Monthly Archives

September 2019

Das Bauhandwerk virtuell erlebbar machen

Als einer der Ersten hat sich Anton Rieder mit der Planungsmethode „Building Information Modeling“ (BIM) auseinandergesetzt. Er möchte das Bauen smarter gestalten und Pionier im digitalen Handwerk sein. Am Firmenstandort Schwoich entstand ein Gebäudekomplex, in dem eine digitale Welt greifbar wird.

In den etwa 600 Quadratmeter großen Erweiterungsbau am bestehenden Standort in Schwoich wurden rund zwei Millionen Euro investiert. Dort soll für die Kunden des Baununternehmens Rieder vieles noch besser greifbar werden. Beispielsweise Lösungen mittels Computer-Aided Facility Management (CAFM), 3D-Projektor und Gebäudebesichtigungen mit Virtual Reality-Brillen.

Eine Art 3D-Kino der Baubranche
Herzstück des neuen Kompetenzzentrums ist die topmoderne „Cave Lab“. diese kann man als eine Art 3D-Kino der Baubranche sehen. Sie ist bis dato österreichweit einzigartig. Auf einer Großleinwand oder mittels VR-Brille kann der Kunde sein geplantes Gebäude, noch bevor es gebaut wurde, „begehen“.

Den Fachleuten von Riederbau dient dieses Labor auch als interaktiver Entscheidungsraum. Und es ermöglicht ihnen, dank der übersichtlichen Visualisierung der meist unzähligen Planungsdaten eine schnellere Entscheidungsfindung bei baulichen und logistischen Abläufen. Neben der digitalen Ausrichtung wurde bei der Planung des neuen Gebäudekomplexes auch sehr viel Augenmerk auf modernste Büroräumlichkeiten gelegt.

Ergonomische, moderne Büros für Mitarbeiter
„In den neuen Büroräumlichkeiten besteht die Möglichkeit des konzentrierten, ungestörten Schaffens, obwohl aber auch die Option zu teamorientierter und kommunikativer Zusammenarbeit besteht“, betont Baumeister Anton Rieder.

Quelle:

Hubert Berger, Kronen Zeitung

(Bild: Berger Hubert)

https://www.krone.at/1986731

3. September 2019 0 comment

Examples

Fortum develops high-definition VR simulator

Finnish utility Fortum has developed the world’s first fully dynamic and interactive virtual reality (VR) control room for training operators at its Loviisa nuclear power plant. The company says the cost of a full-scale, full-scope VR simulator is a fraction of that to build a physical simulator.

Operators of plants in safety-critical facilities – such as nuclear power plants – are traditionally trained in a physical simulator – an exact, functional replica of the plant’s control room.

Fortum eSite is the company’s internal venture, founded earlier this year, to develop industrial-grade VR solutions to safety-critical environments and the process industry in general.

Joakim Bergroth, product lead at Fortum eSite, said: „In safety-critical environments and process industries, human error can lead to serious accidents and production losses. Millions of euros are used to build physical simulators where operators can practise different scenarios from small disturbances, such as pipe leakages, to severe accident training. The physical simulators are usually fully booked, which doesn’t leave much time for additional testing and evaluations.“ He said the cost of a VR simulator is about one-tenth of the cost of building a physical simulator.

A hurdle to the widespread use of VR technology in simulators for facilities such as nuclear power plants has been the resolution of existing VR headsets on the market. In reactor control rooms, there are usually hundreds of hardwired panels and detailed monitors with real-time information on pipes and gauges. Visualising these using VR has previously been difficult.

„When the resolution is poor, it is an extra thing to think about for the operator and they act differently compared to real life,“ Bergroth said.

Fortum eSite has used the VR-1 headset developed by Finnish technology company Varjo for its VR training room. This headset, launched in February, has a resolution of over 60 pixels per degree – the equivalent of 20/20 vision. Designed for use in complex and demanding industries, it comes with the world’s most advanced integrated eye tracking technology and is compatible with the most popular 3D software tools.

„With the Varjo VR-1, the visual fidelity of our virtual simulator is finally on a level that it should be,“ said Bergroth. „With VR-1, I was able to do things that I haven’t been able to do before with any other off-the-shelf VR headset, such as read manuals and distinguish the smallest digits from the control room displays with ease. No other VR device can perform this kind of realism.“

The design process is another crucial aspect in safety-critical environments. For nuclear power plant control rooms, validations are a compulsory part of the design process. All operator procedures, new display systems and hardwired panel designs need to be validated in physical simulators before they are used in the actual control room to ensure they work as intended. Before VR simulators, validations were typically done very late in the project, and any design changes needed time-consuming changes in the physical simulator on site.

„In the worst case, a critical design error in the validation could have postponed the project by a full year, because of no time to fix the error,“ Bergroth said. „With the help of VR, pre-validations and evaluations can be done several months ahead of time. There is plenty of time to fix errors and findings before physical implementations. That saves an enormous amount of time, money and grey hair in general.“

He said the first time a pre-validation was carried out using the VR simulator, it was then found all the biggest errors had been fixed when subsequently checked in the physical simulator. „It saved us thousands of working hours, and monetary-wise probably hundreds of thousands of euros.“

The realism of the VR simulator meant Fortum eSite was able to add elements to the training that have not been possible before.

„We can also add natural phenomena like fire, smoke, flood or earthquakes that are impossible to accomplish in a physical simulator or environment,“ Bergroth said. „With VR-1, it is possible to get the stress factors to a more realistic level, so that we can learn more about how well our human machine interfaces are working. Also the operators are more prepared if something like that would happen in real life. More realistic training adds to the overall safety and efficiency of a power plant.

„With VR-1, the end-users in nuclear operations and many other industries are more likely to see and accept the possibilities of VR and what it brings to their industry. That is game-changing.“

Operators at Loviisa are preparing to take VR into training and daily use at the plant site. Already, 90% of workers at the site have been trained in VR environments.

Quelle

Foto: Fortum eSite’s Joakim Bergroth using the VR-1 headset (Image: Fortum)

http://world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Fortum-develops-high-definition-VR-simulator

2. September 2019 0 comment

Knowledge Research

VRifying Your Training: Creating High-impact VR Training Programs in a Flash

The Training Landscape and Emerging Immersive Technology

Training is on the precipice of a major change. First, its current iteration isn’t cutting it: Almost 50% of employees say traditional training is not very effective, and a staggering 62% of chief learning officers agree, according to ATD’s “Instructional Design Now.” For many companies, training has become a matter of compliance rather than a way to educate, engage and empower employees. This state of things is especially alarming considering that companies globally spend around $366 billion annually on training.

Innovations in learning technology are turning heads and broadening ideas of what’s possible. Just like online learning revolutionized workplace training in the early 2000s, new tools are set to reshape the training landscape and offer better approaches to long-standing challenges.

Immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR) are generating a lot of buzz as golden saviors for corporate training. According to Gartner, by 2022, 70% of companies “will be experimenting with immersive technologies for consumer and enterprise use,” with 25% already deployed to production. This predicted growth is due to the maturation and accessibility of immersive technology, the falling costs of hardware, and the influx of research and success stories pointing toward the power of immersion.

As VR transitions from tomorrow’s potential technology into today’s viable tool, the conversation must widen to include actionable, focused upgrades to existing training programs. VR won’t be a catch-all solution for all training challenges, but certain training projects are ripe to be converted into engaging, immersive VR experiences. Enter the concept of VRifying.

What Is VRifying?

At its simplest, VRifying is converting existing training materials, especially content that isn’t achieving desired results, into dynamic VR experiences. While it’s possible to make a VR training program from scratch, and many organizations have done so successfully, VRifying specifically means capitalizing on the training and storytelling potential of immersive media at low cost to both time and budget by translating preexisting training materials into VR.

VRifying means capitalizing on the training and storytelling potential of immersive media at low cost.

In other words, VRifying helps inject an element of engaging storytelling into training content, thereby engaging trainees, drawing explicit connections between cause and effect, and clarifying abstract concepts. It takes the nutritional value of written content and serves it as a delicious, appetizing meal that leaves a lasting impact.

Why VRify?

To understand the raw value of VRifying existing content, it’s helpful to understand what the medium of VR has to offer as a training tool.

VR is as a powerful medium for training because of its three superpowers: immersion, presence and empathy. In VR, users can’t check their phone or respond to emails during training as they often do during classroom sessions or traditional online models. Instead, the headset immerses them in an environment, producing a unique sense of presence that prompts the brain to absorb information as if it were actually in that environment. If the environment is convincing enough, users can form lasting spatial and muscle memories that carry over into the real world.

VR has been dubbed “the empathy machine,” because more than any other medium, it places the user in other people’s shoes, promoting understanding, patience and empathy-driven changes in attitude and behavior. VR’s capacity to promote empathy makes it well-suited for customer service e-training, anti-harassment and diversity training, and more.

VR’s capacity to promote empathy makes it well-suited for customer service training, diversity training and more.

Why Now?

When extended reality (XR) technology first came onto the scene, the biggest barrier to adoption was the cost associated with creating and distributing functional, high-quality content. Fortunately, VR content is now easier to create than ever. Consumer 360-degree cameras run as low as $150, which is a big win for hobby filmmakers and independent creators. Businesses, however, should be apprehensive of skimping; footage, stitching and post-processing quality can make or break the in-headset experience. Well-produced VR eliminates motion sickness and increases realism, heightening the sense of presence and improving retention and recall.

Today, a business could partner with an XR production company to VRify an existing training program without much strain. To produce a comprehensive set of top-of-the-line 360-degree videos for training, businesses are looking at as little as one day to shoot, 90 days from ideation to execution and measurement, and as little as $50,000 to start. Those numbers are especially exciting considering VR’s scalability: With multi-screen functionality, training administrators can share content across any number of VR headsets (as well as laptops and smartphones) around the globe. Learners can even download VR content for offline access, making it a good fit for staff who work in locations without internet connection, such as a cement warehouse or at sea. Once content is delivered, training administrators have access to detailed, live analytics that provide actionable heat maps, performance data, user gaze analysis and more.

What Should You VRify?

When it comes to VRifying, the key is focus: Businesses would do well to start small, leveraging XR to address a specific problem with a measurable impact.

Businesses would do well to start small, leveraging XR to address a specific problem with a measurable impact.

First, identify critical information that isn’t landing or connecting via online, print or other forms of traditional training. Here, employee feedback is valuable: What segments of training have they been skipping? Are there any moments during training that seem irrelevant to their day-to-day duties? What do they find boring or unengaging?

Unless your intent is to invest in highly interactive VR content, the best candidates for VRifying are opportunities for compelling storytelling that enacts change, rather than highly technical skills. Because XR media provides opportunities for immersive, empathy-rich storytelling, it’s a particularly good fit for company values training, unconscious bias training or an announcement of a corporate brand refresh.

When in doubt, refer to the three superpowers of VR (immersion, presence and empathy), and target one or more of the four Ps of VR training (process, product, people and place). With these guiding principles in mind, other strong candidates include familiarizing new employees with large facilities, customer service training, onboarding, process training to avoid safety hazards, diversity and anti-harassment training, and beyond.

The next time you’re about to oversee a boring, ineffective company training program, ask yourself, “Why not VRify the lesson?” It could make a world of difference.

The best candidates for VRifying are opportunities for compelling storytelling that enacts change.

Quelle:

VRifying Your Training: Creating High-impact VR Training Programs in a Flash

2. September 2019 0 comment

Knowledge Research

Designing Innovative Humanitarian Learning

By: Anne Garçon, Digital Communications Adviser
Humanitarian Leadership Academy

As the frequency and complexity of humanitarian crises continue to rise, the demand for highly skilled humanitarians, capable of preparing for and responding more effectively and efficiently to disasters, is only going to increase in the coming years. At the Humanitarian Leadership Academy (‘The Academy’), making learning available to the people who need it most is our mission. We recognise the need for a more engaging, scalable and impactful learning in the humanitarian sector, in order to build resilient societies and save more lives.

What makes the Academy unique is our combination of three core elements. First, our free digital learning platform, Kaya, which offers over 450 online courses in up to 10 languages. The platform is already being used by over 100,000 humanitarians worldwide, with most of them coming from crisis-affected countries such as Syria, Yemen and Sudan; this shows that our learning is reaching those who need it the most. Second, our network of global partners on the ground, assessing local needs, and creating and sharing locally relevant learning. Finally, our focus on identifying and testing innovative learning tools and technology, which enables us to push the boundaries of high-quality humanitarian learning at scale and in challenging contexts.

Our approach to innovation leverages not just new technology, but new tools and methodologies to solve problems in locally relevant and creative ways. We focus on two key areas: ‘Learning about Innovation’ and ‘Innovations in Learning’.

Learning About Innovation

We want to help humanitarian professionals and organisations understand what innovation means, and why it is so important. We believe that anyone can be empowered to take more innovative approaches to humanitarian action with the right frameworks, tools and techniques and a focus on user-centred design (UCD) and co-creation. We have developed online courses specifically for that purpose and made them freely available on Kaya.

Innovation Essentials provides humanitarian professionals and volunteers with clear first steps on how to bring innovation to life within their own organisation and includes a series of real-life examples of innovation from around the world. 900 humanitarians have already enrolled in the course.

Last year we teamed up with the Institute for the Future (IFTF) to explore some of the links between global trends and disasters, with a specific focus on the East Africa region. We discussed how to best equip humanitarian professionals and organisations with the right tools and skills to navigate and adapt to these new realities. This collaboration led to the development of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Humanitarian Futures and Foresight. Despite its specialised content, the one-week course attracted 830 humanitarian leaders worldwide, giving them the opportunity to learn about humanitarian trends and the practical tools needed to use foresight in a humanitarian context.

“Foresight is important because it helps us plan for the future. Major disasters can be averted or even managed properly. This approach helps us see possible mistakes that could be made in the future”, said a learner from Nigeria.

Innovations in Learning

The nature of learning and education as a whole is changing very fast, with an increase in the use of personalised learning, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), gamification, nano-degrees and micro-credentials; and we are always willing to uncover new ways of creating and delivering learning to users in different cultures and contexts. This means scanning, testing and scaling the latest learning technology solutions from within and outside of the humanitarian sector. Our innovation work currently centres on three areas; gamification, low-cost/low-tech virtual reality/360, and artificial intelligence in education (AI-in-Ed).

Gamification for Humanitarian Learning

Since 2015 we have run several workshops in Kenya, Jordan, Bangladesh, India and the Philippines, looking at local learning needs, and how to then turn them into learning games through the application of design-thinking methodology and gamification technologies. Once created, the games can be integrated into existing online courses, allowing learners to test their knowledge on specific issues, and to learn in new ways. The games enable learners to go through various scenarios and narrative-based journeys, and can include role-playing through virtual teams as well as group simulations. Learners can make active decisions, solve problems, and are also given time to reflect on their experiences, allowing for greater engagement and retention.

Immersive Learning

Building on previous research from academia, such as Stanford VHIL’s use of Virtual Reality in empathy building, we have started to explore enhancements in crisis-immersion and empathy building using low-cost, low-tech virtual reality for volunteer and staff training. In 2018 we started creating short VR films that integrate with existing e-learning pathways on our platform, Kaya, and portray different stakeholders’ points of view in humanitarian contexts. This kind of immersive learning influences people’s empathy levels, making them relate more to the situation they are virtually experiencing. Our first 360 film, You Can Not Argue with a Floodimmerses learners in the conflict-torn city of Marawi in the Philippines. Available both in English and Tagalog on YouTube, the film has been integrated within the Volunteer Essentials e-learning pathway on Kaya to help make the learning experience even more engaging and immersive.

We are currently working on similar projects focusing on the Rohingya and South Sudan crises, experimenting with combining 3D illustrations, sound and video, to help build stronger links between learning and real-world situations, and help to inform better decision-making in humanitarian workers.

Artificial Intelligence in Education & Chatbots

We have started to explore how artificial intelligence can help to provide personalised and predictive content that is most relevant to individual learners in their specific contexts; ideally before a disaster even happens. With over half a million followers on our Facebook page we felt the need to find a better way to respond to people in a relevant, timely manner. The use of simple chatbots seemed like an interesting option to better engage future and existing learners, both before and during the learning process. Our chatbot enables learners to engage with Kaya through a series of online conversations where they can learn more about the courses that are most relevant for them. We have built short, narrative driven journeys to help learners understand the role of volunteers in the field and to help them select relevant Kaya courses. Feedback has been positive to date with learners showing interest in interacting with our bite-sized content, course trailers, and interactive quizzes.

Conclusion

The need for more engaging, scalable and impactful humanitarian learning has never been greater than it is today. As innovative learning solutions such as games, immersive films and chatbots begin to show great potential, one of the next challenges we face is ensuring local humanitarians and organisations can successfully access and adapt these tools to their specific learning needs in difficult contexts. At the Academy, we believe that the creation of better learning opportunities leads to better crisis preparation and management for humanitarians all around the world. Investment in knowledge sharing is an investment in the skills of humanitarians, which will ultimately help save more lives.

Get involved and help us make this a reality.

Quelle:

Foto: Watch the 360° film: You Cannot Argue with a Flood

Designing Innovative Humanitarian Learning

2. September 2019 0 comment

Examples

ÖBB mit erstem VR-Sicherheitsvideo zum Schulanfang

Die Österreichischen Bundesbahnen (ÖBB) starten zum Schulanfang ein virtuelles Sicherheitstraining und setzen dabei auf den Schockeffekt sowie die Expertise der Wiener VR-Spezialisten Junge Römer.

Man setzt das Headset auf und erlebt eine alltägliche Situation aus der Perspektive einer jungen Dame. Sie wartet in der Nähe eines Bahnübergangs darauf, dass ihr Freund Stefan sie abholt. Das Handy läutet, Stefan ist dran. Videocall. Die beiden plaudern. Als User ist man Zeuge des dahinplätschernden Gesprächs und hat das Smartphone im Blickfeld. Man sieht sich um. Ein herrlicher Sonnentag im Grünen. Dann sagt Stefan endlich, dass er bald da ist. Und tatsächlich: Ein Auto nähert sich. Der Fahrer scheint aber die Augen auf seinem Handy anstatt auf dem Bahnübergang zu haben…

Ab Herbst setzen die ÖBB ein Virtual-Reality-Erlebnis als Sicherheitstraining ein und gehen mit entsprechender VR-Ausstattung auf Tour durch österreichische Bildungseinrichtungen. Der Einsatz eines interaktiven VR-Erlebnisses inklusive 360-Grad-Perspektive für solche Sicherheits-Trainingszwecke bedeutet bei den ÖBB eine Premiere. Schülern und Führerscheinanwärtern ist die Ich-Perspektive oftmals aus der Gaming-Welt vertraut. Beim ÖBB-VR-Video soll diese unmittelbare Erfahrung genutzt werden, um die Botschaft nachhaltig zu verankern, stets die Augen auf der Straße zu haben – natürlich ganz besonders, wenn man sich einem Bahnübergang nähert.

Herbert Ofner, Koordination Sicherheit – Kommunikation und Kampagnen ÖBBInfrastruktur, dazu: „Die Bahn zählt zu den sichersten Verkehrsmitteln in Österreich. Aber auch beim sichersten Verkehrsmittel ist Aufmerksamkeit angebracht. Daher informieren wir auf vielen Ebenen zum Thema Sicherheit auf Bahnanlagen. Es freut uns daher sehr, gemeinsam mit dem Kreativstudio Junge Römer dieses ganz besondere Virtual Reality-Erlebnis geschaffen zu haben und auf Sicherheitsevents und bei Sicherheitsschulungen einen neuen Weg zu gehen.“

Das Video zum Projekt.

Quelle:

https://www.horizont.at/home/news/detail/?tx_news_pi1%5Bnews%5D=71227&cHash=3bcbc300cf508ef8349165da0b489551

Foto:Gegen Smartphones am Steuer: VR-Erlebnis für Schüler ab Herbst mit 360-Erfahrung aus der Ich-Perspektive.©Junge Römer

2. September 2019 0 comment

Examples

Is virtual reality the next frontier of Alzheimer’s diagnosis?

New research that aimed to highlight the potential of new technologies to diagnose disease has suggested that virtual reality may play a crucial role in monitoring Alzheimer’s disease.

Dementia is a general term to describe the impairment of cognitive functions such as memory, thinking, and communication.

The cognitive decline associated with dementia is progressive, and people may go through different stages.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an early stage of dementia, but some people with MCI do not develop Alzheimer’s disease.

MCI can result from anxiety or normal aging, so it is important to establish the cause to evaluate the risk of dementia.

Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 50 million people in the world have dementia.

Doctors diagnose dementia in around 10 million people every year, and 60–70% of these new diagnoses detect Alzheimer’s disease.

Several cognitive tests can assess dementia, but recently, researchers have been exploring the potential of new technologies to monitor the condition.

A new study from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom — the results of which now appear in the journal Brain — shows that virtual reality (VR) may be more accurate than standard tests.

Testing for navigation problems

The entorhinal cortex is part of an internal „satnav“ that helps us move around and not get lost; it is also one of the first regions of the brain that Alzheimer’s disease damages.

Prof. John O’Keefe, from University College London (UCL) in the U.K., discovered this positioning system in the brain and subsequently won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

As current cognitive tests are available are unable to test for navigation difficulties, a team of researchers at the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge — in collaboration with Prof. Neil Burgess at UCL — developed a VR navigation test.

The researchers recruited 45 people with MCI and 41 people without it. They gave them all a VR headset and asked them to walk in a simulated environment.

To look for biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease in people with MCI, the researchers took samples of their cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Twelve of the participants tested positive. Overall, those with MCI performed worse on the navigation test than those without MCI.

The study showed that people with MCI with positive CSF markers performed worse than those with negative CSF markers. Also, the VR navigation test was more effective in differentiating between people with MCI at low and high risk of dementia than standard tests.

„These results suggest a VR test of navigation may be better at identifying early Alzheimer’s disease than tests we use at present in the clinic and in research studies,“ says Dennis Chan, Ph.D., who led the team.

Developing future drugs with the help of VR

VR may also be a useful tool during clinical trials for future drugs. These trials usually involve animal tests. Scientists study the effect of drugs using water mazes, wherein mice have to locate hidden platforms under dark pools.

If the initial animal trial is successful, the next stage involves human participants. The test usually includes word and picture memory tests. The difference between the animal and human test represents a big problem for trials because results are hard to compare.

„The brain cells underpinning navigation are similar in rodents and humans, so testing navigation may allow us to overcome this roadblock in Alzheimer’s drug trials and help translate basic science discoveries into clinical use,“ explains Chan.

He adds that scientists have been interested in exploring the role of new technologies in medical diagnosis for a while, but VR technology has only recently reached the point where scientists feel comfortable using it for tests in humans.

Chan and colleagues are working to develop apps for smartphones and smartwatches that track changes in everyday activities and detect early signs of Alzheimer’s.

„We live in a world where mobile devices are almost ubiquitous, and so app-based approaches have the potential to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease at minimal extra cost and at a scale way beyond that of brain scanning and other current diagnostic approaches.“

Dennis Chan, Ph.D

Doctors diagnose dementia in around 10 million people every year, and 60–70% of these new diagnoses detect Alzheimer’s disease.Several cognitive tests can assess dementia, but recently, researchers have been exploring the potential of new technologies to monitor the condition.A new study from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom — the results of which now appear in the journal Brain — shows that virtual reality (VR) may be more accurate than standard tests.

Quelle:

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325343.php

By Chiara Townley

Foto: VR headsets may soon serve as a better alternative to standard testing for Alzheimer’s.

2. September 2019 0 comment