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Moreover, the Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Aerospace report offers a detailed analysis of the competitive landscape in terms of regions and the major service providers are also highlighted along with attributes of the market overview, business strategies, financials, developments pertaining as well as the product portfolio of the Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Aerospace market. Likewise, this report comprises significant data about market segmentation on the basis of type, application, and regional landscape. The Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Aerospace market report also provides a brief analysis of the market opportunities and challenges faced by the leading service provides. This report is specially designed to know accurate market insights and market status.

By Regions:

* North America (The US, Canada, and Mexico)

* Europe (Germany, France, the UK, and Rest of the World)

* Asia Pacific (China, Japan, India, and Rest of Asia Pacific)

* Latin America (Brazil and Rest of Latin America.)

* Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, , South Africa, and Rest of Middle East & Africa)

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Table of Content

1 Introduction of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Aerospace Market

1.1 Overview of the Market1.2 Scope of Report1.3 Assumptions

2 Executive Summary

3 Research Methodology

3.1 Data Mining3.2 Validation3.3 Primary Interviews3.4 List of Data Sources

4 Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Aerospace Market Outlook

4.1 Overview4.2 Market Dynamics4.2.1 Drivers4.2.2 Restraints4.2.3 Opportunities4.3 Porters Five Force Model4.4 Value Chain Analysis

5 Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Aerospace Market, By Deployment Model

5.1 Overview

6 Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Aerospace Market, By Solution

6.1 Overview

7 Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Aerospace Market, By Vertical

7.1 Overview

8 Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Aerospace Market, By Geography

8.1 Overview8.2 North America8.2.1 U.S.8.2.2 Canada8.2.3 Mexico8.3 Europe8.3.1 Germany8.3.2 U.K.8.3.3 France8.3.4 Rest of Europe8.4 Asia Pacific8.4.1 China8.4.2 Japan8.4.3 India8.4.4 Rest of Asia Pacific8.5 Rest of the World8.5.1 Latin America8.5.2 Middle East

9 Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Aerospace Market Competitive Landscape

9.1 Overview9.2 Company Market Ranking9.3 Key Development Strategies

10 Company Profiles

10.1.1 Overview10.1.2 Financial Performance10.1.3 Product Outlook10.1.4 Key Developments

11 Appendix

11.1 Related Research

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A new virtual reality device gives users another sense when it comes to VR experiences: touch. It was developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University.

Cathy Fang, a CMU mechanical engineering and human-computer interaction student, said her dream scenarios for how the tech could be used include high-fiving game characters and virtual furniture shopping.

Virtual reality has come a long way in presenting an experience that looks and sounds real. But once users stick their hand through a wall, spatial awareness returns and actual reality sets in. By working with the headset software, Fang said Wireality takes the theater of VR a step further.

"Not only would it allow me to feel like some person's in front of me, I can also interact with them in a 'physical' way," she said.

Wireality works by attaching the users hands, wrists and fingers to a spring-loaded string mechanism that uses a motion sensor to communicate with the VR headset. When a user's hand comes up against a virtual object, the strings locknot unlike the way a car seatbelt stops when a driver hits the break.

It doesnt use a motor, which Fang said sets it apart from other similar devices in development.

Most of the parts that we use for the current design are all off-the-shelf components, Fang said. Parts that need to be customized can be 3-D printed or laser cut.

There isnt yet a timeline for when the device could be available to the market, but according to Fang, Wireality would weigh about 10 ounces and cost less than $50.

The device stops short of letting users pick up objects and feel texture in the virtual world, but Fang said combining this tech with other touch tech would create a fuller virtual reality experience.

WESA receives funding from Carnegie Mellon University.

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CMU Tech Enables Users To High Five And Touch Solid Surfaces In Virtual Reality - 90.5 WESA

Haptics have come a long way, but virtual reality remains primarily a visual and auditory medium. New technology points to more immersive solutions that simulate the feeling of hard objects, but it also suggests that virtual reality might, for the near future at least, be a cumbersome technology that's not easy to integrate into the lives of the average consumer.

The research comes out of Carnegie Mellon, a leading fount of breakthroughs in human-machine-interface technologies, which have applications in fields like robotics and immersive reality. The device in question uses multiple strings attached to a user's hand to simulate the feel of obstacles and heavy objects.

It's a novel application. The hard stop we feel when our fingers land on a wall or bang into a hard object is a familiar sensation that up until now hasn't been replicable in virtual reality. Instead developers have gotten by with substitutions, most commonly in the form of haptics that give a jolting vibration to warn a user they've gone plum through a wall.

The strings are capable of locking, forming a hard stop for the fingers. More nuanced applications include feeling the curvature of 3D objects or sensing resistance and give when nudging something that moves.

"Elements such as walls, furniture, and virtual characters are key to building immersive virtual worlds, and yet contemporary VR systems do little more than vibrate hand controllers," says Chris Harrison, assistant professor in CMU's Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII), who worked with a team of CMU researchers and students on the device.

The machine uses spring-loaded strings, which reduce weight, consume less battery power, and keep costs low. Co-authors Harrison, along with mechanical engineering and human-computer interaction student Cathy Fang, Robotics Institute engineer Matthew Dworman, and HCII doctoral student Yang Zhang, found the shoulder-mounted device was more realistic than other haptic techniques according to user feedback.

"I think the experience creates surprises, such as when you interact with a railing and can wrap your fingers around it," Fang said. "It's also fun to explore the feel of irregular objects, such as a statue."

Strings have been used by other researchers to create tactile feedback, but typically those solutions are power intensive and rely on motors to control the strings. That makes the resulting devices bulky and expensive.

"The downside to motors is they consume a lot of power," Fang said. "They also are heavy."

The CMU device, which uses spring-loaded retractors like the ones in key chains or ID badges, use minimal power, leading to a device that weighs less than 10 ounces and costs less than $50.

Still, a shoulder-mounted wearable may be a tall order for most at-home applications. Virtual reality already suffers from a gear-overload problem that's contributed to slower than expected market adoption and its near perpetual status as being "on the cusp" of breaking through and finding a sizable customer base.

That's not to say there won't be excellent uses for devices derived from the CMU team's research. Those include controls applications where a VR-enabled user is piloting a robot, for example. Fang also said the system would be a good match for virtual museums or virtual shopping, where feeling a piece of furniture, say, could add value to the experience.

Read more:

Ready to "feel" solid walls in virtual reality? - ZDNet

Picture this: After a long day of work, you walk to your favorite bar and slide into the corner booth where your friends are waiting. Or, you and a coworker take an afternoon stroll down a busy street in the summer sun while talking about a new project.

Thanks to the coronavirus, this may seem impossible. But its not.

Forget happy hours, dance parties, and distance learning over video conferencing apps where everyone is two dimensional and talking over each other: Virtual reality may just be the new Zoom.

Self-isolating consumers looking for an alternative to flat screens have found that VR headsets are a way to stay connected with family and add a new dimension to working from home. VR manufacturers have seen huge spikes in headset sales in the last six weeks, some selling out completely, while chatrooms on multiplayer social VR platforms are filled with avatars around the clock.

Joanna Popper, the global head of virtual reality entertainment for HP, said the huge uptick in video conferencing platforms like Zoom also extends to virtual reality.

Our point of view at HP is that VR collaboration is part of the immersive computing future, Popper told Digital Trends. And right now that is accelerating faster than ever.

HP partners with dozens of companies looking to use its VR technology to train their workforce remotely during the pandemic and potentially after, too. Popper said industries like medicine, engineering, architecture, product design, real estate, and education have expressed an increased interest in VR not only because it can be essential for hands-on collaboration, but for visualization.

When you are learning in VR, you actually have the experience of doing, opposed to just someone talking to you, she said. Popper added that HP has seen a 90% retention rate after training its own printer technicians with VR.

And though VR can seem inaccessible to those who arent tech-savvy, Popper believes the coronavirus may have pushed immersive tech forward in a way that hasnt happened since headsets first hit the scene.

The way that I look at it is that we believed this trend was coming, but no ones business plan was contingent on a pandemic, Popper said. We see VR as this next way of computing, and there are pockets of location-based enterprises that have been the first movers, and the interest is being accelerated.

Nick Savarese a producer for Normal VR, which makes the multiplayer game Half +Half, available on Oculus Quest and Rift sees the same VR future.

When you are in VR with another person, even if they are not in the same room, there is something about sharing the virtual space with someone that lights up the entire experience, he said.

Savarese said having a set narrative in VR helps move conversations along and makes collaboration easier.

Half +Half offers a handful of activities and virtual spaces where participants can float in an endless ocean, play hide and seek, bounce a ball back and forth, or fly around the sky with friends or strangers. And unlike Zoom, you never have to interact with an image of yourself only an avatar.

The number of online users has doubled on Half + Half since the pandemic began, according to Savarese. Normal VR has also been fielding many more inquiries from interested companies about its services.

But for some, there is still a barrier.

People feel like VR isnt for them, he said. Its been heavily marketed to the hardcore gamer market.

Most headsets nowadays, like Oculus, dont need a high-processing PC to work. Sets typically start in the three-figure range, are lightweight, cordless, and can be used from just about anywhere and thrown in a backpack. So if you, your friends, or your workplace are looking for a Zoom alternative where visualization is at the forefront, Savarese says looking into a headset may be the best place to start.

Its an important tool and less of a luxury now, said Savarese. Thats what is driving VR and AR forward into the mainstream.

Johanna Peace, a spokesperson for Facebook-owned Oculus, said the company does not disclose headset sales, but reported nearly $300 million in non-advertising revenue last Thursday, April 30, driven in large by Oculus-related products.

Peace said there has been less of a distinction between weekday and weekend use since stay-at-home orders were put in place a sign that people may be using VR for more than just gaming during downtime. Concerts and film festivals canceled by COVID-19 are now being pushed to VR as opposed to livestreams, as are big-name tech conferences.

She also said the most popular trend for Oculus Quest owners right now is the use of apps focused on socializing, working out, and relaxing, like NatureTreks VR, Beat Saber, and VRChat.

The coronavirus has brought in a lot more people into the VR world now, said Brandon, a Richmond, Virginia-based VRChat user who asked not to have his last name published. You do not need to have a VR Headset to play with people who have head-mounted displays, so lots of VR veterans urge their non-VR friends to come and hang out that way to make up for the lack of physical contact.

Brandon said hes been connecting with a lot more people without headsets in VRChat recently, and expects many will go out and buy one once shelter-in-place orders are lifted or once they become more widely available.

Twitter user BLUETOOTH told Digital Trends hes glad he invested in an Oculus Rift before the lockdowns started, and suspects many others who are using VR now will continue to do so even after quarantines are lifted.

Since using VRChat, hes found its easy to meet new friends.

I have friends Ive met in VRChat who Ive never met in person, and honestly, have no idea what they actually look like, he told Digital Trends. But thats okay, Im willing to suspend reality. Especially right now.

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Why virtual reality will be a must-have for our socially distanced future - Digital Trends

How a crisis propelled the art world into a new virtual reality

In the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, galleries and art fairs have seen virtual reality rapidly transform from a creative testing ground to the status quo

In that happier alternate reality where Covid-19 had not sprout and spread, or was at least contained and quashed, the art industrys travelling circus would this week have pitched up in New York and made a fantastic spectacle of itself. There wont now be spectacle or socialising. There will though be a fair of sorts and, crucially for Frieze and its gallery clients, sales.

The Frieze New York team had been plotting a virtual version of the fair before the Covid-19 outbreak, a first for Frieze, and that has been smartly retooled. It was meant to be a nice addition to the physical fair, says Loring Randolph, director of Frieze New York, an opportunity for galleries to show off special projects or just pieces they couldnt physically show. But as soon as it became clear we would have to cancel the physical Frieze New York we just changed the whole structure and how you would look at the galleries. And it was really led by the galleries. What was planned as side-show is now the main, indeed only, event. We have essentially recreated all of the regular programming, Randolph says.

Mobile view of the Frieze Viewing Room. Courtesy of Frieze

Frieze Viewing Room is an augmented reality replacement fair with 200 galleries able to display 30 pieces apiece. Whats on offer is not a simulacra stroll from booth to booth but virtual visitors will be able to see pieces in virtual spaces. And if they are viewing on a smartphone, digitally install a piece in their own home.

Building up to this has felt almost exactly like the lead into the actual fair. There has been the same energy so I guess we must be doing something right

Randolph says the virtual fair will see the same flurry and flutter of sales, just that they will happen over the phone, e-mail, Zoom or similar. And that the launch of Frieze Viewing Room has generated the same levels of excitement and pre-fair jitters. Building up to this has felt almost exactly like the lead into the actual fair. There has been the same energy so I guess we must be doing something right.

As in other areas, the Covid-19 outbreak has accelerated and amplified existing trends. There was already a push, mostly from the galleries, to make the art fairs more digitally visible and accessible. And the now digital-only fairs are also making the market more transparent. Prices and price guides will be clearly marked for most of the works in the Frieze Viewing Room, as they were at the digital version of Art Basel Hong Kong earlier in the year. This will make life a lot easier for younger and first-time collectors perhaps too intimidated to even talk prices at physical fairs. It hasnt been that easy for a newer generation of collectors trying to find things at a specific price point, admits Randolph. But now you can easily look for works that are less than $10,000, do a search and see everything available from every gallery thats participating in the fair. And actually, I get kind of addicted to looking at it because there is just more market transparency. We made sure that the price field shows up in the thumbnail images.

The major commercial galleries are also shifting their experiments in AR and VR from side-project to centre stage. Hauser & Wirth co-founder Iwan Wirth says he first started pushing experiments in VR two years ago. Or rather the gallerys artists started pushing him. We really started to be questioned and challenged by our artists. And then Paul McCarthy did some work with virtual reality that really blew me away. That was a real game-changer. And at the same time, Mark Bradford talked to me about VR as a tool for planning and visualising exhibitions. So last summer we created ArtLab, a kind of internal task force to look at digital innovation within the gallery.

ArtLab set out to create a new VR tool to help artists plan shows in specific Hauser & Wirth spaces. That tool though has been smartly turned outwards to become HWVR. Its first outing is a VR exhibition at Hauser & Wirths Menorca art centre, a Balearic take on Hauser & Wirth Somerset which is actually still under construction and wont open until next year.

Beside Itself, which includes virtual versions of works by Bradford, McCarthy, Louise Bourgeois, Jenny Holzer, Lorna Simpson and more, launched last week. Wirth says the gallerys new VR platform pulls together technologies usually used in architecture, construction and video-game design, building up VR imagery on a pixel-by-pixel basis. We arent re-inventing the wheel, says Wirth, but we have taken three technologies to build a new wheel.

At the end of March Oliver Miro, the son of London-based gallerist Victoria Miro, announced the launch of another extended reality art platform tagged Vortic. Three years in development, Vortic also promises a new level of viewer experience and offers galleries the chance to create new virtual gallery spaces, or have their own 3D-scanned, and create digital versions of physical exhibitions or digital-only exhibitions. Miro says galleries will even be able to create bespoke virtual exhibitions for individual collectors. The Vortic Collect app will allow collectors an AR view of exhibitions while Vortic VR will allow for a more immersive experience using Oculus VR headsets. The technology will have its first major showcase with a Vortic-only exhibition put together by Victoria Miro and David Zwirner launching next week.

A mockup of the Vortic Curate App showing a VR representation of Grayson Perrys exhibition Super Rich Interior Decoration at Victoria Miro. All works Grayson Perry, courtesy Victoria Miro. Picture: Vortic

Like Wirth, Miro hopes that VR technology will eventually help galleries cut down on shipping costs. And Miro suggests his new technology is convincing enough that collectors will make serious investments on the basis of Vortic-only viewing. As collectors become more comfortable with the digital viewing experience, I think they will be confident making acquisitions without seeing the artwork in person. Thats certainly the initial feedback weve had.

For now, Wirth isnt thinking of HWVR as a commercial tool, but simply as a way to take you somewhere new and different in a different way. And who doesnt need that right now? Were all increasingly frustrated with the online experience and Im no exception. And we dont for a second believe that this will replace anything, it just adds something. It gives an indication of where we might go with this, what this tool can do. But at the moment it is just a way to try and give people some joy.

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How a crisis propelled the art world into a new virtual reality - Wallpaper*

Facebook bet $2 billion on virtual reality back in 2014 when it bought Oculus VR, the startup that went from Silicon Valley darling to Facebook subsidiary in just a few short years.

The company has continued its commitment to VR in the years since, and its most successful product to date the $400 standalone Oculus Quest headset is reportedly getting a new version that's lighter and more powerful than its predecessor.

That's according to a new piece from Bloomberg, which reports that Facebook has several versions of the new Quest in the works. Facebook has yet to officially announce a new version of the Oculus Quest.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the price and release date of the Oculus Quest in April 2019. It has dropped in price by $100 since launch. Facebook

The new headset was planned for a late 2020 launch, according to Bloomberg, but may not hit that target because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Facebook has reportedly not settled on the final design and specs for the Quest successor, but the general vision appears to be to make it smaller and lighter, and for its screen to have higher fidelity than the original model.

The Quest has been a rare success in the struggling virtual-reality market. The headset is sold out, and has been for some time a measure of Facebook's inability to manufacture or restock VR headsets during a pandemic and of consumer interest.

Both versions of the Oculus Quest headset are sold out on Facebook's online storefront. Facebook

Unlike Facebook's higher end Oculus Rift S, which requires a powerful computer to function, and the Oculus Go, which has limited capability because of its relatively low horsepower, the Oculus Quest occupies a middle ground between super high fidelity and accessibility. That middle ground has proved fertile for sowing consumer interest in buying VR headsets an issue that's plagued virtual reality since the early '90s.

Facebook did not respond immediately to Business Insider's request for comment.

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Facebook reportedly working on a new flagship virtual-reality headset - Business Insider - Business Insider

The Under Presents has been running for months. It's a model for where virtual theater could evolve.

I used to love spending time in immersive theater, in the real world. Site-specific spaces like Then She Fell and Sleep No More, where actors and participants could wander together, exploring and feeling part of something new. Those spaces are closed, at least for now. Real theaters aren't here anymore. I'm not sure when they'll return.

Actors have been performing on Zoom, now. I saw a friend do a live reading of a play in one. Saturday Night Live does Zoom as improv comedy. All the world is a Zoom stage.

There's another way. Since November, actors have been performing in an ongoing virtual theater experience called The Under Presents. The game/experience, available on Oculus Quest and Rift headsets and now Steam VR as well, is a space I visit from time to time. There are recorded performances in this cartoon-like world, like a cabaret space in the Twilight Zone. But there are also live performers who beckon you to join them, too.

These actors, trained in collaboration with the New York theater company Piehole and the VR company Tender Claws, have been living a virtual performance life for months, well before the rest of the world shut down. "We realized that we are suddenly in a position where we're actually some of the actors' main employment in acting... because it's remote. And that's something we couldn't have anticipated," Tender Claws' Samantha Gorman says.

Now, the live performances have been extended until the end of May. Tender Claws is also exploring ways that ticketed performances inside The Under Presents could be a gateway to how live theater could exist in virtual spaces, too.

In The Under Presents, or most VR, it's the opposite of what we get in Zoom. In a Zoom, Hangout or Facetime, we see lots of real faces, but we're on flat screens. In VR, there's movement, presence and I can move my hands and head around, but no one can see my face.

It's like a game, but it's also an ongoing performing world. And one of the biggest surprises so far has been the game's Discord group, which has an active community that feeds back into the world of The Under Presents.

"Sometimes even the actors are very aware of these discussions that are happening online," Gorman says. "And then, because it's real time and evolving, they can then feed that back into the performance. It didn't really occur that that could happen. And that has become a really interesting layer, how things have evolved."

I spoke with the creators of The Under Presents and several of its actors, months after I first met the team, to talk about what they've learned and what could happen next in the world of virtual performance. A lot of what they're doing could be the first steps in a virtual world of communication that we'll all be living in more.

In Zoom (or other video-based) performances, everything is about actors and their faces. In VR, theater is the opposite: no real faces, but lots of physical movements. With hand controllers and a headset that tracks head movements, it can become like dance.

Actors in The Under Presents can talk and have their own toolkit to offer up extra interactions with audience members. They can also look like distinct things: tiger people, dancing crabs, whatever. They interact with the silent audience that watches them.

Actor James Cowan, selfie taken while performing in The Under Presents.

"One of the things that surprised me the most was the ability to communicate without words in the game," actor James Cowan says. "So much of live immersive theater is the cues that you can pick up from body language, the small comments that people make, being able to stare into their eyes."

"But when you go digital ... You know, we're a meeting of minds. We're melding and we're having communications and there is still movement tracking, like, very basically. People can shake their head yes, or shake their head no. There are certain body language things people have learned how to do and how to communicate."

Dasha Kittredge, another performer in The Under, agrees. "While you don't have the eyeballs, it's made me notice some very beautiful, subtle body language," she said. "It's brought my attention to some very subtle cues that people give you when they're very intent, or when they're feeling something, or when they start to get distracted. And that's an acquired skill I now have because of this particular project.

"In a very commedia dell'arte way, they will overemphasize their emotions to express to you their reaction a lot. They're adapting their emotion to the experience as well."

Kittredge says what she didn't expect is how the performances, over time, have become an ongoing storyline. "We've developed these characters, we actually have real relationships with the regulars and they love being seen. And they all look the same, but they've figured out how to be seen, which is so cool, because they have these totems that they make."

Kittredge refers to players plucking random objects from The Under Presents' world and using them as identifiers. Kittredge often knows who's who by the totems.

"When you recognize them and see them in that way, or acknowledge that you remember them... even though you can't see their face, you can tell that they love that and that it means something to them. And that's really cool," said Kittredge. "I never expected that kind of relationship-building with the audience. Especially with the loneliness we're all experiencing."

Actor Dasha Kittredge performing in The Under Presents, virtually.

I think about how VR is changing for people, now that we can't go anywhere in the real world. Virtual performances might be the only option for a while. The Under's actors have seen changes in the virtual world since shelter at home began.

"When shelter in place started out, I noticed in the game people were much more violent," Cowan says of the transition. "They weren't necessarily there just to be entertained. They needed a space to grapple with what was happening in the real world. And they can do that, in this virtual world. As we settled into shelter at home, all of the violence and violent tendencies sort of dissipated a little bit. Now there's more of a need of community."

"In that first week I saw more people coming and giving me hugs, or trying to physically be closer and engage with me in a sweet and gentle way," Kittredge observes. "There started being these in-jokes where they would offer me toilet paper. Sometimes tons of toilet paper. I made an area that is the stash ... It became this kind of running joke."

I think about my already virtual life now: jumping from Zoom to Houseparty to Animal Crossing, living across spaces. What difference, really, is a theatrical experience in a VR headset? It's a matter of degrees. But I feel that the silences in VR, oddly, are what get me. On Zoom, it's about talking and looking eye-to-eye, sitting still. But the world of VR is about movement and space.

Maybe the two will intertwine, someday. But also, I wonder when audience members will become more like performers. The Under Presents still keeps a separation between these worlds, allowing the actors a specific toolset and an ability to notice where people are. Could people like myself eventually improvise, become actors, play more of a part in the creation of the experience?

It's early days to figure out answers to this, and even the language is changing. "Restriction breeds creativity. The taking away of the voice, or limiting things, forces you to come up with another way," Kittredge says of the way the current audience performance tools work.

Tender Claws' producers, Samantha Gorman and Tanya Leal Soto, don't necessarily see more tools arriving in the near future. But there will be a lot more opportunities for players to experience interactions with real actors.

The Under Presents is expanding its live performances, launching a Friday and Saturday night series of more interactive shows in May with ten actors moving around and performing on-stage and off (Fridays at 5pm PT, Saturdays at 7pm PT).

Much like how I felt wandering around immersive theater years ago in Sleep No More, wearing a mask and silently submitting to a new reality, VR's next wave of immersive theater might open up to whole new experiences sooner than expected. The actors will continue to live in these worlds; for now, there's no other theater to go to.

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With real theaters closed, actors are turning to virtual reality - CNET

Virtual reality may find its place in the Cavaliers player development program thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NBAs suspension in play after the games of March 11 cost the young Cavs a valuable month of growth. The teams practice facility opened Friday, but only four players are allowed in at one time and group drills are prohibited. Coach J.B. Bickerstaff explained the social distancing restrictions as one player, one coach, one ball.

There is much to do, and little that can be done at Cleveland Clinic Courts. The Cavs have seven rotation players on the roster age 25 and under, including four guards Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr. selected in the past two drafts. Forward Cedi Osman is a part of the teams future after signing a four-year, $30.8 million contract extension in October.

So the lockdown has forced the staff to start thinking about technological advancements that could accelerate the players advancement during the Cavs rebuild.

The first step may have been when the player development staff put together a ball handling session on a Zoom call.

Weve had guys show up for that in groups, Bickerstaff said in a Zoom conference with local media Wednesday.

But that might have been just the beginning.

We have to be more creative, Bickerstaff said. In talking to some people around the basketball world, [there has been] the use of virtual reality, and how do we use that to help development.

You basically can put a guy on the floor and hes got to move through space like he would on a real court playing against opponents.

Players can shoot 3s or drive and finish at the rim by themselves. According to Kelsey Russo of The Athletic, one Cavs player bought a hoop at Walmart and assembled it himself while isolated.

But that doesnt encompass everything the Cavs want their young core to work on.

The individual development is a little more difficult because sometimes it takes three or four people working with a guy to get them to understand the reads on a pick and roll, those type of things, Bickerstaff said.

During the crisis, Bickerstaff said he has most frequently talked to Atlanta Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce and Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton. While their chats help during the isolation, they are also brainstorming.

Its trying to gauge whats going on in different places, Bickerstaff said. Everybody has different reasons why theyre doing things, and weve got to do whats best for our group because each group is different. We can work through things and bounce ideas off one another.

Bickerstaff said some of those conversations may prove fruitful even after the pandemic subsides.

This has given us a unique opportunity to think outside the box, working with our staff and having conversations that we dont always have to do what weve always done just because weve always done it, Bickerstaff said. This is an opportunity to push the envelope and try to come up with some new and creative things that can help our guys even when things do get back to normal.

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Cavaliers thinking outside the box, exploring virtual reality as player development tool - Lima Ohio

Credit: Jazna Rossi/Pixabay

Virtual reality has the potential to increase access to treatment for a range of conditions. There is no shortage of research demonstrating this, covering post-traumatic stress disorder, Parkinsons, stroke, autism and more. But this year, Norfolk and Suffolk became one of the first NHS trusts to integrate VR into its psychological care pathways.

Using off-the-shelf VR headsets and specially created virtual worlds, the trust has been offering virtual treatment to patients struggling with disabling phobias. By gradually increasing patients exposure to situations they would usually avoid, the trust says it is helping them to manage their feelings in a safe and controlled environment.

Previously, there were practical difficulties in coaching patients through situations which were troubling them. Nesta Reeve, a consultant clinical psychologist and lead for wellbeing services at the trust, explains: When you follow National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines for the treatment of phobias, you tend to immerse people into the specific situation in real life.

That is difficult for a therapy service because we are office-based, we tend to see people one after another and so we dont really have the time to go out. Also, people who were successfully treated for phobias were having a lot of sessions in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services.

Automated treatment with VR, however, offers significant solutions. It means that patients do not have to leave the clinic, nor it is necessary for a clinician to be present.

I think this is a great opportunity to use technology to help people get greater exposure to their fears and to overcome them without having to leave the clinic, says Reeve. It means we can treat people more quickly, and hopefully we will get more people coming forward with fears that might seem minor, but which are stopping them from doing something important.

Fears of MRI scans and injections are good reasons for doing the exposure. But there are also people who are blocked in their careers for fear of public speaking, sitting exams or going into lecture theatres. This can help people to move their lives on.

The catalyst for Norfolk and Suffolks innovation came when the East of England clinical network for IAPT put out a challenge for clinicians to find new digital ways of working.

With financial backing of 10,000 from the network, in mid-2019 Joe Embrey, a cognitive behavioural therapist at the trust, began testing VR to treat people with a fear of needles and agoraphobia.

The trial showed that VR is a really effective at bridging the gap between real-life exposure and what the patient feels able to do at the time they enter treatment, says Embrey. It has been especially useful for things like needle phobias, because the process of preparing for and giving an injection is not something which we can easily replicate in the therapy room.

Software challengesBuying VR headsets was easy for the trust. Finding the right software was difficult. Reeves search failed to identify a UK supplier, but found a VR platform for psychology and mental health from Spanish company Psious. Its product includes fears of injections, scans, social situations, darkness, animals and agoraphobia.

Norfolk and Suffolk pays Psious 1,000 per licence. Although the licence can only be used with one patient at a time, the number of patients and times it can be used is unlimited.

I know that Psious is used by private clinicians in the US and UK, but when I was in contact with company recently, I asked them if any other NHS trust was using their VR and they said that at the moment, no, we are the first, says Reeve.

But they are getting involved with the NHS in Manchester and they are keen to learn from our experience because there were a few blocks to implementing this. Not least, in the NHS it is quite hard to buy something bespoke. Buying something from Spain in euros was a little challenging too.

"We can treat people more quickly, and hopefully we will get more people coming forward with fears that might seem minor, but which are stopping them from doing something important"Nesta Reeve, Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

Research at University of Oxfords department of psychiatry into immersive VR to treat fear of heights, found patients were willing to go into situations that troubled them and to try new ways of responding. They were willing because they knew it was a simulation. But what the patients learned through VR, was transferred to the real world.

In Norfolk and Suffolks experience, patients are usually more willing to try VR than face a real-life situation. They can control and even stop the experience if they wish. And the system also enables them to monitor their anxiety and to know how their anxiety has reduced over time.

The Covid-19 crisis means that all the trusts psychology consultations are taking place via phone or video. For the time being, the VR treatment is on hold. But when clinics are cancelled, staff are encouraged to use the time available to familiarise themselves with the VR system.

Phobias can have a real negative impact on peoples lives, says Reeve. Now we have this technology, we hope that more people will come forward to ask for help with their phobias, and that VR will help them to get better more quickly so that they can enjoy activities which many of us take for granted.

The rest is here:

'We hope more people will ask for help' how an NHS trust is using virtual reality to treat phobias - PublicTechnology

Here are some virtual cultural events of regional interest that are planned for the week ahead:

Philadelphia Youth Orchestra

WRTI is broadcasting concerts by the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra (PYO) on Sundays in May. Conducted by Maestro Louis Scaglione, the concerts will be streamed from 4 to 6 p.m. and will be co-hosted by WRTIs Kevin Gordon and Scaglione. They will be available on the radio at 90.1 FM, online atWRTI.organd on the WRTI App.

Airing this Sunday will be the Feb. 23 concert with guest violinist Francesca dePasquale, a PYO alumna. The program will open with Samuel Barbers Medeas Dance of Vengeance, then proceed with dePasquale as soloist with the orchestra in Dmitri Shostakovichs Violin Concerto No. 1 and conclude with Aaron Coplands Symphony No. 3.

The PYO features 130 instrumentalists who range in age from 15-21.

Comedy Conversation

1812 Productions, Philadelphia's all comedy theater company, presents Comedy Conversation, a one-night-only special event featuring storytelling and a live reading with author and humorist R. Eric Thomas, as well as a Q&A with Philadelphia storyteller Hillary Rea, on Monday, May 11, at 8 p.m. The event will be streamed live at http://www.crowdcast.io/e/1812-comedy-conversation.

Thomas is an award-winning playwright, storyteller, author and the creator of Eric Reads the News, a daily humor column forELLE Magazine. His first memoir, "Here for It, or How To Save Your Soul in America," which Lin-Manuel Miranda hailed as, pop culture-obsessed, David Sedaris-level laugh-out-loud funny, was released in February.

Following a live reading, Thomas will be joined by Rea, who is the founder of Tell Me A Story, an organization whose mission is to assist entrepreneurs, business leaders and artists in finding their own narratives.

Comedy Conversation is pay what you choose. Questions can be directed to 1812 Productions box office at http://www.1812productions.org or at 215-592-9560.

Virtual Escape Room

The Escape Game King of Prussia has launched The Escape Game Remote Adventures escape games you play on Zoom from anywhere in the world. Players progress through the room using an online clue bank, a live Game Guide and a 360 degree view of the room. You explore by controlling an avatar wearing a live camera feed and use what you find in the room and the items in your digital dashboard to progress through the adventure. You have 60 minute to escape. Cost is $25 per person. To reserve a time, go to theescapegame.com/remote-adventures.

Berks Bards Poetry Reading

The grassroots poetry group Berks Bards will hold its First Thursday Poetry Reading on Zoom today at 6 p.m. Special guest will be Brandon Krieg, the author of "Magnifier," winner of the 2019 Colorado Prize for Poetry; "In the Gorge"; "Invasives," a finalist for the 2015 ASLE Book Award for Environmental Creative Writing; and a chapbook, "Source to Mouth." Krieg is an assistant professor of English at Kutztown University. To join the Zoom, go to https://tinyurl.com/VirtualBard.

Comedy Night Online

The Kelly Center for Music, Arts and Community in Havertown is presenting Comedy Night Online hosted by Mark Lipsky on Saturday from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Included will be an interview with "Saturday Night Live" alum Gary Kroeger, a conversation with shape-shifting comedian Jillian Markowitz and comedy clips and stand-up video from Rob Stant, Joan Weisblatt and Mike Eagan. The event is pay-what-you-can and can be viewed on the Kelly Center's Facebook page or on Youtube.

Philoso-Fest

The Lawn Chair Philosophy Foundation, Bala Cynwyd, presents Philoso-Fest on Saturday from 3:30 to 11:30 p.m. Artists and academics are invited to present 20 to 30 minutes of songs, poems or readings from academic papers, and talk about their personal philosophies. The lineup is posted on the group's Facebook page.

Friday FB Live Concerts

TheFriday FB Live Concert Seriescontinues this Friday with performances by Tin Bird Choir (Eric and Heather Hurlock) at 8 p.m., followed by Mike Baker (Rumi Kitchen) at 8:30, Kevin Killen at 9 and Dave Cope at 9:30. A $20 donation is requested, with 75% of the money going directly to the artists and 25% going to the charity Feeding America, which provides food to people in need through a nationwide network of food banks.

Philadelphia Virtual Music Phest

The Philadelphia Virtual Music Phestival presents an interview with violinist David Kim, concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra, on Saturday from 7 to 8 p.m. on its Facebook group page.

Kim frequently appears as a guest with famed modern hymn writers Keith and Kristyn Getty at venues such as the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Carnegie Hall. He appears as soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra each season as well as with numerous orchestras around the world.

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Virtual reality: Your online regional events roundup for the week ahead - Reading Eagle