In times where travel restrictions remain and work-from-home arrangements are the new normal, video conferencing software like Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, Zoom and many others help us bring our meeting culture online. The real challenge lies in introducing remote collaboration to remaining business operations where the workforce is required on-site to keep industrial facilities running. In matters of urgency, many businesses turn to remote collaboration tools they know and have in place already – only to find out that those are not made for industrial use when maintaining or repairing machinery.

We thought it’s time to shine a light on the differences between conferencing software and remote support tools as well as why both are crucial for remote collaboration in industrial businesses: One for on-screen teamwork in online documents, the other for off-screen support on real machinery.

Read the original full blog on Re’flekt’s website.

See Re’flekt AREA member profile here.

Since Qualcomm Technologies’ device category introduction of XR viewers tethered to 5G smartphones, fifteen global operators including China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, EE, KDDI, KT, LG Uplus, NTT DOCOMO, Orange, SK Telecom, SoftBank, Telefonica, Verizon and Vodafone have shared plans to sample and commercialize XR viewers to provide immersive, never-before-experiences over 5G.

Lightweight, head-worn devices that connect to a smartphone powered by Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 855 or 865 Mobile Platforms, XR viewers are glasses tethered to a 5G-enabled smartphone via USB-C cable. XR viewers unlock a new generation of immersive experiences using 5G-enabled smartphones that provide high bandwidth and low latency which is essential for high-quality XR. Consumers’ favorite smartphone applications can become augmented reality (AR) experiences in front of their eyes or workplace meetings can be revolutionized through holographic telepresence with virtual collaboration platforms, as XR and 5G come together to transform how the world connects, communicates and consumes content

Through the Qualcomm® XR Optimized Certification Program, Qualcomm Technologies tests the performance and validates compatibility between the XR viewer and smartphones to help ensure a seamless user experience. There are two certifications, one for smartphone and one for the XR viewer to allow the OEMs (both smartphone and viewers) to verify optimization between multiple phones and multiple viewers without requiring them to conduct one-on-one optimization. The Qualcomm XR Optimized Certification Program includes:

• Six Degrees of Freedom (6DoF) headtracking performance on the viewer and smartphone
• Display calibration validation on the viewer
• Motion to photon latency validation on the viewer and smartphone
• Power and thermal test on the viewer and smartphone
• Interoperability between the viewer and smartphone

Multiple XR viewer manufacturers are in development including 3Glasses, iQIYI, Nreal, OPPO, Panasonic, Pico and Shadow Creator are going through the certification process to be able to quickly deploy with Snapdragon-powered devices in the coming months. Both smartphones and XR viewers can use the Qualcomm XR Optimized badge from Qualcomm Technologies, which indicate compatibility and performance to consumers and users. Smartphone OEMs that plan to provide new XR experiences with their 5G-enabled smartphones with viewers include ASUS, Black Shark, OnePlus, OPPO, Smartisan, vivo, ZTE, with others to come.

With the global expansion of 5G, the XR ecosystem is prepared to unite superior cellular connectivity with quality hardware and premium XR. Experiences can be scaled on a global level, both in and out of the home, and within the next year we hope everyone can experience a new reality.

Read the full original article by Qualcomm.

DO use a 70% isopropyl alcohol wipe to gently wipe the exterior surfaces of your device. Before cleaning, remove any cases, covers or other peripherals from the device – and clean those separately from your device.

DON’T clean your device using cleaning products with harsh chemicals such as chlorine and bleach.

DO unplug and power down your device while cleaning.

DON’T apply direct liquid cleaning solutions to your device, as they could cause damage.

DO wash your hands regularly before and after each use of your device – and wipe down the device itself with a 70% isopropyl alcohol wipe. This is especially important if the device is shared with other users.

DON’T submerge your device in any cleaning agents.

DO use a soft, lint free, microfiber cloth (like the kind that you would use to clean the lens of a camera) while cleaning – and use it to gently wipe the exterior surface of your device.

DON’T clean your device with compressed air.

Immersive Technology Inhibitors

The adoption in the Enterprise sector of immersive collaboration technologies is currently inhibited by a number of challenges;

AR and VR experiences are constrained by a combination of bandwidth and computing power resulting in either a distance limitation or tethered experience

Headset form factors are heavy, cumbersome and not fit for manufacturing and factory applications

The existing Enterprise IT may not support a high enough specification (personal computers GPU) to enable immersive experiences.

Enterprise infrastructure often does not have the connectivity bandwidth and coverage to support low latency streaming and the ability to manage the 3D data sizes and complexity.

The Enterprise 3D datasets are frequently not set up for collaboration, it may not be in easily accessible, easily shared locations, and the data is frequently tied to the associated authoring / editing tools.

Conferencing tools today such as Zoom, Teams, Slack, etc. have limited to no support for complex 3D data sets. Collaborating in real time on 3D data is currently not being addressed by conventional conferencing services.

Embrace New Technology Enablers – “Go Mobile”

The adoption of virtual GPU and rendering in the cloud for remote streaming allows users to untether their immersive devices and go mobile. In this article, NVIDIA’s Senior Manager for Enterprise XR Greg Jones explores how NVIDIA Cloud XR will accelerate this digital transformation. The receiving application on the device itself may be lightweight and leverage the cloud (public or private) to do the heavy lifting to ‘drive’ the application. The Radical cloud configuration leverages the capabilities of the cloud and edge compute to render the images on the server-side and then stream the output to the mobile device (AR, VR, mobile and desktop).

This removes the need for any data to be present on the mobile or local device for both efficiency purposes (easy to send a simple browser link for collaboration) and security (no data footprint on the device).

The roll out of low latency 5G technology in combination with server side rendering will open up the potential to stream to immersive devices such as AR and VR. Radical is already able to stream the immersive experience to the browser for mobile and desktop consumption, as the frame rate requirements are lower and would be supported via 4G and current WiFi connectivity.

Read the full article here. Embracing Technology Enablers – Building the Collaborative Thread

See more about the work of AREA member Masters of Pie  on their AREA member profile.

In addition to the new version, Mozilla has also announced that it is releasing the browser in conjunction with the company’s new partner, Pico Interactive. Mozilla is teaming up to bring its VR browsing technology to Pico’s headsets, including the Neo 2 – an all-in-one device with 6 degrees of freedom (6DoF) head and controller tracking. Firefox Reality will be released and shipped with all Pico headsets, and will be available in the Pico store for existing Pico device owners to download.

Transition from WebVR to WebXR

In terms of new features, Firefox Reality now supports the WebXR API. which is the successor to the WebVR spec. WebXR provides a host of improvements in cross-device functionality and tooling for both VR and AR applications. With WebXR, a site can support a wide variety of controller devices without writing support for each one individually, as the API takes care of choosing the right controls for actions such as selecting and grabbing objects.

Users can now use WebXR applications in Firefox Reality 10. For developers that want to build their own WebXR applications, they can view the MDN Docs for the WebXR API. Furthermore, developers working with Unity who want to explore developing WebXR applications can view Mozilla’s Unity WebXR Exporter.

However, Mozilla states that with the majority of VR-enabled web content being WebVR content, despite the upgrade to WebXR, the Firefox Reality 10 release still continues to support WebVR, making Firefox Reality 10 the only standalone browser that supports both WebVR and WebXR experiences, according to Mozilla.

The company states that this will help its partners and the developer community to transition to WebXR without worrying that audiences will lose functionality immediately. Mozilla added that it will eventually deprecate WebVR though, and that it is currently working on a timeline for removing WebVR support. Information on this timeline will be shared with the developer community well in advance of any action.

Gaze support

Another useful feature included in the version 10 release is gaze navigation support. This allows viewers to navigate within the browser without controllers, using only head movement and headset buttons. This option is ideal for users who may not be able to use controllers, or for use with headsets that don’t include controllers or allow users to unbind controllers. The video below demonstrates this feature on the Pico Neo 2. The user is able to scroll, select and type, all without the use of a physical controller.

Dual-controller typing, download management, and tracking protection

In addition to gaze support, Mozilla is introducing dual-controller typing to create a more natural keyboard experience. Furthermore, Firefox Reality 10 will also allow users to download files and manage previously downloaded files. Users can now view, sort and delete downloads without leaving the browser.

Finally, the addition of Mozilla’s enhanced tracking protection makes users aware of potential privacy issues and allows users to fully control privacy settings, from notifications of user activity tracking to an updated “Privacy and Security” UI.

Firefox Reality 10 is available for download today from the Pico, HTC and Oculus app stores.

 Read the original article.

Business challenges

One of these business challenges is training personnel. Training personnel in organizations require a lot of effort from experts on the workforce. And with a large staff turnover, something which happens a lot on the factory floor, is training a costly part of their business. But even keeping your workforce up-to-date with the latest requirements for training, or to prep students on school for what is coming or getting more insights by combining it with for example a Digital Twin will improve, support and saving costs for your organization allowing you to drive better business.

It is important for organizations to understand the business value of Microsoft Guides. Eventually organizations want to empower their workforce, optimize digital operations and deliver new services internally or externally to their customers. And that will result in a different way of thinking within manufacturing, training, support and guidance of employees.

Microsoft Guides

Microsoft Guides is a Mixed Reality business application which allows you to create a tailor made guide for employees on the factory floor. It allows you to create holographic work instructions which support a whole or part of the work flow. There are absolutely no coding skills requires for creating these Mixed Reality guides.

Microsoft Guides is part of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 family and therefor actually called Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides. It uses the base storage system of Dynamics 365, its underlying Common Data Service and Power Apps to store its flow and content.

The solution works for Microsoft HoloLens 1 and 2. But understandable it is extended based on the new functionality provided by Microsoft HoloLens 2 like natural gestures and other. The natural gestures are currently only used for the author when building guide.

Since then the Microsoft Team responsible for Microsoft Guides is extending the functionality of the application and its platform on a monthly basis. They are keen on getting feedback from customers, MVP’s and consultants. And they take the feedback seriously.

How does it work?

In short a guide is created by an author. The author starts outlining a guide into different tasks using a desktop application. Outlining is based on requirements of the customer and the guidelines of building a guide. Then the author switches to the Microsoft HoloLens 2 device. There the guide is attached to for example an object in the real physical world by editing each task of the outlines. This is accomplished by moving, placing, sizing and rotating the holograms around in the real physical world. Adding additional holographic instructions like arrows, hands and more.

An operator logs in Microsoft Guides and select the guide. The operator needs to synchronize his training using a tag or positioning a holographic object on the object in the real world. After this the guide is executed through the outlines and tasks. The operator experiences the cards with the steps explained floating around. A tether (dotted line) is used to indicate where the step needs to be executed on the real assets. Finally the author is able to monitor and analyse the progress and execution. It allows the author to improve the guides and support the operator in improving their skills.

Different approaches

Microsoft Guides allows you to use different approaches.

• Real-life assets– This is the best way of having hands-on training for employees. The guide is synchronized on a real-life object using a tag or holographic object.
• Virtual assets – guides with virtual assets allow you to have education or training without the actual real-life asset. The asset is digitally placed as a holographic object in each task. This is specifically interesting in situations where you are not able to have the actual asset. It is also a more passive way of training since you are not able to execute the tasks on the real-life asset.

Manifest is an end-to-end spatial computing solution delivering digital transformation and productivity to frontline employees enabling the capture and sharing of knowledge in a simple, consistent and scalable manner. Manifest 2.0 is Taqtile’s first official release for HoloLens 2, Magic Leap 1, and iPad, and offers new features that will transform the way teams access and leverage work instruction technology in a world with urgent demands for remote work and support.

“Our modern industrial ecosystem is being stressed in a way that would have been hard to predict a year ago, and it is glaringly evident that vulnerability to disruption is pervasive,” said Taqtile CEO, Dirck Schou. “What is needed are tools designed specifically to enable and empower front line workers, the sort of which Taqtile has been providing in Manifest for the last three years. Now, with the release of Manifest 2.0 we take, “Everyone is an Expert” to new heights by enabling workers to connect with experts whenever and wherever they need, easily creating workgroups that enable teams to work together more efficiently.”

Key new features available in Manifest 2.0 are Expert Connect and Working Together. Expert Connect enables easier communication between users via a browser or Mixed Reality headset. In addition to real-time chat, users can now initiate a call directly from a job step and leverage audio and video for 1:1 calls with the ability to share photos, videos, PDFs or jobs with others. The ability to connect with precisely the right expert is supported through an internal contact list that automatically sorts relevant users, starting with the original author of the job and recent operators to connect users with the foremost expert available.

“Now with Expert Connect, Manifest 2.0 is the most complete AR work instruction solution we’ve seen available in the market today,” said Daryl Roy, Founder and CEO of 3D Media. “The aircraft maintainers, and industrial personnel we work with now have a toolkit to easily create their own work instructions and immediately reach out to remote experts when needed.”

Working Together allows users to share either a planned team procedure, or it enables an operator to reassign a step to another operator on the fly. Working Together permits multiple operators to collaborate on a job by creating a team and dividing up the work, either through assignments or by self-assigning steps. All team members can watch the job progress through each step and view notes left by other operators. Job assignments allow an operator to invite another operator, even if they are in different locations, to take over so no one task goes Undone.

Manifest 2.0 also introduces the new 3D Model Manager allowing for easier 3D model set-up and configuration. Additional updates and improvements available include a new 3D application keyboard for quicker input, integrated map functionalities, additional language support including the display of Japanese characters, various polish and performance enhancements throughout all platforms, and general UI improvements.

Manifest 2.0 currently supports HoloLens 1, HoloLens 2, Magic Leap One and iPadOS. For any potential customers interested in a free tour of Manifest in a trial environment, visit the Microsoft or iOS application stores and download the Manifest application. Manifest 2.0 is coming soon to the Magic Leap application store. For more information on Manifest 2.0, visit taqtile.com/manifest .

Visit Taqtile’s AREA member profile.

Visit Taqtile’s press release on their website.

Covid-19 has sidelined these experts for now, but transportation is critical during a pandemic, and fixing cars is often a problem that can’t wait. That’s where Porsche’s “Tech Live Look” glasses come in.  The Tech Live Look is built using a platform by Atheer.

Tech Live Look are smartglasses that use augmented reality to project images or instructions onto the surfaces of the lenses. They’re worn by the dealerships’ mechanics while they’re working on complicated repairs that require assistance from the German brand’s in-house technicians, and connect them with these remote groups. In many instances they’ve replaced the lengthy phone conversations they used to have with technicians, and have shortened repair times by 40%, the company says.

“It accelerates the service on the vehicle and, most importantly, helps ensure customers’ mobility at a critical time.” Doug House, Technical Support Manager for Porsche Cars North America.

The company announced the program in 2017, and completed its nation-wide rollout earlier this year. The timing couldn’t have been better. With the field experts unable to visit dealerships in person, the number of TLL sessions has more than tripled from February to March and is being used once per day on average. The trend has continued into April.

Rather than taking photos and sending them over email, the smartglasses use real-time video to enable the tech team at headquarters to see what the mechanics sees from hundred of miles away. Screenshots, technical bulletins, and directions can be sent to the mechanics that they can view while they’re working on the car.

Dealership technicians have been able to work directly with Porsche’s support team at its U.S. headquarters in Atlanta and also with experts in Germany for more complex vehicle investigation.

Sketchfab AR allows for a very simple experience: all you have to do is click the new ‘AR button’ on any enabled Sketchfab embed to jump straight into rock solid AR on your device – no app install necessary. Brands like Deckers and SEB Group are already leveraging this new feature.

“AR is a great asset for Groupe SEB products, especially for those that will have to sit on a kitchen counter, since it will help shoppers in appreciating their real size” said Pauline Junne, EMEA eCategory Manager at Groupe SEB when asked about the feature. “That will reduce uncertainty and give shoppers more confidence when buying, thus increasing conversion and generating less return, which is key given the importance of logistical costs in eCommerce.”

On desktop devices, clicking the AR button brings up a QR code that viewers can scan with their handset or tablet camera to automatically open a model in AR on their device. It is also possible to right-click the QR code to download the image to use on a digital display, add it to an advertising campaign or print it out for location-based engagement marketing automation platforms.

Setting up existing 3D models for viewing in AR is easy. Once uploaded, Sketchfab converts all major 3D file types to both the USDZ and glTF file formats – the required AR formats for iOS and Android devices respectively. You can then check and update a model’s scale using Sketchfab’s 3D Editor.

Augmented reality is the newest addition to Sketchfab for Enterprise, a professional 3D visualization toolkit that allows brands to improve sales performance with 3D configurators, 3D for eCommerce and more.

Magic Leap was founded in 2011 whose IP (a lightweight headset using spatial computing technology to create sophisticated augmented reality experiences) attracted investment attention from big-hitters including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Alphabet Inc., and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The startup raised more than $2.6 billion, becoming one of the most well-capitalized consumer hardware startups ever.

The company’s first headset was revealed in 2018 priced at $2,300 after years in development. Magic Leap emphasized a consumer-driven product, marketing the Magic Leap 1 Lightwear for its uses at home such as remote work, games, social media, and entertainment.

CEO Rony Abovitz wrote in a blog post that this shift is driven by the current pandemic. “The post-COVID economy will be one of resiliency and the ability for businesses to operate across vast distances and connect with their customers in ways that mimic physical interactions, but benefit from the speed and scale of high-speed networks, will be critical. Spatial computing will very much be part of that coming economic change. Magic Leap’s pioneering work in the field provides us with a rich platform of technology and know-how to help usher in this era of Spatial Transformation.”

Read the full article here.