Smart Industry No.1 2022

Whether it’s Sony PlayStation
VR, Google Glass
or cardboard mounts
that can turn any
smartphone into a virtual reality (VR)
machine, none of these products has
brought the promised commercial
breakthrough. In fact, some products
appear to have stalled completely.
Though one might conclude from
this that the high hopes many had
in these technologies have been
dashed, it isn’t necessarily so, because
new technologies often reach
the mainstream in unexpected ways.
The pandemic has wrought a change
and VR is finding new applications in
business. No longer restricted to a
few lighthouse projects from huge
companies, the technology has become
more versatile, less expensive
and much easier to access and many
companies have started using VR
and will expand its uses in the years
to come.
In a virtual reality simulation, users
move around in an artificial world,
largely disconnected from reality,
with the help of technical tools. The
immersion is most convincing when
VR headsets are used. They are not
absolutely necessary, because a lot
of content can also be played back
on a smartphone or tablet. These
viewers become a window into an
artificial world. Virtual reality differs
from augmented reality (AR) where
additional information or media is
blended with a real-world, camerasourced
image.
Artificial Worlds
There are two basic ways in which VR
experiences can be produced: by developing
a virtual world in software
from scratch or photographically.
Programming an environment can
be time consuming and expensive
but taking photos and videos that
capture an all-round view offers a
quicker and easier solution. Cameras
like the Ricoh Theta or the Insta 360
are available for just a few hundred
euros, deliver surprisingly good
quality and are almost as easy to operate
as conventional cameras.
A typical application scenario is in in-
source ©: De:central Days
Playing it Serious
It’s no secret that many professional soccer players
are also keen users of game consoles. They are
using VR technology to get better training and many
premier league clubs are choosing tools from sports
technology company Rezzil.
Rezzil’s system allows professional players to hone
different skills, especially headers. Heading a ball is
a health risk, so it is often avoided in training. Being
dustrial workplaces where complex
processes need to be permanently
in operation. Until now, they have
usually been shut down, or run at
reduced speed, to train new employees.
The time spent on this familiarisation
can be drastically reduced
with the help of VR.
Companies can
now create VR
applications very
quickly without
the need for
external support.
Sara Boss
Head of Sales at VRdirect
able to practice without any danger gives teams a
big advantage on match day.
In addition, with full-body tracking and methods to
analyse cognitive characteristics, like scanning, decision
making and pressure coping, the technology
helps to improve their general gameplay. It can also
be useful in injury rehabilitation when training on the
field is not possible.
Virtual Training
VR technology can help
professional soccer
players hone their skills,
for instance headers,
without risk of injury.
Sara Boss, head of sales at VRdirect,
explains, "Without having to spend
a large budget on it, companies can
now create VR applications themselves
very quickly and without the
need for external support. This option
is often used for training purposes
in particular."
The background for the experience
is a video or photo shot from the
perspective of an employee at the
workspace. A trainee can use this to
get an overview of the entire environment
without having to actually
enter the workplace.
"The ability to give people an authentic
impression of a workplace
without much effort is already enormously
helpful. This effect is further
enhanced by the inclusion of additional
media content," says Boss.
VRDirect offers a platform through
which companies can access the
virtual infrastructure. Any file
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source ©: Rezzil, Google LLC