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XR

Make VR/AR Easy – XR Re-/Upskilling Offensive gestartet

Durch den stetigen Wandel der Arbeits- und Lernwelt, sind Arbeitsplätz, Lernräume und Trainingsumsetzungen einer regelmäßigen Veränderung ausgesetzt, auf die sich Arbeitnehmende und Teilnehmende im Laufe Ihrer Berufslaufbahn einstellen müssen. Dies hat natürlich erheblichen Einfluss auf die Personen, die in Unternehmen, Organisationen oder Bildungseinrichtungen verantwortlich sind (PE, L&D, Trainingsabteilungen) oder in direkten Lern-/Trainingsprozessen als Trainer/Coach oder Lehrkraft aktiv sind.

Gleichzeitig schreitet die Entwicklung von neuen Technologien wie das ganze Umfeld der „Immersiven Medien (VR/AR/360/MR/XR)“ mit rasanten Schritten vorwärts. Um hier die neuen Möglichkeiten zielgerichtet einzusetzen und aktiv die neue Lern- und Trainingswelt mitzugestalten, bedarf es kurzfristige, mittelfristige und langfristige Re-/Upskilling-Massnahmenv um alle Beteiligten FIT zu machen.

Um dies gerecht zu werden, ruft das Institute for Immersive Learning – eine XR Re-/Upskilling Offensive mit dem Motto „make VR/AR easy“ für 2022 ins Leben. Diese wird proaktiv die Chancen und Möglichkeiten von Immersive Learning heute und in der Zukunft aufzeigen. Mit Praxisbeispielen und Impulsen werden bereits gemachte Erfahrungen erlebbar. Mit Kompetenzaufbau wird die Basis gesetzt, um in der Zukunft zeitgerechte und sinnvolle Lösungen umzusetzen und zu begleiten. Mit Impulsen werden zukünftige Handlungsfelder erläutert und begreifbar gemacht.

Hier bei werden über das ganze Jahr mit unterschiedlichen Re-/Upskilling-Angebote Wissen, Skills und Kompetenzen vermnittelt, Lernen und Training FIT für das 21.Jahrhundert zu machen. Sichern Sie Ihre und die wettbewerbsfähig Ihrer Organisation.

Dabei werden kostenlose Webinare, Online Impulse, Stakeholder-Workshops (VR/AR Experience Day) oder Online Zertifizierungen VR-Trainer*in/Coach oder VR Collaboration Experte*in angeboten. Auch werden in eigene entwickelten Angeboten VR Collaboation erlebbar gemacht, neue Ansätze wie Metaverse oder die Weiterentwicklungen im Bereich Hard- und Software rundum VR/AR diskutiert.

Verschaffen Sie sich einen Überblick über das reichhaltige Angebot und die Möglichkeiten sich selber und Ihre Organisation FIT zu machen. Nutzen Sie die vorhandene Expertise von Torsten Fell, der als ausgewiesener Experte im Umfeld innovatives Lernen seit über 20 Jahren Erfahrung mitbringt und in den letzten 5 Jahren in der DACH-Region die Diskussion zu VR/AR im Trainingsumfeld massgeblich mitprägt. Er selber trainiert seit April 2020 auch in VR Collaboration Lernräumen und am am 15.09.2021 sein „Metaverse“ unter https://www.torstenfell.space“ als virtuelles Headquarter eröffnet.

Die RE-/Upskilling-Angebote beinhaltet 2022 verschiedene Formate und Themenfelder rund um VR/AR/360/MR/XR.

Live Webinare über 16 Themenfelder im ersten Halbjahr 2022
Online Workshops für Stakeholder*innen oder Teams
Online Zertifizierungen für VR-Trainer*in/Coach VR-Collaboration Experte*in
Innovative Produkte wie z.B. das VR/AR Experience Package oder der BluePrint-Space
Öffentliche Events und Kongresse z.B. Learntec XChange oder Learntec
Solution Provider Talks

https://www.immersivelearning.institute/xr-re-upskilling-offensive-2022/

19. Dezember 2021 0 comment

Knowledge Research

Holographisches Training setzt neuen Standard

Wer eine Datenbrille aufsetzt, kann am Arbeitsplatz Superkräfte entfalten! Extended Reality (XR) kann in wenigen Minuten alles vermitteln, was für komplexe, wissensintensive Aufgaben gebraucht wird, etwa wie man das Bugrad eines Flugzeugs wartet oder wie ein Ultraschallgerät bedient wird, um eine Diagnose zu erstellen. Das Startup WEKIT ECS, das sich als „Holographic Training Company“ bezeichnet, hat sich als Spin off eines EU-Projekts in Dublin niedergelassen und bietet seine App derzeit kostenlos an, um sie auszuprobieren.

„Wie schafft man es, Trainings so zu gestalten, dass die TrainerIn es selbst aufzeichnen kann?“ Dies war die Ausgangsfrage mit der Wissenschaftler der RWTH Aachen, der Oxford Group und aus Norwegen und Finnland mit der Unterstützung italienischer Unternehmen an den Start gingen – wie Ralf Klamma berichtet. „Wir haben einen neuen Standard kreiert“, erklärt der CTO.

Die MirageXR ist eine App mit einem All-in-One-XR-Framework, das kostenlos geladen und ausprobiert werden kann. Aufgezeichnete Trainings können mit Annotationen versehen oder mit einem „Ghost“ als Hologramm ergänzt werden, der zeigt, wie etwas gemacht werden soll. Auch Spracheingaben sind möglich.

Die MirageXR COMMUNITY EDITION (CE) ist die B2B Open Source Lösung der MirageXR Plattform. Diese Referenzimplementierung eines XR-Trainingssystems für komplexe Arbeitsumgebungen wird der XR-Entwickler-Community zur Nutzung, Aktualisierung und Weiterentwicklung angeboten.

Die MirageXR-LÖSUNGEN ermöglichen es Experten und Lernenden, Erfahrungen über XR und Wearables mithilfe von Hologrammen, In-situ-Feedback und Lerneinheiten auszutauschen. Sie bieten sechs einzigartige Mehrwertfunktionen:

In-situ Authoring und Experience Capture – Reduzierung des Zeit- und Ressourcenaufwands für die Produktion von Schulungsinhalten. MIRAGE· XR bietet ein Tool zum Erstellen von Inhalten direkt in XR, kostengünstig und effizient. Es ermöglicht sowohl das Platzieren von zuvor importierten Medieninhalten in physischen Räumen (und in Schritt-für-Schritt-Anleitungen) als auch die Möglichkeit, Inhalte während der Ausführung von Aufgaben zu erstellen (z.B. eine „Geisterspur“).
Erfahrungsansatz – MirageXR implementiert einen erfahrungsorientierten Lernansatz. Auszubildende können einer Sequenz folgen, in der sie eine Aufgabe ausführen (von einem holographischen Experten geleitet), ihre eigene Leistung überprüfen und die gleiche oder eine ähnliche Aufgabe erneut ausführen.
Echtzeit-Visualisierung und Feedback – holografische Darstellung des Experten, rekonstruiert aus den erfassten Daten („Ghost Track“) und eingebettet in den physischen Arbeitsplatz, einschließlich Körperposition, Blickrichtung, Gestik und Stimme.
Offene Standards und Architektur – Der MirageXR-Kern kann an verschiedene Plattformen, IoT-Sensoren und Wearables angepasst werden, um den Schulungsanforderungen jedes Unternehmens gerecht zu werden. Es implementiert den IEEE P1589-2020-Standard für Augmented Reality-Lernerfahrungsmodelle, der die automatisierte Extraktion und Transformation von Inhalten aus Legacy-Systemen (z. B. einem Oasis DITA- oder S1000D-konformen technischen Dokumentationssystem) ermöglicht – kompatibel mit einem Ökosystem von Tools, die Inhalte zukunftssicher machen, auf höchstem zugelassenen Standard.
Kognitive Methoden zur Leistungsmessung – MirageXR unterstützt etablierte kognitionswissenschaftliche Forschungsmethoden wie die kognitive Aufgabenanalyse, um Fehler vorherzusagen oder zu identifizieren oder verbesserte oder korrigierende Praktiken vorzuschlagen. Nach einer Trainingseinheit kann aus den Messdaten eine Performance-Analyse erstellt werden, die über die Schnittstelle mit der IEEE Experience API (xAPI) gespeichert wird.
Wissenschaftlich validierte Methode – der MirageXR Open Source Core basiert auf Projektergebnissen des Horizon 2020 Projekts WEKIT, validiert in zwei Runden mit über 550 Teilnehmern in Pilotversuchen in Medizin, Luft- und Raumfahrt.

More Information

https://wekit-ecs.com/team

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ieee-tale-2020-special-session-standard-for-ar-learning-experience-models-tickets-131695732481

Quelle:

https://www.checkpoint-elearning.de/corporate-elearning/holographisches-training-setzt-neuen-standard

17. Dezember 2021 0 comment

Knowledge Research

Extended Reality Deserves Optimism

Market will reach sales of 71 million devices in 2025

On 23 November, we published our latest market forecast for virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) devices. Here, we outline some of the report’s highlights.

We expect worldwide unit sales of headsets to reach 11 million in 2021, up almost 50% from 2020. In 2025 we forecast 71 million VR and AR devices will be sold, with a manufacturer value of $22 billion. This is a minor rise from the previous forecast, as signals from the market suggest our positive outlook is well-founded.

Two streams are merging to support our consistently solid expectations for the future of extended reality (XR): stellar growth in sales of the popular Oculus Quest 2 headset and a flourishing appetite among businesses for XR solutions — both VR and AR-based.

The pandemic gave a needed boost to consumer demand for XR, which helped relieve people’s boredom in lockdown. But our forecast was always based on the assumption that growth over the next decade will not come from gaming alone, but also from integrating the technology with other forms of visual entertainment including video, education, web browsing, remote events and socializing.

Meta, the new company name for Facebook, recently gave everyone an idea of what this might look like. More importantly, it signalled its intentions to build an open platform for the metaverse and to invest heavily in making this a reality — a virtual one for users and a very material one for any participating business. We highlighted our view after the announcement, noting that the metaverse is little more than an idea right now, but the narrative lends itself well to XR and will undoubtedly be important in spatial computing. Meta certainly expects the latter to disrupt the computing world in future.

Just like consumer demand, enterprise adoption of AR and VR devices was given a significant lift by the pandemic. Companies accelerated their purchasing of out-of-the-box solutions enabling remote assistance, collaboration and training. In this next phase, where remote and hybrid work remains a central tenet of business transformation, we see organizations rapidly expanding XR’s scope, integrating the technology with their existing systems and security infrastructure as it becomes more embedded in their processes.

A growing number of devices in companies that have already adopted XR complements growth from the spread of the technology among new adopters. Altogether, enterprises are expected to account for 18% of VR and AR unit sales in 2021; in 2025, business around the world will buy over 13 million XR devices.

Naturally, the forecast for such a young market carries a lot of unknowns. One of them is that segments of the market are yet to appear. For the VR and AR market to reach 71 million units in 2025, we expect to see the arrival of attractive AR smart glasses targeted at tech enthusiasts, as well as lower-priced VR devices that use the processing power of smartphones. We forecast both segments emerging in the next two years before starting to have a noticeable impact in 2025 — at which time over 10 million consumer AR smart glasses and almost 8 million VR devices that tether to a smartphone are projected to be sold worldwide.

A summary of CCS Insight’s new forecast is presented in the chart below.

Quelle:

Extended Reality Deserves Optimism

15. Dezember 2021 0 comment

Knowledge Metaverse Research

Finland: Metaverse company Varjo receives €20 million in financing from EIB

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing up to €20 million in financing to Finnish virtual and mixed reality company Varjo.
The EIB financing falls under the venture debt window of the European Guarantee Fund, part of the €540 billion COVID-package agreed by EU Member States in spring 2020.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a quasi-equity agreement worth €20 million with Finnish metaverse technology company Varjo. The Helsinki-based, industry-leading developer of virtual and mixed reality software and hardware will use the financing to increase its investments in research and development for creating a reality-based metaverse of the future, as well as to capture the strong tailwinds following the coronavirus pandemic. The financing was made available under the European Guarantee Fund (EGF), a pan-European programme to help companies to grow amidst the global uncertainty caused by COVID-19. The EIB’s venture debt finance supports innovative growth companies with long-term financing and limited dilution.

EIB Vice-President Thomas Östros stated: “Varjo invests heavily in research and development, even at a globally difficult moment such as the current challenging times. The EGF’s venture debt programme gives the EIB the possibility to directly support innovative companies in strategically important sectors for the future of Europe. In supporting Varjo’s growth, we not only sustain and create jobs within a highly innovative industry, but we also put ourselves squarely behind European technological know-how.”

“Varjo is extremely proud to be a VR/XR company headquartered in Europe but operating globally, offering our customers around the world the most advanced immersive technology in the market,”addedTimo Toikkanen, Varjo CEO. “As we scale and develop the next computing paradigm for human communication, we are pleased about the continued encouragement of the European tech ecosystem.”

Varjo delivers a unique VR/XR (virtual- and extended reality) hardware and software proposition which is cutting-edge in terms of making virtual experiences look and feel as real as the real world. Varjo provides the highest-resolution VR/XR in the market, and allows for mixing photorealistic virtual content with our physical reality for a true-to-life metaverse.

Background information:

In 2020, the EIB made in excess of €676 million in loans available for Finnish projects. The EIB borrows money on capital markets and lends it to projects that support EU objectives, with about 90% of all loans being granted within the European Union.

TheEuropean Guarantee Fund(EGF) was set up by the EIB Group with contributions from Finland and other EU Member States to shield companies suffering from the COVID-19 crisis. Using nearly €25 billion in guarantees, the EGF allows the EIB and the EIF to quickly make loans, guarantees, asset-backed securities, equity and other financial instruments available to mostly small and medium-sized enterprises. The EGF is part of the European Union’s recovery package aiming to provide a total of €540 billion to boost those parts of the EU economy that have been hit the worst.

Varjo(pronounced var-yo) makes revolutionary VR/XR hardware and software that together allow you to see and experience virtual and augmented content just as clearly as you see the analogue world around us. Its virtual and mixed reality technology takes you to another level of performance and emotional immersion — recreating the exact feeling and conditions of real life, allowing you to perform better and learn faster.

Quelle:

https://www.eib.org/en/press/all/2021-436-finnish-metaverse-company-varjo-receives-eur20-million-in-financing-from-eib

6. Dezember 2021 0 comment

Knowledge Research

XR Trends to Watch In 2022

Unity Developer Rob Farthing and App Developer Chris Hull delve into the development trends coming to XR.

As the embodied XR technologies (VR, AR, and MR) have emerged out of their infancy over the past few years, the corresponding terminology and its correct application has become bewildering for many. Only recently has the term XR become pertinent as the three platforms have begun to conform making each of them less discernible.

For example, Project Cambria, the codename for Meta’s (previously Facebook) MR hardware, is continuously being classified as either AR, VR, or MR depending on the article or publication. For this reason, it is becoming more difficult for businesses and the public to decide on suitable technology for their purposes and to understand the strengths and limitations of each, especially with each technology constantly evolving.

In this article, we will explore seven XR trends that have been taking shape over the past year to be the top trends in not only 2022, but within the long-term future of AR, VR and MR.

Machine Learning

With AR reaching a stage of relative maturity in both device reach and development tools, there are still many areas that AR is continuing to improve to make it more useful. Mainly with the advancement of machine learning, we are beginning to see its use in AR to improve detection of environments and objects within those environments.

It wouldn’t be too outlandish to predict that eventually, AR will become a redundant term for describing how a smartphone can track a room. Instead, smartphones will actually be ‘smart’ phones which fully understand where they are at all times without any need for the user to scan floors or wave their phone around. The security implications of this of course are massive but it is mainly up to the creators to be transparent about what data is and isn’t collected.

*Google’s real-time face and body tracking; Source: Google*

Full-Body Tracking

We are also seeing significant advancements in AR with full-body tracking, something which is important to ensure that digital content is not always overlapping other people in the space; for both safety and immersion reasons. This begins to allow new possibilities such as overlaying clothing realistically on people and avatars that blend in among people realistically.

Contact-Free Mixed Reality

Out of the current mainstream XR technologies, mixed reality is possibly the least well-known due in part to the hardware costs and practical applications. What it does offer, however, is a glimpse of how the future might look. MR can offer a seamless computer-generated overlay on reality and is entirely hands-free when using gestures. In a society that is cautious about contact and hygienic practices, this offers a lot of advantages and we are seeing many examples already within exhibition halls and tradeshows.

There are a couple of issues at the moment that limit the technology with one of the common complaints being the field of view, but hardware companies are tackling this issue each year with it being one of the primary selling points of new hardware. We may see MR subsume AR in the future, and with the two technologies offering a similar end product over the next year, it is reasonable to expect heavier development focus on MR technologies.

All-In-One VR

Virtual reality has existed for decades even manifesting itself in impractical forms such as Nintendo’s Virtual Boy from 1995. Consistent gripes have been field-of-view, nausea from sensory deprivation, and no true practicality though there has been an increased usage in remote training, education, and communication in recent years.

We have also seen the emergence of all-in-one VR headsets, such as the Oculus Quest 2, mobile compatible headsets such as the VIVE Flow as well as peripheral PC headsets that maximize hardware capabilities such as the VIVE Pro 2. All forms of VR are experimenting with gesture-based and wireless technology and we will, over the coming years, see which form of the technology the public adopts and in which use cases specialist requirements manifest themselves.

Going Wireless

With one of the principal avenues for the latest hardware deployments being tradeshows and conferences alongside the changes, the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced to society, gesture technology and hologram technology have seen an unanticipated boost in development with the desire for contactless interactive experiences being greater than ever.

All XR platforms are seeing more gesture-based interaction introduced, such as Ultraleap, as well as more wireless technology integration, such as HTC’s wireless adapter for their VR headsets, and you can expect this trend to continue over the next few years as we will see fewer wires, controllers and physical limitations.

The Metaverse

Another term fairly new to this growing tech space is the ‘metaverse’, the promise of a connected digital space where realities overlap. Most recently brought to the spotlight by Facebook through their evolution into ‘Meta’ and proposed to not require specific hardware, anyone will be able to connect to the metaverse. Not restricted to specific hardware, anyone will be able to connect to the metaverse. But what does it really take for it to all work, and for us to get to that point?

*Metaverse Digital Avatars from Meta; Source: Meta*

We have OpenXR from Khronos Group, a common standard for virtual reality and augmented reality applications to support any suitable hardware, however, this solution is still in its infancy and has not yet become the default target for AR/VR apps.

Friction in using VR/AR needs to be reduced, users need to be educated on how to scan and detect surfaces in their physical space to orient themselves, and controller layouts need to be learned. Due to there being many different ways of interacting within VR still being tested out, hand tracking is still experimental for most headsets and controllers are often associated more commonly with VR gaming.

Cross-Application Content

It is still not simple to port content between different applications either due to the use of different data structures and/or code languages (the underlying structure of the application). We are starting to see some adoption of more open file formats such as glTF and USD, both created by Khronos Group and Pixar respectively.

In order to unify the types of experiences, we are using on these platforms, providing access to them regardless of what devices we own is paramount to broadening the reach of immersive experiences. We still have a way to go before XR is as ubiquitous as mobile phones, but by the time we get there, the content and applications we use will be more capable of supporting user-generated content and interaction methods.

Given the current worldwide hardware shortages, this almost feels like a setback on the road to the metaverse, but it also allows more time for the hardware engineers to make the next generations of these devices more user-friendly and comfortable to wear for extended periods.

Quelle:

XR Trends to Watch In 2022

3. Dezember 2021 0 comment

Knowledge Research

Arvizio Immerse 3D Review: Intuitive Cross Platform Visualisation Tools

Access to Powerful MR and AR Models

The next generation of extended reality (XR) experience is dependent on developers and designers having access to the right platforms and tools.

The community of XR creators need to be able to access, build, and share the 3D models to populate our XR future. Which is why solutions like the Arvizio Immerse 3D are often seen as so beneficial.

Arvizio Immerse 3D offers creatives a suite of augmented and mixed reality tools to help with the optimisation and sharing of complex 3D models. This technology enables the introduction of 3D models on a variety of mobile devices and headsets.

What’s more, with the platform, designers can also include a host of project data points, documents, and images within their augmented or mixed reality experience.

Arvizio Immerse 3D allows teams unlock AR and MR experiences in collaborative environments without developing custom application software from scratch. Let’s take a closer look.

Arvizio Immerse 3D Review: Features

Created for a future where immersive XR experiences will likely define much of what we do in work and life, Arvizio Immerse 3D paves the way to digital transformation. With this system, users can share and interact with AR and MR 3D models using collaborative platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

You can transform your virtual meetings by conducting and planning review sessions of BIM, CAD, and other 3D model formats, and use AR digital twins in a synced experience with mobile devices or headsets. Creative designers can quickly and intelligently bring their 3D creations to life in the environments where they commonly interact with colleagues.

Features include:

Support for multiple mobile devices and headsets
3D model syncing for collaborative sessions
Integrations with Zoom and Microsoft Teams
Support for CAD, BIM and other popular 3D models
AR digital twin creation
Multi-user access
Hybrid rendering for mesh models and point clouds
Real-time session and sharing solutions
Project documents, IoT data, and image sharing
Multi-party synced 3D experiences
Local and remote model markup
Measurement and alignment tools
Multi-user collaboration with avatars and audio bridging

As companies in the energy, AEC, industrial design, and manufacturing sectors continue to work more extensively with AR and MR technology on digital twin experiences, Arvizio’s Immerse 3D solution is sure to explore.

The solution offers end-users access to an industry-leading hybrid rendering experience, with 3D model optimisation features which allow users to conduct 3D multi-user reviews, on-site model alignment planning, and interactive web meetings with shared 3D models in AR.

Arvizio Immerse 3D Review: Benefits

With support for Apple iPhone and iPad devices, Android smartphones and tablets, Magic Leap, and the Microsoft HoloLens headset, Arvizio Immerse is wonderfully flexible.

The solution allows users to bring all kinds of content into AR and MR experiences, enabling better collaboration between teams and quicker innovation in a host of environments.

In today’s world, where more professionals will be working remotely with staff distributed around the globe, solutions like Arvizio Immerse have the power to transform product development forever.

With Arvizio’s Immerse 3D system, users can easily share and interact with 3D models in the environments they already use to connect with colleagues, like Zoom and Teams. Some of the most significant benefits of Arivizio Immerse 3D include:

3D model syncing: Using Immerse 3D, users can select models on the Arvizio Director platform, and share 3D models in collaborative environments like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. During the collaborative sessions, participants can review and annotate models in the AR space, and information will automatically sync for all users. At the end of the meeting, you can also have 3D models automatically erase themselves for privacy purposes.
Convenient collaboration: As teams continue to work in a more distributed and hybrid environment, the ability to interact seamlessly over tools like Zoom and Microsoft Teams with AR and MR content is incredible. You can bring multiple stakeholders together in an interactive environment, and anyone can get involved thanks to the system’s highly flexible integration with a range of Android, Apple, and MR devices.
Versatility: Within Arvizio Immerse 3D, designers and creative professionals will have access to all the tools they need for the optimisation of complex 3D models. You can access hybrid rendering features for mesh models and point clouds, and upload content in a range of formats, including LiDAR, BIM, and CAD. There’s also the option to integrate project documents, IoT data, and images for greater context.
Accuracy: In any environment, accurate models are often the key to better outcomes. The Arvizio Immerse 3D space provides users with the ability to share and interact with 3D models in AR using measurement and alignment tools to ensure everything adds up perfectly. No matter where teams are interacting, or which devices they’re using, they’ll get the same amazing experience.

Who Needs Arvizio Immerse 3D?

Arvizio Immerse 3D is a powerful solution for the modern workplace, where design and creativity need to happen at a rapid pace. With the ability to interact with and manipulate 3D models in AR across channels like Microsoft Teams and Zoom, engineers, project teams, and a host of other staff members can work more intuitively together.

Arvizio Immerse 3D is an excellent example of how the AR and MR environment can help to align employees on a deeper level over product creation strategies, even when they’re working remotely.

Arvizio Immerse 3D Review: Verdict

Powerful, adaptable, and easy to use, Arvizio Immerse 3D is rapidly bringing teams from the industrial design, manufacturing, engineering, and energy environments into the new age of digital transformation. Any company planning on using augmented or mixed reality to update their product creation cycles can definitely benefit from this technology.

With the ability to experiment with and explore 3D product models like never before, companies will be able to complete tasks faster and discover new possibilities for design optimisation. This is a fantastic step in the right direction for the future of industrial design.

Quelle:

Arvizio Immerse 3D Review: Intuitive Cross Platform Visualisation Tools

1. Dezember 2021 0 comment

Examples

Transformational Impact of XR Technologies on Medical Education

The growing body of evidence (Radianti et al., 2020; Zweifach and Triola, 2019; Andrews et al., 2019) supports the claim that extended reality (XR) technologies can improve learning. Unsurprisingly, the use of these technologies in medical education is increasing. XR technologies enable learners in medical education to thoroughly understand complex concepts in challenging subjects like medical anatomy through stereoscopic visualization of 3D models. The accessibility to medical training then becomes broad-based and flexible. The ever-growing demand for learner-centred pedagogy cemented XR technologies’ position in the medical curriculum as imperative. Yet, the use of XR (virtual, augmented, or mixed reality) in the medical course curricula is less prominent than that in the clinical skills practice.

Simulation and VR technology adoption in the medical classroom and technological innovation in medical education was long underway. Yet, it took a global pandemic to accelerate the incorporation of online learning in the curriculum. It brought digital learning platforms to the forefront and helped improve technologies such as XR. The key aspects that make XR technologies compatible with the needs of medical educators are the seamless integration, immersiveness, adaptability and interactivity of these technologies.

The use of XR technologies can have an application beyond the school or university classrooms. It can also enhance the health professionals’ medical practices by informing and educating their patients.

No longer can medical education institutions and health professionals ignore XR technologies in providing their services.

3D Organon: Solving Challenges in Medical Education

3D Organon’s multi-award-winning software platform has transformed learning and teaching in medical sciences and anatomy. It is currently available in 15 languages. The software allows hands-on remote delivery of 3D anatomy sessions by educators. The audiences receiving the session are able to interact in real-time across desktop, mobile, and virtual reality devices.

3D Organon embraces all the cutting-edge technologies in the XR ecosystem. We use immersive learning and teaching technologies for the knowledge and skills development, virtual, augmented, and mixed reality for an increase in students’ motivation and learner engagement. While the use of images, animations, and definitions on their own devices allows learners for self-directed study from home.

At the core of 3D Organon lies the student-centred pedagogy, achieved by increasing opportunities for students to participate in experiential, self-directed learning on campus and beyond. It also provides opportunities for interactivity, problem-solving skill development, collaboration and connectivity.

Experiential learning

Experiential learning is based on the creation of knowledge and meaning from real-life experiences (Smith, 2016). In the context of medical education, the term is most commonly applied to ‘learning on the job’ primarily available to graduates or nearly graduates. At lower educational levels, experiential learning is costly and operationally challenging. XR corrects these limitations by giving users the freedom to explore knowledge and environments through means not usually afforded to them by traditional learning methods. Be it from the early stages of their learning journey in medical school, or even before, in the science classroom.

The in-built 3D Organon multi-modal dynamics promote experiential learning through a discovery journey into the anatomical structures and concepts. The 3D Organon software can complement any technology-enhanced curriculum. This is due to an extensive and regularly updated 3D anatomy model database, designed by medical professionals with precision and aesthetics. The extensive and thorough knowledge of anatomy is the building block of highly skilled healthcare professionals.

3D Organon applications unfold high-resolution and highly detailed 3D models that fulfil fundamental technical and educational requirements of medical education. That is, covering more than 10,000 anatomical structures organized in 15 body systems, and over 550 detailed animations of body actions of muscles and organs. The 2021 edition of 3D Organon includes a variety of features:

Four different environments
Microscopic anatomy models
Clinical anatomy USMLE-style quizzes/formative assessments
Cadaveric images
AR mode
Bone mapping of anatomical landmarks
Slicing and pathological tools
X-ray mode
3D painting, and
360 video capture.

The 2022 edition is coming with even more exciting features and functions to employ.

Self-directed learning

Self-directed learning in health professions education has been researched primarily in the context of life-long learning, where gains in knowledge, skills and attitudes depend on participants’ profiles. Self-direction is strongly associated with learner-centred pedagogies (Moate and Cox, 2015). It is noted that when individuals can learn at their own pace and in their own space, the increased motivation, self-actualization and self-fulfilment are achieved. Also, the opportunity for self-directed learning during university studies equips students with the necessary skills for life-long learning.

3D Organon encourages self-directed learning in multiple ways. Students can access the whole database of 3D models, images, animations, formative assessments, and definitions at the institution, or during their study off-campus. The students can also test their knowledge with a suite of clinical anatomy interactive quiz questions. The videos can be post-processed and delivered to students to facilitate their self-directed learning in their own space.

Interactivity

People learn better by doing. Yet, we understand even better and faster when interacting realistically and entertainingly. A recent study by Kyaw et al. (2019) looked at the role of virtual reality in medical education. It showed that the high levels of interactivity were associated with better knowledge and skills acquisition.

3D Organon allows users to manipulate bones, muscles, vessels, organs, and other anatomical structures in an immersive 3D space. The participants can change the axis of the body from vertical to horizontal, walk around the model, get in and out of the structures, swap within four different environments, including new mixed reality. The textual information and definitions have been written by anatomy experts and serve the utmost teaching and training principles.

Immersion

Immersion enabled through 3D learning environments, allows for the reproduction of reality and supports user engagement in ways that traditional educational models cannot achieve. Immersive technologies empower participants to explore new knowledge, practise problem-solving skills, collaborate and connect. Several studies have indicated that monitored levels of immersion improve learning outcomes.

3D Organon’s VR environment strengthens the human cognitive architecture and cultivates the ground for mental associations to occur. These benefits are achieved by energizing the brain’s ability to encode, store and retrieve information quickly. Active exposure to stereoscopic 3D visualization, audio presentations, engaging participation in problem-solving activities, the interaction between participants and note-taking, are knowledge-building mechanisms. These mechanisms are highly conducive to deeper immersion. Hence, the enhanced schematic processing, better-structured information intake, and higher comprehension of depth cues are attained while the learning environment becomes optimized for efficient learning.

The 3D pictures used in the 3D Organon’s software can help to create powerful memory cues that trigger associations with essential information and definitions while aiding long-term memory retention. At the same time, learners’ interest for more engagement and interaction is aroused. It is worthwhile to note that the3D Painting toolkit encourages student creativity as well.

3D Organon’s impact beyond classroom

Beyond the classroom, 3D Organon has to make a significant contribution to the doctor-patient relationship. Studies have shown that over 60% of patients do not understand essential information about their treatment plans, and 44% do not know the exact nature of their operation. Healthcare professionals can easily demonstrate basic anatomy with 3D Organon to enhance patient education and improve treatment outcomes.

3D Organon is empowering patient-centred medicine by helping doctors explain the appearance, position, and relationships of body structures to patients. It bridges the knowledge gap between patients and doctors and allows patients to make informed decisions. The Pain Effect toolkit helps health professionals to place coloured glowing spheres at the custom locations onto anatomical structures and organs. It allows health professionals to demonstrate points where patients are experiencing pain. Clinicians also use the tumour growth tool to educate and show the patients how their cancer is developing and where it is going to spread onto the tissues and organs.

Conclusion

The 3D model visualization appears to enhance pedagogy, including pre-clinical teaching and patient education. The Covid-19 pandemic obliged educators to switch online by transferring class-based teaching curricula onto the digital learning platforms. Issues of content relevance, student motivation, engagement, choice of modality, and social collaboration activities have been some of the many challenges educators and students are facing during this forced transition.

Quelle:

Transformational Impact of XR Technologies on Medical Education

The article is also published on AIXR.org.

23. November 2021 0 comment

Examples

HP Builds XR Printer Tool on Microsoft’s HoloLens 2

The global tech giant has developed the world’s first printing solution for mixed reality (MR) headsets

US tech firm Hewlett-Packard (HP) has launched a new extrended reality (XR) printing service for Microsoft’s HoloLens 2, it announced on Wednesday.

The partnership between both firms will allow further investment and development of printing services for XR devices by allowing customers to link with HP engineers for technical printer advice.

HP’s xRServicves solution will also provide HoloLens 2 headset users with a virtual coach to avoid long service calls and facilitate rapid troubleshooting processes to minimise industrial printer downtimes.

The new solution is currently in beta and compatible with all HP industrial printers for troubleshooting issues with HP engineers, where headset users can receive guided instructions and relay key information to the company using its Print OSx operating system.

The new solution aims to reduce face-to-face meetings and travel for companies, boost support for customers for troubleshooting walkthroughs at any time, and faster onboarding processes for workers.

Tracy Galloway, Corporate Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Microsoft, said Microsoft’s MR solution would offer a “tangible mechanism” to drive the “changing landscape of human interaction, adding,

“HP and Microsoft working together on reinventing services was a clear winning formula. We are confident HP’s xRServices, and Microsoft’s HoloLens2 and Remote Assist applications, will bring simplicity and ease to HP’s support operations and will be a catalyst for positive change in customer support throughout the industry”

Haim Levit, General Manager for HP Indigo and WW Industrial Go to Market, added the rapid rise in digital printing caused customers to have less for service calls and incrased production runs.

He continued, stating,

“The way we deliver services in this ever evolving business and work environment is changing fast, and working with Microsoft on this project was a common-sense solution. We are redefining services for the industry, by providing our customers with a solution which not only saves them time, but optimizes their revenue opportunities”

His company would continue building innovative industry solutions and work with customers to meet production needs in “the virtual and physical worlds.”

Growth of XR Remote Assistance Solutions

Several companies, including Benson Integrated Marketing Solutions and Fujiplus Inc, tested the new solution, with the former stating it had streamlined maintenance and repairs, and reduced downtime for clients, and the latter stating it had allowed the company to “get to the root cause of issues very quickly.”

The announcement comes as several firms revealed similar solutions, including Taqtile, who expanded support for its Manifest remote assistance solution for Magic Leap, HoloLens, and RealWear devices.

Sydney-based TNA Solutions, a food packaging and distribution firm, received a fleet of HoloLens 2 headsets in August to conduct remote visits and offer technical support to workers amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis to reduce equipment downtime and avoid maintenance issues for the company.

Quelle:

HP Builds XR Printer Tool on Microsoft’s HoloLens 2

19. November 2021 0 comment

Knowledge Software/Apps

Nextech AR Launches ‘ARitize’ Metaverse Studio

The Canadian company has fully entered the rush to build the Metaverse with new SaaS solutions

Nextech AR Solutions announced on Tuesday plans to launch a software-as-a-service (SaaS) Metaverse Studio software development kit (SDK) to allow clients and customers build their own metaverses.

The company’s Aritise Metaverse Studio will upgrade the Canadian firm’s ARway Studio to boost technologies to build the developing Metaverse industry, as well as interoperability with other platforms such as Snap’s Lens Studio, Meta’s AR Spark Studio, Apple’s Reality Composer, and many others. Aritize Metaverse Studio

Aritize Metaverse Studio. PHOTO: Nextech AR

Nextech’s aims to release the studio as a SaaS solution in the first quarter of 2022, allowing customers to access 3D assets and create AR-powered experiences to publish on the Metaverse in all formats, the company said.

Additional features include 3D and AR content as well as point cloud map management to build localisation for virtual experiences, which users can update in real-time.

The firm’s new studio also facilitated 3D and AR content at the Ryerson University Campus to build onsite mini-metaverses with its proprietary HoloX human hologram creation integrated on Microsoft HoloLens headsets, AR wayfinding, and AR Lab Builder, and other tools

Such use cases will also allow designers and content creators to build Metaverse experiences at facilities such as universities, museums, airports, and others, where designers can create spatial maps on the ARway app or via Nextech AR’s SDK, it added.

The new kit will also allow content creators to import AR content from other platforms to Nextech’s Metaverse Studio for increased interoperability. The solution, which has earned support from more than 600 developers globally, has exceeded 60 spatial maps and begun earning revenues.

The Vancouver-based firm also said it planned to monetise the platform with a monthly subscription to replace its managed service fee.

The news follows a McKinsey & Co report, which found over 50 percent of respondants stated they preferred hybrid work to in-office routines, evidencing growing demand for Metaverse solutions.

Nima Sarshar, Nextech AR’s Chief Technology Officer, explained that engineering teams had worked hard to “ensure a seamless, end-to-end SaaS solution” for customers following her company’s acquisitions of ARway and Threedly.ai.

She continued, stating: “We are excited to announce that we are on track to achieve our ultimate goal.”

Evan Gappelberg, Nextech AR’s Chief Executive, added he was pleased with the rapid development and rollout of the SaaS platform as the firm positioned itself in front of the “megatrend of the [Metaverse] and augmented reality.”

He added,

“We are one of the only AR companies who currently have technology that is disruptive, scalable and offered as a SaaS solution. I’m proud of the team for being able to achieve this first to market Metaverse Studio which I believe will open the floodgates, allowing anyone to create their own mini-metaverses.”

The developments come after the Canadian firm developed a mini-Metaverse for the City of London, using its new SDK tools, for Culture Mile and Brookfield Properties.

The ‘Harmony at London Wall Place’ project created AR artworks featuring massive visuals and music using from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as well as London Symphony Orchestra for London’s iconic ‘Square Mile’.

A further partnership with US department store chain Kohls integrated Nextech AR’s technolgies to build AR content to improve customer experiences.

Quelle:

Nextech AR Launches ‘ARitize’ Metaverse Studio

18. November 2021 0 comment

Examples

5 Higher-Ed Programs Using XR to Transform How College Students Learn

Colleges and universities are using virtual and augmented reality in courses that range from human anatomy to media as a way to make education more immersive and inclusive.

Instead of reaching for scalpels, medical school students at Colorado State University’s Clapp Lab reach for virtual reality (VR) headsets, which dangle from the ceiling of the 2,500 square foot facility. Once students don their devices — each of which is connected to a high-powered HP workstation — they begin the day’s “patient examinations.”

Dissecting entire human cadavers in VR allows students to zoom into and explore body parts on a cellular level. “It’s a much more efficient and intuitive way to display and learn from this type of data,” says Tod Clapp, associate professor of biomedical sciences and the director of human anatomy at CSU. In internal surveys, 87% of students who have taken CSU’s distance anatomy class say VR has helped them understand spatial relationships better than traditional two-dimensional resources. Spatial cognition is particularly crucial in medicine, helping doctors understand everything from where a patient’s organs are located to how anatomical structures are connected.

According to Inside Higher Ed, the last five years have seen a “significant increase” in educational institutions using XR — “extended reality,” a term that encompasses both virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR). Studies conducted by Educause, a nonprofit that advances higher education via information technology, suggest that XR promotes engagement, exposes students to new and impactful content, and deepens their interactions with complex concepts.

HP is a long-time advocate of bringing XR technologies into higher-ed environments, partnering with Educause in their Campus of the Future program, which identifies use cases for XR in college and university classrooms. In 2017, HP also launched the HP Applied Research Network, an initiative that helps more than 20 educational institutions implement XR technologies. HP is one of the sponsors of Educause’s upcoming annual conference, to be held in-person in Philadelphia and online October 26-29.

“Concepts that are difficult to master in a ‘flat’ world — out of a book or looking at a chalkboard — are often much better suited for a 3D approach,” says Paul Martin, HP distinguished technologist emeritus, who spent 36 years at the company before retiring this year. “XR is going to be crucial for future educational experiences.”

Distance learning in VR

On top of helping students wrap their heads around complex concepts, the pandemic highlighted another practical use case for XR: giving homebound students an immersive, engaging experience, even when they can’t be in the classroom.

When the CSU campus closed in March 2020, the Clapp Lab purchased 125 HP laptops and shipped them, along with VR headsets, to students. They’ve kept this technology on hand and deployed it for home use as classrooms have reopened.

Clapp and other educators at CSU are now working on initiatives to bring this type of learning to underserved students and those who live in rural areas or have trouble commuting to campus.

“VR makes distance irrelevant — you can have access to experts from anywhere, and you feel like you’re talking to them face to face,” says Clapp.

Building community and critical thinking skills

In-person learning also benefits from advanced VR capabilities. At Florida International University (FIU), incoming students learn strategies to forge connections and adapt to new environments in a virtual experience called “COMMUNITY VR,” part of FIU’s First-Year Experience course.

Participating students enter a virtual, Everglades-style scene, only to immediately notice water rising around them. To avoid becoming completely submerged, small groups must work together to build structures out of blocks in VR. The exercise is designed to help students grasp the four “Cs” necessary to thrive in a university setting: creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication skills.

“The VR experience can provide an important analogy to the university experience itself,” says John Stuart, an associate dean for cultural and community engagement at FIU. In the same way as VR is an unfamiliar environment for many people, being on a university campus can be daunting for first-timers. Students have to work together and get creative to keep their heads above water.

Exploring XR storytelling

At the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, center director Megan Elliott helped craft a curriculum focused on how XR might impact the future of live theater and the stage, among other disciplines. Some courses, taught by computer science and emerging media arts professors, involve using motion-capture and body data from dancers as a way to control avatars, sound, lighting, and visual effects in a live performance.

When the pandemic struck, Carson Center faculty and students used virtual collaboration software Mozilla Hubs to move the coursework online, re-creating the Johnny Carson Center virtually in just two weeks.

Like Clapp, Elliott sees serious potential for XR as a way to connect students from around the globe — including historically excluded communities — to top-tier learning institutions and experiences.

“We’re really interested in our students becoming facile with both real-time creativity and real-time collaboration in virtual worlds,” she says.

Evaluating the influence of media in XR

At Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, Associate Professor T. Makana Chock is conducting research on storytelling in XR.

“My research looks at the potential effects of extended reality,” she says. “How are people processing messages or information that they receive in XR? And what are the effects of that type of content on people’s attitudes and beliefs?”

The ability to quantify some of these data points through biometric sensors, a feature of the HP Reverb G2 Omnicept devices that Chock uses in her research, could be a game changer. The devices capture data on eye movement, heart rate, and facial movements, allowing her to understand how people react to immersive experiences and design for new avenues of interactivity.

So far, Chock’s research has found that XR tends to create greater levels of presence and immersion among users. It also seems to heighten emotional responses, which in turn can lead to more pronounced changes in attitudes. But results are dependent upon a person’s own experiences and biases, Chock explains. And if content is too complex, it can result in cognitive overload or become emotionally overwhelming.

One major issue that needs to be addressed before XR can be widely used for social justice, Chock notes, is accessibility. “The pandemic created a greater awareness of the opportunities for the use of XR in education, but I think it also revealed some of the current limitations — some of which are technological and will be addressed in time, but others that are social, [like access and racial/gender equity],” she says.

Synthesizing a more inclusive future

At Columbia University’s Computer Music Center, the oldest electronic music research facility in the Western Hemisphere, those social issues are top of mind. The center houses one of the world’s largest collections of historical analog synthesizers and hosts classes like “Introduction to Digital Music,” “Sound: Foundations,” and “History and Practice of Electronic Music.” This last one is especially pertinent to access and racial equity.

“The history of experimental sound includes a great many women and people who are nonbinary or have non-White/male/hetero/cis backgrounds, but their stories tend to get buried,” says Suzanne Thorpe, a Mellon teaching fellow and lecturer at the Music Center.

Seth Cluett, assistant director of Columbia’s Computer Music Center is leading an initiative to use VR and AR to give students an opportunity to play and record using the center’s synthesizers and devices without actually touching the vintage hardware, which can be intimidating to novices.

“What we’ve tried to emphasize is that there is no boundary; there’s no difference,” says Cluett, referring to the difference between the virtual and physical experiences. “It is only understanding what kind of embodied physical gesture, action, or behavior you want to have control over a sonic result.”

They also use the data-capture abilities of the HP Omnicept headset to understand how students feel when they’re introduced to the historic collection. The HP Omnicept’s sensors provide insight into where students’ eyes go, for example, or what causes them stress, giving Cluett and Thorpe information they can use to design an experience that makes students feel more comfortable working with the physical devices.

“[We hope this work] might encourage those who feel hesitant because they’ve never seen ‘themselves’ represented, historically or culturally, in those kinds of environments,” Thorpe says.

Quelle:

Foto: JOHN EISELE Biomedical students at Colorado State University’s Clapp Lab work in VR with a chest CT data set to learn structural relationships.

https://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/731236-5-higher-ed-programs-using-xr-transform-how-college-students-learn

16. November 2021 0 comment