Category Archives: Virtual Reality

Video game and film companies widely use motion capture technology to create lifelike digital characters and avatars.

Now, a January 2022 study from researchers at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia suggests that virtual reality (VR) therapy using realistic motion capture avatars is not only possible, but it may be more effective than traditional therapy for some.

As VR technology develops, your therapist may soon join you in the metaverse in the form of an avatar. What may seem like a graphic video game or dystopian future has been demonstrated by new research.

The study suggests that realistic motion avatars could be the future of social interactions in virtual reality, which could have clinical implications for therapeutic relationships.

Shane L. Rogers, PhD, researcher and lecturer in the Edith Cowan University psychology department in Australia, and the lead author of the study, said that due to the increasing affordability of motion capture technology, it could start to become widely adopted for a greater variety of purposes such as psychotherapy.

The therapist can drive the movement of a digital avatar in real-time so that the avatar mimics their face and body movements in a smooth and lifelike manner, Rogers told Psych Central.

The study focused on the interactions between two avatars in a three-dimensional virtual setting.

Fifty-two undergraduate psychology students from 18 to 53 years old rated their experiences communicating with an avatar driven by another person wearing motion capture technology.

They engaged in casual getting-to-know-you conversations and were interviewed about positive and negative experiences.

The researchers compared the avatar conversations to face-to-face conversations and found that about 30% of participants felt more comfortable disclosing negative experiences in virtual reality compared to face-to-face.

This indicates that for a substantial proportion of people, this mode of communication might be quite useful for psychological therapy, Rogers said. We are currently doing more research to further investigate that.

Virtual reality is not a new concept, even in therapeutic settings.

Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) that places people in simulated environments related to combat developed by technology companies like Bravemind is being used at over 100 sites across the United States to treat combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Though the process of reliving trauma may sound intense, 2021 research suggests that VRET can have benefits.

Research on the benefits of VR therapy for mental health conditions dates to at least 1995, when a small-scale study showed that virtual reality exposure could help people who have a fear of heights.

But the idea that a therapist-client relationship could occur in a virtual world is relatively new.

Communicating in VR transports you into another world, Rogers said. When you step outside the real world for a moment into the virtual one, for some people, this might feel like a safer space to process the negative feelings around negative experiences.

Rogers added that disclosing negative experiences to another person face-to-face may lead to feelings of shame or embarrassment. Interacting in VR provides an added layer of interpersonal distance, making disclosing feelings easier for some.

He was also surprised by how much participants seemed to enjoy their social interactions in the virtual setting, suggesting increasing acceptance of the technology.

Human beings are social beings, Rogers said. Now that we can really put the social into VR experiences, this opens up a massive amount of possibilities.

A growing body of evidence, according to a 2021 review, suggests that VR therapy may benefit people with specific mental health conditions.

David A. Merrill, MD, PhD, an adult and geriatric psychiatrist, and director of the Pacific Neuroscience Institutes Pacific Brain Health Center in Santa Monica, California, uses VR therapy at his outpatient Memory Clinic to provide brain training for individuals with Alzheimers disease.

He said that many people could benefit from VR therapy, particularly children and adolescents who might feel shy or wary about disclosing their feelings face-to-face with a therapist (even online or over Zoom).

With VR technology, you could engage in clinically meaningful therapy thats actually preferred without ever leaving the house, Merrill told Psych Central. I think its meant to be a proxy for togetherness when you cant actually be together.

Research from 2020 suggests that prolonged exposure therapy and virtual reality exposure could help people experiencing post-traumatic stress manage their symptoms by re-creating the narrative of their trauma.

The core of post-traumatic stress is avoidance and anxiety that becomes so severe that youve stopped doing things because youre avoiding triggers and reminders, Merrill said.

You can create a narrative where you realize that you were there, that you lived through such an awful thing, and that you survived.

Research from 2019 shows that VRET may also be beneficial for anxiety disorders, particularly phobias.

Virtual spaces can be created to expose individuals to specific anxieties or phobias in a virtual setting, such as a fear of heights or spiders.

In addition, another recent study suggests that virtual companions in the form of avatars may help reduce anxiety by providing support, particularly among women.

VR therapy may also hold promise for treating individuals with depression and mood disorders, according to a 2021 study.

Merrill said VR could help those whove lost their sense of motivation, pleasure, and joy.

Bringing joy or enjoyment into therapy would be an important element that could be an advantage, Merrill said. You can meet [your therapist] on the phone or Zoom but I think there are some people whod be kind of jazzed to meet in the metaverse.

VR may seem like all fun and games, but its not for everyone. Side effects of VR may include:

In addition, psychotherapy can still come with risks even in the virtual world.

Those trying VR therapy can work through feelings of overwhelm and anxiety about the therapeutic process with a professional.

You need to have confidence that the therapeutic framework is going to be maintained and that its professional therapy, Merrill said, That kind of safeguards against the vulnerability of altered states or altered realities.

In a tech-driven world already grappling with Zoom fatigue, is metaverse burnout on the horizon?

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, will soon release its VR communication platform, Horizon Worlds, which means it wont be long before cutting-edge VR technology and headsets become widely available.

I predict were going to witness VR social interaction becoming a lot more commonplace in the not too distant future, Rogers said.

Harnessing motion capture to make the avatars more faithfully mimic the body language of the person behind the avatar is the key ingredient to enhance the experience enough to bring VR communication into the mainstream.

Although the Edith Cowan study is preliminary and the technology still needs development, meeting your therapist in the metaverse, as proposed by the new research, could present a new pathway for those who might not feel comfortable in traditional therapy, be it in real life or online.

Research supports VRET therapy for certain mental health conditions, but avatar-based VR therapy is still in its early infancy.

Emerging research suggests that VR technologies could supplement not replace the in-person therapeutic process. For some people, a combination of traditional and VR therapy may work well.

I think one of the fears of the metaverse is that you just stopped living in reality, whereas VR is intended to help you get back to living more healthfully in the world, Merrill said.

Its hard to imagine the technology evolving to the point where you would replace the therapist because this is really more about connecting with another person in a virtual space rather than connecting to a virtual entity.

Excerpt from:

How Virtual Reality Therapy Could Help with PTSD, Depression, Anxiety - PsychCentral.com

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.Comcast NBCUniversal has launched the NBC Olympics VR by Xfinity app, which will offer for the first time 8K resolution of virtual reality Olympic coverage.

The app will feature more than 150 hours of live and on demand interactive virtual reality (VR) coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games, including VR Coverage of Opening and Closing Ceremonies, Figure Skating, Ice Hockey, Snowboarding and More

We strive to create innovative viewing experiences so immersive it rivals being at the Winter Olympics live, said Sophia Ahmad, executive vice president, Xfinity Consumer Services. Our robust network makes it possible for Xfinity customers to get closer to the action than ever before, experiencing for the first-time ever, the Games in 8K VR.

The app was developed in collaboration with product and technical teams across NBCU and Comcast.

Partnering with global colleagues across Comcast, our 8K virtual reality experience for the Winter Games will offer fans a one-of-a-kind viewing experience where they feel as if theyre fully immersed in their favorite sports, cheering Team USA athletes to victory, said Gary Zenkel, president, NBC Olympics.

The app can be used by all pay TV customers in the U.S. They can use their TV Everywhere credentials to authenticate their access to the app. The 150 plus hours of immersive 8K coverage includes:

Viewers can also host a virtual Olympics watch party and invite up to three friends to join their virtual suite where they can interact together and enjoy immersive live coverage of Olympic events as if they were in the same room.

The NBC Olympics VR by Xfinity app is now available to download from the Meta Quest 2 app store.

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8K Virtual Reality Coverage is Coming to the Olympics - TV Technology

[105 Pages Report] Virtual and Augmented Reality in Aerospace and Defense Market Insights 2022 The Aerospace and Defense industry is prone to develop VR/AR technologies. Industrial and military applications are numerous, and constitute opportunities at every stage of the supply chain. Engineers and technicians can benefit from VR rooms to simulate systems and platforms designs before starting to fabricate the first piece of hardware. They will also use AR glasses as a technical support on the assembly line or during maintenance checks. Overall, the quality and the reliability of the industrys output will increase while time and costs are set to decrease. On the end-user side, military personnel are already using VR for trainings and are now exploring the potential of AR glasses for intelligence and information communication on the battlefield.

Market Analysis and Insights: Global Virtual and Augmented Reality in Aerospace and Defense Market

In 2021, the global Virtual and Augmented Reality in Aerospace and Defense market size will be USD million and it is expected to reach USD million by the end of 2027, with a CAGR of % during 2021-2027.

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Global Virtual and Augmented Reality in Aerospace and Defense Scope and Market Size

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Leading key players of Virtual and Augmented Reality in Aerospace and Defense Market are

Virtual and Augmented Reality in Aerospace and Defense Market Type Segment Analysis (Market size available for years 2022-2027, Consumption Volume, Average Price, Revenue, Market Share and Trend 2015-2027): Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR)

Regions that are expected to dominate the Virtual and Augmented Reality in Aerospace and Defense market are North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa and others

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(New Report) Virtual and Augmented Reality in Aerospace and Defense Market In 2022 : The Increasing use in Civil Use, Military is driving the growth...

Welcome toTNW Basics, a collection of tips, guides, and advice on how to easily get the most out of your gadgets, apps, and other stuff.

When immersive experiences first became accessible to everyday consumers in the form of headsets like the Oculus Rift and Google Glass, the industry appeared ripe for mainstream acceptance. A few years later, the hype around VR and AR has died down.

Then Facebook (the company) changed its name to Meta and signaled its investment in the metaverse. Suddenly everyone cared about VR and AR again.

Yet I still find many people still arent quite clear on what all these terms mean. Whats the difference between augmented reality and virtual reality? What does XR stand for, and what exactly is mixed reality?

Fret no more friends, Im here to help. I should note that some of these terms are constantly evolving and that sometimes academic/technical/corporate usage differs from colloquial usage (were primarily focused on the latter here), but this guide should help you make sense of our imminent immersive future.

Virtual reality is the OG. When people think of immersive computer-generated experiences beyond just gaming on a giant TV, VR is probably what comes to mind the most.

Credit: Oculus

Virtual reality generally refers to a fully immersive experience replacing the real world with a fully computer-generated one. Typically, experiencing VR requires wearing an opaque headset that blocks your eyes from the real world. This generally counts even if the VR headset is creating a simulacrum of your surroundings. Some VR headsets, for instance, are able to project aspects of the real world into your field of view using headset-mounted cameras.

Basically, if you strap on something onto your face and cant see out of it until you turn it on, thats VR.

Examples: Oculus Rift/Go, HTC Vive, Google Cardboard, Nintendo Virtual Boy

Now things are getting a little muddier, but in general, AR is the counterpart to VR. While VR replaces the real world with computer-generated imagery, AR instead seeks to, erm, augment the real world with virtual experiences.

Therefore, when youre experiencing AR, your perception is still guided by real-world objects and events.

Unlike VR, AR doesnt require you to be fully immersed in a headset or use a headset at all, for that matter. If youve used a Snapchat filter, youve used a form of AR.

There are a number of apps now that allow you to superimpose 3D models onto an image of the real world say, if you want to see how that armchair youve been eyeing will fit in your living room.

Augmented reality may not require sight either some might consider location-based audio cues to be a form of augmented reality.

Examples: Pokemon GO, Google Glass, Magic Leap, Vuzix Blade

Im grouping these two together because depending on who you ask, these could be the same thing or have more specific definitions. But in general, these are the two terms most often used as the over-arching terminology to encompass all computer-generated immersive experiences.

Microsoft, for example, is fond of the term mixed reality as a term for all digitally-enhanced events both AR and VR. This implies that reality and virtuality exist on a spectrum the aptly-named reality-virtuality continuum and has its roots in academic research for decades. It was coined by researchers Paul Milgram and Fumio Kishino in a 1994 paper.

On one end, you have the real world as the cave folk experienced it, free from any digital nonsense. On the other end, you have a completely virtual experience, where your senses are fully immersed in a virtual environment this is closer to straight-up living in the Matrix.

Mixed reality is everything between these two extremes, so it generally works for both AR and VR. That includes devices that offer both technologies in one; you can imagine a headset that is transparent for augmented experiences, but can go opaque when the user wants to be fully immersed.

There are some even more complex and specific definitions for mixed reality, but the above should suffice for most of the time you encounter the term.

So what about extended reality (XR), then? Well in most situations, it pretty much means the same thing.

That said, XR has gained some traction the last few years and is often defined more broadly; its also supposed to also cover all possible Rs we havent even thought of yet. Mixed reality, while including AR and VR, tends to be a bit more associated with the former (perhaps due to Microsofts HoloLens).

Still, MR appears to be the more popular term overall:

Its also worth noting that weve generally been talking about replacing or adding to reality, but some researchers are also studying removing stuff from reality. This could be used, for example, to focus on a particular subject in an environment while ignoring others. The term mediated reality is sometimes used to describe both computer-generated interactions that add to our perception, as well as those that remove from it.

In general though, youll see MR and XR as the most common umbrella terms, as they most reflect the experiences consumers will buy into. Which one ends up being more popular remains to be seen. Im a fan of mixed reality due to its history, but extended reality seems to be a little easier to explain since people dont get hung up on the mixed part.

In any case, Id bet whatever Apple uses to describe its rumored headset will be the term that sticks around.

Examples of MR and XR: Microsoft HoloLens, pretty much all VR and AR headsets and experiences

Original post:

VR, AR, MR, XR: Which reality is the best? - The Next Web

A farmer in central Turkey places virtual reality headsets on two of his cows each day, before turning on some classical music in the barn.

That gets them in the mood for milking, he says, adding that Mozart or Beethoven have worked best so far.

This might have been the stuff of sci-fi films of the past. Instead, these days, technology is changing the world of agriculture almost as fast as it is affecting people's lives.

The sights and sounds are part of a new routine created by Izzet Kocak, who breeds cows in Aksaray, in order to encourage his animals and increase their milk yield.

The results are promising, Kocak told dpa.

Each cow chills out to the soothing scenes of a meadow with the special goggles. This, coupled with the music, has led them to produce an extra 5 litres more milk every day since last week, he says.

"We saw that anxious animals calmed down as they reacted very positively to VR sets and classical music which we play all day at a low volume," Kocak says.

The cows are used to the routine and may even look forward to it, he says.

"I feel like they can't wait to chill out with the goggles every day."Farms worldwide seek to raise animals' milk yields, due to tight costs and the low price of milk. Photo: Jens Buttner/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa

Kocak first heard of the approach after reading that farmers were trying it out in Russia. The Russian Ministry of Agriculture tested VR headsets on cows some two years ago.

Now, Kocak downloads images of green fields with birds chirping in the background onto the special headsets that cost around 2,000 liras (RM620).

He hopes the cows can enjoy the feeling of being in a sunny field even when they are in the barn.

He plans to expand his approach to three more animals in the near future. He also wants to see how well it works in summer, as well as winter, though he notes that the cows are not always stuck indoors.

The aim of the tests is to prepare the animals for milking, he says.

Kocak has three facilities with a total of 180 animals. The cows can roam freely at the Aksaray farm, where a veterinarian is on site and hygiene standards are scrupulously high.

Visitors are not allowed on the site so as to avoid disturbing the cows, Kocak says. Especially after his story made to state news agency Anadolu last week.

"Some wanted to come and see animals but I refused since they need calm and I don't want them to catch any diseases," he says.

Kocak, 30, is a third-generation farmer and he is convinced that his new approach will not only help improve the quantities of milk his cows produce but also raise the quality too.

The facility is preparing to test the levels of fat in the milk before it can start mass production of yoghurt or cheese using the milk produced by the headset-wearing cows in March.

Some researchers from Germany, Russia and Britain have already contacted to Kocak, offering help and advice, he says.

The project is not just for fun, as farms worldwide face rising costs and growing demand.

The cost of feeding a cow each per day is around 80 liras (RM25), he says, while the market price for raw milk is around 5 liras (RM1.55).

And the cost of breeding and milk are rising dramatically.

The price of raw milk surged by more than 68% over the past one year, driven by animal feed, gasoline prices amid a weak lira currency, according to data from Ankara-based Turkish National Dairy Council.

Kocak welcomes the fact that the government provides incentives for animal breeding.

However, an agricultural expert suggested videos on VR devices that are made for people might not have such a positive impact on cattle and their milk yield.

Agricultural engineer Benito Weise, who has studied cows and virtual reality in Germany, told dpa that cows could distinguish more individual images per second than humans.

He said cows would likely not find the kind of video Kocak described as showing relaxing images of nature, but could find it unpleasant or stressful and that stress has a negative effect on milk yield.

Others have questioned whether the approach is appropriate.

The method should not mean locking animals up in cages which would then amount to "torture" and violate animal rights, said Ahmet Kemal Senpolat, from the local animal rights group Haytap. dpa

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Turkish farmer uses virtual reality headsets on cows to raise milk production - The Star Online

The Instagram engineer had already packed his bags for a December vacation when his boss pulled him into a virtual meeting to talk about job goals for 2022.

Their conversation soon took an unexpected turn. Forget the goals, his boss told him. To succeed at Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, his boss said, he should instead apply to a new position in the burgeoning augmented reality and virtual reality teams. Thats where the company needed people, he said.

The engineer, who had worked at Instagram for more than three years and who declined to be identified for fear of retaliation, was taken aback by essentially having to reapply for a job. He said he hasnt decided what to do.

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and chief executive of the company formerly known as Facebook, has upended his company ever since he announced in October that he was betting on the so-called metaverse. Under this idea, his firm newly renamed Meta would introduce people to shared virtual worlds and experiences across different software and hardware platforms.

Since then, Meta has pursued a sweeping transformation, current and former employees said. It has created thousands of new jobs in the labs that make hardware and software for the metaverse. Managers have urged employees who worked on social networking products to apply for those augmented reality and virtual reality roles. The company has poached metaverse engineers from rivals including Microsoft and Apple. And it has officially rebranded some products, like its Oculus virtual-reality headsets, with the Meta name.

Internal recruitment for the metaverse ramped up late last year, three Meta engineers said, with their managers mentioning job openings on metaverse-related teams in December and January. Others who didnt get on board with the new mission left. One former employee said he resigned after feeling like his work on Instagram would no longer be of value to the company; another said they did not think Meta was best placed for creating the metaverse and was searching for a job at a competitor.

Of the more than 3,000 open jobs listed on Metas website, more than 24 percent are now for roles in augmented or virtual reality. The jobs are in cities including Seattle, Shanghai and Zurich.

ALSO READ: The Metaverse is Mark Zuckerberg's escape hatch

The moves amount to some of the most drastic changes at the Silicon Valley firm since 2012, when Zuckerberg announced that Facebook had to shift its social network away from desktop computers and toward mobile devices. The firm restructured, focusing its energy and resources on making mobile-friendly versions of its products. The makeover was hugely successful, leading to years of growth.

But changing the companys course now is far more challenging. Meta has more than 68,000 employees, which is more than 14 times its size in 2012. Its market value has risen by more than eight times over that period to $840 billion. Its business is entrenched in online advertising and social networking. And while the shift may give Meta a head start on the internets next phase, the metaverse remains a largely theoretical concept.

The result has been internal disruption, according to nine current and former Meta employees who were not authorised to speak publicly. While some workers were excited about Metas pivot, others questioned whether the firm was hurtling into a new product without fixing issues such as misinformation and extremism on its social platforms.

Workers were expected to adopt a positive attitude toward innovation or leave, one employee said, and some who disagreed with the new mission have departed.

What the metaverse focus means for the companys existing social networking products like Facebook and Instagram remains in flux, two employees said. At Facebook and Instagram, some teams have shrunk over the last four months, they said, adding that they expected their budgets for the second half of 2022 to be smaller than in previous years.

A spokesman for Meta, which reports quarterly earnings on Wednesday, said that building for the metaverse was not the companys only priority. He added that there havent been significant job cuts to existing teams because of the new direction.

Facebooks pivot to the metaverse started in its top ranks. In September, Mike Schroepfer, the long-serving chief technology officer, said he would step down by the end of 2022. In his place, Zuckerberg appointed Andrew Bosworth, known as Boz, who has for the past few years led development on products like the Oculus headsets and Ray Ban Stories smart glasses.

Bosworths ascendancy was a sign to insiders that Zuckerberg was taking virtual reality and the metaverse seriously. The two had met at Harvard in an artificial intelligence class, when Zuckerberg was a student and Bosworth was a teachers assistant. They kept in touch after Zuckerberg dropped out of the university. Eventually, Bosworth moved to Silicon Valley to work for Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg has since turned to Bosworth for major initiatives. In 2012, Bosworth was given the task of building out Facebooks mobile advertising products. After management issues at the Oculus virtual reality division, Zuckerberg dispatched Bosworth in August 2017 to take over the initiative. The virtual reality business was later rebranded Reality Labs.

In October, the company said it would create 10,000 metaverse-related jobs in the European Union over the next five years. That same month, Zuckerberg announced he was changing Facebooks name to Meta and pledged billions of dollars to the effort.

Reality Labs is now at the forefront of the companys shift to the metaverse, employees said. Workers in products, engineering and research have been encouraged to apply to new roles there, they said, while others have been elevated from their jobs in social networking divisions to lead the same functions with a metaverse emphasis.

Firm to lift veil off its metaverse biz (Reuters)

When Meta Platforms reports fourth-quarter results on Wednesday, investors will get a new window into the financial impact of CEO Mark Zuckerbergs current passion. Meta plans to break out the results of its augmented and virtual-reality hardware unit, Reality Labs, for the first time, an investment the company previously warned would cause a $10 billion hit to 2021 profit and would not be profitable any time in the near future. Analysts said they would be keen to see indicators about the Reality Labs divisions profitability, how long it might be a drag on the advertising side, and evidence around the strength of VR headset sales.

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Want to survive at Meta? Accept the virtual reality - or leave - Business Standard

Operators and authorities in more and more countries are moving to immediately dismantle their retired nuclear facilities, and emerging digital technologies coupled with greater usage of robots and drones are offering significant potential for more effective project implementation and risk reduction, an IAEA survey on the global status of nuclear decommissioning has found.

Decommissioning activities including the use of cutting-edge technologies are set to ramp up in the coming years as several of the worlds 439 nuclear power reactors are phased out of operation. The conclusions of a 30-month IAEA project, discussed during a recent webinar, will provide additional insights for policymakers and other stakeholders interested in the future management of retired nuclear facilities.

Previously, many programmes elected to defer dismantlement of retired facilities, but immediate dismantling is now becoming the predominant decommissioning strategy worldwide, said Olena Mykolaichuk, Head of the IAEAs Decommissioning and Environmental Remediation Section. And our survey can help countries to keep abreast of important technical developments in this area.

Decommissioning includes decontamination and dismantling of plant and building structures, leading to the removal of regulatory controls, so that a facility and site may be reused. It is a complex endeavour, requiring timely and effective management skills and expertise that are crucial to further develop. Globally, 199 power reactors have been shut down for decommissioning, with 21 fully decommissioned. In addition, 130 fuel cycle facilities have been decommissioned as well as about 450 research reactors.

To improve understanding of the current status and future evolution of decommissioning activities, the IAEA sent out a Global Decommissioning Strategy questionnaire to more than 50 countries and evaluated the responses alongside data from the IAEAs Power Reactor Information System (PRIS), Research Reactor Data base (RRDB) and Integrated Nuclear Fuel Cycle Information System (iNFCIS). At the same time, the IAEA hosted a series of technical meetings over three years that brought together dozens of experts from some 20 countries as well as the Nuclear Energy Agency of the OECD and the European Commission to share experiences and provide feedback.

While existing decommissioning technologies are mostly proving sufficient to the task at hand, the report showed that countries are increasingly looking at high-tech solutions to meet unique challenges and stand to benefit from further technological innovation to help reduce risks, enhance safety and cut schedules and costs.

Countries managing accident sites such as Japan are using innovative robotic technology and remote inspection tools to locate and characterize fuel debris as part of efforts to retrieve and dispose of this material. Technologies such as 3D modelling or building information modelling (BIM), virtual reality and remotely controlled technologies, including drones and robots, are also being applied increasingly to the decommissioning of facilities that have reached the end of normal life. These technologies enable more efficient collection, understanding, display and management of data, allowing different scenarios to be visualized during planning and preparation of dismantling and decontamination activities.

Coupling BIM with GPS or location-aware Wi-Fi networks enables the deployment of semi or fully autonomous robotics systems and drones, said Hannes Hanggi of the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate, who helped lead the IAEA project. They have the potential to significantly lower costs, further increase safety and enhance performance in decommissioning projects.

Decommissioning strategies are informed by factors such as national policy, the availability of waste management systems and other enabling infrastructure as well as technological innovation and political and societal thinking on environmental issues such as sustainability and circular economy.

There is also a move towards earlier decommissioning licensing and a reduction of the time delay between final shutdown and the start of dismantling. One-fifth of the responses obtained from nuclear power plants envisaged that dismantling would proceed while spent fuel remained in the reactor or in the spent fuel pool.

The survey also analysed factors negatively impacting on the delivery of projects. Among them, the availability of waste facilities and funding had the biggest impact while end-state and future-use options had the smallest.

Most nuclear power plants are required to have a mechanism in place to ensure that sufficient funds will exist to pay for decommissioning. Such funds are typically built up through fractional charges in bills to ratepayers and set aside by electricity generators during the period of operation.

Significant financial resources have already been utilised globally to decommission nuclear power plants, research reactors and fuel cycle facilities, and significantly greater resources are expected to be needed for future activities over a period of several decades as ageing facilities are retired, said Simon Carroll, Senior Advisor on Nuclear Decommissioning at Vattenfall, Sweden. By the same token, human resource requirements for future decommissioning will be significantly larger than the level of resources already used, Carroll added. Simply put, the industry will need a lot more people and experts in this field.

To attract new talent, the IAEA in 2020 held a global crowdsourcing challenge that sought original concepts or project outlines from young people for advancing the decommissioning of nuclear facilities or environmental remediation of radiologically contaminated sites. Entries included characterization toolkits, instruments for onfield measurements and collecting 3D radiation data, as well as robots and artificial intelligence.

The IAEA assists countries in efforts to plan and implement decommissioning projects and develops related safety standards and Nuclear Energy Series publications and other reports on technical and safety related aspects, organizes meetings of experts, collaborative projects, scientific exchanges, peer reviews, training courses and workshops. These activities are supported by resources including an eLearning platform and the International Decommissioning Network (IDN), which provides a forum for interaction among experts who can also share knowledge via a wiki-based information resource. The Agency pays particular attention to introducing circular economy principles into decommissioning considerations.

Read the original here:

Digital Tools, Virtual Reality and Robots to Help in Accelerating Dismantling of Retired Nuclear Facilities, IAEA Survey Shows | IAEA - International...

As COVID-19 continues to disrupt many Australians'travel plans, some of those looking for a risk-free escape areturning to virtual reality tourism.

And while it may sound like a downgrade from the real thing,tour guides and designers of these experiences say it's becoming increasingly sophisticated.

But what is virtual reality tourism? Dr Ryan Yung, a travel and tourism researcher, definesit as the ability to "be physically in one locationbut your mind is in a different location."

It can now be accessed by anyone who has a PC, laptop or mobile phone through YouTube or via virtual tours online.

And the experience can be enhanced by using a fold-out Google Cardboard vieweror, for those willing to spend more money,technologically advanced virtual reality headsets.

So is virtual tourism any substitute for the real thing?

It's hard to compare the twobut virtual tourismdoes have some uniquebenefits, Dr Yungtells ABC RN Breakfast.

"Some of the more popular attractions in virtual tourism [eventually] will be places which would be physically impossible to visit," he says.

"If we wanted to visit Rome, for example, in the medieval times, it's possible to do so via virtual tourism."

Some virtual experiences are also trying to integrate sensoryelements, although Dr Yung saysthere's still much more workto be done in this area.

"With smells, they use pods, which emit synthetic smells ... similar to what you'd find in a shopping mall, when you walk pasta cookie stand or something with artificial smells."

"With taste at the moment, there is no real substitute, but I believe some researchers in Singapore have come up with a technology where they can trick your mind through smell.

"This is where you're drinking mineral waterbut, through the trick of colour and smell, you can basically fool the mind into thinking [the person is] tasting something."

Virtual tourism could open up destinations for those who couldn't access them otherwise.

"A lot of the technology that's behind it [came in] years before COVID hit, and it was to overcome a lot of issues with barriers with accessibility and inclusivity,"Dr Yung says.

"So people who were not mobilewere able to still get some experience of the outside world."

It offers other opportunities too.

For example, forthose who arerisk adverse, virtual tourism could be a way to take part in extreme sportssafely,he says.

"[People] I've spoken to said something like 'I would love to do something like bungee jumping but my natural fearwould never let me do something like that'."

"But [with] the comfort of VR, knowing that you physically will not be doing the bungee jumpbut you're able to experience something like that,that could be a substitute for the real experience.

"I've heard people say they want to see the Great Barrier Reef, but they are so afraid of water so that could be [an opportunity] in the near term."

Virtual reality can also be used to travel freely withoutany risk of social or cultural stigmas, he adds.

"There are certain behaviours [that]certain cultures expect of us when we travel overseas, or when we're out in public. And when we are hidden deep behind this virtual lens, then [virtual tourists] are able to explore different mannerisms or cultures that you normally wouldn't be able to," he says.

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So for those looking to scratch their travel itch, virtual tourism isopening up theworld once again, says Dr Yung.

"This is one small positive that has come up with COVID in alerting research and development [and encouraging the] acceptance of the technology byeveryone else."

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Read more from the original source:

Virtual reality tourism is accessible, inclusive and takes the risk out of a COVID-disrupted getaway - ABC News

[92 Pages Report] Augmented and Virtual Reality Content and Application Market Insights 2022 This report contains market size and forecasts of Augmented and Virtual Reality Content and Application in United States, including the following market information:

United States Augmented and Virtual Reality Content and Application Market Revenue, 2016-2021, 2022-2027, ($ millions)

United States top five Augmented and Virtual Reality Content and Application companies in 2020 (%)

The global Augmented and Virtual Reality Content and Application market size is expected to growth from USD million in 2020 to USD million by 2027; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of % during 2021-2027.

The United States Augmented and Virtual Reality Content and Application market was valued at USD million in 2020 and is projected to reach USD million by 2027, at a CAGR of % during the forecast period.

Researcher has surveyed the Augmented and Virtual Reality Content and Application Companies and industry experts on this industry, involving the revenue, demand, product type, recent developments and plans, industry trends, drivers, challenges, obstacles, and potential risks.

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Leading key players of Augmented and Virtual Reality Content and Application Market are

Augmented and Virtual Reality Content and Application Market Type Segment Analysis (Market size available for years 2022-2027, Consumption Volume, Average Price, Revenue, Market Share and Trend 2015-2027): Software, Service

Regions that are expected to dominate the Augmented and Virtual Reality Content and Application market are North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa and others

If you have any question on this report or if you are looking for any specific Segment, Application, Region or any other custom requirements, then Connect with an expert for customization of Report.

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The Monitor is a weekly column devoted to everything happening in the WIRED world of culture, from movies to memes, TV to Twitter.

Joe Huntings camera remains steadfastly trained on his subjects. Theyre lingering in and around a place called Bar Pyxis, awkwardly flirting and bumping into one another. Most are dressed in their cyberpunk finest, although a solitary sailor stands in the doorway. Many of their bodies are frozen; one looks passed out on the ground. The Covid-19 pandemic rages on all around them, but no one is in a mask. Not a protective one, at least. This party is happening in VRChat, and everythingeven Huntings camerais happening in the rarefied air of the metaverse.

To be certain, this isnt the metaverse of Mark Zuckerbergs dreams. There are meetings, but not the work kind. Some spaces look like conference rooms, but theres no infinite office. This is the metaverse gamers and other extremely online people have known about for years. The organic one, the one for people who just wanted to hang out and find a place to be themselves. The one that now seems most ephemeral, like it could be swallowed by Meta at any moment.

Capturing the metaverse, mind you, is not part of Huntings directors statement. His documentary, We Met in Virtual Reality, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival, isnt a diatribe on the corporate takeover of digital spaces. Instead, its about showcasing the people in the small progressive communities that have built social VR into what it is. Theres Jenny, an American Sign Language teacher who is working to create a space for deaf and hard-of-hearing people in VR. There are nonbinary folks discussing the possibilities of exploring identity in virtual space. And there are two couples who, as the title suggests, met in VRChat. Their stories are similar, but not overlapping, and they provide a snapshot of the metaverseand Im using that term in its broadest possible definition hereas it stands on the precipice of transforming from an online outsider space to whatever it will be next.

We Met in Virtual Reality is also a glimpse into the burgeoning metaverse at a time when folks needed it most. Hunting, who shot the entire documentary inside VRChat (he used a VRCLens, a virtual camera made for this purpose), had been thinking of doing a doc about virtual spaces for a while, but it wasnt until Covid-19 hit that he was able to focus up and do it. I essentially lived in VR during the pandemic, Hunting said while introducing his doc at Sundancewhich, in an ironic turn, was also being held virtually because of Covid. I captured a few stories that I felt were very telling on the ways in which we can connect online and express ourselves and find community during a time where our physical lives were a lot more limited.

Huntings goal, then, was to show what being present in VR is truly like. And that he does. Theres no need to spoil anything here, but his movie is far from one big party. People discuss deaths in their families, struggles with addiction, and identity. If ever there was an argument for virtual reality still being reality, this is it. Huntings film makes the case that all those dreamers who envision a digital world that brings people together might be on to something.

Read more here:

'We Met in Virtual Reality' Is the Best Film From the Metaverse - WIRED