How Walmart infuses kindness into de-escalation training

Is it possible to teach kindness? What role does kindness play in de-escalating a frustrated customer? As Walmart discovered, not only can we teach frontline workers to be more kind, but associates are eager for training on the topic because it builds both their skills and their confidence.

In this article, you’ll learn about one of the most successful customer service trainings deployed for the world’s #1 retailer, Walmart. A combination of empathy-building, de-escalation, and handling difficult conversations, the Virtual Reality-based experiences have exceeded nearly every expectation set by the organization in terms of adoption, feedback, and performance. And it's all about infusing more kindness into customer service. Maybe we all should take this training!

Read on to learn from Strivr, the company that’s deployed over 50 VR training experiences about how VR not only improves skills, but also influences how employees feel: valued, confident, and engaged.

Read more here http://www.strivr.com/blog/be-kind/

CraneMorley is looking for a X-Reality (XR) Evangelist

The evangelist will need to work on site at CraneMorley’s new Irvine, CA XR production facility just opening this month.

About the Job

This position involves the discovery of the latest X-Reality learning technology from partners such as Microsoft and assisting our clients in its application to drive improved business performance. This includes application of mixed, augmented and virtual reality as part of an effective mix of formal and on the job learning performance improvement.  You will help with this by dazzling our clients with exceptional demos, facilitating workshops, and helping clients envision use cases for the most effective use of the technology.  Hardware devices include Microsoft’s HoloLens2 and applications include Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and Guides and Unity.

About You

This challenge requires a fast learner with strong online and in person presentation skills and a demonstrated interest in X-reality. 

Agility is the name of the game as we drink from a firehose of new features from Microsoft and our other technology partners.  Each improvement provides the opportunity to engage our clients to share the excitement to build long term relationships as they scale the technology in their organizations.

What We Are Looking For

Attitude is as important as experience with X-Reality at this early stage of the game. Demonstrate to us that you are a team player and excited to learn from fellow team members, our partners and industry experts. Explain how you can quickly come up to speed on a client's business situation, work closely to discover the best learning and on-the-job performance solutions while building strong professional relationships for future business.

About Us
CraneMorley is a gold Microsoft mixed reality partner and maintains similar partnerships with other technology suppliers such as Oculus, Lenovo, Realwear, Varjo and Ingram Micro. We have earned well over 100 awards working with some of the best enterprise clients in the world such as Mercedes-Benz, Corning, SoCalGas, Intel, Subaru, Varian, Honda, Omnicell, Kraft-Heinz, Porsche, HealthStream and NYSEARCH.org.

Our extraordinary team is comprised of Instructional Designer/Writers, Graphic Designers, Media Specialists, and programmers.

Your Responsibilities

• Lead early-stage XR discussions to identify customer needs with the highest ROI potential and involve the right CM team members in crafting a solution

• Understand the client’s technology environment and whiteboard solutions in an articulate way that flows and illustrates the purpose

• Create and deliver customer workshops in partnership with our instructional design and programming teams, as well as partners, focused on leading-edge/innovative XR solutions

• Collaborate with instructional design and programming teams to develop sales playbooks outlining strategies for driving high value into strategic accounts

• Contribute content to our web sites, blogs and marketing collateral

More About Us
CraneMorley was founded in 1991 as a pioneer in performance-based learning for the enterprise.  Our learning and on-the-job performance solutions include traditional delivery like eLearning, Instructor-led Training, on the job support and virtual, augmented and mixed reality.  Our state-of-the-art production facility is in Irvine, CA and our associates work in a hybrid model at home and in facility.

More Information:

https://www.cranemorley.com

https://mixedreality.cranemorley.com/

Apply At:

jobs@cranemorley.com

Virtual Reality helps students build skills for the modern workplace

Earlier this year Bodyswaps partnered with 5 Further Education colleges as part of a Ufi VocTech Trust initiative to see how a 15-minute immersive module could help students develop a career mindset to transition them into the world of work.

LONDON, July 6, 2021

Following the completion of a groundbreaking study with students at 5 FE colleges, results published today show that 81% of students would recommend the experience to peers. Nearly 73% were able to identify ways to improve their skills upon completion. 78% of students rated the experience as effective.

It has become a familiar refrain in recent years that young people leaving education lack the soft skills that employers require. But with many businesses disinvesting in graduate development, while still reliant on Covid-era home working, employers need work-ready recruits more now than ever before.

Career Mindset Development is a 15-minute interactive learning simulation designed as part of a Ufi VocTech Trust initiative in collaboration with teachers and careers counsellors from Harlow College, Writtle University College, South Essex College, Bridgend College, and Sandwell College to give young people guidance and feedback on:

• Building self-awareness

• Taking the initiative when talking to people you don’t know

• Making a positive impact at work

• Communicating ideas clearly and with confidence.

The simulation was piloted by the colleges between 1 March and 30 April 2021. Highlights of the results can be seen in this infographic.

“This study shows that FE institutions and their students welcome VR learning as a means to engage learners in preparation for joining the workplace, to build excitement for learning and ultimately raise the bar when it comes to setting students up for professional success,” said Bodyswaps CEO Christophe Mallet.

Following on from the success of Career Mindset Development, Bodyswaps has partnered with 8 colleges to trial the Job Interview Simulator, its most innovative and ambitious project yet.

About Bodyswaps
Bodyswaps is an award-winning immersive learning platform designed to deliver lasting behavioural change. Their VR solutions create a safe space where learners can practise soft skills, with AI-enabled analytical feedback to accelerate personal development. Since 2019, London-based Bodyswaps has helped a wide range of organisations deliver measurable value by building more empathic workplaces and fostering greater inclusivity.

For more information, explore our website and follow us: Linkedin (Bodyswaps) and Twitter (Bodyswaps_VR).

Press contact
Sabine Maerky
87-91 Hackney Road
E2 8FE, London, United Kingdom
sabine@bodyswaps.co

Pico Chosen as BMW’s Hardware-of-Choice for New VR Experience

Pico Interactive’s headsets have been chosen by BMW in conjunction with We are Jerry (a sports consulting agency) and AR/VR experts GOVAR, for a new VR workshop & live experience for BMW i Motorsport’s Formula E engagement.

The virtual experience runs on ENGAGE, which incorporates all CAD and 360° data, videos, live streams and presentations from BMW i Motorsport in addition to content from sponsors and partners.

With COVID restrictions on live events, We are Jerry and GOVAR created the “BMW i Virtual Garage Experience” for BMW i Motorsport, which provides more options than in-person events. For example, CAD and 360° data of the BMW E race cars, videos, live streams, presentations and other content can be integrated into the experience. Up to 1,000 guests can move around the virtual live experience at the same time if required.

With Pico's VR headsets, select customers, sponsors and partners of BMW i Motorsport will get access to the world's first fully immersive Formula E experience

The virtual workshop & live experience platform developed by We are Jerry and GOVAR opens up new ways and opportunities for us at BMW i Motorsport to work with sponsors, partners and customers”— Lutz-Philipp Kugler, Brand Cooperations BMW Group,

BARCELONA, SPAIN, July 1, 2021 -- Pico Interactive, one of the world's leading developers of innovative VR (virtual reality) solutions for B2B use, will showcase for the first time at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona a groundbreaking virtual reality (VR) workshop & live experience developed by Munich-based sports consulting agency We are Jerry and AR/VR experts GOVAR for BMW i Motorsport's Formula E engagement. The virtual Experience works on the ENGAGE VR platform, developed by VR Education, which makes it possible to incorporate not only all CAD and 360° data, videos, live streams, and presentations from BMW i Motorsport, but also content from sponsors and partners. In order to overcome COVID restrictions on live events, such as VIP hospitality events, We are Jerry and GOVAR created a virtual experience platform - the "BMW i Virtual Garage Experience" - for BMW i Motorsport, which offers even more possibilities than the live onsite experience.

Exceptional motorsport experience
The central question was: "How do we compensate for the COVID-related limitations for the partners and guests of BMW i Motorsport and, at the same time, create completely new target group-compliant customer experiences in the digital world, all as efficiently and synergistically as possible?" explains Karsten Streng, Founder and Managing Partner of We are Jerry.

It quickly became clear to all those responsible: The high standards and requirements of BMW i Motosport could only be implemented with extremely powerful VR headsets. The guests should be presented with a seamless immersive experience that lives up to the premium standards of the BMW brand as an innovation leader. The choice quickly fell on standalone VR headsets from Pico Interactive: "Pico has by far the most powerful VR glasses, which also offer 6 degrees of freedom (6DoF) for spatial movement in the experience," says Stefan Göppel, Managing Director of GOVAR. "Spatial distance does not mean sacrificing social interaction. The virtual workshop & live experience for BMW i Motorsport is therefore an encounter, thanks to the immersion it creates the feeling of a live meeting.”

From the Garage Tour to The Roof Top Bar: Talk&Meet with the drivers
The newly created VR event platform offers significantly more options than "just" virtually mapping the possibilities of the previous hospitality events as part of Formula E. For example, CAD and 360° data of the BMW E race cars, videos, live streams, presentations and other content can be integrated into the Experience, which can be accessed individually by guests. In addition, BMW i Motorsport has the option to provide sponsors and partners of the Formula E team such as Julius Baer, Einhell, Fortinet and others with their own virtual experience areas, which they can use for their own customer loyalty measures. Up to 70 guests can move around the virtual live experience at the same time or if required, even up to 1,000 guests.

"The virtual workshop & live experience platform developed by We are Jerry and GOVAR opens up new ways and opportunities for us at BMW i Motorsport to work with sponsors, partners and customers," says Lutz-Philipp Kugler, Brand Cooperations BMW Group, summarizing the unique project. "Instead of setting up hospitality events over and over again for each Formula E race, we only had to develop the virtual platform once and can now flexibly change and adapt it. Our sponsors and partners have responded very positively to this new form of customer engagement and interaction - not only as an alternative during the Corona pandemic, but they welcome being able to create their own virtual experience spaces for their own content and experiences. This experience clearly demonstrates the future potential of virtual events."

The first BMW i Virtual Garage Experience will take place on July 1, 2021. Selected marketing decision-makers from BMW i Motorsport partners around the world will receive a special BMW i Formula E Experience box containing the Pico headsets as well as exclusive team merchandise. Using the Pico VR headset, guests will be able to enjoy the pre-installed virtual experience and visit unique locations.

During the garage tour, a BMW engineer waits for the guests and introduces the technical concept of the electric racer. Guests can look through the BMW Formula E racing car as if they were using an X-ray machine and view all the technical details at their leisure. Guests will get first-hand insights from the two Team BMW i Andretti Motorsport drivers Maximilian Günther and Jake Dennis, who will be on hand to answer questions. Those who aren't afraid of fast-paced action can climb into the BMW i8 Safety Car as a co-driver and take a lap of the Monaco Grand Prix circuit in 360°. In addition, various content offers await the guests, which they can consume at their leisure. Formula E Hospitality can then be rounded off perfectly with a virtual drink in the Roof Top Bar. Here, guests have the opportunity to communicate with the other guests while also switching to a private mode if others are not to take part in the conversation. Another advantage of the ENGAGE platform used is that the BMW Formula E experience can also be experienced in 2D desktop/laptop mode.

In addition to the tour through the garage of the BMW i Andretti Motorsport team, guests receive an X-ray view of the inner workings of the BMW Formula E race car, receive background information from BMW engineers about the drivetrain, for example, and can experience the cockpit of the bolide to get the race car drivers’ perspective. They can also take a virtual 360° lap of the racetrack as a co-driver in the BMW i8 Safety Car and then meet other guests in the Roof Top Bar for an informal exchange of ideas.Guests at the BMW i Virtual Garage Experience will receive a high-quality hospitality box in advance of each event, which will include exclusive team merchandise as well as standalone VR headsets from Pico Interactive: Simply put on the headset and dive in, the Formula E Experience is pre-installed.

Samet Simsek
Havana Orange GmbH
+4989921315188 ext.
pico@havanaorange.de
Visit on social media:
LinkedIn

ICRC joins the VR/AR Associaiton and Melissa Kiehl will Co-Chair our VR for Good Committee

We are thrilled to have Melissa Kiehl co-chair our VR for Good Committee!

Melissa has spent more than 15 years in the humanitarian sector working in program management, resource mobilization, communications and project evaluation with NGOs and UN agencies in Colombia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Liberia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. She is currently working with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which has developed an internal VR development team to create and disseminate virtual environments specific to humanitarian work.

As part of the ICRC Innovation team, Melissa serves as an advisor in the areas of Extended Reality and Strategic Foresight.

“I am delighted to join this team and this endeavor. I feel there is so much we can explore and develop in immersive environments and I am excited to see what the future can bring through VR For Good.”

— Melissa Kiehl, International Committee of the Red Cross

New Study Projects Mobile AR Revenue to Reach $26.05 Billion by 2025 - get the report here!

VRARA members can access this report through a discounted subscription to ARtillery Pro.

ARtillery Intelligence has released a new report that projects mobile AR annual revenue to grow from $6.87 billion in 2020 to $26.05 billion in 2025, a 30.5 percent compound annual growth rate. Entitled Mobile AR Global Revenue Forecast, 2020-2025, it dives deep on mobile AR revenue totals and subcategories – including consumer and enterprise spending.

Enterprise productivity is the leading revenue category in 2021 ($3.12 billion), followed by AR ad placement ($1.98 billion) and consumer in-app purchases ($1.89 billion). The latter comes mostly from player spending in Pokémon Go. Ad placement will be the leading mobile AR revenue category by 2025 ($6.68 billion) as brands continue to recognize AR’s ability to demonstrate products in visually immersive and conversion-boosting ways. AR commerce-enablement software will be driven by similar factors.

“Several of these mobile AR revenue categories represent what we call AR as a Service, which are SaaS-like AR offerings that enable companies to build AR experiences,” said ARtillery Intelligence Chief Analyst, Mike Boland. “Those experiences can be visually-guided productivity in enterprise settings, or consumer-facing experiences — an area we call B2B2C. In either case, these AR ‘picks & shovels’ will represent a large opportunity to meet demand for democratized experience creation and accelerate time-to-market.”

As is the case across the global economy, mobile AR sub-sectors have been impacted unevenly by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Given that software and digital products fared well in global lockdowns, the impact on mobile AR has been mostly positive. For example, quarantine-friendly consumer AR such as product visualization has inflected in the past year; while post-Covid hybrid work environments will compel enterprise remote-AR support.

“Covid-era dynamics will have a net-positive impact as sheltered-in entertainment, visually-enhanced shopping and socially-distanced productivity played to AR’s strengths,” said Boland. “This means that Covid-accelerated adoption and digital transformation over the past year have exposed the technology, thereby accelerating its longer-term sustained adoption. Mobile AR will have a key role in the post-Covid world”

Report Availability

Mobile AR Global Revenue Forecast, 2020-2025 is available to ARtillery PRO subscribers, and more can be previewed here. VRARA members can access this report through a discounted subscription to ARtillery Pro.

About ARtillery Intelligence

ARtillery Intelligence chronicles the evolution of spatial computing, otherwise known as AR and VR. Through writings and multimedia, it provides deep and analytical views into the industry’s biggest players, opportunities and strategies. Products include the AR Insider publication and the ARtillery PRO research subscription. Research includes monthly narrative reports, market-sizing forecasts, consumer survey data and multimedia, all housed in a robust intelligence vault. Learn more here.

Xenco Medical’s HoloMedX Brings Holograms to Surgical Education – No Headset Required

Participate in our next VR/AR Global Summit here

By Jon Jaehnig

HoloMedX brings custom controls and patient-specific models to Looking Glass.

What happens when a medical device company starts exploring extended reality? Really incredible things. That’s what we learned when Xenco Medical announced HoloMedX at the VR/AR Association Global Summit earlier this month.

We at ARPost were so blown away by the presentation that we interviewed Xenco Medical Founder and CEO Jason Haider for more details.

Meet Xenco Medical

Xenco Medical is a company that makes single-use medical devices. Not only do the single-use devices mean that tools don’t degrade over time, but they also cut risk of contamination between patients. Devices are even custom-made for specific surgeries and even specific patients.

One of the priorities of Xenco Medical involves helping medical teams communicate both with surgical students and with patients about to undergo surgery. In either case, a medical professional would demonstrate to a person – or a room full of people – exactly what a surgery would look like using Xenco Medical devices.

The only problem? While Xenco Medical makes patient-specific surgical devices, surgeries were demonstrated using off-the-shelf anatomical models. Specifically in the case of spinal surgery, one patient’s anatomy may be drastically different from another’s. This makes one-size-fits-all medical models severely limiting.

Alternative options included demonstrating surgeries on two-dimensional images and scans, but surgery is an inherently three-dimensional process. While in theory it would be possible to make custom models using technology like 3D printing, this would be prohibitively time-consuming and costly. So, Xenco Medical turned to XR and created HoloMedX.

“As a patient-centric company, we’ve made an outsized commitment to developing technologies that address the entire spectrum of a patient’s surgical experience,” Haider said in a release shared with ARPost.

The Software Behind HoloMedX

Xenco Medical has pioneered a computer learning algorithm that uses ray tracing technology to stitch a series of 2D diagnostic images together to instantly create patient-specific 3D models.

“We wanted to make it as seamless as possible so the user wouldn’t need to have technical knowledge to translate a DICOM [Digital Imaging and Communications Model in Medicine] dataset into a hologram,” Haider told ARPost.

The result is a user-friendly experience for both surgical experts and patients learning about their own surgeries beforehand. This kind of understanding improves patient experience and satisfaction.

“You get the patient’s anatomy suspended in air,” Haider explained when announcing the platform during the VR/AR Association Global Summit. “The goal is to give patients and surgical trainers a hyper-realistic sense.”

Displaying Patient-Specific Models – Sans Headset

The next question was how to display the models in ways that would be efficient for teachers and learners and impactful for patients. The first and most obvious answer was to use 3D modeling and imaging software in a headset. In addition to a headset removing face-to-face communication for patients and providers, it poses a problem for scaling.

“When you’re teaching grand rounds, there might be ten people in the room. When they’re all using headsets, it poses a barrier,” Haider told ARPost. “We chose to build our platform by integrating with the Looking Glass light field display because it allowed us to use an intuitive, interactive, holographic display without headgear.”

Looking Glass is a light field display that, when turned off, looks like a typical large tablet or small television. However, when turned on, it appears to project a convincing 3D model. It’s pretty cool tech, but it isn’t the only – or the most innovative – hardware that plays a role in HoloMedX.

Xenco Medical has also created a line of air controllers for HoloMedX modeled after real surgical tools. These air controllers, equipped with three-axis accelerometers and gyroscopes, help to add an additional layer of understanding that wouldn’t be possible if users manipulated the models using controllers or even gesture controls.

The software, the display, and the custom air controls together produce “HoloMedX.”

“We are at the intersection of an incredibly exciting time where advancements in optics are happening independently with displays and imaging software,” said Haider. “The convergence of those three technologies place us at an important precipice.”

A Look at the Roadmap

This year, HoloMedX will be employed with select universities and medical centers already working with Xenco Medical. In addition to potential platform improvements, this initial rollout will form the basis for a unique study on how hologram interaction improves patient experience.

“Our multi-center study beginning this week will compare patient satisfaction scores of patients undergoing two-level and three-level lumbar fusions with and without pre-operative holographic simulation,” Haider explained in an email to ARPost.

Research and development into HoloMedX isn’t waiting until after those results come back. HoloMedX is currently for strictly educational purposes but the same technology is being used to explore revolutionary diagnostic solutions. This diagnostic platform would be available as a separate product also from Xenco Medical.

Users Creating Solutions

HoloMedX definitely looks like the future. We haven’t gotten our hands on it (yet), but it probably feels like the future too. Ironically, perhaps the most exciting thing about it is that it wasn’t made by an XR company. It uses XR technology, but its biggest strength might be that it is made by people looking to solve their own problems rather than by someone trying to sell solutions.

Source

3D scanning specialist botspot converted into a stock corporation

Company expands and spins off its scanning services segment

Berlin, 30 June 2021: The Berlin-based enterprise botspot, one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers of multi-sensor 3D scanning systems, was converted into a German Aktiengesellschaft (AG) following a successful financing round (valuation 20 million euro).

This was announced today in Berlin by Sascha Rybarczyk (Board of Management, botspot AG). Due to its strong growth in serial production and through several major research and development projects with leading car manufacturers, the company will move into new, significantly larger production and administrative headquarters in Berlin before the end of August this year. For its likewise growing business area of scanning services, a legally independent subsidiary is planned as a spin-off for the second half of the year, as well as the foundation of a distribution company at the same location.

Sascha Rybarczyk, Board of Management botspot AG: The enormous demand from various industries for 3D technology, particularly for botspot 3D scanners, is creating a great atmosphere of change. With the restructuring, botspot is setting the course to continue shaping the 3D market with unique innovative power, the best know-how and great passion.

With the change of the legal form into a stock corporation, Sascha Rybarczyk (previously already general manager of the company) and Bernd Timmermann (new member with many years of experience in industrial production) were appointed to the Board of Management.

Co-founder and lawyer Markus Frank, software entrepreneur and lawyer Dr Peter Becker (Jurasoft AG) and marketing specialist and multiple founder Vian Feldhusen joined the Supervisory Board. botspot AG is one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers of multi-sensor 3D scanning systems (e.g. photogrammetry & infrared). Since its founding in 2013, the company has become an innovation leader and developed a wide range of scanners as serial products or custom scan solutions that are being used in many different industries (the export quota is 94 percent). In addition to various 3D scanning systems for the digitization of people and objects, botspot offers customized scan solutions for numerous applications in the fields of E-Commerce, Health Care, Industrial Applications and VR/AR/MR.

Press contact:

Mr. Evgeny Stroh, Marketing & PR, botspot AG

E-mail: press@botspot.de

Phone: +49 152 53409690

Internet: www.botspot.de

VR for groups | Hyro Immersive Experience Rooms by Purple!

Purple Creative Innovators is about creating attention grabbing moments. Powered by visual storytelling and technology that amazes your senses.

As a business, you want to share your stories in an inspiring way. A way that sets you aside from the mass. Amaze your clients and employees by giving them a memorizing brand experience. Conference rooms are not considered to be inspiring or innovative. You need to capture people’s attention in a way that keeps them focused and involved from start to finish.

The Hyro Immersive Experience room is a permanent set up installed at your office, store or other preferred space. It immerses visitors in a shared, spectacular video and audio experience. A concept created by Purple. The immersive room has proven its value for multiple purposes, ranging from VIP presentations, sales pitches, product training, onboarding employees, to strategic decision-making processes and creative sessions. It is truly inspiring.

How does it work? 

Inside a closed room, visitors are astonished by high-end audio and video technology while surrounded by custom-made spheric 360 degrees videos, imagery, animations and special effects. The system is controlled remotely, via a tablet or a large multi-touch interactive table. The sessions are easily moderated via Purple’s Hyro Storytelling Software. Besides pre-loading content in the control system, moderators are also able to upload their own material and present it in multi-layer projection mode on each location in the room. 

By taking your audience on a customized visual journey, they’ll remember more than just your brand: you will impress them with an unforgettable and memorable experience. An experience that creates a long-lasting positive connection with your brand. An immersive room helps to uplift the power of your brand, by shortening the sales cycles, increasing deal sizes, improving customer relations and streamline important decision making processes.

Interested to hear more about Purple’s innovation? Send a message to susan@purple.nl

Call for Sponsors: Pitch Competition for Entrepreneurs

Our VRARA Entrepreneurship and Venture Financing Committee is organizing a Pitch Competition for Entrepreneurs and we are seeking sponsors for a cash prize for the winning pitch/Entrepreneur!

If interested to sponsor, email info@thevrara.com asap

Also, our next Online Meet is July 13th. The topic will be "How to build a pitch deck" and we will announce and open up the application for the pitch competition.

Get tickets by July 1st for our VR/AR Global Summit ONLINE Europe and save!

Our VR/AR Global Summit ONLINE Europe is happening Sept 29-Oct 1 and you can get tickets at the super early bird pricing now until July 1st here!

Our program will consist of 400+ Speakers, Sessions, Virtual Booths, Expert Roundtables, and more on how we work, design, shop, build, workout, teach, travel, experience art, adapt, understand, do privacy, witness, entertain.

Plus, grow your connections and get business done during our famous Speed Networking with 1000's of 1-on-1s networking sessions!

Thank you to our Sponsors: Unity, Lenovo, IO Industries, Emergent, Cognitive 3D, BMF, VRdirect and others!

If you would like to sponsor or exhibit, apply here.

AVATAR DIMENSION BRINGS HOLOGRAMS TO WASHINGTON, D.C.

Company Officially Opens Doors as the Only Certified Microsoft Mixed Reality Capture Studio on East Coast

WASHINGTON, DC, June 14, 2021 – What do the chart-topping artists, top defense leaders, influential museums and luxury fashion houses all have in common? They’re all turning to Avatar Dimension, the high-tech studio driving the creation of photorealistic human holograms placed into immersive environments to deliver stunningly realistic virtual experiences. Starting today, Avatar Dimension’s Mixed Reality, volumetric capture studio has opened its doors in the Washington D.C. area as the only certified Microsoft Mixed Reality Capture Studio on the East Coast, and just one of seven in the world.

Take a Virtual Tour of Avatar Dimension’s New Washington D.C. Studio
tour.avatar-dimension.com

Even in its pre-operational phase, Avatar Dimension clients already consist of enterprise, military and government agencies to marketers, games, fashion and entertainment. Projects ranged from the 2020 Air Force Global Futures Report, where a chief U.S. Air Force futurist was turned into a holographic presenter for the first-ever report in virtual reality; to the COCA (Center of Creative Arts, St. Louis MO) Virtual Web Tour, the first-ever online experience that marries 360° images with photo realistic holograms to bring viewers inside the newly renovated campus guided by 3D docents; to the Microsoft Ignite 2021 Keynote, where 3D holograms of world renowned marine biologists Edie Widder and Vincent Pieribone were captured as part of the Microsoft Mesh virtual presentation in AltSpace VR; to Balenciaga’s Afterworld The Age of Tomorrow, where hologram models were created for its 3D virtual catwalk experience; and an exclusive 3D NFT project, in conjunction with Emmersive Entertainment, featuring internationally renowned music artist Flo Rida.

Immersive 3D experiences are growing quickly as a far more effective way to train, entertain, and educate because virtual content can be shared globally, at scale with greater impact, and more quickly with far less expense. Examples include training doctors on surgeries from any location; celebrities making what looks like a live event appearance when actually it’s a hologram; simultaneous 21st century training for military and first responders from wherever they’re stationed; and walking the Smithsonian galleries from the comfort of your home.

“From armed forces training programs taught by lifelike virtual instructors to legendary talent dropping into your living room for an exclusive holographic performance, we are on the cusp of an entirely new technology era,” explains Dennis Bracy, CEO, Avatar Dimension. “With our state-of-the-art volumetric capture studio, we aim to enable more businesses and government agencies to benefit from the blending of the digital and physical worlds.”

“As we’ve seen through the pandemic, the internet immediately met the challenges presented by providing virtual tools for society to help replicate the real day-to-day life experience,” said David Sabey, Chairman of Sabey Corporation, a lead investor in Avatar Dimension. “We are extremely pleased to have our Intergate.Ashburn data center host Avatar Dimension and expand the limitless benefits of a new digital frontier.”

“Dimension is thrilled to partner with Dennis and the Avatar Studio team,” according to Simon Winchester, co-managing partner of London’s Dimension Studio. “Avatar Dimension brings together our world-class creative and technical talents to help organizations embrace valuable new opportunities in Mixed Reality and the Metaverse. Over the past 12-months, we've seen rapidly growing adoption of volumetric content so it's an exciting time to launch our state-of-the-art studio on the East Coast.

“Content creators are increasingly engaging volumetric video as a new medium to bring viewers more immersive, connected human experiences” says Steve Sullivan, General Manager of Microsoft Mixed Reality Capture Studios. “Our mission is to deliver high-quality, accessible, affordable human holograms to fuel the growth of Mixed Reality, and we’re thrilled that Avatar Dimension will be our studio partner in Washington D.C., bringing this technology to the East Coast.”

About the Studio
Purposely located in the Sabey Company’s Intergate Ashburn complex near Washington, DC, Avatar Dimension is perfectly situated to work with the region’s many enterprises, government agencies, military centers, health care companies, and entertainment businesses, as well as customers globally. Key details include:

- Avatar Dimension is a partnership of Avatar Studios, of St. Louis, Dimension Studio of the UK and Sabey Data Centers of Seattle.
- 4,000 square foot studio includes a stage, green room, client area, and offices, with backup power, worldwide fiber connections, all in a highly secure facility.
- Content captures use Microsoft’s best-in-class capture and rendering pipeline along with 70 12megapixel Volucam cameras from IO Industries for the best captures and most realistic fidelity. The cameras simultaneously capture the action and then video files are merged to create 3 dimensional holograms.
- Located in Sabey Data Center’s Intergate.Ashburn complex in Ashburn, VA., the data center capital of the world.
- Stage operations are also mobile so that volumetric capture sessions can take place from nearly any location or event in the US.
- During COVID-19, Avatar Dimension safely built and operated a temporary stage using remote tools with Microsoft’s Hololens 2. Safe captures will continue per local guidelines.

Press kit available at: https://www.zebrapartners.net/avatar-dimension-press-kit/

About Avatar Dimension
Avatar Dimension is driving the future of immersive video by offering the most advanced volumetric capture stage and studio in the world. Its mission is to imagine and create stunningly realistic virtual experiences for enterprise customers and their creative agencies, with a focus on building enterprise applications for training, government programs, marketing and entertainment. Avatar Dimension is the only certified Microsoft Mixed Reality Capture Studio on the East Coast, and consists of a collaboration between Avatar Studios of St. Louis, Dimension Studio of the UK and Sabey Data Centers of Seattle, with its premier studio based in Ashburn, VA. For more information, visit www.avatar-dimension.com.

Contact:

Name: Andrea Sausedo Piotraszewski

Email Address: andrea@zebrapartners.net

Website URL: https://www.avatar-dimension.com

HTX Labs Awarded SBIR Phase II Contract with the US Navy to Support Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) Primary Flight Training Program

Houston, TX (June 22, 2021) - HTX Labs, developer of the EMPACT® Immersive Training Platform, announced today it has been awarded a new Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract with the US Navy. HTX Labs worked jointly with Air Force and Navy contracting officers to successfully transfer its AFWERX Phase II contract across military branches, leveraging the results from previous Air Force efforts to deliver value to the Navy.

This new Navy SBIR award is targeted at further advancing the EMPACT platform to enable the development and delivery of immersive training content for both current and incoming student pilots with the Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) Primary Flight Training Program.

In particular, the project will include enhancements to HTX’s T-6B virtual aircraft and EMPACT platform necessary to create and distribute portable, multi-modal immersive training to teach aircraft system academics, provide normal and emergency procedural training with consequential learning, and implement new analytics capture and visualization capabilities required to address the evolving training needs of Navy pilots.

“Development of virtual reality part-task training is important to the Navy. Chief of Naval Air Training is constantly evaluating new and innovative ways to improve pilot and flight officer training”, said LCDR Kerry “Rooster” Bistline TRAWING FOUR AVENGER BATCELL (Innovation) Officer In Charge, “These types of systems offer the potential to further enhance student preparation, understanding, and application of procedures throughout the ground and flight phases of training.”

To provide Navy airmen with critical pilot training content, the HTX team will leverage and enhance their EMPACT Studio immersive content authoring product to satisfy NAVAIR A1-T6BAA-NFM-100 (NATOPS) flight manual requirements, allowing NAVAIR to create expert-led and student-centered interactive pilot training material. EMPACT enables the rapid creation and deployment of immersive training content, enabling Navy airmen to experience training on Virtual Reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMDs), laptops, and tablets, allowing students to effectively train anytime, anywhere, on any device to more broadly scale and sustain immersive training across the Navy.

“We are excited to have successfully transferred our Air Force SBIR Phase II to the US Navy to continue the important work of leveraging immersive technology to train pilots more effectively, to shorten the training cycle, and to play a role in addressing the pilot shortage across the US military”, said Scott Schneider, co-Founder, and CEO of HTX Labs. “We look forward to expanding our capabilities to deliver immersive training for the T-6B as well as other airframes to support the Navy’s mission of developing a highly prepared and proficient airman“.

Varjo Unveils its Varjo Reality Cloud Platform For a True-to-Life Metaverse

Today the company announced a pioneering new reality with Varjo Reality Cloud. The new platform will enable virtual teleportation for the first time by allowing anybody to 3D scan their surroundings using a Varjo XR-3 headset and transport another person to that same exact physical reality, completely bridging the real and the virtual in true-to-life visual fidelity. This real-time reality sharing will usher in a new era in universal collaboration and pave the way for a metaverse of the future, transforming the way people work, interact, and play.

New Varjo Reality Cloud platform will make teleportation and real-time reality sharing possible for the first time, paving the way for a new form of human interaction and universal collaboration

Helsinki, Finland – June 24, 2021 – Varjo™, the leader in industrial-grade VR/XR hardware and software, today announced a pioneering new reality with Varjo Reality Cloud. The new platform will enable virtual teleportation for the first time by allowing anybody to 3D scan their surroundings using a Varjo XR-3 headset and transport another person to that same exact physical reality, completely bridging the real and the virtual in true-to-life visual fidelity. This real-time reality sharing will usher in a new era in universal collaboration and pave the way for a metaverse of the future, transforming the way people work, interact, and play.

“We believe that Varjo’s vision for the metaverse will elevate humanity during the next decade more than any other technology in the world,” said Timo Toikkanen, CEO of Varjo. “What we’re building with our vision for the Varjo Reality Cloud will release our physical reality from the laws of physics. The programmable world that once existed only behind our screens can now merge with our surrounding reality – forever changing the choreography of everyday life.”

For the past five years, Varjo has been building and perfecting the foundational technologies needed to bring its Varjo Reality Cloud platform to market such as human-eye resolution, low-latency video pass-through, integrated eye tracking and the LiDAR ability of the company’s mixed reality headset. As the only company having already delivered these building block technologies in market-ready products, Varjo is uniquely positioned to combine them with Varjo Reality Cloud to empower users to enjoy the scale and flexibility of virtual computing in the cloud without compromising performance or quality. 

Using Varjo’s proprietary foveated transport algorithm, users will be able to stream the real-time human-eye resolution, wide-field-of-view 3D video feed in single megabytes per second to any device. This ability to share, collaborate in and edit one’s environment with other people makes human connection more real and efficient than ever before, eliminating the restrictions of time and place completely.

To further accelerate bringing the vision for Varjo Reality Cloud to life, Varjo today also announced the acquisition of Dimension10, a Norwegian software company that pioneers industrial 3D collaboration. Their virtual meeting suite is designed for architecture, engineering and construction teams and will become a critical component to making virtual collaboration possible within Varjo Reality Cloud. 

Additionally, Varjo welcomed Lincoln Wallen to the company’s board of directors. Wallen currently serves as the CTO at Improbable, is a recognized scholar in computing and AI, and brings to Varjo his extensive knowledge of large scale cloud computing, and moving digital content production into the cloud. Previously, Wallen has worked as CTO of Dreamworks where he transitioned global movie production to the cloud, including the development of a cloud-native toolset for asset management, rendering, lighting, and animation.

Varjo Reality Cloud will first be available to existing customers and partners in Alpha Access starting later this year. For more information about Varjo’s new cloud platform and its vision for the metaverse, tune into a live, virtual event today, June 24, 2021, at 12:00pm ET via varjo.com.

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 

###

Media Contact:

press@varjo.com

Brittany Edwards

Carve Communications for Varjo

210-382-2165

Engineering & Computer Simulations Unveils First Haptics Technology Lab in Orlando

This unique lab will be used to enhance the effectiveness of simulation training for military and first responders.  

June 14, 2021 - (Orlando, FL) – Waymon Armstrong, CEO/president of Engineering & Computer Simulations (ECS), announced that ECS has opened one of the first haptics labs in Central Florida that is specifically focused on the integration of haptics products within various extended reality (XR) simulation and training programs. Located at the corporate headquarters, the technology team at ECS will perform haptics research and development as well as evaluation, assessment, integration and product development focused on haptics technology. 

As one of its first projects, the team, led by Shane Taber, Vice President of Operations – Orlando, will evaluate and assess specific haptics vendor products for a research and development program that is being funded through 2024 by the Army’s Simulation and Training Technology Center (STTC), a division of the Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Army Research Laboratory’s (ARL) Human Research and Engineering (HRED) Directorate. The vendor gloves being studied include the VRgluv, which were just delivered last week, the HaptX Gloves DK2, which were the first set delivered in Florida; and gloves from BeBop.  

The lab space will allow the ECS team to perform additional critical studies and programs such as front-end analysis and test and assessment. The initial focus of the studies will be for medical training, but plans are already underway to include aviation maintenance and marksmanship simulation programs as well.  

Armstrong says: “We are excited to establish this in-house technology lab that allows us to further integrate and refine haptics technology in virtual, augmented, mixed, and extended realities. The ability to develop and test within this space ensures we continue to enhance the innovative global training products and services for our warfighters, first responders, and enterprise clients.” 

Paul Sohl, Rear Adm. USN (ret.) and CEO of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council adds: “In engaging with great leaders like Waymon, I've come to realize that tech is really about the positive impact it can have to benefit the people, neighborhoods, and communities we serve. Tech to serve others, such as our military service members and our first responders … now that’s cool in my mind.” 

Derived from the Greek word for touch, “haptic” is defined by Oxford Languages as “the use of technology that stimulates the senses of touch and motion, especially to reproduce in remote operation or computer simulation the sensations that would be felt by a user interacting directly with physical objects.” Haptic technology simulates the sensation of touch and feedback for the user and this capability will enhance the realism of our training simulations.  

By wearing specialized haptics gloves in tandem with a virtual reality (VR) headset, ECS delivers training programs that offers a realistic sense of touch and natural interactions within an immersive training environment. For example, when applied in a medical environment, the haptics integration within the application would provide combat medics, and healthcare professionals the tools that they need to improve their quality of training and retention to potentially save more lives. 

Sheena Fowler, Vice President of Innovation for the Orlando Economic Partnership, states: “Our Orlando Tech Council aligns our region’s tech and innovation ecosystem resources to accelerate progress towards an innovation-based economy. We believe this unique haptics lab, established by our friends at ECS, will enhance Central Florida’s technology and innovation community and help to strengthen our region as one of the leading communities for innovation.” 

George Cheros, President & CEO at National Center For Simulation adds: “ECS has always been an amazing innovator and partner in our community and industry. It is no surprise that they are one of the first technology and training firms to dedicate lab space to research and advance haptic technology for implementation in our simulation and training programs.”  

About ECS 

ECS is an award-winning global training and technology solutions company, headquartered in Orlando, Florida with operations in Huntsville, Alabama 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. http://www.ecsorl.com/  

Contact:      Lynne Garrow  

                    (407)  595-1978- cell 

                    lynne@mycapitalcommunications.com 

Learn how to become a certified AR/VR developer or designer in 2021

Register for the live Open House event today!

Ready to supercharge your career in XR? 

Innovative companies are falling over themselves to hire people like you. According to Hired.com, the demand for AR/VR engineers reached a whopping 1400% more than the previous year! 

The desire for skilled AR/VR technicians is at an all time high. AND it’s only going to get bigger. 

Why not grab a piece of the pie? 

Don’t know where to start? No worries. Read on.

Circuit Stream’s XR certified programs provide you with an industry-recognized framework to validate your skills and competencies for creating and developing immersive experiences (AR, VR, MR). Sink your teeth into our live 10-week courses OR satiate your appetite with free weekly workshops taught by industry experts! 

Hmm, but is it worth it? 

Well, let’s just say Circuit Stream’s graduates have gotten placements in prestigious companies like Unity, established their own AR/VR studios AND have gotten accepted into recognized programs — like Oculus Launchpad. 

Need training for your staff? 

Circuit Stream has got you covered. Enterprise clients, both far and near, love our program — such as BMW, Walmart,  and the US Navy!  

Too good to be true? Learn more about it at Open House on June 24th at 4PM EST. You won’t be disappointed!

Circuit Stream will share things like:

• Riveting personal stories from XR alumni on how their professional careers have skyrocketed.

• What you can expect to gain from our programs. 

• How receiving an XR certification can be the launchpad to your professional goals.

• Answers to your gnawing XR related questions.

GUESS WHAT…

One lucky attendee will also receive a free: 

• NEW Oculus Quest 2

• 4-week C# Scripting Fundamentals class 

• One of the spots for a 10-week course: XR Development with Unity or Interaction Design and Prototyping for XR

Register for the live Open House event today!

Uvisan UV-C Disinfection Cabinets are used in LBE venues, by the National Health Service, and in filming Shaun the Sheep!

Uvisan has a UV-C disinfection cabinet that disinfects 30 headsets in 5 minutes!

VR/AR Headsets present and enormous risk of spreading infection as they are placed on the users head/face and are often shared among multiple users. Popular opinion dictates that the facial region is the danger area of the headset, although interestingly, the vast majority of viral and bacterial transmission actually happens in the areas the hands touch (thats why it is so important we all wash our hands often). Uvisan cabinets provide 360 surface coverage and kill 99.99 % of all viruses and bacteria in 5 minutes. Other UV-C disinfection products designed for VR Headsets do not cover the outside where the hands touch and are not suitable products to reduce viral transmission.

The cabinets also contain USB Fast charge ports for up to 30 headsets to give a convenient place to charge and store your headsets, with robust lockable doors for additional safety.

• 360 degree coverage - Disinfect that areas that matter.

• Disinfect up to 30 headsets in 5 minutes - Quick and easy at scale

• Uvisan cabinets kill 99.99% of all viruses - Protect those using your headsets.

• Significantly cheaper than other alternatives

• Lock, Store, Charge and Disinfect all in one cabinet.
  

Uvisan cabinets are in used in Multiple LBE venues, the NHS (National Health Service) in the UK for the VR training suites, Aardman Studios in filming the latest installment of Shaun the Sheep, and are recommended by HP

VRARA Members save 15% off Uvisan Cabinets! Email info@thevrara.com for your code!

More info https://www.uvisan.com

New State of AR/VR survey is calling you!

New State of AR/VR survey is calling you! Answer questions about what engines, SDKs, programming languages or no-code tools you’re using to build reality-bending apps and games. The survey is open to everyone involved in VR and AR app creation, design, animation, and development: students, professionals, and hobbyists. Your insights will help the people behind globally popular AR and VR engines figure out how to fine-tune their upcoming releases to your needs. You’ll be shaping the future!

In addition to that, if you register to take the survey, you will be eligible to enter the prize draws where you could win:

Don’t miss out on your chance to impact on the world of AR/VR tools!

TAKE SURVEY click here