vrvisioninc

[vrvisioninc]

VR Vision Inc is pleased to announce that our case study published with Oculus for Business for our client, Avangrid Renewables is finally out! Avangrid Renewables: Putting real energy into innovative workforce training

https://business.oculus.com/case-studies/avangrid/

Avangrid Renewables is reimagining training and improving safety for its wind turbine technicians with solutions from VR Vision and Oculus - How Avangrid Renewables and VR Vision are helping technicians develop mastery in a safe environment with Oculus. - Improving training with safe, realistic simulations. - Looking to the future.

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VR Vision’s CEO, Roni Cerga has been appointed President of VRARA Toronto Chapter

It is with great gratitude that VR Vision Inc's CEO and Co-Founder, Roni Cerga, has been appointed the new chapter president for the Toronto region via the VR/AR Association. As VRARA Toronto Chapter president, Roni will lead initiatives in the local GTA market and help innovative growth in the Virtual and Augmented Reality sectors.

The VR/AR Association (VRARA) is an international organization designed to foster collaboration between innovative companies and people in the VR, AR, and MR ecosystem that accelerates growth, fosters research and education, helps develop industry standards, connects member organizations and promotes the services of member companies.

We at VR Vision hope that as chapter president it will foster better communication with other groups and prove beneficial to enhance collaboration and innovation in the Toronto sector as well as throughout all other chapters of the VR/AR Association.

For any local Toronto groups looking to learn more about Virtual and Augmented Reality please feel free to get in touch with us here https://vrvisiongroup.com/contact/

For more info about the VRARA Toronto chapter, you can visit the VRARA Toronto Chapter Facebook page or visit the official VRARA Toronto website here https://www.thevrara.com/toronto

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How VR Can Enhance CEC’s (Customer Experience Centers) in a Post-COVID World

With the challenging times the world is facing right now we are seeing more and more companies look to alternative means to showcase and demonstrate products.  One of the things that have been on the rise of late has been the Customer Experience Center or CEC for short.  Brands are looking for creative ways to connect with their customers, and utilizing modern technology to showcase a company’s vision has tremendous benefits.

CEC’s have proven in recent years to be one of the most effective ways for brands to showcase their latest products and identify with customers in unique ways like never before.

Benefits of the CEC

One of the more effective ways of showcasing complex enterprise offerings or products is through a live and interactive demonstration.  This is the core value of the CEC; being able to provide prospective customers with the  “try it before you buy it” approach.  This is especially true for cutting edge technology, many times in which executives and enterprise decision-makers haven’t even tried as of yet.

With virtual reality specifically, a vast majority of C-level executives haven’t used the medium in an enterprise training setting.  A small sampling has tried it for gaming but just haven’t had the opportunity to gauge the effectiveness of VR for improved learning efficacy.

Enter the CEC VR demo, a chance to see first hand the power of using VR as a medium for knowledge enhancement.  It is one thing to have an online demo or case study, but it an entirely different ball of wax to put on a VR headset and try a simulation first hand.

Not only does the CEC provide a chance for brands to show off their latest technology, but they also showcase the brand’s leadership towards innovation and product excellence.  This also gives a chance for brands to consolidate sales offerings in one convenient location without having multiple channels for difficult to showcase products.  Many times due to cost it just isn’t feasible and this leads to longer sales cycles which slow profits — being able to consolidate is a huge win and should bolster overall win ratios.

Drawbacks of the CEC

While the CEC can be a unique way to showcase and demonstrate product offerings, it does not come without some disadvantages.  Specifically, during the current global pandemic, there may be issues having groups of people close together for product demos.  Due to COVID-19, there is a lot more pressure on companies to reduce social interactions, and this may directly relate to the CEC mantra.  In fact, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, a lot of CEC’s were forced to shut down as they typically had large groups visit them at a time.

Another thing to be aware of is the initial cost to put a CEC together.  They take up considerable real estate, and the cost is generally high as many times they feature cutting edge technology and require specific hardware and support staff to maintain and utilize effectively.

How Current Drawbacks Are Being Addressed

In order to optimize the effectiveness of CEC’s many groups are starting to include them in their HQ’s where dedicated employee resources can be tasked without the need for extended travel costs and upskilling.  This way the center is managed effectively and workers have the flexibility and freedom to continue their day to day activities outside of the CEC.

In the wake of COVID-19, many centers have had to reduce the number of people they can allow inside at one time.  Space has been created between showcases and demonstrations and careful considerations are being taken to sanitize high traffic areas.  By doing this and following social distancing protocols CEC’s can still function in a safe and effective way.

Immersive Technology & Hands-On Demos

With the advent of immersive technology, we have seen a number of CEC’s start to adopt using both VR and AR use cases inside their centers in order to have interactive demos of product offerings in order to bolster sales.  Many times products can be complex and having a first-person demo of the product or simulation where the user can “try” the product even in a virtual environment can be extremely helpful for a buyer.

Virtual Reality specifically can place the user in an exact replica environment and allow the customer or prospective buyer to simulate the function of any product or even service.  Augmented Reality, on the other hand, can be used with real-world props to highlight features and showcase overlays to enhance product knowledge to provide a more informed consumer which leads to bolstered sales.  In the example above a box of Samsung headphones can be scanned with a smartphone to produce an augmented view on a mobile device and allow the user to see product reviews, technical specifications, and sharing options for getting a 3rd party opinion if needed.

All of these are tools that will enhance enterprise sales of which is the main role of the CEC anyway.  With CEC’s using modern technology businesses that are adopting will see an uptick in sales as a more informed consumer is one that buys more.  Overall the CEC revolution will continue to grow and we will see more and more brands look to enhance their sales and product offerings using immersive technology.

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Virtual & Augmented Reality Training in a Post-COVID World

With so much of the world at a standstill, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how technology is changing and impacting the world around us. My hopes are to educate the potential users of these technologies so that they may be able to use either VR or AR in future scenarios more beneficially.

In specific we will be taking a look at immersive training and how virtual or augmented reality learning can be done in a safe and measurable way to improve employee performance on the job and in the field.

Augmented Reality

Hands-Free Remote Mentor With the closure of so many businesses during the past several months we have seen an influx of people working remotely or working from home. One of the leaders that have emerged using augmented reality training for remote workers has been RealWear.

They offer a hands-free collaboration tool that allows front line workers using a RealWear HMT-1 headset the ability to connect remotely to an expert for guided training and support.

The RealWear HMT-1 works so well because it’s equipped with a high-resolution HD camera, powerful audio with noise cancellation and wifi capabilities to allow workers in the field to get assistance from technicians or mentors remotely. This works via a two-way video call that gives the remote mentor the ability to see and hear from the worker’s point of view.

Example of Remote Mentor in Use with Microsoft Teams:

So why is this important in a post COVID world?

Firstly we have seen travel restrictions put in place in countries all over the world. Flying an expert to a job site is now no longer possible in many cases with these restrictions in place. Not only that, but there are time and money wasted in order to get that technician on the job. The RealWear device will allow for improved services levels, faster, as well as reducing costs on the downline.

Another reason is that in the post COVID era, we may not be able to have face to face training scenarios or classroom training readily available. This is a way to provide a remote expert that can train workers anywhere in the world without the need to be in person.

For a full list of specialist use cases that are already being used today, you can check out the RealWear Remote Mentor Industrial Use Cases here: https://www.realwear.com/solutions/hands-free-remote-mentor/

And here is a full YouTube playlist of Remote Mentor usage from live in the field: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKN6Sz7yuHvU2WjIAkOyL8xc207TIQX16

Virtual Reality

Custom VR Application Development The other side of the coin with immersive technology is virtual reality training simulations, which involve full-scale training scenarios that have been developed for simulating high-risk environments in a unique and safe way.

With VR training we are able to optimize learning outcomes and workflows while also being able to train more people faster and in a safer environment.  This leads to cut costs and reduced travel expenses as companies typically would have to fly key employees to a training dojo which could be across or even outside the country.

An example from a recent case study we have completed was with Avangrid Renewables where we developed a full winds turbine maintenance training simulation that allows technicians to perform virtual maintenance before traveling to conduct the same on-site variation.

Example Video Below:

Link to full Case Study: https://vrvisiongroup.com/case/avangrid-renewables/

Overall using virtual reality for these types of training allows enterprises to eliminate risk by producing a zero harm environment that will not only reduce on the job mistakes but also minimize injury and accidents as well.

The VR simulations will also allow for increased learning efficacy as the trainee will be able to learn faster through replayable exposure and provide for recorded sessions for post-training analysis.  With immersive 1 to 1 environments, the trainee will feel as if they are in the field and be better prepared for the live-work as they will be familiar with the setting from the virtual scenario.

Another key benefit to custom VR developed scenarios is the ability to have post-training assessments and learning by identifying mistakes that were made during the simulation.  This allows business leaders to see on scale where there are deficiencies if any, and monitor and collect data on them to optimize learning outcomes and prevent future mistakes that may be costly or harmful.

Is your company adapting to the changing global landscape?

If you want more information or to learn about how to best adapt these technologies within your organization, please reach out to us here at VR Vision and we’d be more than happy to guide you in the right direction.  Stay safe and stay innovative!

For more information about immersive learning, you can also check out our whitepaper Lessons Learned Developing Custom VR/AR Solutions for Enterprise Training here: https://vrvisiongroup.com/lessons-learned-developing-vr-training-programs/

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VR Vision Inc White Paper: Lessons Learned Developing Custom VR/AR Solutions For Corporate Training

As the industry of virtual and augmented reality matures, we are starting to see more and more brand adoption from enterprise groups and fortune 1000’s. Employees are able to learn in risk-free replications of real-world environments that are scalable, interactive and fulfilling.

Corporations that are looking to scale their learning and development programs should definitely have XR technology in their arsenal of training applications. Immersive technologies provide a unique way that can empower workers to learn faster, be smarter and retain training outcomes at faster and more effective rates.

Fill out the form on this page to receive our white paper on “Lessons Learned Developing Custom VR/AR Solutions for Corporate Training”

-Challenges we have faced implementing training programs on scale -How CG-based environments can be used to replicate almost any training process in a safe and easy way. -How your company can avoid mistakes when adopting the technology.

Learn exactly how your company can benefit from the lessons we have learned in over 4 years of virtual and augmented reality development, making enterprise training applications for a wide variety of clients, and industries.

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Using Virtual Reality for Remote Worker Training & Collaboration

With the world in the current state that it is in with the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s never been a better time to look to utilizing technology to increase organizational effectiveness. With so much uncertainty in the world right now, it makes a lot more sense for brands to start using virtual reality for remote training.  Sure there is the current status quo way of conducting remote work, using things like Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts, or even Zoom meetings.  But we all know the effectiveness of these platforms is limited and can sometimes cause miscommunications.

Many times internally here at VR Vision, we’ve had meetings drop, connectivity issues, and trouble conducting live demonstrations of our products.  Back two years ago many predicted that we would have virtual reality in the workplace and that “virtual meetings” would be the next thing.  Here we are today in one of the deadliest epidemics to ever grace our planet, and yet where are the VR meetings?

As businesses look to go remote over the course of the next few weeks (or months?), can virtual reality be used in an effective way to conduct business?  Collaborative white-boards and virtual conference rooms, all with customized avatars of users connected, seem like a good idea no? Yes and no.  While the problem herein lies within the adoption of the technology.  Not all brands have adopted VR, and not every company has disposable Oculus Quests for their employees to take home.  Then comes the problem of programming; you would need some kind of virtual environment platform to host the meetings.

Virtual Reality Platforms for Collaboration Currently, there are two candidates for virtual collaboration in VR. Engage and Glue. Both have their benefits and drawbacks and I’ll look at the features of each below.

Engage VR

Engage is fully encompassing training and education platforms in virtual reality. It allows educators to host meetings, presentations, classes and events with people anywhere in the world.  Engage allows for up to 50 remote users to be connected in their environments at the same time and has over 20 virtual locations that are unique environments for hosting your next town hall.

The platform offers over 1200 3D objects that you can utilize in their environments as well as a media streaming component that will allow users to share all types of media — from 360 videos to integrated web browsing and desktop sharing.  They offer a recorder feature to create content presentation style, as well as quizzes and forms that can be interactive with users on the platform.

Glue Platform

Glue, on the other hand, is a collaboration platform that has a much higher quality graphic aesthetic.  They feature a toolkit that enables 3D avatars, spatial audio and unique spaces built to enhance collaborative meetings and allow for teams to brainstorm, co-create, annotate, take notes and facilitate meetings all within virtual spaces.  There are additional tools like whiteboards, post-it notes, 3D model importing and freehand 3D drawing all to allow for virtual team building.

But what if I want to have a remote training solution for enhancing process training?

With modern standalone headsets, you are now able to use them to create real-world replicated environments that can be used for remote worker training. This can allow companies to upskill their employees remotely so that when they are back in their work environments they are better prepared and educated.

The only thing is that since we are still in the relevant infancy for virtual reality, a lot of these process-based training applications haven’t been built yet.  This is where companies can look to create custom training content for their company needs and host those applications in a virtual platform to allow for remote worker training.

Augmented Reality Platforms for Collaboration On the other side of the coin is augmented reality, and while not much currently exists for users to put on a Hololens and interact remotely, there is one player in the space offering a wearable AR solution.

Spatial AR 

Spatial AR allows brands to collaborate anywhere using the power of the Hololens.  Spatial allows users to transport your presence anywhere (albeit on a smaller form factor) so that you can meet with anyone anywhere in the world as if you were in the same room with them.  Spatial is built for the Hololens, but will work on a PC, Phone, VR headset or even a Magic Leap (are they still in business?)

These platforms are more for collaboration but can still be used for educating and training if used properly.  Many times these platforms will work to provide a unique and immersive remote collaboration solution.  What these platforms don’t provide are custom bespoke training solutions and that’s where VR Vision can complement these offerings.  We develop custom training solutions that can be integrated into any platform and allow scalability and remote collaboration — while also offering a custom learning environment.

To learn more about how VR Vision can help make your brand more immersive and enhance your remote training with VR or AR tech, get in touch with us today!

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VR Vision Partners with RealWear to Offer State of The Art AR Training for Enterprise

We are pleased to announce an upcoming partnership with hardware vendor RealWear that will offer a connected worker solution using their award-winning HMT-1® hands-free ruggedized wearable headset, combined with VR Vision’s custom enterprise training solutions.  Together this will enable enterprise brands the ability to offer custom training solutions to front-line workers in industrial environments.

From remote video support via subject matter experts for inspection, maintenance, guided workflows or even order picking, RealWear will enable the next generation of workers to be more efficient and have more information at their disposal in a hands-free way.

Working with RealWear will allow us to provide more encompassing solutions alongside our enterprise virtual reality training programs.  With their connected worker solutions, they will be able to provide additional support on the fly for future training programs.   They are already a global leader in AR hardware technology for industry and their ruggedized hardware is the first of its kind.

Some of the features of the RealWear HMT-1 are as follows:

100% Hands-Free

Unmatched Noise Cancellation

Powerful Audio for Industrial Environments

PPE Compatible

Full Shift Internal Battery

Outdoor Display

Water & Dust Proof

Ruggedized and Drop Proof

The headset itself is built as a knowledge transfer tool for industrial workers.  It is designed for safety and provides enhanced situational awareness for greater focus for workers on the tasks at hand.  This enables workers to be more productive as they are provided hands-free information in real-time in the field.  This helps to prevent accidents, reduce downtime as well as reducing overall costs for businesses.

VR Vision is excited to partner with RealWear as this will allow us to scale our AR efforts and provide an additional resource for our clientele who are looking to adopt immersive technologies.  Combined with 3rd party software we will be able to integrate with remote mentors, industrial IoT data visualization (for things like performance, diagnostics, predictive data and historic trends).

This will also allow us to provide a fully encompassing augmented reality solution that gives employees digital workflows that will increase productivity and reduce errors overall.

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Using VR and Augmented Reality to Aid Driver Training

Almost everyone fails their first Driver’s Ed test – sometimes the first few times in a row. This is a frustration that thousands of students go through before they finally pass their test, and this ends up compounding the cost (and increasing the time that it could take) for them to get on the road. It can chew into resources that new drivers don’t have, especially if they’ve just hit legal driving age; it’s even something that veteran drivers find themselves subject to when renewing their driver’s license.

This is both hard on students and teachers at the same time: Accidents related to driver’s education happens at the rate of a few thousand per year – and yes, it could be the result of a new, nervous driver who presses the gas instead of the brake or any number of other situations that they don’t know yet.

The use of virtual reality can transform how teachers and students approach driving education and practical situations. How would you like to know how you cope behind the wheel of a car before you have to get in a car at all?

It might sound futuristic to some, but the future has already been around for what’s pushing several decades. With the advent of cheaper VR hardware and software that’s easier to access for everyone, it could be a new way to train student drivers and drivers in specialized industries.

Here’s how VR could change the face of driver education.

Back to the Future: Remember the Arcade?

Virtual reality aided driving simulations have been around for a lot longer than most people would imagine. One of the most popular applications of it can be found right in the middle of the average gaming arcade in the form of driving or racing simulations. Did you ever play one of these? Some were high-speed and high-octane racing sims, while others had you drive a taxi around a map carrying passengers.

These examples were, at least more or less, pretty accurate driving simulations: Accidents could make some models jerk (thanks to hydraulic or spring systems), bikes and cars allowed you to lean in or feel the vibrations of the road.

Apply this to modern driver training and you’ll immediately see the potential benefits that it could hold. VR aided driver training is easier and cheaper than a real-life driving course for any driving situation you can imagine, including the training of stunt drivers for specialized situations and the training of everyday drivers for the purposes of K53.

Any teacher would rather see a student test their driving skills in a virtual environment before taking the student out on the road with a real vehicle – and the real potential for accidents or mishaps.

Virtual Reality Hardware: Accessible Tech Everywhere

The old gaming arcade machines described above were accurate simulations of real-life driving in many cases, but one thing they were not was cheap. There are many models available online, but they’re bulky – and thousands of dollars worth. It’s so expensive these days that you might as well buy a car instead of opting for one of these machines.

The introduction of cheaper virtual reality hardware has made these expensive, high-tech solutions easier to access: Those with more of a budget can pick up a version of the Oculus for a steal, while those who lack the budget can gravitate towards solutions like Google Cardboard and still have the basic benefits of VR.

Considering this factor, the question becomes, why not use it?

Real Skills in a Virtual Environment

The first obvious benefit of virtual and augmented reality solutions – for more than just driver training, but especially for it at the same time – is the fact that it teaches real skills in a virtual environment.

This is one potential way to rid a situation of the first-time nervousness that makes many drivers fail their test, and there are also many other important benefits.

Just a few of them that can be named include…

Practical familiarity with the controls of a vehicle before the need to get in one yet. Learning the rules of the road and how to react in basic situations minus the added stress of danger of real drivers around you. Developing a sense of the road before taking any real risks. A way to teach practical concepts like looking and turning before getting on the road. A way for teachers to evaluate students’ progress, usually by being able to view or playback the situation at hand for students to see where they might have gone wrong in the first place.

One more thing it can allow for is the creation of certain specific scenarios that are important for students to know how to respond to, but with the hopeful absence that the student ever has to see these kinds of situations in real life.

Driver training aided by virtual reality can be used to show a driver or student driver what would happen in the event of a rear, side or head-on collision (and how to practice evasive driving maneuvers in such an event). This could save lives: Lives of people behind the wheel lives of passengers and lives of countless people injured and killed in driving accidents every single year.

VR for K53 Driver Training

Virtual reality has the potential to make standard K53-based driver training easier, cheaper and more accessible for drivers all over the world.

It doesn’t just reduce costs for teachers and students, but it can also cut down on the time and resources that it will take to take someone from unfamiliar with basic or advanced driving to someone who is safer on the road.

As a subsequent result, applying VR to K53 driver training can also reduce the rate of accidents on the road every year by showing drivers how to react to real situations without the risk. This way, they know what to do if an accident ever happens to them.

For Advanced Driving and Everything Else

Roads would be safer if every driver were equipped with advanced driving skills, so why aren’t they? Virtual reality can bridge this gap and create a safer driving environment across the world for everyone. It also has the potential for training stunt or military, police and protective services drivers better.

VR could very well be the right road to take.

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The Dawn of Virtual Reality for Training

We’re living in the Age of Machines and Technology, but it’s not turning out the way that the movies of the 80s and 90s might have imagined. Instead of being taken over by Terminators, we’re using technologies like AI and VR/AR to aid our daily life through ways we couldn’t have imagined (even for science fiction).

Virtual and augmented reality has given us a way to experience situations and scenarios without having to be physically present. This has opened up a wealth of opportunities for training and education that applies to a variety of different industries, including healthcare and aeronautics.

Almost every industry alive can apply virtual and augmented reality to create specific training scenarios; in this sense, you can picture the X-Men stepping through for a training program – or Neo in the Matrix waking up saying, “I know Kung-Fu.”

Virtual Reality – accessible with VR hardware like the Oculus Quest and software specifically made for the training at hand – has the potential to impact so many industries to make training easier than it’s ever been and to bring training to companies all over the world.

Here’s more about why an increasing number of businesses are choosing to incorporate VR into their training programs – and why even more companies and industries should seriously consider it.

Why Use VR? Why use Virtual Reality? It’s cool! That’s one of the first reasons why people look into it in the first place. But that’s not the only reason to use it.

Virtual Reality makes training across several industries…

> Easier for students and instructors > Cheaper to implement & scalable > Less dangerous for practical situational training

Virtual reality allows for a lot of situations that could have been dangerous, impractical or just costly to pull off as a real-life exercise. The same things can be taught or instructed in with the help of VR – minus all of the drawbacks that would have come with doing these training exercises in real life.

To illustrate this in practice, Flight Simulators may have been one of the earliest examples of virtual reality that can be useful for something in practice. With the right equipment, the practical ins-and-outs of taking off, flying and landing can be taught with similar software.

What other industries can you, the reader, think of that this can be useful for?

Most people would get the answer right: The answer is for all of them.

The Potential Uses of Virtual Reality for Training The potential uses for virtual and augmented reality in the workspace means that no worker has to ever be placed in immediate danger – or even in controlled physical danger – for a training exercise.

It also means that nobody ever has to sit through a tedious lesson or class for training other skills. Why bother with reading through lessons when you can place the student right in the middle of a customized immersive training exercise?

An increasing number of companies – both big and small – are seeing the benefit, and virtual reality is becoming more accessible as a result. Today, virtual reality is in the grasp of everyone who can afford a head-set (or put one together using Google Cardboard VR and a simple smartphone combination) and more accessible than ever.

It’s certainly curious and curiouser, to quote Alice. Next, let’s see where the rabbit hole goes and which industries VR is already making a difference in.

You can take a look at some of our current case studies here.

Here’s some of what VR can do:

Therapeutic Uses One of the first practical, useful uses for virtual reality in the career and training space is through the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), combat fatigue, phobias and any other condition which requires or benefits from immersible situations to treat.

Patients can “relive” situations without danger and usually with a different, controlled outcome to deal with their trauma better through the aid of VR.

Danger Training Many careers require practical, hands-on training that can be dangerous. Firefighters describe just one career that requires such training – and which can benefit from doing the same training through VR methods to practice the same skills in a simulated environment before being made to head out and work on these skills in real life.

Armed forces of the world describe much of the same situation where VR-aided “danger training” is useful.

Situational Training Situational training can describe anything that doesn’t carry the same danger level as the examples given above (e.g. firefighters rushing into a burning building for training for the field).

Who needs situational training?

Most careers – at least in some or other form – do. Whether your part of an ambulance team or training to skydive, doing it in Virtual Reality first can equip you with skills that prepare you better for “the real thing” when you get to it.

Medical doctors can even walk their way through the human body with the help of VR: This makes proper training of expert surgeons easier no matter where in the world the uplink is made from.

Interactive Trials Any career that requires interaction between people can benefit from practicing this in virtual reality to see how situations pan out in theory before they are tested out on real customers or clients.

Some VR programs illustrate this by placing trainees in the middle of a sales transaction – often with a difficult customer – and give them several ways to get from A to B with several different outcomes.

Interactive trials like this can be practically applied to any careers where business-to-customer interaction is necessary.

Leadership Training Nervous speechmaker? Do it in virtual reality first. VR interaction in this way gives you all of the crowd – and none of the potential that you might mess it up when the audience is made up out of NPCs the same way they would be in a video game.

If the whole thing feels high-tech or futuristic, it’s time to catch up: We’re living in the age where virtual reality is easier and cheaper to access than it’s ever been – and if your company isn’t using it for practical training purposes, you’re almost certainly missing out.

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VR Vision Emerges As Leader for VR/AR Development in the UK

Let’s face it: virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) aren’t going away any time soon. The technology gets better (and less pricey) every year, and more people are finding new ways to adapt to existing processes, from marketing to training and beyond. Chances are, if you have a business in the digital space, you likely stand to benefit from implementing a VR/AR solution for your internal team or your customers.

Not sure where to start? That’s where VR Vision Inc. comes in. Our VR/AR experts can advise you on the best solution for your business. We have experience with industries ranging from education to manufacturing to government agencies. Our solutions have gone into household name brand companies like Toyota and Siemens, but that doesn’t mean we don’t work with small businesses to implement small-scale tools to enhance their company’s scale.

No matter your size, we’re proven to deliver. That’s why we’re the best UK VR/AR developer according to Clutch, a platform that collects client reviews to determine market leaders among B2B service providers.

As you can see, we heartily beat out our competition. You can also find us among the top VR/AR developers on company rankings guide, The Manifest.

Our customers and their faith in us are why we’re so highly ranked. One satisfied client of ours is a small metal fabrication equipment company called Access Machinery (read the full case study here). They needed a tool that would let their customers try out their heavy equipment options without having to travel to Access Machinery’s showroom. VR was their best option, and we were the best team to meet the challenge.

We delivered a working VR solution in six months — just in time for a key trade show for Access Machinery, letting their team stand out from their competition.

“They delivered as promised and even more. I have high expectations of any supplier we work with. VR Vision Inc. implements everything the way that I want it. I couldn’t be happier with their work.” — Managing Partner, Access Machinery

We’re proud to work with local small business and help them set themselves apart in the digital sphere through our VR/AR solutions.

You can also find other companies we’ve helped on our Clutch profile and through Visual Objects, which highlights top businesses and the clients they’ve helped with curated digital portfolios.

Ready to explore the world of VR today? Don’t hesitate to call us.

[vrvisioninc]

Current Use Cases for VR/AR and Market Growth for 2020

Though virtual reality (VR) has been around for some time, the technology didn’t start drawing major attention until 2014 when Facebook acquired Oculus VR. In March, 2014, the social media giant purchased the product for an estimated $2 billion USD. Despite the staggering purchase price for a product that wasn’t nearly read to be introduced on the market, the business world got the message loud and clear: the basis for mainstream VR was being laid. In response to questioning about the acquirement of Oculus VR, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, stated: “When I put on the Goggles, it’s different from anything I have ever experienced in my life.” And he was right; the technology was staggering.

In a nutshell, VR is a simulated environment that’s developed by computer software. It creates an immersive experience that appears to be real. It offers a sensory experience – including sight, sound – and in some cases, touch – that allows users to interact with the artificial environment that the technology presents much the same as they would if they were experiencing the environment in real life. Take a look at videos of individuals who are using VR and watch how they interact with it; as soon as they strap on the headsets, their actions clearly indicate that they have been “transported” to the world the technology is presenting them with.

It’s believed that virtual reality was developed sometime in the 1960s and used for military purposes; however, it wasn’t until three decades later that the technology started to garner public attention, thanks largely to the video game industry. Thanks to progressive advancements in technology – particularly in the last half-decade – the potential for virtual reality technology has been reinvented. Now, VR has become a major proposition for an array of industries; industries that aren’t even closely related to video gaming.

Getting back to Facebook and their purchase of VR technology for $2 billion USD; technology that wasn’t even close to being ready to be introduced to the mainstream market… A mega-corporation wouldn’t make such a massive investment just because they enjoyed the technology; rather, as Zuckerberg pointed out, the purchase of Oculus VR as a long-term investment in the future of technology. Given recent statistics related to the future of VR, the Facebook CEO’s decision to purchase the technology was likely a promising one. As TrendForce, (a leading market research firm) indicates, by the end of 2020, the VR market is expected to be valued at a whopping $70 billion. If those estimates are correct, Zuckerberg should see a massive return on his $2 billion investment; indeed, a wise business and financial decision on his part.

Given the rate at which technology is advancing coupled with the projected value of VR, it’s safe to assume that the technology offers opportunities aplenty for business owners. In fact, it can be said that VR technology has the possibility to improve pretty much everything consumers interact with. As an example, picture how virtual reality can improve things like shopping, academics, travel, and even fitness and healthcare (and that’s just a small drop in the bucket of things that the technology can enhance). What does that mean for creative entrepreneurs? – It means that the possibilities are endless, as there are countless applications that VR could be used for.

Facebook began selling its Oculus Rift VR headset for $600, well before the technology was ready to be distributed. The headset, which can be used with various gaming systems, such as Xbox ONE, as well as Unity and Unreal Engine, popular game development tools, enables users to develop applications via a system that’s familiar to them. The pre-sale of the product was a clear indication of the potential that it would offer, and indeed, fast forward to now, and Oculus VR headsets have certainly taken the world by storm. In fact, the technology is so popular that Facebook has introduced other variations; the Oculus Quest, for example.

Facebook isn’t the only mega-corporation that has taken interest in virtual reality; Google has, too. The powerhouse technology company began exploring the possibilities that VR offers with its Google Cardboard headset back in 2014. The company has also developed another VR headset that rivals Oculus by Facebook. The fact that Google joined forces with investors who invested an exorbitant amount of money into Magic Leap, an AR startup company, further indicates the massive potential that the technology offers for entrepreneurs.

Facebook and Google aren’t the only companies that have invested in virtual reality. Samsung, another technology giant, has also partnered with Oculus, and created the Gear VR headset, which can be used with Samsung smartphones. Sony has gotten in on the VR game, too, with PlayStation VR, a virtual reality headset that’s compatible with their PS4 gaming system. The HoloLens AR headset from Microsoft is another example, the first “fully untethered, holographic computer”, which allows users to interact with high-graphic holograms. Microsoft also enables developers the opportunity to create their own one-of-a-kind applications for the company’s AR technology, which provides endless possibilities for both existing companies as well as startups that are interested in getting involved in the incredible potential that virtual reality provides.

Sectors Where VR/AR Technology is Thriving Today While virtual reality can be used in countless sectors, there are four key areas where this technology is thriving. These sectors include:

Manufacturing. The manufacturing industry is taking advantage of the benefits that VR provides. For example, Ford, the American-based automotive company, uses VR to enhance the design of their vehicles. Prior to virtual reality, the corporation had to build physical samples of cars to determine how they could adjust the design to improve functionality. Thanks to this new technology, however, Ford can now make real-time adjustments using virtual representations of their vehicles, and “try out” the adjustments as if they were actually using them before manufacturing even begins.hololens_volvo The ability to develop virtual prototypes has had a major positive impact on the manufacturing industry. Instead of investing exorbitant amounts of money and countless hours creating physical prototypes, designers and manufacturers can now develop virtual examples and make any necessary adjustments to those examples.

Training and Education. From learning to drive before getting behind the wheel of real car to transporting students to locations where they can interact with settings and models that might not be able to in real life (space, replicas of the Pyramids of Giza, or the Amazon Rainforest, for example), allowing them to experience environments that they would have to travel halfway around the globe (or out of it), to experience in real life.split-goggles-screen Training and education are said to be the sector that will be impacted the most by virtual reality, and the impact is already being experienced. For example, in 2015, Google launched the Pioneer Expeditions, which allows teachers and students to “travel to” more than 100 locations, including the Great Wall of China, coral reefs, and even Mars. The technology brings lessons to life, providing students with the opportunity to acquire “hands-on” information that they may otherwise never be able to experience.

Healthcare. Virtual reality has also had a major impact on the healthcare market. For example, doctors and researchers use the technology to create lifelike 3D models of human anatomy based on ultrasound, CT scans, and other forms of diagnostic imaging. Surgeons, for example, use these 3D models to devise and devise and practice medical procedures, thereby improving the outcome for patients. VR is also being used to treat Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, and it’s even used to rehabilitate individuals who have suffered from a stroke and other traumatic brain injuries.QuestHealthcare_2-1024x662 Gaming. Last but not least, VR has had a huge impact on the gaming industry. As the industry in which VR really started taking off, it comes as no surprise that the technology has had such a massive impact on gaming; in fact, it’s completely altered the industry. Back in the 1990s when VR was first introduced in the gaming industry, the technology was primitive, at best; it was big, bulky, difficult to use, and didn’t really create an immersive experience. Fast forward to today and that has certainly changed. In the 21st century, the VR technology that’s used in video gaming is lightweight, easy to use, easy to access, and creates a real life-like experience.quest-gaming The big difference in VR technology that’s used in the gaming industry today compared to what was previously being used is that companies aren’t just trying to enhance their existing platforms; instead, they are offering completely new experiences. Thanks to new innovations in VR technology, gamers can sit in the cockpits of fighter jets or be a part of Star Trek’s Bridge Crew.

Given the constant advancements in technology and the increased interest in virtual reality technology, it will be interesting to see what the future holds; how current sectors that are using the technology will continue to change and what new sectors will start implementing VR. For businesses looking to use immersive technology, one thing’s for sure: the opportunities are endless.

[vrvisioninc]

A Look Back At Enterprise XR Adoption for 2019

With 2019 come to pass I thought it would be a good idea to take a look back at how the industry (and our own startup) has grown over the course of the past year.  With the advent of mobile-VR aka the Oculus Quest, ruggedized-AR via the RealWear HMT-1, and even more futuristic AR technology via the HoloLens 2, we saw some major strides in technological advancement this year.  With this, we have also seen a lot more attention from major enterprise groups looking to adopt the technology in meaningful ways.  With much more enterprise adoption (60% of companies adopting the tech according to Gartner) how will 2020 shape up as brands look to merge the real world with virtual?

With our flagship client Toyota Motors Manufacturing Canada, we saw the adoption of virtual training, specifically for hazard identification and risk assessment across their manufacturing plants here in Canada.  It was great to see them adopt the technology, but more impressive was the fact that they are training up to 10,000 employees on safety training using virtual reality (see the full case study here).  In the automotive industry, we saw Audi also embracing virtual reality for its new e-car the Audi e-Tron. Their application allowed employees to prototype and test the entire vehicle build and order process all from within VR, quite groundbreaking in itself.

We also saw another automaker, BMW, decide to move into the ruggedized-AR space with the RealWear HMT-1 to all of its dealerships in collaboration with Ubimax for training front-line workers on maintenance operations at over 300+ locations across the US.  You can learn more about the RealWear case study here.

We also saw a lot of interest in VR from the energy sector, specifically with wind turbine technician training.  VR Vision is currently underway with developing a full-scale training program for maintenance and safety protocols for Avangrid, a major US supplier of wind energy solutions.  The energy industry shows promise, as we saw the oil & gas industry adopt the technology on multiple fronts as well.  RealWear was back at it working with Shell & Honeywell on an expansion to over a dozen countries for hands-free training and remote assistance. You can read their press release here to learn more.

Exxon Mobile also expanded its training operations in virtual reality as they rolled out a virtual garage where employees could practice various tasks before heading into the real world and getting their hands dirty.  This saved Exxon potentially millions in employee mistakes as their front-line workers were better prepared before hitting the actual pipelines.

Oculus dominated the hardware game for VR in 2019 with their rollouts of both the Rift S and the Quest.  The previous leader in the VR world was HTC and we saw HTC Vive Pro Eye arrive with integrated onboard eye-tracking and a moderate price tag of $1600.  Although with standalone VR making headways HTC lost a considerable amount of market share in North America, especially to Oculus.  It will be interesting to see if and when HTC roll out a better standalone device (Focus Plus was lacking) that is superior to the Quest.

RealWear was one of the fastest-growing companies for enterprise adoption with immersive technology in 2019.   They had a number of prominent use cases, most notably rolling out 10,000+ HMT-1s to frontline workers in Kazakhstan.  This came on the back of an $80 million capital raise that show that there are no signs of slowing down for RealWear.

The majority of highlighted use cases here are, you guessed it, for training applications, and we don’t see that trend slowing down in 2020.  If anything more enterprise groups should start to understand the benefits of training in a virtual “risk-free” environment before pushing employees into the real world where mistakes can not only be costly but dangerous.  What I’d like to see more is the inclusion of AI with VR/AR training programs to increase access, effectiveness and potential automation to scale training applications in virtual environments.  This is especially important for AR training as “computer vision” (technology that allows computers to understand what they are “seeing” through cameras), is quintessential to the successful operation of AR.  As machine learning algorithms learn more, you can expect this technology to increase in both scale and sophistication.

Perhaps most telling of the success of immersive training is a study that took place at the Beijing Institute of Technology, whereby students were tested on two mediums, one regular computer screens and the other virtual reality.  The learning outcomes from the virtual reality simulations showcased that students were able to retain information up to 90% of the time, compared to 50-60% scores on the other learning methods.  Immersive training is a relatively new medium for learning, but has massive upside given the distraction-free environments and focus attained from virtual isolation.

Looking Ahead to 2020 As we look forward to the growth and maturing of the VR/AR space there are quite a few exciting developments in store for 2020.  The first and possibly most exciting release will be the Oculus Quest updated hand tracking.  This opens up a plethora of possibilities for gesture control and using your hands in place of the controllers. Simply update your software on the Quest to v12 when it becomes available and you will be able to take advantage of this feature. This comes on the heels of the recently rolled out Oculus Link which enables Quest owners to play Rift quality content as long as they are connected via Oculus Link.

From an AR point of view, we are seeing updates from Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 that will feature both Layout and Remote Assist. These two incredible features that will allow you to design physical spaces virtually together (Layout), and collaborate with people while letting them see your point-of-view via the HoloLens.  This provides a perfect use case for remote subject matter experts who may need to provide support for enterprise training or in-field operations where the expert is not readily available.  Microsoft is targeting the enterprise world with these features as I don’t see them being viable or affordable for your average consumer.

While the HoloLens 2 debuted in November with twice the field of view, hand-eye tracking, and convenient flip-up display, it still carries an expensive price tag of $3,500. Perhaps with the rollout of Remote Assist and Layout, enterprise groups will have a little bit more justification for this kind of investment.

We saw substantial growth for immersive technology in 2019 and I don’t think there will be any slowing down as more and more enterprise groups are beginning to see the ROI behind adopting the technology. Gartner expects enterprise adoption to grow from 40% currently to about 70% of companies worldwide using some form of XR by 2022. There have also been many studies that have proven that learning outcomes are up to 90% more effective in immersive environments.

The University of Warwick, UK published a study proving the effectiveness of VR for retaining information learned through VR versus other mediums to be profoundly more powerful.

It’s great to see the progress of the industry and we look forward to sharing some of the enterprise client projects and use cases we are working on this year because they are truly groundbreaking. Heres to a successful and prosperous 2020 from all of us here at VR Vision!

[vrvisioninc]

VR Vision Named a 2019 Clutch 1000 Company

The team at VR Vision is proud to announce we’ve been named to the Clutch 1000 list of top B2B companies.

“It’s great to see our progress as we grow as a company and to have Clutch validate our hard work feels really rewarding.” — Lorne Fade, COO, VR Vision

Since 2016, VR Vision has been at the forefront of virtual and augmented reality development. We’ve built high-quality AR and VR solutions for Tennis Canada, Toyota, and Siemens among others.

Clutch is a B2B platform for service providers and buyers based in Washington D.C. Using a unique method of verified client feedback, Clutch ranks and evaluates companies so that prospective buyers can connect with trusted companies. We’re proud to rank as a top AR/VR development firm on Clutch, and we’d like to thank our clients for taking the time to leave us such great feedback.

In a recent project, we successfully built a VR platform and experience for a safety and protection systems company.

“Their team was very responsive, always on top of regular project updates through web meetings,” John Shea, VP of Marketing at IEP Technologies, said. “My team didn’t have to stress about communication because it was so strong on VR Vision’s end. They were also very direct, never taking more than an hour on phone calls. Many of the updates were much shorter than that. It was a very professional process.”

We are also listed at The Manifest, Clutch’s sister site. An invaluable, data-driven resource for prospective buyers, we’re proud to be a top 50 developer on The Manifest. Companies can also be found at Visual Objects, an online portfolio site for buyers and sellers.

If you are looking to start a project, feel free to contact us today.

[vrvisioninc]

360 Video Terminology & Formats Explained

360 video is growing rapidly alongside virtual reality and the expansion of video content platforms such as Youtube, Vimeo, and Facebook. If you’re not a videographer of any sorts you may find the variety of terminology used in these growing forms of video content overwhelming, and this makes it very difficult to assess potential vendors when planning a 360 video project. I am writing this blog to provide a reference tool when researching or discussing the immersive video and it’s potential. Below is a list of terminology I’ll be covering, you can skip ahead to areas of interest if you would like.

360 Video VR 180 Monoscopic Stereoscopic Foveated Streaming Video Hotspots

360 Video 360 videos can be best visualized by imagining a sphere with a rotating camera in the very center.

As you view 360 content you are able to rotate the camera in order to view the area of the video you are most interested in. This can be accomplished through a click and drag system on your computer, touch and drag or gyroscope on your mobile device, or the movement of your head in a VR device.

It is also typically filmed at the average human height, in order to replicate the idea of standing in a specific spot. This is a powerful tool that allows your viewers to truly experience what it’s like to be observing something as if they were there.

The main downfall of this medium is the fact that the playback device has to play the entire video sphere at once. When assessing 360 video its very important to understand that due to the nature of viewing a fraction of the content at a time, the resolution of the content should be substantially higher than standard media in order to achieve the same results. Most modern devices are unable to render 360 videos in a high enough resolution to match our high definition standards without using special systems, known either as foveated streaming or video hotspots, which will be discussed later in this blog.

VR 180 VR 180 is a video style very similar to 360 videos, however, it only covers half of a sphere, opposed to the full 360 views of a 360 video. There are two main benefits to this. First of all the content can be viewed in higher resolution, since the device would only need to render an area half the size of a 360 video. Secondly, it can be easier to direct the attention of the viewer, by centering the subject of the video directly in front of their view, without the ability to look around elsewhere too much.

Stereoscopic The term stereoscopic may seem overwhelming at first, but the concept is something many of us can relate to because of the movie theatres. When we see a movie we have the option between watching it in 3D and the standard 2D. Stereoscopic video is the 3D option, and the movie theatre utilizes very similar technology as stereoscopic 360 videos and VR 180.

The basic concept of viewing stereoscopic imagery is to see the same scene from two very slightly different perspectives, just like our eyes see the world. Our eyes are slightly spaced apart and when we focus on an object, our eyes slant inwards until they can both focus on the object we are looking at, this is known as convergence. This is also why we go cross-eyed when looking at an object too close to our face. Whether a video is filmed or CGI, the same concept applies to create a stereoscopic video, the scene is recorded from two perspectives and then delivered to each of our eyes separately. At the movies, the footage of each eye has a polarized filter, which works together with the 3D glasses to see it in 3D. With virtual reality, each set of footage goes through each lens of the headset, allowing us to see in 3D.

Viewing this content in 3D is only possible with a 3D TV, a 3D cinema screen or a virtual reality headset, this is why VR headsets are an amazing opportunity to create immersive experiences with a sense of depth, closely replicating the real world.

The easiest way to identify a stereoscopic video is when there are two very similar images, either one on top of another or side by side. Each of these images represents the perspective from one eye.

Monoscopic This term is used to differentiate the 3D content from 2D, mainly when discussing the options for VR content. It is essentially standard media that we view on most of our regular devices, whether that be a television, computer screen or mobile device.

Monoscopic Foveated Streaming Also known as tiled rendering, foveated streaming overcomes the weaknesses in modern processors to allow video content to be viewed in higher resolutions. This is accomplished by separating the high-resolution video into pieces, with a low-resolution video behind it. All of the videos are synchronized and the viewer’s perspective is tracked. When the viewer looks in a different direction, the panels of high-resolution videos are activated and will display as soon as they are ready. The low-resolution video is displayed so that the viewer does not see a blank space when looking somewhere new. This requires special software to accomplish so you lose the capability of adding additional functionality in your custom VR apps when you choose this option.

Video Hotspots Video Hotspots use a 360 photo as a background, with small areas of video playing. This is a perspective trick and is used as another alternative to achieve higher resolution visuals. When done properly there is no seam between the photo and video and can seem as if the entire image is a video.

The limitation of this method is that the movement in the scene must be contained in a few small areas, and objects can’t move around the camera.

This option can be easily integrated into your 360 video application or website and can improve the experience by providing higher resolution imagery on limited bandwidth or with limited processing.

Conclusion Understanding immersive media as a buyer can be difficult, hopefully, these descriptions and visuals will aid in making an informed decision. There are loads of potential in using VR for practical business solutions but the technology must be understood in order for any company to adopt it. If you need any more information to be sure to reach out and I will be happy to discuss the topic.

[vrvisioninc]

How to Measure Training Effectiveness of Virtual Reality

It is estimated that poor quality training ends up costing companies nearly $13.5 million per year for every 1,000 employees trained, Furthermore, a 2015 study by Microsoft found that the average person loses attention after only 8 seconds. These numbers are staggering, and it makes you really wonder if there is a better way to optimize onboarding processes for hiring new employees as well as training current ones.

For companies to avoid losing customers, money, or more, it is important to be able to quantify the effectiveness of an organization’s training program. In this article, we are going to look at the best ways to measure the benefits of using tools like augmented and virtual reality for employee process training in a variety of ways.

Measuring the Effectiveness of Your Corporate Training Programs Professor Donald Kirkpatrick developed and published the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model in 1959. The Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model has become one of the most widely applied methods for organizations to determine if a training program is successful or unsuccessful at training employees. The model has four basic steps.

Reaction: How the participants felt about the training program. What type of response does the program elicit from them?

Learning: How much knowledge or skills the participants gained. How much have they retained?

Behavior: The degree to which participants applied what they learned.

Results: The benefits the business sees as a result of the training. What does the business get out of the training investment?

Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model

Let us take a closer look at all four steps in the model and see how augmented or virtual reality can help achieve the 4 criteria.

Reaction Perhaps the most obvious challenge in creating a training program is to create one which employees and new staff respond to. It is all the common that employees view training programs as a waste of time, a day of boredom, or an easy paid day. To pass step one of the Kirkpatrick model the training program must be able to elicit a positive reaction from the employees. It needs to engage them, keep them concentrated, and keep away the boredom.

This is where an obvious benefit of a VR training program can be seen. Because VR is immersive by nature it can be used to create training programs that check all of those boxes; it keeps employees engaged, concentrated and occupied the entire time, unlike traditional lecture-based training methods. It is also a new and unique way to give a fresh perspective to lacklustre and outdated methods that simply don’t captivate or foster a positive learning experience.

Learning Another major challenge to having an effective training program is determining whether or not individuals are learning what is being taught. The most standard metric to determining an employee has learned from the training program is a standard competency exam. If scores are low, or undesirable, the entire program needs to be improved, done again, or both.

With full-scale immersive technology learning modules, you are able to build tests and proficiency exams right into the experience, as well as being able to push the results to a backend LMS or database. The end result is a much more streamlined and efficient learning process that will save money in the long-term and promote better learning outcomes overall.

VR allows an organization to create competency tests that closely mimic real-life working conditions. It also allows for examination of exactly which parts of the training program employees are learning from and which parts they are not. If employees, as a whole, perform poorly in a specific aspect under VR conditions, it can be determined that it is that portion of the training program which is lacking and needs to be redone.

Virtual and augmented reality has been used by many leading industries in the past few years for training exercises, so we can see adoption is on the rise. From manufacturing, aerospace, defence, energy and automotive, we have seen training programs executed successfully across the board. Pilots, especially commercial pilots, have used flight simulators for years to determine if they have fully grasped the knowledge, they have learned in training programs. It has been through this use of VR type training that pilot training has become so standardized and effective over the years. Pilots can train for scenarios that are too dangerous and life-threatening to train for in a real-life setting.

Another VR training example implemented more recently is UPS, and how they train their drivers for all sorts of conditions and hazards using VR technology. With VR, employers can gauge if an employee has truly learned their required tasks before entering the workforce.

Here at VR Vision, we have developed countless full-scale training platforms for our clients and partners. One of the better training rollouts for us has been with Toyota Motors Manufacturing, where we are training around 10,000 employees on hazard identification and safety protocols and procedures.

VR Post Training Results

This has equated to a reduction in speed to onboard new employees as well as lowered their incident rates. In turn, this leads to less downtime for production and higher ROI for their manufacturing plants overall.

Behavior The third requirement in Kirkpatrick’s Evaluation model is behaviorally based, to phrase it another way “does the employees’ behaviour positively improve in response to the training they are receiving?”

This is answered by looking at the key performance indicators (KPI) that are outlined before the training scenario even begins. KPIs evaluate the success of an organization or of a particular activity in which it engages. Essentially, the business picks a metric, a way of measuring something they want to achieve and determine if they have in fact achieved it.

For example, a car company might want to have a zero-defect month, a restaurant may want 3 more people certified in food safety, and a construction company might want 3 more people trained on a boom lift. KPI’s are simply the goals a company sets and uses to measure whether or not they have met that goal.

This principle can be applied to XR (AR & VR) training, but instead of losing productivity and money having the KPI’s met in the workplace, employees can train in an extended reality where mistakes are much less costly (or harmful), and be made ready for optimal performance in the workplace. Furthermore, it is easier to meet KPIs when the employee has already achieved them in a virtual setting, as VR especially lends well to increased learning efficacy and overall higher knowledge retention rates.

Results The fourth principle in Kirkpatrick’s model is the results. This can be defined in many ways but the most essential way of defining results is “what does the organization receive from training employees?”. What does the business get from the investment made in training employees?

Training new employees are always one of the more costly aspects of operating a business. Replacing an employee can cost six to nine months of their salary, this cost is seen in both the decrease in production from departed employees and the cost ramping up the newly on-boarded employee. The new employee is not expected to meet full productivity until over 6 months of taking the job, resulting in further financial loses.

Once again, VR helps here. As laid out above, VR can increase learning times meaning new employees can reach full efficiency sooner, resulting in less financial loss for the business. Employees often complain that they are not sure how to use their training, or that their training does not seem to apply to the real-world setting. Giving employees the ability to test out their training and feel confident about it improves employee satisfaction and leads to lower turnover rates, which in turn leads to increased productivity by reducing requires training times and costs associated with new employees

Integrate VR Into Your Training With VR technology at a point where it has become so immersive and realistic, there has never been a better time to implement augmented reality or virtual reality into your organizations’ training program and enjoy the benefits of more productive and efficient employees with less time from training to the workplace than ever before.

If you are interested in learning more about how VR Vision can help you develop an XR training program, feel free to contact us for a free consultation to see if we’d be a good fit working together.

[vrvisioninc]

VR & AR Application Development Costs Explained

Just how much does it cost to develop an XR application? The XR (Extended Reality) market, which encompasses both virtual and augmented reality applications, is set to hit $150 billion by 2020, definitely an exciting time for immersive technology. Microsoft is set to launch the Hololens 2, Snapchat is upgrading its Spectacles 3 to 3D,  and RealWear, the creators of a ruggedized AR headset, closed over $100 million in funding and have rolled out an impressive device and platform for industrial applications.

Quite the exciting time to be alive as a development studio for XR tech. But where does that leave businesses looking to develop internal applications for a variety of uses?  How much does it exactly cost to step into the immersive technology world?  And once there what kind of costs are associated with upkeep, maintenance and support down the road?

In this article, we will look to answer some of those questions and provide a first-hand perspective as to what kind of costs are associated with the development of VR & AR applications, so that you the consumer or business executive can get a better grasp on what to expect when quoting your own application development.  It’s quite a complicated process to scope out so for the sake of simplicity you can expect a lot of ballparks to keep things short. Costs can vary greatly based on complexity and orders of magnitude which really depend on the specific requirements.  Fortunately, if you have an idea or framework for what you are looking to develop, a ballpark development estimate is definitely possible.

Virtual Reality Development Costs? VR application development cost comes down to the kind of content you are looking to create. Sometimes you will need a mobile VR application, other times you are looking for a VR game. Some applications can be built with simple 360 videos, while others will be built in full CG-based environments. The scale and complexity of each obviously will add or subtract to the total cost of development.

360-3D Interactive Video Costs: $10,000 for each minute filmed + post-production.

CG-based Environment Applications: Between $40k and $70k for a non-gaming mobile VR application.

CG-based Gaming Applications: Between $50k and $100k for gaming-based projects.

Which these are simply ballparks, they should provide a good baseline to work from and give you an idea of what to expect when quoting your own specific project.  Numbers can obviously increase greatly based on the scope and complexity of projects.

Augmented Reality Development Costs? AR application development is much similar to VR development although requires much less overall development since a lot of the time it is more than likely simply 3D objects being overlaid onto the real world.

Marker-Based Augmented Reality Marker-based AR or Image Recognition based AR provides more information about a scanned object after the user focuses on a pre-defined marker or sticker. An object is detected with a front-facing camera and then proceeds to provide information on the screen regarding the object. This allows the user to view the object in more detail from various angles or potentially rotate the image in 3D as well.

Marker-based AR Costs: $5-10k per 3D modelled object interaction and UI

Pre-Defined Room Scale Augmented Reality A pre-defined room-scale AR application allows the user to walk into a room that has been pre-scanned and overlay a visual aesthetic that showcases various objects laid out in the scene. This is useful for retail stores or large areas with many waypoints or objects that need definition. Pre-defined AR works through reading data from a mobile device’s GPS, digital compass and accelerometer and predicting where the user is looking. This type of augmented reality is all about adding location information on screen about the objects that can be seen from the user’s camera.

Room Scale AR Costs: $40-50k per room dependant of the number of objects.

Plane Projection / Gyroscopic Augmented Reality This type of AR will allow the user to detect if there is a flat surface and scans that surface to use a pivot point or origin for projecting the user’s 3D model or object. Once the plane has been set the user can then manipulate the 3D object in a variety of ways as well as interact with said object.

Plane Projection / Gyroscopic AR Costs: $15-20k per 3D object dependant on interaction complexity.

Wearable Based Augmented Reality This kind of AR requires specific hardware in order to overlay objects in the user’s retina through a wearable device. This allows for much more in-depth visuals with a field of view that will be present wherever the user is looking.

Wearable Based AR Costs: $50-100k range for developing full-scale AR applications.

Along with AR development, many applications will require additional features that are above and beyond the scope mentioned above. These will often include pricing out the following features: Log-in, Payment integration, Support of several languages, Analytics tools, Support & Updates, and Hardware.

Further Factors That Affect Development Costs Research & Development When developing a VR application there is typically an R&D phase during which a creative storyboard is outlined and a variety of the best options for development are laid out.  Development teams ofter will need to pause and research the best ways to implement functions and features.  Sometimes with new immersive technology, there is no baseline to work from past iteration, which leads to time spent on researching and developing the best ways to make a design work.

During the development process, there is usually a quality assurance and testing period near the completion of the project.  In this phase development, teams will need to test all iterations of the experience developed in order to find bugs and issues that may arise.

Agile Project Management Methodology

Most professional development studios that are worth their weight will utilize an Agile methodology for VR or AR development processes. Agile makes certain that all projects are developed with collaborative iteration, flexibility and clarity. This leads to a higher quality development process and inevitably a better quality product or end result. Agile methodology has been proven to reduce costs and less reworking as well as management load.

360 3D Video vs. Interactive Experiences Not every VR application needs to be developed in a truly “virtual” environment crafted from the ground up in CGI.  Many times a 3D 360 video is a great medium of choice for a plethora of developments.  Many training programs, for example, can be replicated from a live 360 3D video recording and easily played back in virtual reality which provides a unique learning environment and is much more cost-effective than developing that exact same environment in CGI.

Generally speaking, the professional 360 3D video post-production can be done for less than $10k/minute, whereas the same CG-based environment will run costs nearly double that.  It is much less time-intensive to produce, record, edit and play 3D video from start to finish than to create an immersive VR experience.

Although it will be an immersive experience, please note that 3D 360 video is not truly VR.  However, professional development studios will be able to add overlays and voice-overs to make the 360 video experience interactive and immersive which lends itself well to a VR experience.

Delivery Device & Platform One of the other factors to consider when developing an immersive application is the delivery method by which you will serve up your experience.  There are high-end VR systems like the HTC Vive Plus or the Oculus Rift that will provide a much more vivid experience and can utilize the best of high-end GPU cards.  Inital development for interactive CG-based applications on these high-end platforms will carry a lower cost because they require less optimization.  When scaling however, the costs will increase drastically due to the higher cost of computing and IT infrastructure and management resources required.

Whereas on the other side of the spectrum, developing for devices like the Oculus Quest and Vive Focus Plus will limit the potential for high-end graphics given that lightweight processing power and GPU’s available for your disposal.  Given the limitations there is a higher amount of downsampling and optimization required.  This makes the initial cost for developing for these platforms higher than high-end platforms, however when scaling, the costs decrease as there is less infrastructure to maintain (as well as hardware costs being less as well).

Developers will be able to develop for these platforms much quicker due to the limitations, but also will potentially have to spend more time on R&D to ensure certain elements can work correctly given the GPU limitation.

Current Virtual Reality Platforms

Keep in mind some feature-rich mobile apps that are built for enterprise can carry costs up to $250k for the full app development process due to complexity will enterprise management systems and IT infrastructure implementation.

Final Thoughts Given all these considerations you should now have a better idea of what costs are associated with developing immersive technologies.  When developing you must consider who your target market is as well as which platform is best suited for providing the features and capabilities you want in your application.  Once you have a better understanding of these key concepts you will be able to decide what the best route is for your specific needs.  In future articles we will dive into more detail around costs associated with building an in-house development team vs. outsourcing.

Do you have a specific project in mind and are looking for a quote for development? Contact us at VR Vision today to see how we can help bring your idea from conceptualization to (virtual) reality!

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How VR Can Help Improve the Industrial Automation Manufacturing Industry There is a lot of talk right now about the way in which artificial and automation will impact the jobs market and various different industries. But don’t forget the impact that virtual reality promises. Virtual reality has the potential to fundamentally alter the way we work, deliver services, and collaborate. In fact, it could even drastically change – and expand – what we are capable of accomplishing. In automation, this impact is likely to be felt in a big way. Here are a few ways that this can happen. Design and Manipulation Before you can automate the manufacturing process, you first need a design to put to work. This, in turn, requires you to get to work with CAD software in order to create your digital design. Traditionally, this means using a mouse and keyboard input, or perhaps a stylus. You’ll be using lots of keyboard shortcuts and constantly rotating and zooming in on the item in order to visualize it in a 3D space. Virtual reality can make this whole process far easier and more tactile – allowing you to physically manipulate the object in front of you and move around it in three dimensions in order to access and assess different parts. Just like in the film Iron Man! GE Using VR to build assembly line automation This also opens up many more possibilities, including collaboration with others based remotely and the ability to view the product to scale as it would appear in real life. You can even try using many products in virtual reality. Finding Fault and Speeding Up Production In traditional production, you will need to create a prototype product before ordering large batches. This allows you to look for errors and to test that the item looks good from every angle and works well. Prototypes can also be used to find funding and to demonstrate your ideas to investors. This can, of course, help to improve safety and avoid accidents. Reportedly, the automotive manufacturer Ford has been able to reduce employee injury by 70 percent. But VR will allow you to much more quickly find flaws in a product by viewing it from different angles, as well as to demonstrate that product to others. By actually seeing the product as though it were there, you will have a much better idea of the way it will work and therefore be able to accelerate steps in the process. Training Training with VR will be easier than ever before. You will be able to practice using tools and materials that would otherwise not be available to you, receive training from tutors based thousands of miles away, and make mistakes with no financial or safety repercussions. Organizations like Nasa use virtual reality to train their engineers to work in zero gravity conditions using limited tools. Programs already exist that are available to the public that can teach CAD skills and even hands-on expertise such as mechanical engineering. This is an area where AR could also potentially have huge benefits. AR is “augmented reality,” which combines real-world visual information with 3D overlays. AR can help to outline specific parts of a project that need working on, provide visual demonstrations for how to interact with tools, and more. The Future While VR is still developing rapidly, its huge potential is already being felt in countless industries around the world. Eventually, it will allow people from all over the world to work on projects as though they were standing the same room – interacting with each other and the 3D model in real-time, and using tools and materials that don’t even exist in reality.