent training. Enjoy the report and the creative and innovative means by which companies are doing just that.

If you are interested in being featured in this report or want to receive a copy, email info@thevrara.com

Watch the Demo Videos from our Training Webinar

Here are the videos of the demos from the presenters from our Training Webinar:

Webinar Recording

You can watch the recording of our Webinar here

Thank you to our Webinar Sponsor!

Sentireal’s software and media solutions, powered by Immersonal™ provide enhanced learning outcomes by presentation of content using VR/AR technologies.  Learn more at Sentireal www.sentireal.com

Today! Attend online 12pm EST, our expert panel discussing "The Impact and ROI of VR/AR in Training". Live Q&A. 370+ already RSVPed

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Our Training Committee will present the latest use cases and ROI.

Thank you to our Sponsor!

Sentireal’s software and media solutions, powered by Immersonal™ provide enhanced learning outcomes by presentation of content using VR/AR technologies.  Learn more at www.sentireal.com