New Realities Helped Made Possible by ThinkReality
Virtual Reality (VR) technology is a core ingredient of Lenovo New Realities – an immersive, first-person cinematic experiences amplifying the voice of 10 change-making young women from around the world. The films, launched in celebration of International Day of the Girl on October 11, help shine a light on the role smarter technology plays in furthering their missions to drive empathy and positive change in society.
Credit for making the project an inspirational success goes to the brave women and Lenovo’s collaborators in the project — Girl Up, the gender equality initiative of the United Nations Foundation (UNF), and award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay. Yet, it should be noted that Lenovo’s ThinkReality had a small, but significant, role to play as well.
New Realities was conceived and executed as an immersive experience for audiences using 360-degree filmmaking and VR technology. Lenovo sent Mirage VR S3 headsets to over 100 journalists and influencers around the world so they could experience the films as intended by the director and the protagonists.
Why is it important to experience the films in full VR? Because studies show that audiences perceiving content through VR are 4X more focused and 3.75X more emotionally connected.[i] Smarter technology helps achieve learning and empathy among users.
Lenovo built the Mirage VR S3, an enterprise-quality VR headset with a focus on ease of use, because not everyone is a VR expert. The New Realities audience using the Mirage VR S3 could take the headset right out of the box and quickly be transported to a Brazilian favela, an Indian tea plantation, and the streets of Paris and Detroit — seeing the realities of women working to make a positive impact in our world .
Managing content and devices with the ThinkReality platform is also nearly just as easy. The Lenovo ThinkReality platform lets users manage devices remotely and securely – regardless of where they are. Through a dashboard, you can distribute applications, update headsets, and share content. For the New Realities audience, headsets were sent out all over the world, and the movies were immediately downloaded when users turned them on and connected to the Internet through wi-fi.
Without ThinkReality, the alternative would have been to spend hours laboriously side-loading the content individually to each headset — hardly a smart solution any enterprise or institution would want to choose. This is the ThinkReality difference, we help make new realities easier to build and scale throughout the enterprise, so our customers can create the experiences they need to change their world. Smarter technology for all is how we envision tomorrow.
Call for Sponsors for our VRARA Healthcare Forum on Dec 16 (Online Event)
Email info@thevrara.com for sponsorship opportunities
ONLINE EVENT
Starts 12pm EST / 17:00 GMT
The VRARA Healthcare Forum brings together the best minds in the Virtual & Augmented Reality ecosystem in the medical sector! Meet the top vendors and end-users who are leading in this space!
In addition to presentations and demos, we will have the best-in-class online networking! We will have group networking, plus, a 1-on-1 networking area that will enable you to connect on video with all the Speakers & Sponsors and other executives attending, where you can preview each other's credentials and bio, and talk business!
We expect 200+ executives from leading vendors and top brands/end-users.
Confirmed end-users/brands include: Mayo Clinic among many others!
Tesla, UPS, Volkswagen confirmed for our VRARA Training Summit on Dec 3!
We are excited to share with you that the confirmed end-users/brands for our VRARA Training Summit include Tesla, UPS, Volkswagen among many others!
Our Summit will bring together the best minds in the VR/AR ecosystem in the Training sector! In addition to presentations and demos, we will have the best-in-class online networking! We will have group networking, plus, a 1-on-1 networking area that will enable you to connect on video with other executives, where you can preview each other's credentials and bio, and talk business!
We expect 300-800+ executives from leading vendors and top brands/end-users.
Register here
New White Paper from Emteq: Improving Emotional & Psychological Well-being using Virtual Reality
Meet emteq and learn more at our VRARA Training Summit on Dec 3!
Virtual Reality (VR) is showing great promise in the areas of training and therapy, yet there is still untapped opportunity in clinical, professional, educational and vocational settings. VR has the potential to go further, to deliver more powerful, longer-lasting benefits to more participants and patients across a broader section of use cases and conditions. This paper explores some of those opportunities.
VR technologies have already demonstrated that multi-sensory immersive experiences can facilitate deep perceptual and emotional connections between the user and the virtual environment, and that this can deliver outstanding results in both training and therapy environments.
Compared with traditional training approaches, including on-line and in-person sessions, training providers see that VR delivers significant improvements to participants’ experiences and the learning outcomes. VR is proving to deliver impressive advancements in key learning metrics such as reductions in learning time, increased information recall and greater confidence in applying the learnings to the real world.
In therapeutic settings, VR is enabling powerful and innovative treatments for some of the most prevalent and important mental health issues our societies face today. Additionally, immersive technologies are helping practitioners overcome one of the biggest barriers to treatment, by enabling patients to undergo therapy remotely, in their own homes.
Whilst Virtual Reality is making truly ground-breaking progress in these scenarios, there is an important missing element – emotional feedback.
The power of VR to create emotional and empathetic connections for the user provides tremendous opportunity for the treatment of mental health conditions and in meeting the surging demand for rapid, effective learning and development programmes. Through VR and immersive technologies powerful positive experiences can be created that excite, stimulate, guide, cure, and educate more effectively than traditional tried-and-tested approaches.
Emotional feedback is poised to play an important role within immersive and virtual experiences. The ability to understand an individual’s specific emotional reaction to any given VR experience can help guide the amount of stimulation, exposure or challenge that they are presented with, in real-time, making the experience more engaging, memorable and transferable.
This paper investigates the current trends in global mental health, with specific emphasis on the impact of COVID-19 in both organisations and therapeutic settings. It looks at the mental health, training and remote working challenges corporations, business, institutions and therapists face today, highlighting how Virtual Reality is being used in these settings, and how the addition of an emotional feedback element could create even more opportunities for VR in training and therapy sessions.
Contact:
Name: Charlotte Roch
Email Address: charlotte.roch@emteqlabs.com
VisionLib AR SDK 20.10.1 Release Available Now!
The new release of the tracking SDK for industrial AR and model tracking brings: ARFoundation support, updates to ease its configuration, and support for industrial uEye cameras.
This is a major update for VisionLib, which adds ARFoundation support, a true highlight for Unity development. Additionally, VisionLib updated the VLTrackingConfiguration component, making it now even easier and more consistent for developers to configure tracking setups.
Read more and download here!
Announcing the VRARA Training Summit on Dec 3rd!
The VRARA Training Summit brings together the best minds in the Virtual & Augmented Reality ecosystem in the Training sector! Meet the top vendors and brands/end-users who are leading this digital transformation revolution!
In addition to Sessions & Presentations, we will have the best-in-class online networking! We will have group networking, plus, a 1-on-1 networking area that will enable you to connect on video with other executives, where you can preview each other's credentials and bio, and talk business!
More info here https://hopin.to/events/vrara-training-summit
If you're interested to speak, demo, or sponsor, email info@thevrara.com
Call for Sponsors for our Online Event on Training!
We are planning an online event with an expert panel(s) of speakers from the industry. Our online panels get 100-800+ people attending live, and 100s more watch the recording.
In addition, we are planning on having Networking sessions:
1) in Groups
2) 1-on-1 via video chat call
As a sponsor you will get:
Attendee list
eBlast
Recognition and promotion
If interested to sponsor, email info@thevrara.com
Call for Sponsors - Healthcare Online Event in Dec
We are planning an online event with an expert panel(s) of speakers from the industry. Our online panels get 100-800+ people attending live, and 100s more watch the recording.
In addition, we are planning on having Networking sessions:
1) in Groups
2) 1-on-1 via video chat call
As a sponsor you will get:
Attendee list
eBlast
Recognition and promotion
If interested to sponsor, email info@thevrara.com
Looking Glass Factory Expands Reach into R&D Labs with New Holographic Kitware Integrations
CT scans and MRI images may soon be holograms. Looking Glass Factory has partnered with Kitware, which means that scientists, doctors and R&D professionals now have a way to visualize, comprehend and share 2D images such as MRI imagery, CT scans, microscopy, LIDAR information, engineering images, and more on holographic displays developed by Looking Glass Factory.
For R&D professionals working in the scientific and medical fields and yearning for ways to visualize, communicate and comprehend their work in true 3D, Looking Glass Factory has now integrated its immersive holographic displays with two software applications from one of the leaders in open source R&D software, Kitware, Inc.: ParaView and 3D Slicer.
To hear more about the integration and its impact on research and development, have a look at the recent webinar featuring Looking Glass Factory's CEO, Shawn Frayne: https://blog.lookingglassfactory.com/learn/recap-advancing-3d-research-and-development-with-the-looking-glass/
Contact
Name: Eric Schumacher
Email Address: erics@neologyconcepts.com
Website URL: https://lookingglassfactory.com/
Analytics is the true strength of learning and assessment in Virtual Reality
Trainers and educators of all sizes need to review their teaching strategies for COVID recovery and analytics will play a vital role in this. When teaching and training at a distance, learner information becomes critical.
The value of data
Creating a secure process for practical based learning and assessment has become a hot topic in a pandemic world. eNetReality can help training and academic providers and aid their recovery. One key element of the recovery for all enterprises, no matter their size, will be the use of data. The rapid and unexpected shift to remote learning and working during the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that companies have been able to utilise their existing online infrastructure and use 3rd party conferencing tools to manage. Many decision-makers are saying their post-COVID-19 recovery strategy is going to be influenced by these changes.
The main challenges have been getting the right training data, as most of the data coming from their existing systems was fine when they had the capability of including F2F practical session outcomes. Now more than half of organisations say they recognise the value of their training data more than before the pandemic.
Why you need data
Having the visibility to understand the current training, compliance and competency status for everyone in the business is essential, especially as crises and unplanned events occur - where extra training is needed, gaps exist due to lack of availability and new records need to be kept. Lots of organisations are having to resort to spreadsheets and emails to record details, with all the issues of inaccuracies, double typing, and time-consuming admin. eNetReality comes with a Learning Record Store that allows you to collect training data in a way that can be used to demonstrate both compliance and competency.
How to get good data
We have made eNetReality using Open standards, SCORM and xAPI to provide flexibility, agility, and resiliency to respond to your data needs. This enables you to take advantage of the opportunity to create immersive experiences, to support your organisation’s digital transformation. Linking eNetReality output with your LMS, or utilising eNetLearn - a sister product of eNetReality, brings all the data into one place.
Businesses have always gathered information from a range of sources, internally and externally. Post COVID-19, the need for further datasets will expand. eNetReality includes a number of delivery options, so no matter what your current learning technology is, you will be able to utilise the product.
How we secure your data
eNetReality is a global solution and the Administrator panel allows you to decide where you want to store your data. eNetReality is a true cloud application within Microsoft Azure Content Development Network with an enterprise structure that is GDPR approved and CyberEssential Plus accredited. We understand how critical security of data has become and we have taken steps to ensure your confidence is met.
eNetReality FREE 14-day trial - visit www.enetreality.com to experience eNetReality for yourself.
Contact:
Name: Allan Maclean
Email Address: allan.maclean@enetreality.com
Website URL: http://www.enetreality.com
Lenovo Becomes Reseller of Varjo Headsets to Deliver Complete Solution for Virtual and Mixed Reality Applications
Lenovo's announcement today that it has become a reseller of Varjo’s human-eye resolution VR and XR headsets. This further deepens the existing collaboration between the two enterprise-class manufacturers and allows customers to easily access a complete solution for their professional virtual and mixed reality workflows. Through the reseller agreement, users can purchase “Certified for Varjo” workstations along with any device available in Varjo’s portfolio via Lenovo’s distribution channels.
Expanded offering allows customers to purchase certified workstations with industrial-grade VR/XR devices
October 26, 2020 – Today, Lenovo™ announced it has become a reseller of Varjo’s human-eye resolution VR and XR headsets. This further deepens the existing collaboration between the two enterprise-class manufacturers and allows customers to easily access a complete solution for their professional virtual and mixed reality workflows. Through the reseller agreement, users can purchase “Certified for Varjo” workstations along with any device available in Varjo’s portfolio via Lenovo’s distribution channels.
“Many existing VR offerings in the market today are enterprise versions of a consumer designed product,” said Mike Leach, solution portfolio lead, Lenovo. “However, Lenovo’s professional workstations and Varjo’s VR and XR headsets are specifically engineered to perform in the most sophisticated and demanding enterprise use cases. Our ability to offer customers a single point of purchase for certified workstations and VR/XR devices streamlines access to the tools needed for immersive workflows that are changing the way we work today.”
The agreement not only eases enterprise adoption of virtual and mixed reality, but further accelerates an organization’s ability to bring immersive technology into the workplace. The Lenovo and Varjo combined solutions are ideal for use cases that demand high visual fidelity and require outstanding processing performance. This spans across a variety of industries focused on design visualization, engineering, advanced training and simulation, medical imaging and demanding scientific research.
The two companies continue to collaborate and test workstation and headset pairings to deliver a compatible and trusted solution that removes the guesswork for enterprise users. As a result, today’s announcement also marks the expansion of Lenovo’s catalog of certified workstations to ensure a high-performance experience when deploying virtual and mixed reality applications. The following professional desktop and mobile workstations have been certified to work with Varjo’s various headsets and are capable of delivering the processing and compute power needed to achieve the next-generation of spatial computing:
● Optimized to support the VR-2, VR-2 Pro and XR-1 devices:
○ ThinkStation P520
○ ThinkStation P720
○ ThinkStation P920
● Optimized to support the VR-2 and VR-2 Pro devices:
○ ThinkPad P53
○ ThinkPad P73
○ ThinkPad P15
○ ThinkPad P17
“One of the biggest obstacles in accelerating the usage and growth of professional VR/XR is getting all the right equipment sourced for an enterprise-grade set-up and ensuring compatibility between computers and headsets,” said Timo Toikkanen, CEO of Varjo. “With Lenovo becoming a Varjo reseller, we eliminate a lot of this complexity, making it even easier for customers to adopt VR/XR in the workplace for increased productivity and ROI.”
Customers can purchase certified Lenovo workstations and Varjo headsets immediately by contacting a local Lenovo representative or by clicking on the “Contact Us” icon on Lenovo.com.
About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US $50 billion Fortune Global 500 company, with 63,000 employees and operating in 180 markets around the world. Focused on a bold vision to deliver smarter technology for all, we are developing world-changing technologies that create a more inclusive, trustworthy and sustainable digital society. By designing, engineering and building the world’s most complete portfolio of smart devices and infrastructure, we are also leading an Intelligent Transformation – to create better experiences and opportunities for millions of customers around the world. To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Weibo and read about the latest news via our StoryHub.
LENOVO, THINKPAD and THINKSTATION are trademarks of Lenovo. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
©2020, Lenovo Group Limited.
About Varjo:
Varjo (pronounced var-yo) is based in Helsinki and is creating the world’s most advanced VR/XR hardware and software for industrial use, merging the real and virtual worlds seamlessly together in human-eye resolution. www.varjo.com
Lenovo VR Classroom takes students to whole new worlds
Join us for this special presentation by Lenovo on Nov 4th!
Lenovo VR Classroom, a complete kit designed for teaching and learning, is changing the way students learn by immersing them directly into the environments they’re studying.
It’s 1 p.m. on a Tuesday. You just finished a pop quiz in social studies class. Now, you’re staring down a wide-eyed jaguar and dodging furry kinkajous leaping through the treetops of the Amazon rainforest.
What began as an average day at Fort Worthington Middle School in Baltimore became extraordinary when students stepped into their science class. This is not your average classroom. It’s a Lenovo Virtual Reality (VR) Classroom, equipped with technology that enables teachers to send their students to the far corners of the planet -- and beyond.
Fort Worthington is one of about 500 classrooms across the United States, the United Kingdom and several other countries around the world that are transforming the way students learn with Lenovo VR. When students put on their Lenovo VR headset with Daydream, they can travel to thousands of locales — from the Sahara Desert to the surface of Mars. That means a child sitting in a Baltimore classroom might find herself gazing down the sandstone squiggles of the Grand Canyon or the blustery peak of Mount Everest in seconds. No school bus, permission slip or chaperone required.
“They couldn’t do that before. You have kids literally looking around like, ‘Wow we’re at the beach.’ You throw on the headset and you have a completely different experience,” says Farron George, a technology teacher with Baltimore Public Schools.
For Fort Worthington student Brian Williams, that’s a big deal
“When I’m wearing [a VR headset], I’m more in my zone,” Williams says. “You get to see stuff you don’t get to see in real life”.
“It’s just a whole different experience for them learning-wise,” adds Chris Patterson, a science teacher with Baltimore Public Schools. “Through the VR goggles, students have a hands-on experience so they feel like they’re really there.” And such intensive immersion helps “the knowledge stay with them,” while keeping outside distractions at bay, he says.
With the Lenovo VR Classroom, teachers have another tool to get students excited -- and engaged -- in the subject at-hand. It’s an invaluable asset for educators, who’ve long relied on the standard tools of learning to complement their lesson plans (textbooks, PowerPoint presentations, educational videos, and so on). A unit on nutrition can be complemented by a VR field trip inside the digestive tract. A lesson on the sun? Enhance it with a quick jaunt to the Milky Way. Wearing VR headsets, students are all in, immersed in the subject like never before -- and studies have shown that immersion leads to engagement, which leads to knowledge retention.
Fear not: Teachers won’t be left alone to navigate the jungles of South America. Lenovo offers educators a complete classroom solution, from the hardware to the lesson plans. Besides the headsets — all of which come equipped with WorldSense™ motion tracking with 110° field of view, a hand controller for interactivity and sanitizable head cushions -- each kit includes Lenovo 300e Chromebooks, a Ruckus R510 Access Point for fast Wi-Fi, a Google Expeditions app with more than 1,000 virtual field trips, Wild Immersion videos supported by Jane Goodall and 10 custom lesson plans.
It’s a big world out there, and technology like VR is helping to broaden the horizons of teachers and students while serving as an equalizer for children who don’t have the ability to visit the Louvre or the National Mall in real-life. Traditional education has long focused on fact retention and rote memorization. With so much information swirling through the classroom and the digital space, students are easily overwhelmed, their focus unmoored. Though students may retain facts gleaned from a textbook, they’re rarely equipped with the tools to implement the information, to apply their school lessons to real-world situations that require both knowledge and critical-thinking skills.
Virtual technology is helping ease this long standing pedagogical pain point. When students enter a virtual world, like the aforementioned Amazon rainforest, they’re not simply learning about the dietary preferences of a capybara or the aposematic coloration of a poison dart frog -- they’re observing science in-action and within context. They’re learning about the subject by virtually living it.
In a Lenovo VR Classroom, students are also gaining the technological skills that will be required of them in a contemporary workforce. Semester-long typing classes will no longer suffice. Future workers must know their way around advanced technology. Learning to operate within augmented and virtual realities is the first step for these students’ crucial, and ongoing, technical educations.
A 2013 paper by Columbia researchers asserts that certain unique skills will be required of 21st-century students, including “empathy, systems thinking, creativity, computational literacy, and abstract reasoning.” All of these attributes, the researchers concluded, “are difficult to teach,” especially with traditional methods like verbal lectures.
The researchers assert that VR holds the key to providing “more immersive, engaging experiences,” with far-reaching implications and applications. Using VR in a classroom, the study found, provides students with more engaging, authentic, empathic and creative learning experiences.
Fort Worthington Principal Monique Debi has witnessed the VR transformation firsthand.
“We’re really seeing an increase in excitement, in learning,” she says of the Lenovo VR Classroom. Students are engaging with the material so thoroughly, she says, they’ve begun to ask questions extending beyond their curriculum.
“They’re like, ‘Now I do want to do some research,” Debi says. “Now I want to see what the mountains in Fiji look like!”
One Jumps to the Next Level of XR Events Experiences
There is no doubt that #Covid is transforming our habits, ways of relating and even making purchases. Fewer and fewer people are going to retail in malls. Product and brand relevance are largely to blame for this, especially when compared to what online stores can display, sell, and have incredibly easy return policies. They have disrupted the economics of an industry and the industry has had trouble responding.
Greenlight Insights predicts a strong impact of immersive technologies on product marketing by 2025. Noting that the world's 100 leading manufacturers will use immersive product marketing solutions by 2025.
Brands need to use emerging innovation if they want to keep abreast of the sustainability movement and stay ahead of ever-growing trends that seamlessly combine technological functionality, such as IoT, with the economy, and purchase satisfaction.
Innovation in #VR Shopping and Retail. According to the latest Forbes studies, the days of going to a store to shop or browsing online may soon be over. Virtual Reality technology has the power to transform the shopping experience. Transporting customers to another world to showcase products and letting them try it virtually, VR is the present. New media and channels of acquisition of new customers for promotion and revenue as an extension to the real environment. Brands showcased its products virtually and still gave customers a chance to interact with the products before making a purchase.
In ONE, with more than 10 years of experience in this sector, we continue to promote “Innovation in Commerce” through the Virtual Reality platform. The Virtual Shopping Experience 2020 presents the advantages and benefits of this platform for shops, brands, and visitors.
ONE Digital Consulting is ahead of the use of #VRAR to market and sell products through the Immersive Virtual Fair Platform, which is among our most innovative and reference use cases. Facilitating and accelerating the decision process, adapting to purchasing organizations, and companies that have a challenging task ahead of them to determine which of the immersion product marketing solutions in the current market that best suits their organization.
The Virtual Reality platform for Events and Exhibitions, allows users to have an unlimited number of stands, grouped in different buildings and with designs adapted to the particularities of the brand/business. Thanks to the interactive devices, the visitor can enter and navigate through each of the stands and request specific information from each exhibitor.
The Virtual Fair is available in Microsoft Windows environment for personal computers and Android for mobile devices.
Innovation in Smart Cities Environments by ONE digital consulting.
Ask for a demo madrid@onedigitalconsulting.eu
Contact:
Name: Carlos J. Ochoa
Email Address: carlos.ochoa@onedigitalconsulting.eu
Website URL: http://www.onedigitalconsulting.com
Blend Media launches world’s first Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality freelancer marketplace – Blend Market
Blend Media, the leading immersive content provider which counts Facebook, Google, Disney and L’Oreal amongst its clients, announces the launch of Blend Market, a new single platform that connects brands and businesses with skilled creators and creative solutions.
Blend Market is the first immersive marketplace dedicated to connecting clients with a global community of thousands of skilled creators and solution-providers with hundreds of relevant skills across the entire Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), 3D and Mixed Reality(MR) spectrum.
The launch follows a successful beta phase during which more than 700 of the world’s leading brands and immersive technology creators signed up to the service, including global media platforms, publishers, music labels, film studios and professional services firms such as Deloitte, LADbible and Bill Kenwright Limited.
“Immersive technology, or Extended Reality as it has become known, is an exciting, high-growth industry, with an explosion in hundreds of thousands of skilled creators. However, it is also a sector that is highly fragmented and, as such, requires an effective means of connecting,” said Blend Media Founder and CEO Damian Collier.
“That’s why we first built our VR content licensing platform which has been a market leader since 2016 and why we’ve now built and launched Blend Market, to facilitate working relationships between businesses wishing to incorporate immersive solutions into their workflows and the creative professionals that can execute on those ambitions on a global scale. We look forward to enabling these fruitful partnerships through this new online marketplace.”
Use cases for immersive technologies are wide-ranging and are evolving at pace; from 3D models of sofas, plants and kitchens for online retailers; AR filters and games for entertainment brands; XR learning in the classroom, enterprise training and human resources uses; 360 property, car, and hotel tours; to VR content in healthcare for dementia patients, during surgery, or training nurses.
Joe Williams, Immersive Tech Lead at LADbible Group: "For the creation of our branded Snapchat AR lens it was important to tap into content trends. We wanted to ensure we had access to creators that were growing their immersive skills and abilities and could match our ambition for the project. By putting our brief on Blend Market we were able to match our project with the best possible creator and the result was outstanding.”
Contact
Name: Thea Parnell
Email Address: thea@blend.media
Website URL: http://market.blend.media
Get Real Launches New Advisory Firm To Help Clients Imagine And Leverage Virtual Reality And Augmented Reality Technology To Improve The Way They Work
Get Real works with clients to establish scalable and successful VR/AR strategies and programs to enable companies and organizations to more effectively train, collaborate, market, visualize data, gather, educate, and raise money
CHICAGO, Oct. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Get Real, a Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) advisory firm, publicly launched today to help businesses and not for profits implement VR and AR technologies that dramatically improve and scale their organizations. Clients will benefit from Get Real's team of professionals that combine several decades of experience in leveraging emerging technology and integrated platforms to solve real-world business challenges and create sustainable competitive advantages.
"We're excited to help our clients discover Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality in its early stages, establish themselves as leaders amongst their peers, and maintain a competitive edge for years to come," said Rob Merrilees, Get Real Co-Founder. "Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technology is ready for business applications today. It has the ability to change how organizations train, collaborate, market, visualize data, gather, educate, and raise money."
Get Real works with clients to match them with best-in-class providers of VR and AR solutions through its Get Real Partner Alliance (GRPA). The GRPA covers innovative VR and AR platforms across a wide variety of industries and leading providers of collaboration tools, data visualization software, training software, 360-degree video, and custom game engine development.
"The breadth and depth of the GRPA allows us to see how advances in VR/AR technology in one industry will foreshadow future innovation in other industries," said Ed Haravon, Get Real Co-founder. "Our clients will benefit from the combination of the GRPA and our team's long history of deploying emerging technology to create significant advantages in order to increase the scale and profitability of businesses."
Get Real is the fourth company Rob Merrilees has founded or co-founded. In 1999, he founded Spot Trading, one of the first entirely off-floor proprietary trading firms in the U.S. In 2001, he also co-founded YJT Solutions (now Entara Corporation), an IT managed service provider. After college, Rob co-founded Diamond Edge Software and co-authored "Radio Baseball," the first-ever computer baseball simulation game published by Electronic Arts, now known as EA Sports.
Ed Haravon is the current president of Chicago's chapter of the VR/AR Association, the world's largest industry association of VR and AR solutions providers and content creators. Prior to co-founding Get Real, he worked at Peak6 Investments where he helped to build Apex Crypto, a backend cryptocurrency execution, clearing, and custody solution for broker-dealers to offer to their retail clients. Prior to that, Ed was a Partner and COO at Spot Trading, and for over 16 years helped to manage its success and growth from eight to over 170 employees.
About Get Real
As a partner and advisor to businesses and not for profits, Get Real helps organizations of all sizes imagine how Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) can be leveraged to transform work. Get Real has client service offerings across a broad scope of VR and AR technology platforms, including training and education, large and small group collaboration, virtual offices, real estate marketing, data visualization, and VR storytelling. Through its Get Real Partner Alliance (GRPA), Get Real works with best-in-class VR/AR solution providers and content creators to serve its clients. Get Real works with clients to establish scalable and successful VR/AR strategies and programs to enable companies and organizations to more effectively train, collaborate, market, visualize data, gather, educate, and raise money.
For more information, visit www.getrealxr.com
Follow us on twitter at @getrealxr
Follow us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/getrealxr/
This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.
SOURCE Get Real
Related Links
AVATAR Partners Transforms Unity-based SimplifyXR into End-to-End Mixed Reality Platform
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. - Oct. 13, 2020 - AVATAR Partners, a world-leading innovator in virtual, augmented and mixed reality (extended reality or XR, collectively) solutions for heavy-duty industry and defense, has introduced four major enhancements to its codeless, mixed-reality software authoring tool, SimplifyXR. A feature-rich, workflow-based, rapid-development tool for building heavy-duty, enterprise MR applications - such as training, maintenance, scenario rehearsal and job performance aids - SimplifyXR enables non-programmers to develop 10 times faster than traditional methods.
The new enhancements in SimplifyXR v1.4 elevate the software to help companies manage the end-to-end, immersive-reality design, development and deployment lifecycle for large enterprise with four powerful new features:
- Real-time Content Distribution. Multi-device, instant distribution of all applications and updates to reduce errors and save time. Support for any MR-enabled device, eliminating device control issues and ensuring 100% accurate data to the user.
- Configuration Management. Single source of authority for production content, multi-versioning, multi-user-roles, multi-language support and live content versioning with roll-back for quality escapes and updates.
- Rapid, Transparent Updates. Unique content management design to store and control all assets, asset bundles and logic, enabling reuse and standardization so teams of engineers and content developers can switch between and update apps with no previous app-specific knowledge to reduce risk and save time and money.
- SmartMR Integration. Productivity boost by integrating with most data sources including IoT, artificial intelligence, databases, haptics and sensors to provide users with relevant information from within the AR experience. Also used for recording and tracking of performance, equipment, environment and processes with built-in analytics.
"We updated SimplifyXR based on input from our customers. What was once a codeless, rapid XR development software has matured into a scalable, end-to-end XR enterprise distribution and management platform," said AVATAR Partners CEO Marlo Brooke. "We are proud to say that, with these new features, SimplifyXR unlocks the full power of Unity and mixed reality. For those companies still coding in Unity line by line, we can even leverage parts of their existing apps by converting them into the SimplifyXR platform, which reduces rework. In a nutshell, it lets our customers be in control."
Initially designed by AVATAR Partners for developing custom, mixed-reality projects for its customers, the unique set of functions incorporated into SimplifyXR also includes:
- Built-in precision to produce enterprise-ready MR applications free of jitter, drift or markers for a highly precise MR experience to 1/8th inch for any-sized object or environment
- Acceleration of content development tenfold
- Content capture to allow subject matter experts to develop and contribute content and make updates without recompiling
- Innovative design to significantly reduce maintenance costs
- Remote 4-D, AR-powered collaboration with Avatar CONNECT or Microsoft 365
- Agnostic support for all major platforms, hardware, AR devices, vision science and CAD/animation tools
- Worlds first fully 100% extensible codeless XR authoring tool
For complete information on AVATAR Partners XR solutions and services, visit www.avatarpartners.com
###
About AVATAR Partners
AVATAR Partners is a world leader in heavy-duty, industrial-grade extended reality (XR) solutions to help increase quality, efficiency, safety, sales and profits by addressing critical applications in aerospace, construction, defense, healthcare, manufacturing and other market segments. Solutions support remote collaboration, advanced maintenance systems, training, on-the-job performance and scenario planning as well as XR configuration management, standardization and deployment. The company is the first worldwide combined Unity Platinum Reseller and Managed Delivery Partner. Headquartered in Huntington Beach, California; offices in Washington DC, Patuxent River, MD and Virginia Beach, VA; with AVATAR Ecosystem Partners throughout the U.S. and Canada. www.avatarpartners.com
Contact
Name: Hall Roosevelt
Email Address: hall@kcomm.com
Website URL: https://avatarpartners.com/
Introducing the Star Series from Cleanbox for the rapid decontamination equipment
Cleanbox is pleased to introduce its newest product line, the Star Series, a set of four products designed for the rapid decontamination of lavalier mics, phones, keyboards, tablets, laptops, eyewear, and other small electronics and accessories.
The first product in the Star Series, the Major, is a unique design providing 360-degree log 5+ decontamination (99.999%+), of any item that fits inside its 10” x 4” rotating, circular drum. The Major also offers hygiene tracking of any object cleaned, a networked data dashboard for compliance and insurance, a future opt-in mobile app, and the same sleek design and visuals of other Cleanbox products.
Independent lab testing recently undertaken at a Biohazard Level 3 lab shows that Cleanbox UVC engineering kills Sars-Cov-2 (COVID-19), resulting in a 99.999%+ efficacy on plastics & hard surfaces in 60 seconds, and N95 masks in two minutes.
Contact:
Name: Anthony Grippa
Email Address: agrippa@cleanboxtech.com
Website URL: http://www.cleanboxtech.com
VR breakthrough reveals how emotion measurement could redefine treatment for anxiety, depression and PTSD
State-of-the-art virtual reality (VR) headset, created by emteq labs, enables first ever moment-by-moment measurement of emotional responses
New approach to quantifying emotion more accurately than ever before has significant implications for the future of research, as well as diagnosis and care of major mental health conditions
9 October 2020, Brighton - New research from emteq labs shows that for the first time, VR can now be used to accurately measure moment-by-moment emotional responses.
The report, ‘Measuring what Matters in Immersive Environments’ explains how the technology behind emteq labs’ state-of-the-art VR headset builds on over 40 years of research into the relationship between facial expression and emotions to unveil a new paradigm in understanding of mental health and behavioural science.
As a result, the headset is revolutionising how emotion is quantified, more accurately and effectively than ever before. This comprehensive approach to measurement will now enable far better understanding of the interaction between emotion and cognition as a means to develop new treatments for mental health conditions, such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Traditionally, measurement of emotion has relied on rudimentary questionnaires to gauge how individuals feel in response to a given stimulus. As well as the obvious over simplification of the complexities of emotion, this also introduces another inescapable flaw: human bias. And even more considered frameworks like Ekman’s facial action coding system (FACS), which is used to evaluate facial expressions, do not account for the fact that not all individuals experience emotions in the same way.
Instead, throwing old school approaches out of the window, emteq labs’ latest VR technology and Russell’s model of affect has become a powerful tool that enables correlation of arousal (level of activation or excitement) with valence (whether a reactive is positive, negative or neutral). By monitoring multiple physical responses including heart rate, electromyography (EMG), skin conduction and eye tracking, emotion can now be measured objectively to create a highly accurate 3D picture of a person’s emotions.
This was showcased in the world’s largest ever multimodal biometric data collection in VR, which took place at the Science Museum in 2019 and was led and co-ordinated by emteq labs along with researchers at Bournemouth University. As the first study of its kind, due to be published later this year, the research programme explored the use of VR in the treatment of mental health conditions by creating controlled scenarios to stimulate physiological emotional responses that could then be monitored via the VR headset.
Stephen Fairclough, Professor of Psychophysiology in the School of Natural Sciences and Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University, has extensive experience using the headset in research:
“VR provides an enormous and unique opportunity to collect data through the study of behaviour in realistic environments - something that has been almost impossible in the past. This whitepaper demonstrates how the emteq labs system is enabling research to break new frontiers and VR to not only resemble real life scenarios for research, but be adapted in real time to measure how users respond. Academics and researchers like myself can measure and understand emotion in a way we’ve never been able to do before. This opens the door for deepening our knowledge of human behaviour and in turn, enables us to develop treatments, particularly for mental health, that can actually resonate with individuals and make a difference.”
“Accurately measuring how a person feels or reacts to a situation is no easy feat,” Graeme Cox, Co-founder and CEO of emteq labs comments. “Embracing both valence and arousal in the development of our wearable technology has enabled us to measure a person’s intent as well as their emotional state, which is incredible. I am delighted to share this research, which looks at how far we’ve come and the incredible possibilities that lie ahead in research and development using our VR technology.”
Considering how these measurements could help to improve treatment and management of mental health, Charles Nduka, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at emteq labs said: “Developing new treatments requires an understanding of the range of “normal’ responses to interventions, particularly for important healthcare issues such as anxiety and depression. We hope that we will begin the process of understanding the range of behavioural responses that will act as a baseline for future research and treatments of mental health conditions.”
Measuring what Matters can be accessed in full via: https://www.emteqlabs-whitepapers.com/
Contact
Name: Charlotte Roch
Email Address: charlotte.roch@emteq.net
For further information, to request images or interviews, please contact:
Charlotte Roch e: charlotte@emteqlabs.com t: + 44 (0) 7568 465534
Amy Gower e: amy@somx.co.uk t: + 44 (0) 7742 855442
About emteq labs
emteq labs was founded in 2015 by three successful and experienced entrepreneurs, Graeme Cox, Dr Charles Nduka and Matthew Honey and the company has strong foundations in health, technology, research and business.
emteq labs focuses on research technology and uses a state-of-the-art brain-computer interface to quantify emotion, which enables the best quality research and improves patient care. By measuring emotional response and facial movement with biometrics and machine learning, in combination with virtual reality (VR), the integrated platform is the most ecologically valid and user-friendly system available.
emteq labs applies signal processing and detection algorithms to calculate likely human responses by collecting data that quantifies:
● Expression
● Heart Rate
● Asymmetry
● Valence & Arousal
● Heart Rate Variability
● Movement & Gestures
● Eye Tracking
As well as the highly accurate measurement of human emotion and responses, emteq labs forms part of new and innovative services in the management of facial palsy, Parkinson’s disease and mental health disorders.
To find out more about how emteq labs supports cost-effective, high quality-research and innovative approaches to patient care, visit: https://emteqlabs.com/