Category Archives: Virtual Reality

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The virtual reality market in education sector is expected to grow by USD 6.34 billion during 2020-2024, according to the latest market research report by Technavio.

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Advances in technology and the advent of VR cardboard have helped market players to significantly reduce the cost of VR gear. Also, the growing competition in the market has compelled major VR companies to reduce the cost of premium VR gear. For instance, in January 2020, Oculus, a Facebook-owned company, reduced the cost of the Oculus Go headset. The company is also introducing VR headsets for commercial applications. Thus, the increasing affordability of VR gear is encouraging end-users such as educational institutions to adopt them, which is driving the growth of the virtual reality market in education sector.

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As per Technavio, the increasing number of social VR spaces will have a positive impact on the market and contribute to its growth significantly over the forecast period. This research report also analyzes other significant trends and market drivers that will influence market growth over 2020-2024.

Virtual Reality Market in Education Sector: Increasing Number of Social VR Spaces

Social VR spaces allow students to connect and communicate with other students. This prevents students from being isolated from the real world. Hence, major vendors are emphasizing on the development of virtual spaces. For instance, Microsofts AltspaceVR allows students to socialize and interact with other users through various avatars and multiplayer sessions. The platform also allows students to take part in events and other small groups. This trend will have a positive impact on the growth of the virtual reality market in education sector over the forecast period.

The advent of 360-degree cameras and the increasing emphasis on foveated rendering will further boost market growth during the forecast period, says a senior analyst at Technavio.

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Virtual Reality Market in Education Sector: Segmentation Analysis

This market research report segments the virtual reality market in education sector by product (VR Hardware and VR Content), end-users (higher education and K-12), and geography (APAC, Europe, MEA, North America, and South America).

The North American region led the virtual reality market in education sector in 2019, followed by Europe, APAC, South America and MEA. During the forecast period, North America is expected to register the highest incremental growth due to the increased emphasis on the use of VR in the education sector and the emergence of low-cost affordable VR gear in the region.

Technavios sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report, such as the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Request a free sample report

Some of the key topics covered in the report include:

Product

End-user

Geographic Segmentation

Market Drivers

Market Challenges

Market Trends

Vendor Landscape

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavios report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavios comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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Global Virtual Reality Market in Education Sector 2020-2024 | Affordability of VR Gear to Boost Market Growth | Technavio - Business Wire

The UK has gone into an unprecedented lockdown in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus and lessen the strain on global healthcare systems. This has meant, for the first time in modern life, airlines have been grounded on a nationwide level and the passion for exploration and travel we once had as a world is being forcibly placed on hold. Yet, even in these times of lockdown and isolation, technology offers a new way to discover far off lands, and provide a dreamy escape from reality.

Though zoos across the globe are closing their doors to the public, the animals are still living on behind the gates and eager animal-lovers can still get an insight into what daily life looks like for these magnificent creatures. In Colorado Springs, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is streaming live cameras of its Giraffes herd, which includes a brand new member baby Viv who was born in June last year.

The camera will be broadcast for eight hours every day so that giraffe-fans can watch the animals graze and relax.

San Diego zoo is also offering a similar setup, offering the chance to get a sneak peek into the life of over some of its liveliest residents. Choose from baboons, penguins, polar bears and koalas.

Meanwhile, Monterey Bay Aquarium in California has ten live cams spread throughout its exhibits. Be delighted by the antics of sea otters, take in the mysterious beauty of jellyfish, or watch the sharks swim through the deep waters.

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Art galleries in cities across the world allow enthusiasts to take in some of their finest works from the comfort of their homes by using their websites. Paris' Louvre, Muse de lOrangerie, and Muse dOrsay all offer plenty of their paintings and artworks online, including a 360-degree virtual visit to Water Lilies by Claude Monet.

Similarly, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, Uffizi Gallery, Florence and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam show plenty of their beautiful pieces on their websites, which virtual visitors can click through and learn the back story of, too.

The Art Institute of Chicago allows art lovers to get up close and personal with Van Gogh's self-portrait, and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC has several online exhibits ideal for browsing from the comfort of your couch.

Alternatively, put Google Street View to good use and "stroll" around the Guggenheim in Los Angeles, where you can take in Post-Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary Art exhibits.

In Pittsburg, the Andy Warhol Museum is offering interactive art lessons on its website, giving creatives an insight into how to create pop art style self-portraits using collage.

Whether you're dreaming of the sand between your toes or wishing you were on an urban exploration, modern technology brings the gift of adventure to your living room. Head to Japan and embark on VR 360 tour of Japan using japan.travel/en/ Whether you want to see the streets of Tokyo,

Whether you want to take in the streets of Tokyo, watch a sumo wrestling match or even see the majestic deer in Nara champ on a snack, the virtual reality cameras are on hand to make magic happen.

Head over to Tahiti 360 (tahititourisme.uk/en-gb/) and experience an exclusive virtual reality tour that takes intrepid travellers onboard an award-winning Paul Gaugin cruises ship, boasting a unique look into the heart of French Polynesia. Be amazed by aerial views of stunning private beach Motu Mahana, or look through locally sourced produce and goods at Papeete marketplace. What's more, travellers can even gain an insight into the island's nature, setting their sights on stingrays and shark encounters.

Thrill-seekers can virtually explore the wonders of Yosemite Mariposa County from the comfort of their own home using yosemite.com and the Xplorit program.

The interactive tour will take viewers above the granite giants, through the rushing waterfalls and across verdant valleys, giving a one-of-a-kind 360-degree view of the whole country. Friendly park rangers are even on hand to give information about the natural landscape.

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Holidays: Lockdown doesn't mean you can't explore the world thanks to amazing VR travel - Express

FORMULA ONE: Formula Ones drivers will battle it out in an Esports Virtual Grand Prix series in a bid to give fans their racing fix while the season is delayed by the coronavirus.

Sebastian Vettel (left) and Lewis Hamilton will be among the drivers battling it out in virtual reality. Photo: AFP

The 2020 campaign has been put on hold due to the pandemic and races in Australia, Bahrain, Vietnam, China, Holland, Spain and Monaco were all postponed.

Formula One chiefs are aiming to start racing in Azerbaijan on June 7, but to fill the void for now the sport has asked current F1 drivers to play a racing game featuring as-yet unnamed celebrity guests.

Featuring a number of current F1 drivers, the series has been created to enable fans to continue watching Formula 1 races virtually, despite the ongoing COVID-19 situation that has affected this seasons opening race calendar, a statement said.

The first race of the series will see current F1 drivers line up on the grid alongside a host of stars to be announced in due course.

In order to guarantee the participants safety at this time, each driver will join the race remotely.

F1 drivers Max Verstappen and Lando Norris took part in two separate virtual races last weekend following the cancellation of the Australian Grand Prix.

The races will be run for 28 laps for around 90 minutes and will take place at the same time as the postponed Grands Prix would have occurred.

The events start this weekend with the Virtual Bahrain Grand Prix run on the official 2019 F1 video game.

Viewers will be able to tune in via YouTube, Facebook and Twitch with a qualifying session to determine the grid preceding the race itself.

Results will not count towards the F1 world championship, but the plan is to run the virtual tournament until real racing can return.

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F1 drivers to stage virtual reality races - The Phuket News

Virtual reality and augmented reality technology is finding niches in both workplaces and in consumer applications. The companies whose work in the space stood out this year include makers of the core hardware and software like Snap and Microsoft, as well as a number of smaller players that have applied spatial computing in new environments such as stadiums (Dallas Cowboys) and horror gaming (Illumix). These achievements may be small steps toward a future where spatial computing replaces our mobile and desktop screens as our go-to interface.

For scanning the world to apply lenses to it

The ephemeral messaging platform has increasingly become an AR company in recent years. In 2019, it added a good deal of artificial intelligence to the mix as well by introducing a new feature called Scan. Scan uses computer vision technology to understand objects in the cameras view, then suggests AR overlays, called lenses, that are relevant to that object. If your camera is trained on a dog, for instance, Scan might bring up pet-friendly lenses. Snapchatters just press and hold on the camera screen to scan the world around them. Snap says more than 70% of its daily active users play with its lenses every day.

Read more about why Snap is one of the Worlds Most Innovative Companies of 2020.

For improving its HoloLens 2 with better field of view and gesture controls for business adoption

Microsoft is trying to help business users transition away from the 2D screens most use every day to a future of hands-free, wearable user interfaces and 3D holographic images. Its HoloLens 2 mixed-reality headset, released in 2019, doubles the field of view of the first HoloLens, features a more balanced and comfortable design, and greatly improves the resolution of the 3D imagery you can see through the lenses. It also adds hand tracking, which lets you navigate the content youre seeing in the lenses, as well as full eye tracking, which lets you scroll through text with your eye movements. Microsofts enterprise customers are using HoloLens to do such things as access information to help the customers in front of them, and to collaborate with faraway coworkers within virtual work spaces.

Read more about why Microsoft is one of the Worlds Most Innovative Companies of 2020.

For taking the guesswork out of frames shopping with its Virtual Try-On tool

Warby Parker may have more than 115 physical store locations, but not all of its customers can necessarily get to one to try on their glasses, or some may simply prefer the e-commerce experience. The drawback of online apparel shopping, of course, is not being able to try things on. Warbys new Virtual Try-On tool lets customers fit 3D images of different glasses to their faces so they can get a pretty good idea of how theyll look. The addition of the Try-On tool to the Warby app helped double monthly downloads year over year in 2019, the company says.

For exciting fans with stadium-wide AR activations such as Pose With the Pros

The Dallas Cowboys worked with AT&T, Samsung, and Nexus Studios to prepare AT&T Stadium for some big-time AR experiences for fans. The organization relied on the Nexus Studios AR platform to create holographic images that can be seen through the users phone. The holographic images of players, mascots, and more can also interact with fixed objects like the stadium itself. During halftime of a 2019 game, the Cowboys streamed a live AR football game featuring giant cartoonlike players that appeared to be happening on the field. The team also installed large photo kiosks where fans can watch as virtual Cowboys gather around them for a selfie, which can then be shared on social media.

For immersing kids in reading

The famed VR company Within is breathing some fresh air into AR storytelling with its Wonderscope platform and a series of interactive AR stories for kids. The stories feature cute characters that play-act stories in the real space right in front of the child, while the child reads lines aloud to move the story forward. The company was invited to showcase its AR stories in 16 Los Angeles public schools through a program with L.A. Public Libraries and the after-school program L.A.s BEST. Later this year, the company will unveil Supernatural, a fitness-training application for VR.

For VR training programs used to train more than a million Walmart employees

Strivr is using VR to give employers a cost-effective way to train employees. The company offers modules for training employees to do everything from treating customers with empathy to dealing with an armed robbery in the workplace. Strivr is now providing training solutions to Walmart, where the company has distributed 17,000 VR headsets that give employees access to more than 55 of its learning modules. The program includes almost 4,600 Walmart stores in the United States and more than 1 million employees.

For making showrooming an asset for retailers

VisionX uses machine vision to build AR and VR applications for retailers that let customers visualize what their products might look like in their own living room or bedroom. Viewed through the camera of a smartphone or tablet, products like a lamp or a coffee table appear in 3D, and the application intelligently measures for scale and adjusts the lighting and shadows to make the experience realistic,as well as detect room attributes for optimal object placement.

For scaring gamers with Five Nights at Freddys AR: Special Delivery

Horror games and augmented reality are a good mix if done right. Scary things can be even scarier if presented convincingly in the context of the real world. Five Nightswas already a VR game, a cult hit with creepy-looking characters against an eerie backdrop, and its transition to AR is a triumph. Part of the reason FNAF works well in AR is because of the jump scares: Ghoulish animatronic creatures tend to jump out at you from behind real-world objects. And all you have to protect yourself is a flashlight and a shocker.

For helping customer service agents diagnose and fix problems

TechSees Smart Assist feature uses AR and computer vision to help customer service agents diagnose and fix malfunctioning hardware devices. The feature uses the support callers smartphone camera to give the customer service agent a view of the problem, while the computer vision model spots visible symptoms that lead to a diagnosis with 95% accuracy, the company says. Then the system can deliver advice and next steps to the client using annotations that show up directly on their smartphone screen. Some problems can even be solved without the help of a human customer service agent. TechSee says that its technology is being used by wireless service providers, consumer electronics companies, insurance companies, and utility companies.

For making a statement about sustainability with a white T-shirt you overlay with graphic messages via Instagram filter

In the future, when were all wearing AR glasses or contact lenses, physically printing words and images on objects like clothing and road signs may become unnecessary. Carlings is perhaps a bit ahead of the game, but its already come out with a T-shirt whose design shows up only when viewed through the Instagram app. The design even changes size and perspective from the vantage point of the smartphone. A logo at the top of the shirt triggers Instagram to display the design, which can be changed by the owner of the Instagram page whenever they want.

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The 10 most innovative virtual and augmented reality companies of 2020 - Fast Company

Cleveland-based architecture and interior design firm Vocon Inc. recently shipped 15 virtual-reality headsets to San Francisco so a client company could preview its new office. Within minutes of opening the packages, employees were able to don the headsets and get a realistic tour of their soon-to-be-built office space. That gave them a chance to raise questions and concerns for the company's change management team before they even moved into the space.

This is just one example of how extended reality or XR a term that groups together virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality under a single banner is quickly becoming a mainstream tool architects can use to foster a collaborative design process. Using this new technology, customers can get a realistic sense of what their spaces will look and feel like before a shovel ever hits the dirt, potentially saving time and money over the long term.

"To be competitive in the marketplace, if you do not have some sort of lab or team exploring these options, you're missing an opportunity to engage with the client," said Brandon Dorsey, technology director at Vocon. "Clients are asking questions about this early on."

When Vocon, which also has offices in Los Angeles and New York, dramatically renovated and expanded its offices on Prospect Avenue in Midtown a few years ago, following a flood that caused damage, the 180-person company placed its XR technology in a centrally located first-floor room. Previously, the firm's virtual-reality technology had been tucked away in a crowded back conference room. Today, it's a key space where clients are brought for tours or meetings.

"It's an executive briefing room that's designed around allowing the client to collaborate with us, and VR is a tool that's in that room," Dorsey said. "It's a selling point."

XR has become more mainstream in architecture recently, in part because the technology has improved so quickly. Cloud computing now allows much faster processing speeds, and the software that architects use for design today is already embedded with XR technology.

"It's already part of the workflow with the click of a button," Dorsey said.

The days when users were tethered to a cord and only experienced low-resolution graphics are gone. Today's XR systems produce high-resolution images and are typically wireless. They also allow for multiple users, and architects can make changes in real time to gauge clients' reactions. Haptic technology or 3D touch even adds sensory details to the user experience.

With XR taking off, it's become a must-have for architectural firms, especially those like Vocon that have a national and international client base. "It's time and money that we're seeing a big ROI on," Dorsey said.

He cited two examples that illustrate how XR can save a client time and money. In the past, where they sometimes ordered multiple versions of furniture just to see how they looked in the completed space, now they can eliminate those extra costs by viewing options ahead of time using XR. The technology can also give clients a realistic feel for the difference between, say, an 8-foot and a 9-foot ceiling, allowing them to avoid potentially costly change orders after construction starts.

"Typically, you wouldn't hear about that till afterwards, and then you'd have a retrofit change order to deal with," Dorsey said. "Now, we're taking care of it earlier through virtual reality."

Collaboration is another benefit. "Better hardware allows a multi-user VR experience," Dorsey said. "It allows all of the users to come together and actually be in the same space together and walk around together."

Finally, the technology gives clients and firms greater ability to plan and meet with one another remotely, rather than having to travel frequently for face-to-face meetings, something that could become increasingly useful as the coronavirus spreads and upends travel plans.

Although XR isn't cheap systems like Vocon's can cost many tens of thousands of dollars the tech is a necessity. "It's becoming part of an investment you have to make, just like you'd make an investment in a new PC, a better monitor or a new cellphone," Dorsey said.

By selling clients on the fact that XR can help them avoid costly last- minute changes, architects can build some costs into their proposals, increasing the firm's ability to recoup its investment. Dorsey heads up a three-member research-and-development team that explores how Vocon can use new technologies to serve clients, advance its practice and grow the business.

The company offers regular lunch-and-learn training in order to bring employees up to speed. "If you're going to invest in R&D, then you have to be willing to invest in training; otherwise the tools won't get adopted and they won't get used," Dorsey said. "You have to invest equally in both ends."

In the end, XR technology can be a net benefit for architects and their clients, he said. "Historically, the design process had a low number, but change orders had a heavy cost associated with them because of all the things that were not caught early on in the design process," he noted. "Now, we're flipping it digitally, and spending more time up front to prevent changes later."

Read more from the original source:

Vocon extends architecture with extended-reality tech - Crain's Cleveland Business

Welcome to the virtual world, Taycan.

The US served as one of the Porsche Taycan's launch markets, but as some global buyers wait for the marque's first electric car to reach them, Porsche will gladly show the car off in virtual reality.

The company said on Monday it had launched a virtual reality experience at numerous Porsche Centers around the world. Shoppers place a pair of VR goggles on to get up close and personal with the electric sedan in the digital realm.

Porsche said the experience is nearly representative of standing and examining the physical car, and those who take part in the digital experience can even explore the underside of the EV. The VR program shows the inside as well as the outside and even allows users to play with the roster of paint colors available for the car. For those who want to see the air move around, the VR experience will do that too, with simulated airflow the user can control.

The Taycan Turbo and Turbo S variants promise some pretty tantalizing performance to challenge the Tesla Model S Performance, though the EPA found its range estimates don't hold a candle (or, this is the digital age, so... a smartphone flashlight?) to the Model S Performance's. The highest-performing model, the Turbo S variant, received a 192-mile EPA-estimated range estimateand the regular Turbo model will go 201 miles per charge, the EPA estimated. Porsche at the time said it tends to be "conservative" with its performance figures and also touted a private test that revealed a range estimate of 275 miles for the Taycan Turbo in its normal driving mode.

Nevertheless, Porsche racked up a healthy list of preorders before the car launched -- over 30,000. The Taycan is just the tip of the iceberg for electric cars at the company, and if it's not available physically, you can see it in VR at 100 Porsche Centers. And soon, Porsche will let you design the car in VR, too.

Now playing: Watch this: 5 things you didn't know about the Porsche Taycan's tech

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Porsche Taycan hits the virtual reality world - CNET

As a next-generation technology, virtual reality (VR) may seem kind of out there. You know, little used and not especially well developed. More in the future than the present. Something you wouldnt be interested in unless youre an early adopter of next-generation technologies.

If thats what youre thinking, you need to reconsider. When it comes to lift truck operator training, VR is more widely used than most expect and already has a strong track record delivering well-trained operators in less time. VR is also a potential career development tool, too.

Overall, probably 10,000 lift truck operators have gone through VR training, explains Gijo George, business unit director at Hyster. Thats a strong number given the fact that the first use of VR for driver training only debuted at the ProMat 2013 materials handling show. Since then, the technology has become widely available.

Furthermore, companies as diverse as third-party logistics provider Willow Run Foods and GE Appliances have successfully used VR to train operators as part of OSHA-mandated training.

That said, VR is still in the early stages of adoption. George estimates that at most 5% of lift truck operators have been trained with it.

These may be the early days, but I fully expect VR to mature in the next three to five years, says Mike Morgan, founder of VR training supplier Really-Virtual Corp. (RVC).

Others in the field agree with Morgan and with good reason. While most people start with VR as a powerful training tool, the technology delivers more.

To start, it can also be used for screening employees. In other words, it helps to determine early on if someone is suited to operating a lift truck in the first place. The last thing any DC needs is an operator to show high proficiency on an orderpicker during training only to freak out the first time doing a pick 30 feet up.

Furthermore, VR also helps operators to develop and demonstrate additional skills for career advancement. Its all about finding and retaining labor and training them effectively, explains Stacey Barton, business manager for VR Simulator at Raymond.

In addition, explains Evelyn Velasquez-Cuevas, director of training at Yale Materials Handling, VR answers the call for training thats needed right now. With 40% turnover in warehouse personnel annually, companies can use VR now and reduce idle time in the training process. Using VR allows students to make the most of their training time and continue to practice, even while trainers are giving individualized instruction on real equipment at the facility. Furthermore, VR can enable someone to be better prepared for operating a truck by providing more information and practice up front, she says.

And as we all know, the best facility maintenance is the maintenance that never has to be done. And from all indications, VR training is a powerful training tool that makes operators safer, more proficient and less damage prone from day one, reducing accidents out on the floor.

Its important to note that VR does not bypass any of the lift truck operator training requirements set by OSHA. Instead, VR supplements lectures, hand-on training and a final skills assessment on a live truck in a facility.

VR fits in between the lecture and hands-on portions, typically saving time and cost, says Barton. Its a great training device for better on-boarding, she adds.

Just as with non-VR training, the technology allows a person to learn how to use a reach truck, orderpicker, counter-balanced or other class of truck. It is brand agnostic. That said, not all VR simulators are alike.

As would be expected, all systems use a VR headset to deliver the simulation experience to the student. In some cases, the student stands or sits on an actual, stationary truck and uses the actual controls as part of the training.

Another approach is a portable unit that is not a lift truck but allows the student to sit or stand and use the controls on the unit. Yet another option is a portable mat that the student stands on and all activity is simulated through the headset.

Its also worth noting that the software is not static once loaded into the system. Software can be updated by the supplier when updates are appropriate.

Regardless of the arrangement of the simulator itself, the emphasis in all cases is on providing an engaging training environment that keeps the attention of students. While not real in the traditional sense, VR presents real-world challenges that the student must learn to navigate. In addition, it allows skills development in the safest of environments with live trainer input augmenting the VR instruction.

And, the instruction is quite specific. For instance, it includes basic driving and lifting activity, workplace operation and safety, pre-operational checks, horn operation and more.

A VR headset delivers the simulation experience to the student in most any setting.

Its important not to overstate the power of VR. As Velasquez-Cuevas of Yale points out, it does not simulate all possible conditions. It does, however, provide a broad, fundamental baseline that prepares students to work safely in the warehouse, she says.

Students receive experiential learning that they dont get in the classroom lecture portion of training, says Morgan, a military veteran. The idea here is the same as in the military. Make the training as close as possible to reality. With VR, we create the behavioral reality required to build operator habits and proficiencies, Morgan continues.

Its also efficient. Highly so. George of Hyster says VR condenses down to less than four hours the instructional content that typically requires 10 hours and more to present otherwise.

It may be early in the adoption of VR for lift truck operator training, but its anything but unnoticed. In addition to Modern, the technology has caught the attention of general circulation business magazines such as Forbes and Fast Company.

Ask the people over at Raymond about any awards theyve received for their VR efforts and the list is impressive. It stretches from business-to-business magazines and the trade association MHI to the Binghamton (NY) Chamber of Commerce.

Interestingly enough, VR acceptance, unlike what some might expect, is not generationally based. The generational obstacles are minimal, says George. And, thats after roughly 100 installs at 80 companies.

Barton of Raymond reports a similar lack of generational resistance. Weve found that its a great experience with all age groups, she adds.

One example of this was at Willow Run Foods, a food distributor in Kirkwood, N.Y. Company recruiter Ron Nolan long had trouble finding experienced lift truck operators for his DC. In conjunction with Raymond and several government agencies, Willow Run created an Opportunity Impact Training Program. Candidates ranged in age from 18 to 65.

The idea was to use VR to assess candidates skills so they were ready to go on day one. And, it worked. Candidates consistently described the VR technology as engaging and realistic. In addition, VR helped reduce the time between initial interview and starting the new job, too.

Over at GE Appliances DC in Commerce, Ga., VR scored another big win, explains Peter Chronopoulos, cofounder of RVC. Lift truck drivers needed to both operate the truck and master use of the carton-clamp attachment to move refrigerators and other large appliances.

We tailored the software to the specifics of the situation and reduced training time by 50%, says Chronopoulos. There was no risk to drivers or the appliances during VR training, he adds.

Lift truck operator training time can be reduced significantly with virtual reality.

In addition to speeding up training, GE identifies operator strengths early in the hiring process.

As Chronopoulos explains, VR can also be used with experienced operators. RVC, in conjunction with the Midwest Food Products Association annual convention late last year, created a virtual reality forklift rodeo. While rarely seen in the past 20 years, lift truck rodeos have traditionally had no VR component. With VR, lift truck rodeos may even make a comeback. Who knows.

At the Wisconsin event, VR was the centerpiece. Using a simulator, 15 operators showed off their skills from placing and picking loads to driving around a simulated course. Jason Culotta, association president, said the virtual reality rodeo displayed the importance of operator skills and safety practices in a fun and unique way.

Just as the rodeo extends the use of VR, initial interest in VR for training maintenance technicians is developing, too. Both Yale and Hyster are considering how VR could be used here. Barton says Raymond is in the exploratory phase of testing the technology with techs. None of these companies offer a timeline for development or commercialization of these capabilities.

Summarizing the value of VR in operator training, Morgan of RVC says the point here is not use of next-generation technology. Instead, VR is all about solving workforce challenges while opening the door to personal development and a career path, he says. Sounds like a solid approach in a time when the workforce is often the No. 1 obstacle to efficient warehouse and DC operation.

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When Virtual Reality Is More Than Real - Modern Materials Handling

RESIDENTS at a Weymouth care home have been riding roller coasters and diving under the sea, thanks to new virtual reality headsets.

Buxton House care home - which looks after people with dementia - is enabling its residents to break free from the limitations of reduced mobility by using the cutting edge technology to explore the world, all from the comfort of their home.

Previous trips have taken the residents to theme parks, given them the chance to walk with elephants in Africa and watch bears fishing in Canada. They have been on deep-sea diving expeditions to observe marine wildlife - something that many able-bodied people may not be able to experience.

Clare Baker, home manager at Buxton House, said: "At Buxton House we aim to create a great place to live your life, not just a care home. These VR headsets have been a great addition here, allowing residents to experience things not many people get to do and all from the comfort and safety of their home.

"It's also really rewarding for the staff here to see the amazement and wonder on the residents' faces when they use the headsets."

Buxton House is a 64-bed, purpose-built care home in Radipole Lane, close to the elderly care units of Westhaven House and Westhaven Hospital.

The home is run by Dorset-based charity Care South, which provides residential, dementia and in-home care across the south. The organisation was rated Good in all areas following its latest Care Quality Commission inspection.

For more information about Buxton House or to arrange a visit, call 01305 760834 or visit http://www.care-south.co.uk.

Excerpt from:

Residents at Buxton House care home in Weymouth tour the world with virtual reality - Dorset Echo

Warren Buffett announced that the annual Berkshire Hathaway meeting would be held without attendees due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Jim Cramer weighed in on what this means for the future.

Katherine Ross:Before we get to that, though, Warren Buffett announced that Berkshire Hathaway's meeting will be held without attendees this year. And that just follows a slew of concerts, of conferences, of all these different events. I'm wondering if this outbreak is pushing us into the new virtual reality.

Jim Cramer:Yeah, it is. And that's why I assume it's still going to be a good stock to buy. We have DocuSign on tonight. That's going to be good stock to buy. A good, excellent quarter. Stay-at-home economy is very real. We're going to be learning that we can do a lot of things at home, and that those stocks may not all go up at once, but they're good. I mean, I look at an Etsy, I look at a Shopify, and I know that they're still... Etsy's not that high. Shopify is still high. But if you're a millennial, you buy Shopify today. You put some money to work. You call Robinhood, whatever. You buy that. I do think that there are opportunities. I mentioned Verizon is one. Pfizer's one where you can build a portfolio that yields good.

Jim Cramer:And then the problem with the S&P index fund buyer is that buyer's getting low income. Okay? And I'm trying to say, "Listen, I've got faith in Dominion paying its bills, and American Electric Power paying, a Southern paying, a ConEd. And that this is your opportunity, if you're older, to really get some good income coming in." This is not EPR, where they had to slash and burn. And that's unfortunate. A lot of the REITS, I think, are poorly priced. But I do think that, for a younger person, what a terrific opportunity to be able to buy a sliver of some of the great stocks. Alphabet and even Facebook. Facebook, their numbers are too high, but when you get a stock that's down 80, what's it going to do? Is it go down another 10? Maybe 15? That's an opportunity.

Katherine Ross:Now, this has been a wild week for the markets.

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Jim Cramer on How the Coronavirus Is Pushing Society Into a New Virtual Reality - TheStreet

One of VRs biggest strengths is the ability to make those at a distance feel like theyre physically near each other. While this is great for visiting with friends remotely, theres a great number of VR companies betting that virtual reality office environments, remote collaboration, and working from home in VR are going to be the future of work. Heres a look at a handful of companies building remote collaboration VR tools and platforms for a range of use-cases.

Team collaboration apps are designed for professionals who need to meet, discuss, present, and make collective decisions.

Glue is a modern collaboration platform that takes advantage of recent advances in immersive 3D graphics, virtual reality, and cloud computing. It is intended for business professionals who need global remote access to a shared team space for efficient collaboration.

MeetinVR enables your company to have powerful meetings in interactive VR spaces. It enables activities which are impossible or very hard to do remotely such as to present and review products and 3D models, brainstorm, sketch, mind-map, prototype and have team-building activities. All of these while interacting in a natural and easy to learn way.

MeetingRoom has developed a platform which will transform how businesses collaborate. We offer a virtual meeting room with collaboration and presentation tools, manipulated by the participants; pointing, discussing, marking and deleting with up to 12 other team members using virtual reality headsets. Access from non-VR platforms is also available.

Step into your virtual reality office or classroom. rumii can be used across virtual reality headsets and desktops for collaboration, classes and meetings. Great for remote teams, education and digital nomads.

Spatial turns the space around you into a shared augmented workplace. Remote users can collaborate, search, brainstorm and share content as if they were in the same room.

Collaborating within the confines of a screen is hard. Use Dream to work with your team just as you would in real life, without constraint or frustration.No fiddling with awkward teleportation mechanics. No fighting complicated interfaces. Dream is the simplest way to collaborate in VR.

These apps lean toward collaborative spatial design, sketching, prototyping, brainstorming, and review.

Go from idea to a working VR prototype in minutes. Import your files, build your scenes, and transform your assets into a VR storyboard that everyone can understand. Finally you can design for AR & VR without using a game engine or engaging a developer.

Collaborate with your team in a shared virtual space that evolves with your ideas. Meet in real time from anywhere, or leave comments for your team to see later.

Softspace is a spatial thinking tool for creative individuals and teams. Build beautiful virtual project spaces where you can organize, develop, and communicate your best ideas.

These apps are oriented toward collaborative visualization, review, and annotation of CAD designs, 3D models, big data, complex code, and more.

Easily upload your .FBX, .OBJ, .STEP, .IGES or .STL files via our web interface and have it within your digital space in seconds. You provide your common CAD data and turn it into a hologram in your Mixed Reality device. Control the objects with your gestures and place them freely in your space. Rotate, scale, or even slice it to get a cross-section view for a better understanding what is beneath the surface of your object.

As you use CAD Explorer, it is crucial to be able to work on objects with more than one person. Hence we developed different possibilities of shared experiences. Collaborate on the data together in one room with two HoloLenses, or bring in more people from all over the world, wearing a Microsoft Mixed Reality Head-Mounted-Display (HMD).

Visualize your prototype as if it was already built at scale 1, detect design errors and modify your 3D model in real time to test new ideas. Easily collaborate with your colleagues, contractors and clients and get feedback at once.

All you need to get started is a BIM 360, Navisworks, Revit, or Sketchup model. In the click of a button your model will be VR ready and synced to the InsiteVR cloud for your coordination meetings.Inviting collaborators to your VR meeting is as easy as sending them a link. Participants can see other as VR avatars, talk over VOIP, and review model issues together.Compatible across desktop and standalone VR like Oculus Quest and Oculus Go.

NVIDIA Holodeck is a virtual reality (VR) innovation platform that brings designers, peers, and stakeholders together from anywhere in the world to build and explore creations in a highly realistic, collaborative, and physically simulated VR environment.

PiXYZ Review allows you to easily import a wide range of CAD models from industry-leading solutions, easily handling large and complex assemblies. Interact with your CAD model using manipulation and visualization tools for a desktop use. Also, instantly switch to a powerful VR mode for an immersive and interactive experience with a VR headset. Finally, collaborate easily with your coworkers thanks to an easy-to-use Collaboration mode.

STAGE gives you real-time communication, immersive visualization and an awareness for atmosphere. Additionally, a meeting in STAGE saves costs compared to present-meetings.

Instantly view your designs in VR with no additional preparation needed.Anybody can pick it up and get going, regardless of VR experience.View designs as intended at 1:1 scale, allowing for more effective design reviews.

VISIONxR Platform enables users to upload their own content and invite colleagues to work collaboratively regardless of their location on any device VR, AR, desktop or mobile. Users can review and improve the designs of the products and services they are working on; removing the barrier of distance and enabling faster iteration in the development and design cycle.

Social VR platforms are made for connecting users for general purposes like discussions, group events, meetings, and more.Meet with others inside your secure, real-time VR environment. Interact with objects and each other. Engage your audience to the max.Review sessions, then revise, republish, and re-use your immersive experiences. Work on them with others in your organization in real-time, like with a Google Doc.

Step into the most effective way to monitor, analyze and control complex end-to-end business processes, infrastructure & operations, in real-time with a Single View.True 3D telepresence and remote virtual analysis.Invite colleagues to the 3VOC in augmented and/or virtual reality.

The Primitive Immersive Development Environment is taking advantage of everything that collaboration in VR can offer while applying new tools for visually analyzing software in 3D.Using our plugins for popular IDEs, code is analyzed to be displayed as an interactive 3D structure that can be experienced in collaborative, immersive VR.

These VR collaboration tools are built with an eye toward remote education, training, lectures, and large presentations.

Engage is an education and corporate training platform in virtual reality. It empowers educators and companies to host meetings, presentations, classes and events with people across the world. Using the platform, virtual reality training and experiences can be created in minutes. The tools are very easy to use and require no technical expertise. You can choose to host your virtual reality sessions live, or record and save them for others to experience later. A wide variety of effective and immersive virtual experiences can be created with an extensive library of virtual objects, effects and virtual locations available on the platform.

Providing learners with quality clinical experiences is a challenge. OMS virtual reality nursing scenarios allows nursing educators to deliver immersive, standardized simulation scenarios, feedback and blended learning in one easy to set-up intuitive platform. The OMS VR platform allows nursing students to access flexible, immersive, engaging scenarios whenever they need to, achieving first rate educational outcomes whilst saving organizations time, space and money. With libraries of scenarios for nursing students, registered nurses and nurse practitioners OMS support all groups of learners.

Social VR platforms are made for connecting users for general and entertainment purposes like discussions, group events, activities, and more. While there are many more social VR apps out there, we focused here on those which might provide value to those looking for remote working solutions rather than gaming and entertainment.

AltspaceVR is the premier place to attend live shows, meetups,cool classes, and more with friendly people fromaround the world. All thanks to the magic of Virtual Reality.

Easily start your own meetup, show or class and discover the next frontier of entertainment and community.

Use cases of Bigscreen include both entertainment and productivity. Its used as a virtual living room to watch movies, play videogames, browse the web, and hangout with friends. Its also used for productivity as a tool for remote teams to collaborate together in virtual offices.

Share a virtual room with friends. Watch videos, play with 3D objects, or just hang out.

Spend time together when youre miles apart. Chat with friends, meet new people, and express yourself with virtual gestures.

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26 VR Apps for Remote Work, Education, Training, Design Review, and More - Road to VR