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What Might Office Culture Look Like in the Metaverse?

January 24, 2022 From vrfocus

Almost two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s no doubt that this seemingly neverending crisis has shifted how our societies work and connect with one another. It’s also rapidly accelerated the adoption of various integral technologies — particularly XR technology, blockchain, NFTs and Web 3.0 — the next phase of the internet that will bring us closer to the metaverse.

The term “metaverse” has existed for many years now, having first presented itself in Neal Stephenson’s iconic 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash. The idea of a metaverse is that it is a virtual space that appears to be completely real and three-dimensional, allowing for a more immersive and interactive experience for connected users. In a matter of months, it’s also become one of the biggest buzzwords of our current era — especially after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced his plans to rebrand the company name to Meta and turn the social media giant into a leading metaverse platform.

Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates has also recently shared his belief that within two or three years, most remote meetings will take place in the metaverse. While we can’t be certain that we are headed into the metaverse on such a proverbial bullet train, we do know that in due time, much of our professional and social lives will soon find footing within the next phase of the web.

As our work lives carry on, what might office culture look like in the metaverse? Here are some of the key changes we can expect to see in the not-so-distant future.

VR Work - PR Image Factory
Photo by © PR Image Factory – Shutterstock.com

More personalised remote connections

It seems that remote and hybrid work is here to stay — albeit, still through “flat-screen” applications such as Zoom, Slack and Google Meet. As functional and familiar as these applications have become, their “two-dimensional” experiences haven’t quite managed to replace the efficiency of meeting with people in-person (an ordeal that has led to the now popularly coined term “Zoom fatigue”). 

While employees seem to have enjoyed the idea that they can work from anywhere, prolonged periods of remote meetings have also made workplace cultures feel more bland and impersonal. Without things like body language or sharing similar settings, remote work has offered less room for people to form organic, human connections. Humans are spatial learners who learn most efficiently by doing — which explains why it can be harder for us to feel like we’re really in the presence of our colleagues or friends when speaking to them over an ordinary video chat. 

Leading brands, such as Meta and Microsoft, believe we can improve the art of connecting remotely in the metaverse. Cognitively, the use of VR and metaverse platforms are likely to make us feel more focused and present with our connections. And instead of speaking with coworkers over a “flat” screen, multiple parties will be able to experience more immersive, life-like meetings that will simulate the sensation that everyone is in the same place and time.

In an effort to make remote communication easier for employees, Big Tech platforms have started unveiling more immersive communication tools. Facebook (or Meta) has already explored the idea of an early metaverse platform in their early metaverse platform Horizon Worlds, where users can use their Oculus Quest headsets to access and hold meetings in VR. 

Microsoft’s new Mesh Teams software also combines mixed-reality capabilities found in Microsoft Mesh — a platform that allows for people in various locations to create digital avatars of themselves, collaborate within a shared virtual space, chat with one another, complete projects inside shared documents and much more.

Fit Studio
Photo by © Fit Ztudio – Shutterstock.com

More enhanced collaboration software for employees

With a massive rise in remote and hybrid working, several technology firms have seen opportunities to offer more enhanced digital collaboration solutions for teams. Collaborating on projects in real-time also presented itself as one of many post-pandemic challenges, with employees often struggling with logistics or team communication while working on projects simultaneously.

3D design platform Gravity Sketch has recently launched its innovative LandingPad virtual collaboration room, making real-time collaboration between professional designers and teams much easier and more accessible through VR. Users have the ability to create personal collaboration rooms, invite team members and design at scale in 3D. There are also functions that allow for in-app voice conversations, the ability for users to edit others’ work and the ability to move around projects at scale.

NVIDIA also recently made its popular metaverse-building Omniverse software free for individual creators and artists to access in 2022. Omniverse has been a leading contender in the growing collaboration software market, with downloads from over 50,000 creators and counting. So far, Omniverse has been adopted as an industry-standard within a range of different sectors — such as the robotics, automotive, construction, media and architecture industries.

When we think about what collaborating in the metaverse may look like 10 years from now, platforms like Omniverse are leading the way. With its stunning interface and cross-disciplinary functions, NVIDIA has taken input from several developers, customers and partners to produce real-time renderings and interactive workflows that, well… work.

More diverse and inclusive teams

Working in a metaverse office, as opposed to a physical office, means there are zero limitations on who can access it. In our post-COVID era, we may remember a time when we would only seek employment in markets where we were restricted to the job market that was tethered to our home city or our physical location. Those who choose to work remotely can already wave goodbye to the days of spending two hours commuting to get to work on time, or feeling pressured to relocate for the sole purpose of seeking employment.

Companies that adapt to metaverse technology should also consider how this will impact their diversity and inclusion targets. A non-physical office or remote team will allow them to hire nationally or internationally, providing them with greater access to global talent.

Final thoughts

According to recent research released by Owl Labs, nearly half of the UK population believes that working in the metaverse will be an asset to workplaces. 52% of respondents also claim to be confident that the metaverse will “bridge the gap between in-person and remote workers by creating a more immersive environment.”

A smart idea for workplace vendors may be to consider implementing a metaverse strategy that will well-position them to access new opportunities offered by Web3. This may include staying on top of metaverse products — or looking into more streamlined integrations between space reservation interfaces and collaboration platforms.

Either way, the emergence of the metaverse is an exciting time for workplaces — offering many possibilities for companies to improve their workflows, advance their collaborative capabilities and hire more diverse talent. These possibilities, combined with the optimistic view from survey respondents, suggest that we will soon see more immersive, embodied office environments come to life.

Filed Under: Collaboration, Enterprise, Metaverse, Social, Social VR, Technology

Manufacturing in the Metaverse: What Might it Look Like?

January 21, 2022 From vrfocus

Manufacturing is a highly complex process, in addition to being the most important part of supply chain management. There are several components that affect the manufacturing production process — such as the availability of raw materials, labour costs, inventory costs and overall marketplace demand.

Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, the effective marriage of systems and machines has allowed us to increase production times, reduce product costs and find new ways of organising work. Within the last 50 years, digital transformation has continued this trend, enabling us to better understand the physical through digital operations. 

With that being said, however, the physical has still held precedence over the digital for most of modern times. The rise of the metaverse will allow us to reverse this dichotomy, giving us access to a primarily digital space. In the case of the manufacturing industry, we will be able to translate this digital space onto the physical world, rather than simply just enhancing it.

Let’s look at some of the key ways where we can expect to see the manufacturing industry change within the metaverse.

SkyReal image1

An entrance into the creator’s economy

The metaverse will provide users with easier access to digital materials — a major shift that may very well encourage more creators and consumers to pursue industrial design. This will inevitably create new industry demands and completely change how products are made. 

3D content creation tools will also become more widely available in the metaverse. This will add manufacturing to the creator’s economy, providing the general public with more tools to render and simulate 3D prototypes at their own convenience. 

Just like with gaming platforms, streaming services or other various forms of online content creation, we will be sure to see the same type of growth proliferate within manufacturing and supply chain management. According to analyst firm TrendForce, the industrial metaverse revenue is set to reach $540 billion by 2025.

Easier collaboration on product development

The metaverse will also provide much easier collaboration on all aspects of product development. Given that it will be capable of serving as a communal space for all stakeholders involved with a project, multiple processes will be able to be achieved more rapidly and simultaneously — such as product design, sharing with manufacturers, iterating based on feedback and much more. 

NVIDIA’s VR-based collaboration tool Omniverse has experienced a successful launch in the enterprise sphere. As a multi-GPU, real-time development platform for design teamwork and 3D simulation, it has become a staple for those working in the industrial sector or for those who specialise in the creation of digital twin applications. 

To date, Omniverse has been downloaded by over 50,000 creators — with a recent platform subscription having been launched by NVIDIA to allow for wider outreach. The Omniverse platform has already experienced tremendous growth, with integrations from popular design platforms (such as Blender and Adobe) being made available for developers to use from any location. These integrations have well-positioned NVIDIA as a viable leader for collaborative product development in the metaverse.

Workplace changes due to the pandemic have also led to a rise in collaborative XR solutions within the enterprise sector. SkyReal, an aerospace-focused software company, started its operations by helping companies collaboratively approach their various stages of manufacturing — from conception and industrialization, though to training and marketing. Now, SkyReal helps aerospace teams work on CAD files in real-time, offering them an immersive experience that allows for even better collaboration capabilities.

More streamlined processes through digital twins

Digital twins are virtual representations that serve as real-time replicas of a physical object. From gaming companies to automotive manufacturers, many industries have already started using digital twins to collect real-time data and predict how objects will perform before they are manufactured and sold.

The digital twin market has been projected to grow to an incredible $86 billion by 2025. This level of growth is largely being fueled by an increase in demand for things such as predictive maintenance, industrial IoT solutions and a smarter and more energy-efficient infrastructure.

Digital twins also provide real-time data for users, allowing them to gain better insights on overall production processes. For example, automotive manufacturers are already using digital twins to better pinpoint equipment failures and ensure that all parts are meeting quality standards before being delivered to customers.

Photo by © Alexander Tolstykh – Shutterstock.com

BMW has already started using a simulated system to better streamline its production process. A version of the company’s Regensburg-based production line exists solely within a computer simulation, serving as a digital twin to its physical counterpart. Before any parts enter the production line, the entire manufacturing process runs in a hyper-realistic virtual iteration of the factory. By adopting this technology, managers can now plan their production process in greater detail.

Other large companies that have adopted the use of digital twins include Microsoft, Unilever, Boeing, Siemens Energy and Ericsson. With Azure Digital Twins, Microsoft has created a leading IoT platform that features a live execution environment, allowing users to create digital representations of real-life things, people, places and processes.

In all, digital twins will be an extremely integral building block of the metaverse. They will provide us with lifelike representations of things from our physical world and come equipped with live feeds of every sensor and component they contain.

Shorter lead times

The collaborative approach offered by working in the metaverse will certainly shorten the life cycle for projects. More robust virtual spaces will also allow manufacturers to quickly see how moving assets around can impact a production cycle. By simulating real physics and identifying potential errors, this approach is a great way for manufacturers to see more efficacy and faster turnaround times.

  • Microsoft Hololens 2

Down the road, greater interoperability initiatives will also make product designs generally easier and faster to implement. Designers and creators will no longer have to go through as many hoops to complete their designs and get them into the hands of manufacturers. This will result in shorter lead times, as well as an exponential increase in the number of product designs they can complete.

Supply chain transparency

In more recent years, demand for supply chain transparency has been on the rise. According to the MIT Sloan School of Management, consumers are reportedly willing to pay between 2% and 10% more for products that offer greater supply chain transparency. 

What we can deduct from this data is that consumers find value in the treatment of workers in a supply chain, as well as in a company’s efforts to provide decent working conditions. Ethical concerns, such as slave labour or deforestation, have made consumers increasingly more averse to purchasing products that don’t meet these standards.

With this being said, the truth is that supply chains were not originally designed to be transparent. However, access to the supply chain or to digital twin management in the metaverse could resolve this issue for good.

Working in the metaverse will also provide far better project visibility, for both staff members and consumers alike. Given that multiple collaborators will be able to work within the same space, regardless of their physical location, all parties will have access to 3D design representations of how products are designed, built, sold and distributed. Customers may even grow used to tracking their orders throughout the entire cycle, from raw materials through to a finished product. With this added insight, customers will gain full transparency into the entire production process.

Greater supply chain transparency will also give customers greater visibility of lead times. This will offer them a better sense of real-time shipping costs and allow them to better prepare for potential pitfalls (such as shipping delays).

Final thoughts

The metaverse will pave the way towards a digital-first approach to manufacturing. This will essentially be driven by both consumer preferences and different types of actions that will be necessary to operate inside a virtual world. 

There are valuable steps that manufacturers can take to bring us closer to an ideal metaverse system. For starters, it is critical that they work on harvesting data from their processes — and also that they implement the best interoperability protocols for connecting said data across the entire supply chain.

Recent innovations — such as NVIDIA’s CloudXR platform (which has been configured to work with Google Cloud) — have begun enabling organizations to securely access their data through cloud-based solutions. This will allow creators to access their work and collaborate on projects from anywhere in the world, all while doing so through the lens of an immersive, high-quality user experience.

In all, these areas are all currently being worked on to forever disrupt and change the concept of supply chains. This is an extremely exciting and innovative time for manufacturing technology — and we look forward to tracking the eventual paradigm shift that’s to come.

Filed Under: Collaboration, Enterprise, Metaverse, NVIDIA, SkyReal, Technology

Varjo Has Begun Teasing a Special Event for a “Highly Anticipated Product”

October 8, 2021 From vrfocus

Varjo, the Finnish hardware manufacturer behind some very expensive (and highly regarded) virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) headsets, has begun teasing something new is in the pipeline. So far the only information available is via a brief mention of a launch event that takes place in a couple of weeks.

Varjo XR-3 and VR-3
Varjo XR-3 and VR-3

Over on its website, Varjo simply states: “This is the one you’ve been waiting for. Join us for a live event on Thursday October 21st, and witness the unveiling of our most highly anticipated product release yet.” There’s the option to signup and register for the launch event which begins at 12:00 pm ET/5:00 pm BST where Varjo co-founder & CTO Urho Konttori will reveal all.

Currently, Varjo has two products available for enterprise use cases. The VR-3 is priced at $3,990 USD (inc. a 1-year Varjo subscription) whilst the XR-3 comes in at a substantial $6990 (inc the subscription). So that gives you an idea of where Varjo has positioned itself in the market. Could this “highly anticipated product release” be a new headset and if it is where is it being positioned?

Varjo has built its business around very high-end hardware, with both headsets featuring the company’s “human-eye resolution” Bionic Display, a combination of two screens. A small central 70 PPD uOLED with a 1920 x 1920 px per eye resolution, with a secondary peripheral 30 PPD LCD, at 2880 x 2720 px per eye. They also feature eye-tracking, Ultraleap hand tracking, and more. So whatever the new product is, if it is hardware it won’t be cheap and cheerful.

Varjo Reality Cloud

The website does feature a singular image of someone wearing a headset but it does look exactly the same as Varjo’s other products. If it isn’t a headset then there’s always software. Although that’s more unlikely considering Varjo’s last major announcement in June was for Varjo Reality Cloud.

Whatever it is, the timing couldn’t be better. HTC Vive has its “Go with the Flow” event on 14th October whilst Facebook Connect is being held on 28th, making for an exciting few weeks for the XR industry. Could Varjo steal some of Facebook’s thunder? As further details come to light, VRFocus will keep you updated.

Filed Under: Enterprise, News, varjo, varjo vr-3, Varjo XR-3

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