Transcending Reality: The World of XR Technology
Date:February 28, 2024
Date:February 28, 2024
Imagine a completely immersive concert experience from the comfort of your living room. Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Now, picture yourself lying down in bed and watching an entire art exhibition unfold on your ceiling. Amazing, right? All of this and so much more are things brought to life by an innovative world of extended reality, better known as XR. Manufacturers can now picture and assemble 3D models of their newest products before ever sending them into production. Medical students the world over can practice surgery on complex organs without even having to step inside an operating theatre. The possibilities are endless.
Technology-driven organizations around the world have been striving to make XR a part of our everyday lives and now we are closer to it than ever before. From the inception of an idea to its development and all the way to the finished product, XR is increasingly prevalent in every step. With the prominence of easy-to-use devices and an ever-growing market for vivid XR driven experiences, it is safe to say that the future of our technological world lies in changing our perception of physical reality.
To dwell deeper into this exciting realm of XR technology, we decided to hold a panel discussion with some of the world’s leading experts on the field.
XR in manufacturing and development
“When we look into the entire value chain it’s not just the processes but also beyond the processes, whether it is working with people, having the right kind of engagement or even expanding the reach of the enterprise where AR/VR are playing a very important role.”
This quote from Raghuram Joshi, Senior General Manager for Bosch, perfectly explains the ever-increasing role that XR has in the world of manufacturing products. With the technology now at our disposal, complex simulations, for example: fuel flowing through the chambers of an injection pump, can be brought to life. With such vivid imagery, the time for design and possibilities of assumptions have all been significantly reduced.
The prominence of XR in manufacturing leads to improved efficiency
- Dedicated workers assembling complex products no longer must rummage through stacks of data if the necessary information is constantly being fed to their eyes.
- The process of training staff members becomes a lot easier as step-by-step procedures can be easily explained and practiced in real-time.
- Mistakes can be easily detected and promptly notified for immediate correction, saving both time and cost.
- It has been documented that activities requiring multiple hours can now be completed at a fraction of the original time.
- With an overwhelming decrease of errors, products and services can move from the design phase to delivery and operation in an instant.
- To make XR function seamlessly through the many steps of an organization, AI has also become increasingly integral. AR systems can be implemented for technical work and IoT sensors can be implemented to provide feedback. AI can make sense of recurring errors and simplify the user experience in the future.
These real-life uses are what businesses truly care about. “We need to take a step away from, ‘Hey this is a super cool technology that we should be innovating.’ and look at what we can actually achieve and the business impacts.” says Alex, Product Marketing Manager IoT and Mixed Reality for Microsoft. Even though IT brings out the initial concepts, what truly drives XR is the executive business sponsorship that enables it to be rolled out across the organization.
Collaboration and Cyber Security
Given the truly global scale of modern businesses, collaboration between stakeholders is unavoidable. Simply put, the target customers could be on the other side of the world from the development team and to supply the best results, parties across the world have to work in perfect harmony. Development teams spread across India, Germany and even the UK for example, should all be collaborating freely with one another to produce the best simulations and experiences.
With multiple partners working together across the world, cyber security is of immense concern. Especially with the new-found prominence of XR devices like HoloLens, that are packed with sensors and cameras, being used in workplaces with sensitive intellectual properties, having proper internal security measures is of paramount importance. Special attention also must be given to data privacy. With an increase in the number of cameras and sensors around the workplace, use of the recorded data must be properly regulated.
XR and the future
“XR is now mainstream. It’s a tool which is available and if you don’t use it you probably are not efficient enough.”
XR has revolutionized the modern technological society. Businesses have, and should continue to, embrace everything this technological marvel has to offer. Global giants Microsoft are doing their best to ensure that the innovative ecosystem of XR is open and continually progressing. As vendors, organizations should look to work together and provide a platform that allows the industry to grow and transcend into the next stage of development.
