Category Archives: Virtual Reality

PHOTO:Microsoft

A few weeks ago at Microsofts Ignite conference, CEO Satya Nadella and Alex Kipman, a technical fellow with Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft, unveiled Mesh, a mixed reality platform that uses the company's Azure platform to build collaborative experiences using HoloLens 2 and other devices for remote participants.

It was appropriate that the presentation was offered as a virtual meeting given that the whole point of Mesh is to give users the ability to interact remotely in virtual rooms and landscapes. The bottom line, Kipman told the audience, is to provide developers and organizations with the tools to build avatars, manage sessions, do spatial rendering, synchronize participants, and produce live volumetric video (or holoportation) for collaborative apps.

To demonstrate the power and the possibilities, Cirque du Soleil co-founder Guy Lalibert appeared using holoportation, which uses 3D capture technology to beam a lifelike image of a person into a virtual scene. In the companys first keynote experience designed entirely for mixed reality, people attending the conference from living rooms and home offices around the world could experience the show as avatars watching events unfold in a shared holographic world.

Kipman himself appeared on the Ignite virtual stage as a fully realized holoportation of himself, narrating the shows opening experience in real time as rays of light simulated his physical body. Filmmaker and ocean explorer James Cameron and John Hanke, CEO and founder of augmented reality company Niantic, also joined Kipman remotely to show how Mesh will be used for shared experiences when it is released publicly.

According to Microsoft, the new platform is the result of years of research and development in areas like hand and eye tracking and HoloLens development to creation of persistent holograms and artificial intelligence models that can create expressive avatars. Built on Azure, it will also include Azures enterprise-grade security and privacy features as well as its computational resources, data, AI and mixed reality services.

Microsoft also offered previews of the Microsoft Mesh app for HoloLens, which allows team members to remotely collaborate and is available for download, while users can also request access to a new version of Mesh-enabled AltspaceVR, which will allow companies to hold meetings and work gatherings in virtual reality with enterprise-grade security features including secure sign-ins, session management and privacy compliance.

The problem is, apart from what was shown at Ignite, little else is known about Mesh and it is likely to be months before future users will be able to offer any kind of insight. But it is a major play for the mixed reality space that could really shake up the world of virtual meetings and even Teams.

Related Article: How Virtual Reality Is Helping Remote Workers

Greg Sullivan, director of mixed reality at Microsoft explained the concept behind Mesh and how it might be used in a subsequent Twitter Spaces meeting hosted by NextReality. One of the core capabilities of Mesh, he said, is a sense of presence. This gives users the ability to feel like they are in a physical location that is hundreds or thousands of miles away.

They started with the AltspaceVR avatar system and brought that over onto Azure. AltspaceVR is a social VR platform founded in 2013 that is credited with creating the first social platform for virtual reality. In 2017, it was acquired by Microsoft and is now part of the Mixed Reality division within the company's Cloud and AI group.

Sullivan explained that no matter what device a user is on, they should be able to participate to some degree in Mesh. Mesh makes any application an immersive, collaborative mixed reality application by plugging into the Mesh SDK and adding that capability to an app, he said. That app could run on HoloLens, it could run on Oculus, or it could be in a Windows Mixed Reality.

It is still early days for AR and VR in the digital workplace but this is a market that is set to grow rapidly.

Two years ago, Research and Markets predicted that the global mixed reality market size would reach $2.8 billion by 2023, growing at rate of 77.3% until 2023. A recent report by the UK-based online share researcher BuySharesindicated that growth in the next couple of years will be greater than originally expected. When combined, the global AR, VR and mixed reality (MR) market is expected to continue growing and hit a $124.4. billion value by 2023, a 305% increase in two years.

AR apps have come a long way from Snapchat filters and Pokemon Go, the report said: From smartphone apps aimed at the individual consumer to more sophisticated data visualization tools used by enterprises to interpret big data analytics, AR technology has found its use in different industries. The growing edge computing market and 5G connectivity made the technology much more viable, allowing users to unveil a new generation of AR apps.

By the end of the next year, the market value will be around $58.7 billion, while the following years are expected to witness even more impressive growth in the use of AR, VR and MR technology. By 2025, the market value is expected to surge to almost $300 billion.

This is supported by other research from Kettering, Ohio-based Thrive Analytics and ARtillery Intelligence. According to theirresearch, 29 percent of consumers have used mobile augmented reality. More importantly, they are using it often: 59 percent of mobile AR users engage at least weekly and 78 percent at least monthly. This is a telling indication of mobile AR's potential, given that active use is a key mobile app success factor and tied closely to revenue metrics.

While the top mobile AR app category is gaming, this is followed by social, driven by popular AR apps and features such as Pokemon Go and Snapchat AR lenses. Both categories will continue to lead mobile AR in the near future, but others will emerge such as everyday utilities like visualizing products in one's space as part of an e-commerce shopping experience.

AR and VR are still in early adoption phases, said Thrive Analytics managing partner Jason Peaslee in a statement. There are still technology challenges, but we think AR and VR have the ability to transform the way people work, connect and learn. Were excited about the prospects and committed to measuring them.

Related Article: What Would a 'Smart' Digital Workplace Look Like?

So, is Mesh the platform that is going to bring AR, VR and MR to the workplace? The release of Mesh is further confirmation of the growing adoption of AR and mixed reality MR in the workplace, said Doug Stephen, president of the enterprise learning division atCGS, a New York City-based business applications, learning and outsourcing services company.

Companies are finding AR/MR to be the antidote to "Zoom fatigue," a loss of engagement resulting from a heavy cadence of video calls. One specific area in which the introduction of AR/MR tools will have a positive effect is learning and development.

There is a growing understanding that not all employees can be taught solely through virtual team meetings or video calls," Stephen said. "Business leaders striving to create more meaningful, deeper connections for their employees will implement these AR/MR technologies, such as Microsoft Mesh, to provide an on-the-job training experience while staff continues to work remotely."

Let's not forget that Mesh is not the company's first attempt to introduce mixed reality to the workplace. Microsoft released SharePoint Spaces in 2018 to diversify the ways employees collaborate with each other and with external users. However advanced and unique the feature might have seemed back then, it has not gained much popularity, possibly because it can only be implemented as part of SharePoint or because organizations have not understood Spaces use scenarios clearly, said Anna Muchnik, digital marketing manager, atItransition, an Austin-based software developer.

Since Microsoft Mesh is yet untested by businesses, it is still too early to say that it will mark a new turn in the corporate mixed reality adoption," Muchnik said. "Compared to SharePoint Spaces, the new product looks more advantageous and sophisticated. At the same time, enterprises should be technologically ready to adopt and support an Azure-based solution, as well as plan their investment in HoloLens to run Microsoft Mesh."

Companies will need a well-thought-out strategy to apply Mesh in daily workflows, whether that is collaboration, learning and development or research. Otherwise it will stay just another promising offering with no real-life application.

Read the rest here:

Microsoft Mesh Takes VR, AR and Mixed Reality Deeper Into the Digital Workplace - CMSWire

T&G Global is harnessing virtual reality technology to recruit and train Hawkes Bay locals in positions its struggling to fill, particularly forklift drivers.

The company has partnered with the Whiti programme to deliver a Supply Chain Cadetship which offers job seekers a two-week comprehensive forklift training programme utilising the latest virtual reality (VR) training technology and upon completion, consistent employment for 11 months across T&Gs Hawkes Bay operations.

T&G Global Head of Change and Capability, Anna Fraser says theres a nationwide shortage of qualified forklift drivers, making it a hot skill to have in several industries, especially horticulture.

In the peak apple season we employ around 75 forklift operators in the Hawkes Bay to help in our packhouses and cool stores, said Anna.

Over the past few years, weve struggled to hire the number of forklift operators we need, so this year we partnered with Whiti to develop and launch our Supply Chain Cadetship programme. It runs alongside our existing T&G Forklift Academy Training Programme, which already trains over 50 forklift drivers a year nationwide.

Image: T&G Global

Earlier this year, our first14 Hawkes Bay job seekers began the two-week intensive training programme using state of the art virtual reality forklift training technology provided by Whiti.

By using VR technology we can replicate the physical environment so our people can be trained safely in a very immersive and realistic way. It enhances their learning experience, and importantly builds confidence, skills and experience.

Whiti combines intensive forklift operator competency training using world-leading VR technology with more traditional work skills training and personal development work.

Andrew Stone, Whiti Programme Manager, says the course bridges the skills and confidence gap between employers and new entrants to forklift roles.

We address the core work competencies a new entrant needs, especially the competency to operate a forklift. Alongside that the cadets gain confidence in themselves, their skills, and their new employment opportunity. The commitment by T&G makes a real difference.

For more information: T&G Global Phone: +64 0508 800 100Email: communications@tandg.globalWeb: tandg.global

Read more here:

Building a skilled Hawke's Bay workforce through virtual reality - FreshPlaza.com

What does the classroom of the future look and feel like? What about the future of work? How will immersive technologies support our exploration and understanding of problems, enable our acquisition of new skills, and strengthen our interactions with each other? As the spheres of learning and work move rapidly toward hybrid modes of interaction, we are optimistic about the role extended reality (XR) technologies can play in enhancing the ways in which we learn and work together.

We launched a new campus-wide XR Initiative at the University of Michigan 18 months ago to explore how emerging XR technologies can strengthen the quality of a Michigan education, cultivate an interdisciplinary scholarly community of practice, and enhance a nationwide network for academic innovation. The disruption caused by the pandemic to education and industry has only made us more confident in the role XR technology can play in helping us understand our world and each other. It is also clear we must do it ethically, compassionately, and equitably.

As we approach our inaugural XR at Michigan Summit next week, an event open to participants across the growing XR ecosystem, we are optimistic about the future of XR in learning. There is no shortage of challenges to address. But there are also reasons to be hopeful if we continue to invest our collective energy in ways that fully consider the implications of extended reality technologies. As we look ahead toward the rest of 2021, here are five reasons we are hopeful about the future of XR in learning.

1. An emerging privacy framework, ethical guidelines, and immersive technology standards can ensure a more durable future.

XR technologies generate enormous amounts of personal information and expand the definition of what must be protected, including biometrically-inferred data. We have an opportunity to lay a solid foundation about data protection and transparency in a way that hasnt been done with other emerging technologies. The XR Safety Initiative, a 501 (c)(3) global not-for-profit organization that promotes privacy, security, and ethics in immersive environments, has been setting real standards in these areas. It has convened a group of global experts from industry, academia, and government to create the XRSI Privacy Framework 1.0 to set a baseline set of standards, guidelines, and best, regulation-agnostic practices. At U-M, we have worked with colleagues at Georgia Tech to help contribute to the framework in the areas of FERPA, Title VI and Title IX as well as GDPR and CCPA. This important work is already getting the attention of major XR vendors including Facebook and Microsoft as well as policy advocates in the US federal government.

2. Collaboration across higher education institutions and industry partners is accelerating experimentation and laying the groundwork for a sustainable ecosystem for XR in learning.

Higher education has been exploring the uses of XR since the last major wave of Virtual Reality in the late 90s. In the last five years, there has been a significant increase in the development and distribution of XR experiences for teaching and learning. Institutions ranging from community colleges and vocational schools to R1 research institutions have been using XR technologies in various capacities and the pace of growth is becoming more rapid. In the summer of 2020, a group of more than 150 institutions from 25 countries came together to form the Champions in Higher Education for XR (CHEX) to share ideas and knowledge about how to start XR programs and deploy technology throughout their institutions. Major industry collaborations from companies including Microsoft, Lenovo, HP, and HTC have created mutually beneficial products from devices to software delivery platforms. The willingness of colleagues across higher education to share lessons learned with XR technology procurement, device management, content creation, and data collection has accelerated adoption and implementation of new vendor solutions.

3. XR is impacting learning and is already transforming particular fields like healthcare education and care delivery.

Schools of nursing and medical schools have been some of the earliest adopters of XR technologies and have pushed the boundaries of what these devices and platforms can do. Simulation is a major part of any healthcare education curriculum, and virtual reality has been at the forefront of simulation for years. A medical or nursing student can practice a high-risk scenario in a low-stakes environment such as performing infant cardiac arrest protocols in VR before ever doing it on a real child. The Imperial College of London has been partnering with Microsoft to use the HoloLens 2 mixed reality headset to perform ward rounds during COVID to reduce exposure to patients and students. One physician wears the HoloLens 2 into a patient room while the rest of the student team participates and learns remotely through a Microsoft Teams meeting. In December 2020, U-M partnered with Imperial College of London to create the first International Mixed Reality Grand Rounds to showcase the power of this technology across countries and health systems. In another example, Case Western University developed an application for the HoloLens called HoloAnatomy that allows medical students to learn anatomy by interacting with holograms with fellow students all in the HoloLens headset. In March of 2020, Case Western sent 185 HoloLens devices to all first-year medical students and continued teaching anatomy remotely without missing a beat.

At U-M, faculty in the School of Nursing looked to XR as a mode of teaching to help solve challenges presented by COVID in delivering skills-based learning for undergraduate and graduate students. It began exploring how the HoloLens 2 with Dynamics 365 Guides could be used with traditional mannequins to enhance the learning experience and provide a more self-guided method of instruction. XR is certainly not reserved for health education alone. In the 18 months since we launched our campus-wide XR initiative, we have funded 22 projects from 11 schools and colleges. Projects on topics such as construction architecture, English literature, virtual physics labs, and a VR nuclear reactor are demonstrating the wide potential of XR in learning.

4. Innovations focusing on the democratization of content creation could have a significant impact on capacity, participation, and adoption.

Content creation is one of the largest barriers to adoption of XR technologies. While procuring headsets remains a major challenge, it is access to a high-quality catalogue of experiences to run on those headsets that often stands in the way of learning innovation. The current method to create high-quality experiences is to use game engines such as Unity or Unreal Engine, by Epic Games. However, development in these environments still requires significant time and resources. There is a rapidly growing number of vendors that are creating platforms on the web that utilize WebXR to allow content creators to develop XR experiences with low or no code requirements. 360-degree video VR is the area that has advanced the most in the past year. There are many platforms on the market today that allow you to upload 360-degree photos and videos and create digital interactions and branching logic on top of uploaded media to create a rich interactive experience. The more UX and learning experience designers can create and edit content, the faster these technologies can be used to make a broader impact in higher education.

There are many exciting efforts to support the democratization of content creation and the expansion of human capital contributing to innovation in XR and learning. For example, the Center for Academic Innovation at U-M recently partnered with Dr. Michael Nebeling, a faculty member at U-Ms School of Information, to create a new series of online courses called Extended Reality for Everybody. Additionally, the University of London Goldsmiths created a virtual reality specialization focused on how to create VR content. Companies like Unity and Epic Games are creating self-guided online courses to help solve the content creation problem. As more companies embrace XR technologies in their day-to-day work, we expect increased demand for content creators and more mature platforms to meet the needs of the market.

5. XR is revolutionizing soft-skills training in areas critical to the future of work and in a way that complements rapid adoption of online and hybrid learning.

We are seeing increased demand from faculty at Michigan to explore the use of XR technologies to help develop and master competencies and soft skills across almost every school or college. Major corporations are investing millions of dollars in VR technologies to help train their workers in soft skills training in partnership with companies such as STRIVR and Talespin. According to a study by PwC in 2020, VR learners were four times faster to train than in a classroom, 275% more confident in their ability to apply the skills after the VR, and 3.75 times more emotionally connected to the content compared with classroom learners. As the future of learning and work becomes more hybrid and remote, augmented and virtual reality solutions provide opportunities to train at scale and bring people together in new ways. During the pandemic, VMware used virtual reality to onboard all new hires by sending these employees a VR headset loaded with training and collaboration tools to virtually meet up with their teams. XR can provide ways for people to practice difficult situations and high-risk skills in a controlled and repeatable way. It also offers the option to remotely collaborate with people that are in the office, on their computer, or on another XR device. Here again we see incredible opportunity for further collaboration between higher education and industry partners who share a commitment to ethical innovation and sustainability in the future of work.

These are among the top reasons we are hopeful about the future of XR in learning. What else are you excited about? While we didnt focus on challenges and issues in this article, there is no shortage of problems to work through. What are your biggest concerns about XR in learning? Do you see other opportunities for XR to positively shape the classroom of the future and the future of work? Lets continue the conversation on Twitter (#XR4Learning) to strengthen our shared understanding about the potential opportunities and important challenges that we should explore together.

James DeVaney (@DeVaneyGoBlue) is the associate vice provost for academic innovation and the founding executive director of the Center for Academic Innovation at the University of Michigan.

Jeremy Nelson (@Jernel_Umich) is the director of the XR initiative at the Center for Academic Innovation at the University of Michigan.

See the original post here:

5 Reasons We Are Hopeful About the Future of Extended Reality (XR) in Learning | Learning Innovation - Inside Higher Ed

Toyota is a global corporation with over 350,000 employees, almost $300 billion in revenue, and manufacturing or sales outposts in over 140 countries globally. How do you connect, develop, and train a company of this geographical diversity and size when even the Olympics will be held without foreign visitors this year?

Perhaps in virtual reality.

According to The Leadership Network, results of training in VR include 15 times more knowledge retained at 72% less cost and 98% less time wasted in travel. TLN recently signed a deal with the automobile manufacturing giant to teach its executive masterclass Leading the Toyota Way in virtual reality.

So I recently took a tour to experience it myself.

First impressions: its nothing like the vision that Microsoft has unleashed on the world in Microsoft Mesh, which is a seamless blending of the real and the virtual. Microsofts gorgeous cinematic video introduction of Mesh makes digital connection in mixed reality seem rich with detail and context and metadata: capable of much more than purely physical engagement today. Its sensual in a very baseline understanding of that word: it engages the senses.

Are Oculus Quest, VR, and Microsoft Hololens the future of remote meetings and work?

Its important to note, however that the Mesh highlight reel video is mostly that: a vision.

TLNs Gemba VR technology, developed for Toyota and other global brands, is very different. For starters, its shipped and currently in use right now. Its available via a $250 VR headset, the Oculus Quest, not a $3,500 HoloLens 2. Also, its less about rich details of a human-like avatar and more about the simpler act of telepresence and engagement with others.

That is a kind way to say it.

The hard way of saying it is that in the Gemba technology, people look like animated boxes, one step up from stick figures, with floating heads and somewhat expressive hands.

Thats kind of the point, says Nathan Robinson, CEO of TLN.

Seeing more photo-realistic avatars can be distracting, Robinson told me during a demo for the TechFirst podcast. Also, weve heard that some feel they get treated more equally this way.

Thats completely understandable in the era of heightened awareness of sexual and racial bias and harassment. Just as some female computer gamers find they get treated very differently when they use a typically male avatar and name, its not surprising even if it is disappointing that the same can be true in corporate and business environments. Also, lets be honest: if youre bringing 35 executives together for a business meeting in VR ... do you want to have them spending 20 minutes first customizing an avatar with colors, hairstyles, and shapes? I cant even build a Facebook avatar I like, and executives trend older than the general workforce population, with likely less experience in VR, and less ability to use technology. I could see a meeting starting off as a disaster as half the attendees struggle to finish customization, and others remain unhappy with rushed choices of clothing or eye color or nose type.

A scene inside a breakout room in TLN's Gemba technology. You can use tables, whiteboards, sticky ... [+] notes, and more in a persistent environment.

You arrive in Gemba at a gathering point. TLN calls it the lounge.

This is where they join, says Robinson. We can interact with spaces and we can ... have a quick chat in here, but this is just designed to open up and and introduce the world of Gemba to everybody.

You get used to the controls and environment in the lounge, including how to move around the virtual space.

Anyone who owns and uses an Oculus Quest will find it incredibly easy, and thats probably the headset that more people are familiar with than just about any other. Its also the VR headset that Walmart chose for its virtual reality training program, buying 17,000 units to distribute.

From the lounge you teleport to an island. Different groups and different companies can have their own islands, and you literally walk up to a teleport station and transfer over, or a group leader can magic you away. Theres a lecture hall, there are breakout rooms, and there are virtual analogs for paper, notes, whiteboards, and pretty much everything else you need for collaboration.

Speakers in the lecture hall can bring up slides on an apparently ginormous screen up front with basically any digital content you can image: videos, decks, websites, notes, and so on. Listeners can sit in various seats to be farther or closer, and your proximity to others impacts what you can hear and what you cant, just like real life.

Web banner of young african man wearing virtual reality headset. VR concept.

It's all designed to be as intuitive as possible, says Robinson. It might feel complicated at the beginning, but there are essentially two buttons. One that you click with your index finger on your left hand, and one that you click on with your middle finger on your right hand. And that's it.

You can also bring in 3D models and examine them together, so you could use this technology for more than a group chat or big meeting: you could use it for interactive design sessions. Engineers, for example, could share engine designs, explode them visually, and essentially walk inside them. Dont get too excited, however: this is Oculus VR, and what it gives in cheap and accessible hardware, it takes away in fine resolution. While the Quest 2 has a resolution of 1,832 1,920 pixels per eye, in practice its as not as clear on small details as that might imply.

For most meetings, however, its more than enough.

And, if you lean into the technology, it provides a much richer experience of being there than watching on a two-dimensional screen. It also enables much better workplace collaboration because youre in a VR space: its not your typical computer or smartphone where a notification is always buzzing away, demanding your attention, interrupting your flow, and distracting you from the meeting.

Would it result in learning 15X the knowledge compared to a traditional remote training or collaboration experience?

I dont know about that. Thats a tall order.

What I do think is that it would retain my attention, at least in bursts of 90 to 120 minutes, much better than a typical remote conference would. And that might indeed make for a much higher level of learning, simply thanks to better, deeper, and longer engagement.

Ultimately, I think we want something like Mesh. Here can be anywhere, Microsoft says and Covid taught us over the past year. Mesh will enable high-fidelity interactions and collaboration, at a cost of high-quality equipment and a learning curve. But Mesh isnt a hardware platform: its a platform specification. It runs on HoloLens, but it isnt limited to HoloLens.

And that means that other hardware, including Oculus, phones, tablets, PCs, and interfaces we havent yet thought of can participate in Mesh. Or, they can participate in whatever technology or sets of technologies win.

That might be Mesh. That might be Gemba. And that might be some combination or synthesis of the two, like different worlds in Ready Player One.

One thing we know: the future of work and meetings isnt what it used to be.

See more here:

Are Shared Virtual Experiences The Future Of Meetings And Work? - Forbes

There are lots of VR games to choose from this year.

2021 has brought more and more content to sites like freevrporngames.com and plenty of others.

It can seem next to impossible to play the best ones out there when there are so many to pick from.

This game lets you step into the shoes of a simple smuggler from the galaxy far, far away.

Even though youre hopelessly outmatched, youre tasked with infiltrating Darth Vaders castle on Mustafar and finding out what hes up to.

If youve ever fantasized about stepping into the iron man suit and raising hell then this is finally your chance.

You get the HUD and everything you would expect Tony himself to see when hes wearing the iron weapon.

This game may have gotten a rocky start, but things are certainly turning in their favor. One of the most important aspects of their recent success was the inclusion of VR to their gameplay. Explore the entire galaxy in the first person to truly enjoy the game.

Any fan of Doom has to try this one. What makes it amazing is the fact that its not a simple port of the 2016 game.

Its a new storyline with a new gameplay that you finally get to enjoy in the universe.

Climb into a mech warrior and shoot your way through the single-player campaign here.

Its an on-rails game that you can just sit back and enjoy from the beginning, all of the way to the end. It makes swatting enemies like flies great again.

Play a puzzle game that will bend your mind into positions that you never thought possible before. You dont need a lot of space to play this game. All you need is a headset and a comfortable place to sit if you want to get the most out of it.

If you played LA Noire on the PS3 or Xbox 360 and found it to be wanting, then this is what it was missing.

You get seven brand new cases to solve and you can actually feel like youre trying to decipher the truth from the people you investigate.

It may share the same name as a popular urban legend, but this game is real. Its frenetic from start to finish and might just challenge you with keeping down your lunch once you boot up this shooter.

Step into the universe of Eve but take it all to a whole new level. Its all about the spaceship combat and its all multiplayer.

Youve never experienced this game like this and youre never going to want to stop playing it once you start.

Guide a mouse through a maze and work your own brain in the process. This is one puzzle platformer that will have you playing levels over and over again until you get them right.

Its not easy but thats half the fun of this creative game.

If you have a strong bladder then you might just want to jump back into Five Nights at Freddys. This VR experience is sure to shock and horrify you at every turn.

The gameplay is difficult enough, but the biggest challenge is trying to be brave enough to keep on playing.

See the rest here:

11 Best Virtual Reality Games Worth Playing in 2021 - Philadelphia Sports Nation

Across the globe, book clubs sprung or swelled, connecting readers to young incarcerated writers, those looking to read and serve, or dive into LGBTQ+ history. Whether facilitated by an NFL athlete or an Oscar-winning actress, these virtual groups offer an outlet for anyone with online access.

Some Northlanders took advantage of being able to reach far and wide and in one case, into another realm of reality while others embraced regional offerings or are holding out for the real thing.

Heres a look at how some Twin Ports readers are logging in to talk books during COVID-19.

About 14 people logged into a recent meeting of the Last Word Book Club. The topic: Erik Larsons The Splendid and the Vile.

He has a way of pulling you in with the pacing, said one member.

There were head nods, one frozen screen incident and talk of a Hulu adaptation of another book by Larson called The Devil in the White City.

Last Word has been together since 1991, said Barbara Fischer, an original participant.

The wonderful thing about video conferencing is that former members or snowbirds, who had moved to other states, can participate safely and easily, Fischer said.

During the meeting, Jane Brissett Zoomed in from Minneapolis, Yvette Krech from Florida.

While they may have switched how they gather, Last Word still keeps its membership to about 20, and they meet regularly on the second Thursday of the month.

READ MORE NEWS TRIBUNE REPORTS ABOUT BOOKS:

Heidi Harrison appears as an avatar in her Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality system. (Submitted photo)

One Duluthian is taking virtual book clubs to the next level in virtual reality.

Heidi Harrison has made it through the pandemic in part with the help of her Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality system. Its a social outlet, something to do when I was home. It's so cool, so immersive, feels like you're really there, she said.

She visits with friends and other women; she plays ping-pong or mini golf.

About a month ago, she thought of launching a VR book club. She posted to her Facebook group, Oculus Quest Ladies, and more than 100 women from Europe to Australia reached out.

Next, a library was created in AltspaceVR, specifically for book club members, or, their avatars, to meet.

Theyre discussing Lucy Foleys The Guest List during two time slots this week one after work hours and another during the weekend, a friendlier option for international time zones.

The Duluth Public Library Senior Library Technician in Youth Services has participated in two or three book clubs over the years. She never really played video games before this, but shes looking forward to discussions with people from other parts of the world.

Its Ready Player One come alive, Harrison said, referring to the science fiction book-turned-movie.

Jennifer Jubenville was in the process of launching an online book club when COVID-19 hit.

While the Bookstore at Fitgers manager has hosted virtual author events and maintained book discussions through social media, Jubenville finally kicked off the stores first meeting in early March, at the urging of out-of-towners and a faithful reader of the shops newsletter.

Jubenville said she also heard interest from New York, Illinois and Nebraska readers, and she saw an opportunity for insight from beyond Duluth.

Independently owned businesses have had to figure out how to be creative and expand their outreach, she said.

Duluths Friday Club which incidentally meets on Thursdays is on sabbatical during the pandemic.

Things were changing so quickly a year ago, and the clubs board opted to go on hiatus.

"We decided it would be really hard to meet by Zoom. It wasnt an easy decision, but we just took a year off," Kay Gower said. Maybe we werent being optimistic enough.

The decision lay in part to the 100-year-old groups unique format. Instead of an all-member read and chat, Friday Club participants conduct involved book review presentations. In the past year, some members have connected on their latest reads via email. Gower has also kept up her reading, and while she hasnt joined other clubs, she has become active in her church, which meets online.

Its just been a year where Ive stepped back, she said.

Group members miss their semi-monthly meetings in November and December; they miss their holiday luncheon. Asked if the Friday Club might see an eventual switch to virtual, Gower said, At this point, no. If you had asked me in the fall, my answer might be different.

On the first Wednesday of the month, about 10 people video chat from the Northland, the Twin Cities and Wisconsin for the Duluth Public Librarys book club.

Participation is free with the librarys prepared book kits, e-books and audiobooks for those not utilizing curbside pickup, but access can be tricky for people outside our area and without a Duluth library card, said DPL branch coordinator Lori Crocker.

A lot of people would love to go back in-person, but I also know that this is a great, safe way to continue to connect, and every single time we meet, were very vocally appreciative to be able to spend time together, she added.

While Crocker facilitates the DPL club, shes also a member of two other virtual groups because twos not enough, she said with a laugh.

Crocker joins a Colorado-based group she used to lead, and shes involved in a casual club with three long-time friends.

We got closer again when the pandemic hit because we had a little more time to connect, rekindle friendship time and us time doing something we all bonded over originally, which was reading, Crocker said.

They meet semi-monthly; sometimes they skip a month. However often they meet, having this point of contact benefits her relationships and overall wellness.

Crocker said she doesn't have interpersonal interactions outside of work, so this is an opportunity to socialize and feel good about not losing connections. To have quality time with other humans and not lose myself in isolation or solitude, but to actually be a part of the community, she said.

Asked if the DPL club might migrate to in-person, Crocker said it depends on safety guidelines and participants comfort level.

The library is here to serve the community, she said. If a book club better serves the community virtually, that needs to be a discussion we will have.

Cathy Cato of Duluth has been going to online meetings of Zenith Bookstores Poetry Book Club for four months.

Discussing works by Nikki Giovanni and Lorine Niedecker, their talks flow similarly online as they do face-to-face, Cato said, but she still misses meeting in person.

Cato retired a year ago and said her life slowed down tremendously. This has been important socially, as well as professionally. Studying and discussing poetry has helped her write more succinctly.

Shes thankful for an online format, the benefits of which extend to her family:

My sister, shes a good example. Shes in India for a period of time, and shes still able to connect and read books to her children.

Nikki Silvestrini co-led Zenith Bookstores graphic novel and beer book club, which fizzled and dissolved when the pandemic hit partly because it was tied to an in-person location.

We werent sure how to juggle facilitating with the terms of changing conditions, she said. Also, a year ago, Zoom wasnt a tool Silvestrini or others used.

She was book club-less for a few months until July when she was approached about working with Chapter & Verse, which is a national group with chapters across the country.

The group is founded on educators, librarians and childrens book enthusiasts.

They focus on classics, new and upcoming lit, award winners, and their discussions run the gamut of how literature has changed, to which grades would certain books appeal or what does this mean for kids today.

Before switching wholly online, Chapter & Verse met in a members yard during the summer before moving to a garage (with an open door) in September.

Silvestrini saw many familiar faces from the Duluths literary community and some she saw from beyond when they went virtual. Its brought together so many interesting people from both coasts. The geographics dont matter, she said.

This year, theyre reading "The Fearless Flights of Hazel Ying Lee"; "Tar Beach"; and "Some Places More Than Others; Silvestrini is now the book selector for the Duluth chapter a good fit because she is passionate about childrens literature.

Silvestrini prefers to meet face-to-socially-distanced-face, to share a communal space, and she sees potential for certain chapters to remain wholly or quasi virtual as safety guidelines shift.

I definitely appreciate the technology thats given us this opportunity, she said, but:

You can see peoples reactions and you dont have to worry about long and weird technical difficulties and peoples microphones not working.

MORE:

EVEN MORE:

Here are some virtual book clubs that stretch beyond the Northland:

Originally posted here:

From Zoom to virtual reality: Pandemic pushes Duluth book clubs online - Duluth News Tribune

Thomas Pesquet is set to trial a virtual reality based system giving him the impression of cycling Frances roads while hes 400 km above Earth in the International Space Station. The French astronaut is scheduled to blast off for the ISS April 22, 2021, for a new six-month mission.

In between experiments, Pesquet will also need to take care of himself, ensuring he maintains as much of his muscle mass as possible before returning to Earth. For that, he counts on exercising and, in particular, cycling.

As he pedals, new technology will give the astronaut the impression of cycling on planet Earth, thanks to a virtual reality headset (Oculus Quest) and technology developed by the French startup Fit Immersion.

Each day, members of the ISS spend around two hours exercising, which is essential for maintaining their muscles in the weightless environment. Now, virtual reality offers new perspectives and can help make this activity more attractive.

The idea is to be able to exercise or simulate the experience of exercising like on Earth, even when youre far away in space. The technology used simulates a cycle route on real-world roads. So, if all goes to plan, Pesquet will be able to enjoy the sweet sensation of pedalling through the streets of Paris or even Saint Petersburg, as well as scaling the Col de la Gineste near Marseille all while over 400 km above Earth. Each session lasts around 30 minutes.

The French startup Fit Immersion specializes in sports entertainment based on 360-degree video recording of the real-world environment. This technology effectively makes it possible to "teleport" users into simulated real-world environments while doing physical exercise. As well as the headset, Pesquet will have all kinds of special equipment to record and track performance, including pedals with a power sensor.

Note that this will be one of the 12 French experiments operated by Pesquet for the French Space Agency's Center for the Development of Microgravity Applications and Space Operations (CADMOS), as part of this latest mission. AFP Relaxnews

Read more from the original source:

How a virtual-reality headset will help a French astronaut exercise in space - The Star Online

Anna Fraser, head of change and capability at T&G Global, says the company has struggled to hire forklift drivers for a number of years.

"In the peak apple season we employ around 75 forklift operators in the Hawke's Bay to help in our packhouses and cool stores," she said.

"By using VR technology we can replicate the physical environment so our people can be trained safely in a very immersive and realistic way. It enhances their learning experience, and importantly builds confidence, skills and experience."

One of the cadets enrolled in the programme is Jack Manu'a, He says the technology was a great way to become confident at the wheel of a forklift.

"I never learnt so much so quickly. I thought it would be difficult to learn how to drive a forklift in a short amount of time, however we all got there in the end."

The VR training is complemented by more traditional work skills training and personal development work.

See the original post:

Virtual reality gives growers helping hand in training forklift drivers - Newshub

Robot_Dogs

Robotic dogs make big impression at Tyndall AFB

Michael Snyder, The News Herald

TYNDALLThe future of Tyndall Air Force Base is now.

Tyndall held a demonstration Friday morning to show its"digital twin" data capture technology in action.A digital twin is a digital representation of a real-world physical asset, processor system, incorporating structural information and real-time streaming data.

More: Two pilots injured in aircraft crash at Tyndall Air Force Base

Also: Tyndall poised to become 'base of the future' 2 years after Hurricane Michael

Air Force engineers will begin digitally mapping select buildings with sophisticated camera suits,drones and other sensors to create a virtual representation of facilities on the installation to create a digital twin.

The product will serve as the foundation for numerous capabilities, settingTyndall on apath to be the Air Forces first "installation of the future."

Tyndall is essentially a pathfinder for the Air Force with this new technology. The digital twin will look and feel like the actual facility, but in a virtual reality setting.

Efficiency is the key part to the technology. A digital twin system can help developers plan future development, refine facility designs, track construction progressand enhance facility maintenance and operations.

Augmented and virtual reality tools will help service members on the base diagnose problems and repair equipment more quickly. In a virtual reality setting, anybody pushing on a door will feel resistance, as if it's in the real world.

Lowell Usrey, Tyndall's Project Management Office Integration Division chief, has been on the front line with the new technology. He said he hadlooked forward to Friday's demonstration.

Tyndall_AFB_Breaks_Ground

Tyndall AFB breaks ground on new ACM Facility

Michael Snyder, The News Herald

"It's amazing. It's truly exciting to see some of the ideas and concepts we thought about over the course of years as a civil engineer and have those ideas and concepts brought to fruition here at Tyndall," Usreysaid. "I think it's great for the base.It's great for the Air Force. It's great for the DOD (Department of Defense), and I think it's great for the local community."

Usreystressed that Bay County will have an Air Force base that will bring in technology that no other basehas in the country. He said Tyndall will be a pioneer for technology moving forwardand will be something that the community can get behind.

Virtual reality trainingalso will be an asset for security forces to practice high-risk, realistic situations without actual exposure to the risk, since it will be done in a virtual setting.New smart buildings will incorporate gunshot detection sensors that will pinpoint the location of the gunshot in the event of an active shooter situation.

Maj. Jordan Criss, 325th Security Forces Squadron commander, said he is especially excited about what the digital twin technology means for his department. When security forces do high-risk training sessions, they can do hundreds of virtual reality runs instead of only a couple.

The digital twin system also can help how the base'ssecurity systems will be set up.

"Placement of cameras, placement of barriers, placement of patrols... we understand that there are potential adversariesand we can use this digital twin, along with other security applications, to provide data-driven decisions," Criss said. "You can say 'We can put a camera here, a barrier here, place our patrols here,' and you would have overlapping coverage."

Criss added that the digital mapping technologywill help security forces determine if they need 10 cameras instead of 20 and a certain number of patrols, whichcould save the base and taxpayers money.

Original post:

Going high-tech? Tyndall using cutting-edge technology to be base of the future now - The News Herald

For video game players, the 2010s were a decade of extended reality. 2012 saw the development of Oculus, a virtual reality headset company that Facebook later acquired for more than $2 billion. In 2013, Google started selling consumers Glass, a computer built into a pair of glasses. 2016 brought us Pokemon Go, the addictive game that saw players running around their neighborhoods hunting virtual creatures projected onto the physical landscape through their smartphones.

2020 was predicted to be the first year of the ambient computing decade, when these technologies would infiltrate the lives of everyone else, not just those in the gaming world. Just as smartphones have become indispensable to us, extended reality and the Internet of Things were set to become our daily norm.

But shortly into 2020, COVID-19 hit, and we all went two dimensional. As the grand experiment in remote teaching and learning began, universities rushed to adapt. Zoom, Teams, Skype, and FaceTime all became daily fixtures, and many of us quickly became fatigued by seeing our colleagues, students and far-away loved ones almost exclusively in 2D. Most video conferencing solutions were not designed to be online classrooms. While we have been able to use these tools in that way, most educators would readily point to what is missing from the current video platforms that could improve online teaching: tools to better facilitate student interactions, including enhanced polling and quizzing features, group work tools, and more.

While universities continue to increase in-person and HyFlex courses, hoping to soon see campuses return to normalcy, there is mounting evidence that the increased interest in digital tools for teaching and learning will persist even after the pandemic. Incoming first-year students today are digital natives, and their innate understanding of and ability to use computers and the internet is greater than any generation entering college before them. We have to ensure that in this decade of ambient computing, higher education does not miss opportunities to leverage innovative technologies that enhance learning. We should move beyond 2D solutions and take advantage of what extended reality (XR) and virtual reality (VR) have to offer us.

And it is not enough to try to use existing VR/XR applications and tailor them to educational scenarios. These tools can and should be created with pedagogy, student experience, and learning outcomes as the priority.

At Columbia University, weve been building the infrastructure to support this type of innovation for years. Professor Courtney Cogburn created the 1,000 Cut Journey, an immersive VR research project that allows participants to embody an avatar that experiences various forms of racism. Professor Shantanu Lal has implemented VR headsets for pediatric dentistry patients who become anxious during procedures. At Columbia Engineering, professor Steven Feiners Computer Graphics and User Interfaces Lab explores the design and development of 2D and 3D user interfaces for a broad range of applications and devices. Professor Letty Moss-Salentijn is working with Feiners lab to create dental training simulations to guide dental students through the process of nerve block injection. Faculty, students and staff at Columbias Media Center for Art History have created hundreds of virtual reality panoramas of archaeology projects and fieldwork that are available on the Art Atlas platform.

This technology proved useful to our faculty and students during the pandemic. For example, this past fall, professor Brent Stockwell shipped Oculus headsets to students so that they could take part in discussion sessions in VR. Instead of studying drawings or renderings of molecules, students could see these virtually in 3D. They could walk around, manipulate and interact with these structures with their classmates to learn key biochemistry concepts and solve problems.

One student participant noted: The 3D protein models and stereochemistry of reactions was very helpful in understanding selectivity [and] helped me retain concepts better. Being able to move and resize the models was also helpful for gaining a different perspective.

But another student added: The VR headset makes it difficult to look at the 3D content and take notes simultaneously.

Measuring the effectiveness of these XR projects in education is not as simple as evaluating whether students learned more through this method than through alternative methods of instruction. The interactivity and connectivity that students and faculty experience in XR must be included in analysis, particularly when comparing it to remote education. Online education often does not easily allow the serendipitous interactions that can happen in person, but XR can encourage these types of interactions.

To analyze the results of Stockwells VR experimentwhich was supported by an Office of the Provost Teaching & Learning Grant that provides money and in-kind assistance to faculty looking to innovate and integrate new educational methods and technologies in their teachingStockwell is working with Columbias Science of Learning Research Initiative to see what could be improved for future iterations.

Students have embraced this type of technology beyond their coursework, too. In spring 2020, a group of Columbia students began to build LionCraft, a recreation of Columbias Morningside campus in Minecraft. Even though students were spread out around the world, they still found creative and fun ways to run into each other on campus, in an immersive online format.

LionCraft and the many similar projects that were simultaneously created at other universities make it quite clear that the current 2D remote-learning experiment cannot continue as the only solution to how we innovate in education and its modalities. Defining our online, hybrid and in-person teaching and learning by the new wave of extended realities technologiesrather than those of earlier erasis key as we enter the post-pandemic era.

Read more:

How Extended Reality Tools Can Bring New Life to Higher Education - EdSurge