Scope AR Acquires Augmented Reality Toolset Company WakingApp
VRARA member company, Scope AR - pioneers of enterprise AR solutions - today announced it has acquired AR technology company, WakingApp. With the acquisition, six of WakingApp's founding members will remain with the company and the additional resources will allow Scope AR to accelerate its ability to further innovate on its leading AR knowledge platform, WorkLink.
Acquisition will accelerate continued innovation and development of company’s WorkLink platform
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – December 11, 2019 – Scope AR, the pioneer of enterprise-class augmented reality (AR) solutions, today announced its acquisition of WakingApp, an AR technology company based in Tel Aviv, Israel. With this acquisition, six of the founding members of the WakingApp team will remain with the company and bring additional resources and expertise for developing the next generation of Scope AR’s augmented reality knowledge platform, WorkLink.
“We’re extremely pleased with the growth we’ve seen to date of enterprises adopting AR,” said Scott Montgomerie, CEO and co-founder of Scope AR. “With that growth comes more knowledge of what our customers need to successfully build AR into their business. The WakingApp team brings a great mix of AR development experience and creative thinking to Scope AR as we continue to evolve our WorkLink platform to meet our customers’ current and future needs.”
WakingApp has a proprietary AR platform with technologies to help enterprises across industries easily create cutting-edge AR experiences. The acquisition of WakingApp by Scope AR expands the company’s resources to more rapidly deliver new functionality to its WorkLink solution and push the boundaries of what’s possible in enterprise AR as the market continues to mature. WorkLink is the industry’s only industrial AR knowledge platform to provide real-time remote assistance and access to pre-built AR work instructions simultaneously in one application to allow workers to easily access the knowledge they need.
“We are thrilled to join the Scope AR team and become an integral part in the delivery of first-class AR solutions to enterprise organizations,” said Matan Libis, CEO of WakingApp.
About Scope AR
Scope AR is the pioneer of enterprise-class augmented reality solutions, delivering the industry’s leading AR knowledge platform for getting workers the knowledge they need, when they need it. The company is revolutionizing the way enterprises work and collaborate through its industrial AR platform - WorkLink - which provides real-time work instructions and live, remote assistance in a single, integrated platform. The company’s device-agnostic technology supports smartphones, tablets and wearables, making it easy for leading organizations like Unilever, Toyota, Lockheed Martin, Becton Dickinson, P&G, Siemens and others to quickly scale their use of AR to any worker. The company was founded in 2011 and is based in San Francisco with offices in Edmonton, Canada.
Contact:
Brittany Edwards
brittany@carvecom.com / 210-382-2165
JULABO USA, Inc. unveils its next bold move with holographic technology to change the future of the customer experience
The future comes into focus for JULABO USA, investing in a new trade show booth design with not a single physical unit in sight
Holographic technology demonstrates the company’s commitment to Industry 4.0 and its vision to change the future of the customer experience
December 11, 2019 – Allentown, PA – Today JULABO USA, Inc. unveils its next bold move at MJBizCon in Las Vegas, NV. With not a single physical unit in sight, the company integrates holographic imagery into its booth design to project three-dimensional images of its temperature control product portfolio instead.
The projections serve not only as a catalyst to drive new traffic to the booth, but they also demonstrate JULABO USA’s forward-thinking commitment to Industry 4.0 and its decisive impact on the future of the manufacturing industry.
“Although we cater to multiple industries, our product portfolio of temperature control solutions appeals to a very niche market,” says Ralph Juchheim, President of JULABO USA. “Implementing Industry 4.0 directly into our service strategy, and now our marketing strategy, has been a great differentiator of our product and service offerings.”
This isn’t the first time JULABO has experimented with new technology. JULABO’s entry into augmented reality (AR) began with the development of LucaVision, a service solution that integrates Atheer Inc.’s award-winning AR management platform with smart glasses. Originally intended as an AR initiative to assist in product training and remote sales calls, the company soon realized the tremendous value outside of its internal use and benefit. “LucaVision has become a platform that promises to transform our customer experience entirely,” explained Dirk Frese, VP of Marketing, Sales and Service for JULABO USA. “From installation to remote service repair, augmented reality has the power to drastically decrease customer application downtimes and our environmental footprint. This is a transformational opportunity for enterprise, and we wanted to embody that in our trade show design.”
Businesses are continuing to recognize the huge opportunities of growth offered by digitalization and interconnectedness, which became widely known in 2011 as the next industrial revolution to describe the integration of communication technology in industrial manufacturing. “We are using the holograms as a communications platform, and we hope to increase customer loyalty through our innovative product offerings,” continued Frese.
The holographic technology is made possible by HYPERVSN, incorporating multiple HYPERVSN Solo devices, each consisting of four LED rays that create a 3D holographic image when rotating. Visit julabo.us for more information.
About JULABO USA
JULABO USA is the leader in highly dynamic and precise temperature control solutions for applications in science, research, laboratories and industry. Products include refrigerated circulators, heated circulators, temperature control systems, recirculating chillers, water baths, flow-through coolers, viscometer baths, sous vide cooking solutions and various accessories.
Contacts:
JULABO USA
Tricia Bowman
Marketing Team
P: 800.458.5226 x1319
VRARA's Board of Advisors, Cathy Hackl, Named Top Voice in Tech by LinkedIn for 2nd Year in a Row. Plus, RSVP for a video call with Cathy!
We will discuss Cathy’s inspiration and journey to date, along with vision for the future
Hackl is one of the Top Women Working in the Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality Industry
NEW YORK, Dec. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Futurist, author, and keynote speaker, Cathy Hackl, has been named one of the Top Voices in Technology in 2019 by LinkedIn. It is the highest honor a content creator can receive on the platform, and only 346 individuals out of more than 260 million users made the list.
"Everyday, more than 2 million posts stream through the LinkedIn feed. That's a lot of great conversations happening — and our LinkedIn Editors team set out to uncover some of the best professionals igniting those exchanges. The result is our 2019 #LinkedInTopVoices list," wrote Laura Lorenzetti Soper, Senior Editor, Special Projects at LinkedIn.
To find the top voices on the platform globally, LinkedIn used a combination of quantitative and qualitative signals, starting with a custom algorithm from their LinkedIn Data Science team and then curated by their LinkedIn Editors.
"As part of the AR, VR, and Spatial Computing industry, I'm honored to be one of the top voices in tech on LinkedIn," highlighted Hackl. "Latina women hold only 5% of STEM jobs, so I'm hoping to inspire more women and minorities to pursue a career in technology."
According to LinkedIn, Hackl's updates give a glimpse into the future. Whether it's covering the convergence of virtual reality and augmented reality, transforming the physical into the digital or the intersection of art and technology, from her unique vantage point she continues to spark dialogues around the next big technology trends and all things AR, including virtual beings like Lil Miquela, Alexa and Mica, as well as the convergence of AI, AR, 5G and quantum computing. Follow Cathy Hackl on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/cathyhackl or visit cathyhackl.com.
About Cathy Hackl
Cathy Hackl is one of the most sought-after keynote technology speakers in the world. Considered one of the top women in augmented reality, virtual reality, spatial computing, and innovation, she works at the intersection of future technology, strategy, and storytelling, engaging audiences across the globe and across industries.
She's spoken in more than 12 countries, including memorable talks at Twitter's HQ in San Francisco, Facebook's HQ in Menlo Park, and Sony's HQ in San Diego.
Media contact:
Cathy Hackl
230410@email4pr.com
678-913-8133
Orange Coast College (OCC) in Southern California VR/AR program of study
When it comes to Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR), the possibilities are endless. With VRARA member Orange Coast College (OCC) in Southern California, coalescing these possibilities into high-wage, high-growth careers is now a reality. Guided by the expert instruction of Scott Broberg and Matt Newman, and under the direction of Career Education Dean, Lisa Knupple, OCC's VR/AR program of study culminates in a Certificate of Achievement. Students gain entry-level skills to enter the growing field of immersive media. Says Broberg, in a recent issue OCC Magazine, "This is the perfect time for our students to go through a program like this and get out into the industry." Access to the full article is here and for more info email
Amy Kaufman orange@thevrara.com
Minsar secures 3M€ in Seed Fundraising (Europe)
Paris, France, November 27th, 2019 – Minsar by Opuscope is pleased to announce it has successfully closed its 3M€ Seed Funding round with Bievre Epargne, a year after Minsar's initial release. "This fundraising round is the conclusion of a year iterating with close partners and early customers", exclaimed Soraya Jaber, CEO & co-founder of Opuscope. "We are now well on our path to developing the platform creators and designers will use to build and distribute AR/VR content for a billion users".
Opuscope was founded in 2016 by Soraya Jaber (CEO) and Thomas Nigro (CTO), when they were 20 and 19 years old, because of their shared mutual passion for creativity, art and technology, and the desire to accelerate the transition to spatial computing technologies. AR & VR technologies are being used more and more every year and have a huge potential for many sectors such as retail, marketing, tourism, education, industry, health and more. Content creators today are challenged by a world where there is an increasing demand for AR & VR
experiences, but the technical complexity behind them leaves creators with little time and resources to fulfil this demand. Opuscope has solved these technical complexities by building Minsar: A code-free platform for the creation and distribution of VR & AR experiences. Minsar allows creative professionals to build, distribute, and collaborate on AR & VR experiences directly through their 3D headset, tablet, or smartphone. Minsar is one of the first cross-platform and fully integrated content management system that aims to make the creation and distribution of mixed reality experiences accessible to all. The platform is currently available on HoloLens, Magic Leap, Android, and iOS devices.
Thomas Nigro, CTO & Co-Founder of Opuscope explains "This round of fundraising will allow us to significantly expand the Minsar platforms with new features aimed at designers, creators and publishers, launch Minsar on new hardware platforms, and eventually contribute to making Europe a leader in the next generation of computing." In 2017, Opuscope raised a total of €750k in a pre-seed round and won the first round of the Independent Creator Program organized by Magic Leap in 2019, with a significant amount of money. Bièvre Epargne is a Specialized Professional Investment Fund which shares its network and expertise with companies in the health and digital sectors in order to accelerate their growth.
Contact:
Soraya Jaber
CEO & Co-Founder
soraya@opuscope.com
+33.6.88.34.61.41
Get Featured in "Top Israeli VR/AR Companies Changing the World" Israel VR/AR Ecosystem Report! (Sponsored by Siemens)
To get featured email info@thevrara.com with information about your company/organization
There is no cost to you! Thanks to do the sponsorship from Siemens.
The VR/AR Association (VRARA) is producing an industry report on the country's VR/AR ecosystem to promote Israeli companies and organizations involved with immersive technologies and media.
The report will specifically highlight the following:
Size of the market
Number of relevant companies in region
Company info (size: number of employees, revenue; vertical, customers)
Reasons why company is based in the region
Needs and hopes from and for the regional ecosystem
The report will be promoted via VRARA channels and our partners, which includes:
Our global newsletter to 27.000 emails, on our website (20.000 unique visitors per month), and social media (1M user reach), over 70 events around the world.
The report will include companies and organizations, including:
A message from the report sponsor, Siemens,
VR and AR are part of the natural progression of visualization technology. They complement and enhance Siemens Digital Industries Software’s Digital Twin offering, and offer our customers a way to better understand and interact with complex products and production systems.
We have dedicated development groups in our R&D center in Israel which research and validate use cases for manufacturing scenarios and develop appropriate solutions to support them. We also collaborate with leading startups from the rapidly growing eco system in Israel that specialize in AR and VR tech in order to connect and enhance the value we can bring to our customers.
See our other Publications here
Engineering & Computer Simulations Upgrades Logistics Training Applications for U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Operations School
Nov. 2019: Orlando, FL – Engineering & Computer Simulations (ECS) is working with the U.S. Air Force to modernize and advance the use of innovation and emerging educational technologies for its training programs at the Expeditionary Operations School (EOS) at JB Dix/McGuire/Lakehurst. These modernizations will allow Airmen to safely prepare for in-garrison and deployment operations. Current projects include applications, courseware, and simulation that directly support the Air Force’s combat support mission in the full range of expeditionary operations, including deployment planning, logistics readiness, air transportation, maintenance, and command and control. In addition, ECS is under contract to develop new simulation and application projects which will continue to evolve the logistics and aviation industry. Shane Taber, ECS Vice President/Development Director oversees the EOS project with Joe Neubauer serving as the Project Manager and Subject Matter Expert.
Through its EOS contract, ECS is developing animated models of relevant equipment and environments that mirror real-world operations in the academic environment. The overall goal for this training is to provide a controlled environment that simulates the logistics settings and aviation equipment to effectively prepare trainees for real-world situations while ensuring the training objectives are met.
Taber states: “We are proud to provide critical support for the EOS in their effort to modernize and advance the use of innovation and emerging educational technologies in the development of their training programs. This allows ECS to develop relevant equipment and environments that mirror dangerous situations in an academic environment. Our priority is help prepare our Airmen to remain safe and unharmed in these hazardous conditions.”
While the EOS projects are in various stages of their lifecycle, the ECS team continues to maintain, upgrade, and improve capabilities through constant communication with the EOS to ensure that the latest technology and equipment are integrated into the simulators. Current projects include Aerial Port Expeditor, Installation Deployment Officer, Air Mobility Command & Control, Pallet Build-Up, Air Terminal Operations Center, Passenger Service, Unit Deployment Manager, and a Customer Service course, as well as Center-of-Balance and Cargo Restraint applications. New projects, including the Aviation Resource Management and Joint Inspection simulators, are in the early stages of development and are projected to be released in 2020.
Neubauer adds: “These EOS projects are primarily centered around operations within the DOD logistics community; however, the projects demonstrate the capability to provide an immersive training tool that could be used in practically any industry that has an appetite for training and simulation. What makes these projects unique is the use of the latest technology to develop the applications and the tools and equipment within the simulators. Constant upgrades allow the EOS to communicate the latest technological advancements being used within DOD logistics for inclusion into the projects.
Current simulation projects will be available for demonstration on-site at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) in Orlando on December 2-5.
About ECS
ECS is an award-winning global training and technology solutions company, headquartered in Orlando, Florida with operations in Huntsville, Alabama; Washington D.C.; and San Antonio, Texas. An industry innovator with a vast portfolio of training programs, ECS is a trusted provider of training, maintaining, and sustaining military service members and first responders around the world.
Contact:
Lynne Garrow
AR platform oculavis SHARE wins the European scale up award of EIT Digital Accelerator
oculavis GmbH, headquartered in Aachen, Germany, was named the best scale-up of the year in the Digital Industry category in Brussels on November 7, 2019. The award is presented by the European Union as part of the EIT Digital innovation program for the sixth time in succession and honors digital innovations from Europe that have the potential to scale globally. In addition to 50,000 euros in cash, the prize package consists of services of the same amount to promote the growth of oculavis GmbH across Europe.
Growth course now with further tailwind
Winning the EIT Digital Challenge could hardly have been better in terms of time, as the company, which was founded in Aachen in 2016, is already on a strong growth course in Europe. The opening of a new office in France is close to take place and the market entry into other European countries is also on the short-term agenda of the company that was spinned off from RWTH Aachen University and the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. Even though some international customers already exist, this targeted expansion is intended to improve the acquisition and support of local customers.
CO2 Reduction and Digital Business Models in Service in One
At first glance, the step to expand into other countries does not really fit oculavis GmbH, which has set itself the goal of reducing travel for service operations of machine and equipment manufacturers with its remote service and maintenance solution. With the Augmented Reality based software solution, which is compatible with smart glasses and every tablet and smart phone, experts from a machine manufacturer can take a look through the eyes of the machine operator on site from the comfort of their office without having to travel to the machine location. This not only saves time, money and frustration, but also reduces CO2 emissions by reducing the travel of technicians and service experts. In addition, machine builders and plant operators can use this solution to offer innovative business models in service, since the end user of a plant can be helped more quickly, thus reducing downtimes and increasing availability.
The European Way
oculavis GmbH is a perfect example of how European companies with strong growth can be founded without going the typical American way of venture capital funding. Since its foundation in May 2016, the company has successfully grown in the market without external financing, to which not only a convincing and successful product has contributed, but also support from the Horizon2020 research framework programme and the SME instrument of the European Union. Winning the EIT Digital Challenge marks the summit of this European path that oculavis GmbH has taken so far.
Contact:
Martin Plutz
evo Teams up with Pixvana to Create Scalable Onboarding for Seasonal Workers Through Interactive XR Training
Innovative XR project optimizes first day success, while freeing up top leadership
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pixvana, an XR platform and solutions provider specializing in corporate learning and training, and evo, a leading retailer of action sports lifestyle gear, today announced that they have partnered to create an interactive XR training experience to better onboard seasonal warehouse workers at their 170,000 square foot warehouse.
While the evo warehouse maintains a full-time staff of 50 people to support daily operations throughout the year, in the days leading up to Black Friday the company’s headcount triples. During this period evo will ship over 15,000 orders per day, up from a daily average of 750 orders. The company worked with Pixvana to develop a training experience that could easily scale for groups of any size - and that’s highly effective at helping new employees establish core competencies.
The XR employee orientation is hosted by Jeff Covert, Distribution Center Manager. After providing an overview of the company and reviewing onboarding details, the viewer then “job shadows” expert Rosie Pauu, Outbound Lead. Through interactive 360° video and an AR component, new warehouse employees orient themselves to the space and learn critical process training. The experience provides a sense of presence, so when new employees walk into the facility for the first time it feels like they have been there before and that they are already familiar with tasks that need to be performed. The training saves company supervisors time, streamlining an otherwise redundant training process and freeing up top performers to do their job. The training module also ensures each new employee receives an orientation directly from the warehouse lead themselves, that the learning material is consistent and efficient, and that employees are engaged throughout the entire process.
“After going through the XR training, I felt much more prepared and ready to pick and ship,” said Ashley Miller of evo. “After taking the headset off and entering the warehouse for the first time I felt like I’d been there before and was much more comfortable with my surroundings. I knew how to navigate the floor and what to do with my RF Scanner immediately and didn’t have to ask my supervisor many follow up questions.”
Innovative companies everywhere are using Extended Reality (XR) to rapidly and effectively onboard frontline workers. Many Fortune 500 companies, including Boeing, UPS and Walmart, currently use Virtual Reality to support worker education and training programs. Similarly, small and midsize businesses have also embraced virtual onboarding programs. According to Capterra, one out of every three SMBs in the U.S. will be piloting VR employee training programs by 2021 and seeing their new hires reach full productivity 50 percent faster as a result.
“XR training offers the potential to do many things in addition to getting workers ready to have a productive first day on the floor,” said Spencer Earle, Director of Operations and Technology for evo. “Our HR department is excited to do some empathy training, and our customer service and retail teams can get consistent training on how to engage with an unhappy customer. Also, since we have multiple store locations, XR allows our employees to visit these locations and really get a feel for what evo is all about.”
Organizations of all sizes often struggle to scale consistent and effective employee training. Traditional classroom learning techniques have proven ineffective in many cases, with a majority of workers reporting a lack of interest and retention. Research has shown that experiential learning can boost interest and increase retention by 75-90 percent.
To experience a sample of the XR evo training powered Pixvana SPIN Studio, visit https://bit.ly/2rGQEk9
About Pixvana
Pixvana, an XR solutions provider, helps enterprises develop cutting-edge approaches to solve business challenges in innovative ways. Customers choose Pixvana for its powerhouse combination of breakthrough VR technology and award-winning creative team. Pixvana addresses a range of corporate VR applications - from training and tours, to marketing and healthcare - and can manage all aspects of project development, from strategy to execution. The company is venture-backed by Vulcan Capital, Madrona Venture Group, Microsoft, Cisco, Raine and Hearst Ventures. Pixvana’s founders have proven startup success in media technology, and hail from senior product and engineering leadership roles at Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, and Lucasfilm. For more information visit www.pixvana.com.
About evo
evo is an innovative action sports and outdoor lifestyle retailer with roots in the Pacific Northwest. The company’s focus on community and crafting extraordinary customer experiences has propelled it from its humble beginnings in a small Seattle apartment to one of the fastest-growing lifestyle retailers in the nation. Over 17 years, evo has grown from its strong online presence to open flagship stores in Seattle, Portland and Denver, continuing with the extension of its global reach into Whistler, BC. All locations proudly showcase evo’s trademark blend of sport, culture, art, retail and service. Through evoTrip, customers can experience the evo lifestyle of sport and culture through destination travel to ski, snowboard, surf, or mountain bike remote wonders around the world. Leveraging our success to give back, evo helps underserved youth through volunteer time, donations and other support for local and national non-profit organizations including Big Brothers Big Sisters, SOS Outreach and Chill Foundation. For more information about evo and its programs, please visit evo.com.
Contacts
Jeff Pecor
Tailwind Public Relations, LLC
jeff@tailwindpr.com
206.948.1482
Keep AR and VR Lenses Clean With LensPen > AR/VR Lens Cleaners
Looking for a holiday gift for the AR and VR enthusiast on your list? Give them a LensPen! :)
The same molecular carbon cleaning technology that photographers, gamers and drone have counted on for more than 25 years is now available for AR and VR goggles, headsets and smart glasses.
LensPen cleans in two safe, easy steps. First, use the retractable natural brush to remove any loose dust. Next, twist the cap off the other end and use the carbon in the cleaning tip to remove any remaining grease or fingerprints.
The list of LensPen OEM partners is impressive. Sony, Nikon and Panasonic are among the fine optics manufacturers that trust LensPen enough to put their name on LensPen products.
LensPen products are environmentally friendly, have no expiration date and will provide up to 500 cleanings each. For more information on LensPen, go to www.lenspen.com. Order LensPen>AR/VR at www.lenspen.com/product/lenspen-ar-vr/.
Also available on Amazon USA and Amazon Canada.
Healium featured by Apple - the augmented reality app helping veterans manage anxiety
Dr. Jeff Tarrant sets up a member of the Healium AR team to receive an EEG.
Apple recently featured Healium's augmented reality meditation app that's powered by EEG brainwaves and heart rate
Three or four times a week, whenever he needs to calm his mind, Steve Mills launches the Healium AR app on his iPhone. His favorite spot to use it is in a park on the banks of the slowly churning Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee.
“Sometimes I walk down to the riverfront here and sit on a bench and look at the water,” says Mills, as he motions to the app, open on his phone. “And using this just puts me in a really good state of mind.”
Mills starts one of Healium AR’s guided meditations by first syncing his Apple Watch, which transmits his heart rate to the app. As he takes deeper breaths, his heart rate slows, and a solar system of planets illuminates in front of him, thanks to the app’s use of augmented reality (AR). Healium AR blends storytelling, neuroscience and game design so users can harness their feelings to power virtual worlds and find a sense of calm.
“It’s cumulative, it builds up over time but you learn how to deal with it. I have several outlets. Healium AR is one of them.”
In these moments, he says, he is able to clear his thoughts, and quiet his memories.
“I’m not afraid of the memories,” says Mills, who is a commander in the US Navy. “But I have to control them.”
Mills has spent a collective 29 years in the military — 10 as an Air Force firefighter, and 19 in his current role as a Navy chaplain. His service has taken him all over the world, including deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan and long stretches on aircraft carriers where he helped counsel a floating city of thousands of military personnel. He supports families who receive news that their loved ones aren’t coming home, and sailors who are waging battles long after they leave the war zone.
In 2008, Mills came back from Iraq and started working to complete his doctorate in ministry, which focused on combat stress. He took a group of Navy veterans through three months of counseling, using Bible verse as a healing tool. While studying how to help others cope with their trauma, he started having panic attacks of his own.
Around the same time, in another part of the country, television journalist Sarah Hill was also confronting anxiety, beginning a chain of events that would lead her to develop Healium AR.
The Missouri native had been reporting on a never-ending stream of violence and tragedies for almost 20 years when her panic attacks began. “I lived by a police scanner,” Hill says. “Ultimately, consuming that much negativity made me sick.”
She reached out to Dr. Jeff Tarrant, a family friend and licensed psychologist who was exploring what was then an emerging field: neurofeedback. He hooked Hill up to an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine, which uses electrodes placed on the scalp to map electrical activity in the brain. Tarrant paid particular attention to Hill’s anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), the part of the brain that is responsible for, among other things, focus and holding attention.
“Anxiety is basically holding a thought or a feeling for too long and repeating it over and over again,” says Tarrant. “So the ACC gets overheated because people are hyperfocused on certain thoughts and feelings and they can’t let them go. And so we wanted to see, can we quiet this down?”
Tarrant designed a program for Hill to use at home with a laptop and electrodes. She had to keep an animated airplane above a specific threshold on the screen. When she succeeded, it was because she was calming her frontal lobe brain activity, which includes the ACC.
It worked. Over time, Hill was able to stop the panic attacks and start sleeping again.
Inspired by the experience, she eventually left journalism and started working with a veterans organization that used virtual reality (VR) and AR to transport those who were physically unable to travel to Washington, D.C. to visit the city’s war memorials. During those experiences, Hill started noticing a physical change in the veterans.
“You would see it in their bodies,” Hill says. “[They] would relax, their bodies would soften, their breathing would appear to slow. Now I’m not a scientist, so that’s why I reached out to Jeff to say, ‘Can you study what these experiences are doing to [veterans’] physiology?’”
Together, they started to explore the effects that VR and AR could have on mood and stress. They coupled that knowledge with the neurofeedback program Tarrant had designed to relieve Hill’s anxiety years before. The result: Healium AR.
“That same concept of using neurofeedback is what we built into Healium, combining [Tarrant’s] brain-based principles with our stories and game design,” says Hill. “But we stripped away all of the barriers to entry and made it easier to understand and more accessible, simply with an Apple Watch and your heart rate.”
Earlier this year, Hill attended Apple Entrepreneur Camp, designed to help app-driven businesses founded and led by women. While there, the team workshopped and redesigned Healium AR to help it reach even more users, even more effectively. The updated app recently relaunched in the App Store.
Both Hill and Tarrant are quick to point out that Healium AR is not a replacement for medical therapy or medication. Over the last few years, Tarrant has published three studies with a fourth on the way showing that the app can reduce anxiety and increase a feeling of well-being for users in as little as four minutes.
That comes as no surprise to Mills, who now counts Healium AR as one of the tools he uses to stay healthy — mentally and physically.
“Somebody asked me one time, ‘Chaplain how do you deal with all of that death, what do you do?’” Mills says. “It’s cumulative, it builds up over time but you learn how to deal with it. I have several outlets. Healium AR is one of them.”
That means a great deal to Hill and her team.
“It’s emotional for me to hear it has such an impact,” Hill says. “What greater gift than to provide something for someone who is sacrificing everything to ensure our safety. It’s our honor to do this for our veterans.”
JULABO, an international manufacturer, joins the VR/AR Association
JULABO is an international manufacturer of temperature-control technology for research and industry.
JULABO USA was first introduced to the VRARA through their relationship with Atheer. In May 2019, they announced their partnership with the introduction of LucaVision, their augmented reality service solution – a first in the laboratory industry! Since then they have piloted the technology with their first customer, and they are actively training their service depots throughout the US and Canada, ultimately aiming to decrease application downtimes by providing remote AR service support.
Their Vice President of Sales, Marketing & Service, Dirk Frese, is extremely involved in the initiative from multiple perspectives, a personal passion and a professional interest. He was first introduced to the technology through Porsche North America, which utilizes the Atheer platform for remote automotive maintenance. Through Dirk’s leadership, they have been able to realize the value of aligning their company with VR/AR as a product differentiator in the very niche temperature control solutions market. Dirk has been featured at multiple VR/AR focused events, including: VRARA Association Silicon Valley event (Enterprise AR: Implementations, Measuring Success, and Lessons Learned), (VRARA Enterprise Summit at LiveWorx), and the VR/AR Global Summit. He is available for speaking opportunities to share our story with you and your teams.
Tricia Bowman is their Marketing Communications Project Manager, and she is most looking forward to support for communicating VR/AR in their brand strategy and how to implement Technology 4.0 in the fabric and culture of an organization. She will be looking for opportunities to share lessons learned with like-minded individuals in the marketing field.
Contact tricia.bowman@julabo.us
Top Ten Announcements from this year's VR/AR Global Summit
Forbes has written that our Global Summit is “one of the year’s most anticipated conferences”. Well, having travelled to Vancouver for the 2nd edition this year I was just blown away. From attendees to speakers to exhibitors, this gathering lives up to our mission of educating, connecting and promoting our ecosystem!
So without further todo here is my Top Ten list of announcements at #VRARGS
Lenovo launches their developer program for ThinkReality and A6 headset with inaugural workshop.
While Niantic couldn't make it official at the Summit and only hinted at some big news, you can see the results of their first Beyond Reality Developer Contest
XRSI's Enterprise Level Information Security Framework for the XR domain coming in Q1 2020.
Launch of the VRARA Women’s Committee with DC Chapter VP Sophia Moshasha and Global Summit Producer extraordinaire Anne-Marie Enns to helm it.
The Vancouver office of Microsoft introduce their in-house on-the-job training application for Hololens 2 that is fully-integrated with their Dynamics 365 CRM/ERP platform.
EPIC & VRARA sign MoU for industry collaboration on immersive hardware standards and advisory mandates.
Cathy Hackl joins Aurea Award Jury for immersive tech entertainment award at Europa Park in January.
6D.ai to launch AR Cloud app on iOS. Register for with Apple Testflight to get beta access already
8th Wall launch a brand new WebAR cloud editor and hosting web app.
World Bank showcase their immersive safety initiative for Latin American schools. Image below, but not official online links yet…
Jimmy Vainstein from the World Bank onstage
NJ school district turns to VR to show how bullying feels. (Pico Headsets on CBS This Morning thanks to partner Kinful!)
In CBS’s series "School Matters," CBS is highlighting a problem plaguing many schools around the country: bullying.
New Jersey seventh grader Luca Mattielli says his problems with bullies began in elementary school.
"I guess I'm not respected towards them, because they're all the cool kids and they got their big shot stuff," Mattielli says. "And I'm not. I'm just boring. I'm boring old me... boring to the sense where I am not the greatest soccer player that they've ever known. I was always picked last during gym."
CBS News was there as Mattielli and his classmates watched a 360-degree video, made by their 8th grade peers, for the first time. Through virtual reality, the students show each other what it feels like to be excluded from activities like basketball.
Michael Davino, the superintendent of the Springfield School District, introduced virtual reality technology into the curriculum last year.
"We needed a way to convey to those people, 'if you knew what this felt like, you might not do it,'" Davino says.
Davino says the ultimate goal of the virtual reality videos is, "To open up to as many young people and adults as we can, the serious and long-range impact of being mean-spirited just to satisfy yourself. And that in the end your satisfaction is fleeting, and those people are suffering."
Although 49 states have anti-bullying legislation, there is no federal law. Nearly half of children in grades four through 12 reported being bullied in school at least once in the past month. And nearly a third of students admitted to bullying others in the same time frame.
Davino was driven to start doing the videos, in part, by New Jersey college student Tyler Clementi, who died by suicide in 2011. The tragedy spawned state wide anti-bullying legislation, but Davino says it doesn't go far enough.
"It's essentially become a reporting law and doesn't really address the underlying problems that lead to harassment, intimidation and bullying," Davino says.
So, he teamed up with Kinful, a company that teaches social-emotional learning by using virtual reality to recreate real-life scenarios like the cyber-bullying Erica Carrie faced in high school.
Carrie says her peers picked on her because she had a lot of guy friends.
"There would always be some sort of slut shaming," Carrie says. "I think there was one point where I just, like, did not wanna even go out of my room at home."
Now a college freshman, she hopes this experiment breaks through to both students and parents.
"I want them to take away that we have to think about how the bully is feeling, and that they do have an insecurity, and that we should be nicer to them, as well," Carrie says. "We kind of glaze over that when talking about bullying."
High school freshman Morghan Blair hopes her video impacts others and reminds them how much words can hurt.
"And the one word that I don't like always comes up in every conversation," Blair says. "The N-word. So I used that. I had to show people how it feels to be in my shoes if they had to for one day."
She says learning to forgive has helped her heal, but the scars will never entirely fade.
"It's like a birthmark," Blair says. "It can't always be covered up, but it's always just gonna be there with you, but at the end of the day, it makes you stronger as a person."
Looking Glass Reveals the World's Largest and Highest Resolution Holographic Display
The dawn of group-viewable Immersive Display is here with the Looking Glass 8K
Brooklyn, NY - Nov 12 - For enterprises that have been waiting decades for a large-format, group-viewable holographic solution that doesn't require the friction of VR or AR headsets, the Looking Glass 8K Immersive Display has finally arrived. At four times the scale of anything else on the market, the Looking Glass 8K measures in at 32" with holographic depth measured in feet rather than in the inches of everything that's come before. The Looking Glass 8K will be available worldwide, with the first public demonstration at the Digital Content Expo in Japan (Nov 13-15) in Booth D207. Pre-orders are being accepted globally with shipments starting Spring 2020.
This breakthrough system, powered by Looking Glass Factory's proprietary 45-element light field technology, is a true holographic window into another world that can be experienced by groups of up to a dozen people. The Looking Glass 8K delivers an unparalleled 33.2 million pixels with over a billion-count color gamut at 60 Hz, making it not only the largest holographic display in the market today but also the highest fidelity. The Looking Glass 8K operates on optical principles and a software platform that doesn't require any head-tracking or VR or AR headsets, making it ideal for companies that want to collaboratively view or interact with 3D images in the areas of retail, mapping/GIS, medical imaging, and entertainment.
The Looking Glass 8K's hardware and software have been developed by a team of industry-leading optics experts, electrical engineers, and software developers in Brooklyn-based company Looking Glass Factory, the market leaders in holographic light field displays. Having sold thousands of Looking Glass developer kits over the past year, the company created the Looking Glass 8K to meet the needs of enterprises who were looking for a deeply visceral, genuinely three-dimensional collaborative experience.
Industry Testimonials
Greg Castle, an early investor in Oculus and Managing Partner at Anorak Ventures, said about the Looking Glass 8K: "[the] most mind-blowing thing I've seen since I first tried the Oculus prototype."
Medical Imaging:
The Looking Glass 8K is becoming a critical tool for partners in the medical imaging field, like Dr. Yuh Z. Lee, Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. "Understanding anatomic structures in three dimensions is critical for multiple aspects of high-quality patient care, including teaching trainees, educating patients, and procedure planning," says Dr. Lee. "The Looking Glass enables us to see and discuss anatomy in three dimensions collaboratively, without the need for cumbersome goggles or glasses." Doctors, patients, researchers, and medical students regularly comb through extremely complex 3D data using a flat computer screen that can't fully represent three-dimensional data sets, leading to critical errors in understanding. The Looking Glass 8K changes that.
"GE Healthcare's customers, both hospitals and the patients they care for, daily ask the question 'what does that x-ray/CT/MRI/ultrasound tell us?'" said GM of Additive Manufacturing at GE Healthcare, R. Scott Rader. "Presenting anatomy and disease pathology in 3D on 2D screens happens every day, but being able to share 3D lightfield imagery with a Looking Glass to a clinical care team, residents/fellows, patients, and other allied health care workers is one exciting potential solution to translating seeing to knowing, fast."
Mapping:
Likewise, for decades topographical datasets have been trapped to the confines of a two-dimensional screen or stereoscopic head-mounted displays for one person. This is all changing now with the Looking Glass 8K. "What could be cooler than a live 3D model of your construction project, displayed on a table in your HQ, showing progress in real time?" asks Chris Anderson, CEO of drone company 3D Robotics. "It's like the magic globe from Wizard of Oz but real, thanks to drones, crane-cams, and [the] Looking Glass." Abhishek Tripathi, Head of 3D Terrain at mapping platform Mapbox was quick to conclude that "3D maps on the Looking Glass [8K] display are immediately more engaging, immersive and collaborative. Quite simply it blew my mind."
Entertainment:
Early entertainment customers of the Looking Glass include Intel® Studios, who are already starting to use Looking Glass displays to showcase high-quality volumetric captures to audiences around the world. Dave Smiddy, Head of Product at Intel® Studios says of the Looking Glass, "Looking Glass makes volumetric video content social and accessible. With the Looking Glass SDK we quickly bring volumetric video and immersive experiences to life." In recent exhibitions, Looking Glasses were used to display Runnin', the world's first cross-platform interactive holographic music video starring Reggie Watts.
Pricing & Availability of the Looking Glass 8K:
Demonstration units of the Looking Glass 8K are being hosted in Brooklyn, Hong Kong, San Francisco, and Tokyo with viewings by appointment only. The first advanced beta run of the Looking Glass 8K displays have sold out, but pre-orders are being accepted now for the next production batch with orders shipping in the order they are received starting Spring 2020. Enterprises interested in pricing for the Looking Glass 8K should contact future@lookingglassfactory.com.
Learn more about the Looking Glass 8K Immersive Display and arrange to see one for yourself at http://look.glass/8k.
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About Looking Glass Factory
Looking Glass Factory Inc, with headquarters in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and additional operations in Hong Kong, is the global leader in the field of group-viewable holographic interfaces with the launch of their flagship product line, The Looking Glass. This unique combination of advanced hardware and software is based on the company’s patented light field technology and in 2019 became the most widely-adopted holographic display in history. Today, the company serves the holographic needs of both developers and enterprises and is committed to building the headset-free hologram-powered future we were all promised in science fiction growing up. For more information, visit www.lookingglassfactory.com or contact:
For press inquiries: press@lookingglassfactory.com
For all business development inquiries: future@lookingglassfactory.com
Varjo and Lenovo Partner to Drive the Next Spatial Computing Evolution for Enterprises
Leading Industrial HMD Creator and High-End PC Manufacturer Collaborate to Bring “Certified for Varjo” pairings on Lenovo Workstations for all Varjo Headsets
Las Vegas, NV and Helsinki, Finland - November 19, 2019 - Varjo™ (Shadow in Finnish) Technologies, the leader in industrial-grade VR/XR headsets, today announced a co-operation agreement for technical and business collaboration with Lenovo, the number one PC manufacturer in the world and global technology leader. The new partnership, which is being announced from Autodesk University Las Vegas 2019, will create “Certified for Varjo” pairings on Lenovo desktop and mobile workstations for all Varjo HMDs. This combines world-leading professional VR/XR products with powerful, high-end computers, enabling enterprise organizations to adopt and implement VR use cases more quickly.
“Our partnership with Lenovo helps drive a monumental shift in enterprise usage of immersive technologies,” said Timo Toikkanen, President & COO at Varjo. “Combining our products with Lenovo’s pioneering enterprise portfolio products into ready-made bundles eases adoption hurdles and quickly gives organizations the tools they need to start taking advantage of the many benefits of virtual reality.”
Professional VR applications including research, training and simulation, industrial design, and more require the most powerful and sophisticated technologies in order to create a valuable user experience. Varjo’s human-eye resolution VR devices, matched with the processing and compute power found in Lenovo’s workstation portfolio products, push the limits of spatial computing forward and deliver the most natural visual experience for exploring and interacting with high-resolution models and simulations.
“When you’re looking for the ultimate VR and XR viewing experience, you look for the only human-eye resolution display available,” said Rob Herman, General Manager, Workstation & Client AI at Lenovo. “The technology Varjo brings to the table is extremely sophisticated and requires professional workstation power to bring that clarity to life. That’s why I’m excited to see the partnership between Varjo and Lenovo come to life after months of development and collaboration – certifying several desktop and mobile workstation configurations across our ThinkStation and ThinkPad P Series portfolio. This certification ensures the highest-quality experience for professional applications – spanning across automotive, simulation, training, architectural visualization and more.”
Today’s global partnership announcement comes on the heels of Varjo’s recent launch of two state-of-the-art VR headsets – the VR-2 and the VR-2 Pro. Attendees of AU Las Vegas 2019 can see a demonstration of the new Varjo headsets at Lenovo’s booth #104.
About Varjo:
Varjo Technologies Oy is based in Helsinki and is creating the world’s best hardware and software for groundbreaking VR/XR computing devices, merging the real and digital worlds seamlessly together in human-eye resolution. www.varjo.com
About Lenovo:
Lenovo, known for product innovation, performance and reliability, offers a large portfolio of mobile and desktop workstations, with our ThinkPad and ThinkStation products. These high-performance workstations are designed to not just meet but exceed expectations; combining maximum performance with outright platform reliability. Pushing beyond the hardware, Lenovo strives to support the people behind the systems, to foster relationships and improve the industry overall. This includes supporting creative thinkers and enabling them with the latest technology to explore the possibilities. Learn more at www.lenovo.com/thinkworkstations.
Call for Participation for the German VR/AR Market Report!
If you’re interested in being featured in this report please email germany@thevrara.com
Our reports are a simple yet effective way to show what’s happening in Germany to the world. It will be distributed through the global VRARA network and regionally through the cooperation and partnership with the leading German Associations (Erster Deutscher Fachverband für Virtual Reality, nextReality.Hamburg, The Virtual Dimensions Center – Fellbach, Virtual Reality Berlin-Brandenburg).
Interested companies should use the email link above to learn more about how to participate as the deadline for submissions is December the 6th. Note that members each receive their own page within the report to showcase their company.
The resulting report will help us analyse our ecosystem’s size and potential whilst promoting on the international stage the solutions, services and expertise the German XR industry provides for in various verticals. We will also direct it here in Deutschland towards industry and businesses, the media in general, as well as official bodies who are engaged in decision making at the governmental level.
You can see reports from other European Ecosystems that have already been published.
About VR/AR Association
The VR/AR Association (VRARA) is an international organization designed to facilitate collaboration between innovative companies and people 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. Over 4000 companies, brands, schools and 27,000 professionals are registered with VRARA and 20 industry committees are working on best practices & guidelines for the industry.
LAST CALL – Just over 24hrs left to submit for Aurea Award in Immersive Entertainment
The next Aurea Award ceremony and professional conference will take place on Jan. 15 - 16, 2020 at Europa-Park, where shortlisted state of the art experiences will not only show where the industry is all headed, but will also be pitched live on stage in front of an all-star Jury. All stakeholders from the entertainment sector from startups to investors, and creatives to corporates are invited to get involved and help the community grow.
Interested in applying? Submissions are open until midnight November 15, 2019!
Interested in attending? By invitation only. Request a spot here.
About Aurea Award
With just 5 AUREA awards up for grabs, film projects, music experiences, live events, games, mixed reality experiences as well as enabling technologies receive center stage in front of a crowd VR & AR enthusiasts. Besides showcasing and awarding the most exciting products and experiences, the conference also delivers thought-leader talks, candid discussions on panels and a slew of workshops, while leaving room plenty of room for networking and enjoyment. In the setting of one of the world's leading theme parks, the conference offers multiple opportunities for groundbreakers to be heard and seen, to connect to the most relevant pioneers in the ecosystem and to become a part of the vibrant AUREA community.
https://aurea-award.com/
About VRARA
The VR/AR Association is an international organization designed to facilitate collaboration between innovative companies and people 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. Over 4500 companies, brands, school and 27,000 professionals are registered with VRARA and more than 20 committees are working on best practices and guidelines for the industry.
https://www.thevrara.com/