With the Razor MR Glasses’ lightweight, all day wearable form factor, consumers can experience a total immersive metaverse solution. The applications available on the consumer MR glasses range from gaming and entertainment to telehealth and remote assistance. Game developers are creating multi-player metaverse apps for users wearing Razor MR Glasses, where they can view digital information overlaid onto a cityscape. Users can also watch movies or their favorite TV shows with spatial audio.

Repairs and appointments can be handled via the MR glasses as well. Consumers can use existing ThirdEye software, such as RemoteEye, to get real-time help from maintenance crews for fixing things at home or take an inventory of assets at home for insurance purposes. ThirdEye’s RespondEye platform can also be used to communicate with their doctors or caregivers remotely, allowing the remote doctor to view the patient in real time with AR annotations.

“Through the feedback we’ve received from customers since we launched in 2016, we’ve found there to be a great desire to bring our lightweight solutions and user-friendly applications, like RemoteEye, for home use as well,” said Nick Cherukuri, Founder and CEO of ThirdEye. “For the Razor MR Glasses, we wanted to accommodate a variety of needs. For example, these mixed reality glasses are lightweight and myopia friendly, allowing nearsighted users to adjust the Razor MR Glasses from zero to negative five diopters with a single twist of a knob on the side of the glasses. Now, no one will need to attempt stacking multiple eyewear pieces – as is needed with VR solutions, making it extremely comfortable for daily use.”

In addition, the Razor MR Glasses already support many metaverse applications that users can access in ThirdEye’s app store, including RemoteEye for any remote assistance aid and HIPAA-certified RespondEye for telehealth. The Razor MR Glasses feature a refresh rate of 70 Hz and two noise-canceling microphones to prevent lag and enable clear communication. The Razor MR Glasses can connect with most Android and iOS devices, including all phones that support display port (DP) output, laptops and tablets with a USB-C port, and gaming consoles through HDMI adapters.”

Foldable and lightweight at 85 grams, the Razor MR Glasses are comfortable to wear on the go or at home for extended periods of time. The glasses allow users to remain hands-free in a variety of activities, including interacting on their social media, utilizing a multi-purpose assistant, exercising with a personal trainer via a heads-up display coach, and immersing themselves in mixed reality games. The Razor MR Glasses run on the 9.0 Android operating system, boast a 43-degree field of vision (FOV) (equivalent to a 120″-inch display), and have an 8-hour battery life. Additional features for the Razor MR Glasses include voice control and a dual high-definition (HD) directional sound system.

The Razor MR Glasses have already received preorders from leading consumer and telecom companies.

The new Razor MR Glasses are currently in production and will be shipping later this year. Users can pre-order or receive more information at www.thirdeyegen.com or by contacting sales@thirdeyegen.com.

Read ThirdEye AREA member profile here https://thearea.org/area-members/thirdeye-gen/

The problem for many organizations is knowing what to look for in a Front Line Worker platform. AREA member Atheer has a solution for you. Atheer’s free Front Line Worker Platform RFP Template gives you what you need to get started. It offers recommendations of content and sample questions to help you identify needs and narrow down your evaluation criteria. Jump-start your Connected Worker platform RFP by downloading the Atheer Front Line Worker Platform RFP Template here.

Over the course of 2021, Big Tech went all in on immersive collaboration and anticipation certainly grew for a game changing XR device (or two) from Apple. 2021 was also the year of the word ‘Metaverse,’ which we see as any immersive world where you might have your next team meeting or interact with brands. Let’s see what the major players in enterprise XR unveiled and acquired this year:

AUGMENTED/MIXED REALITY

MICROSOFT

Microsoft’s activities this year made it clear the company is focusing on collaborative XR and, more generally, the future of work. In March, Microsoft announced Mesh, a new platform for building multi-user XR apps or shared virtual experiences connecting people in different locations. Mesh will be brought into Microsoft Teams in 2022, allowing colleagues to meet as avatars in mixed reality.

META (FORMERLY FACEBOOK)

Facebook rebranded as Meta in 2021 in a PR move to distance the company from controversy, or as leadership claims, to convey the company’s new aim of building the metaverse. Meta also made its AR entrance with a pair of glasses developed in collaboration with Ray-Ban. The company’s 10-year plan for AR, however, is much more ambitious, as revealed in a blog post from Facebook Reality Labs. This includes developing its own operating system for AR and a mixed reality headset code named Project Cambria.

On the VR front, Meta is eyeing the enterprise market: In addition to rebooting its business tools for the consumer Oculus Quest 2, Facebook surprise launched Horizon Workrooms in August, a VR meeting app for remote collaboration, and just this month released its latest avatar system to all Unity developers. If Meta’s intentions aren’t clear enough, nearly a fifth of its employees are now working on AR/VR. (Pay attention to the competition between Meta and Microsoft for top virtual collaboration solution in 2022.)

GOOGLE and CISCO

Both Google and Cisco made moves to make existing video meeting apps more immersive: In July, Google Meet became available to all Google Workspace customers on the Glass Enterprise Edition 2. A few months later, Cisco unveiled Webex Hologram. Cisco says its photorealistic, real-time holograms – as opposed to Meta’s avatars – make virtual meetings more realistic and engaging. In other Google news, new job listings recently revealed the giant’s plans to create a new “Augmented Reality OS” for an unspecified “innovative AR device” intended to reach “billions.”

MAGIC LEAP

Magic Leap has been hard at work on its next-gen headset Magic Leap 2, which is set to debut in 2022 and already being used by select partners through an early access program. Here’s what we know about the upcoming enterprise-focused device: Magic Leap 2 is reportedly half the size and 20% lighter than its predecessor, with a doubled field of view and 3-4x the processing power. Meant to be an “all day, every day” device, additional improvements include improved color fidelity, text legibility, and image quality. Magic Leap also raised $500 million in new capital this year.

LENOVO

In 2021, Lenovo introduced its ThinkReality A3 glasses: The Industrial Edition tethers to a smartphone via USB-C for use in manufacturing, energy, and engineering, while a PC Edition is geared more towards office workers. Lenovo also certified the RealWear HMT-1 for its ThinkReality platform, and announced it will offer RealWear’s HMT-1 family of devices through its global sales network.

Notable Mentions

IRISTICK revealed its Visor Ex-01 smart glasses for hazardous areas in 2021, while Vuzix introduced Vuzix Shield, its first binocular AR smart glasses. Campfire raised $8 million, as well, to build an integrated hardware and software platform partially on the bones of failed startup Meta. In July, the company announced it’s working on holographic collaboration.

VIRTUAL REALITY

PICO

2021 was a good year for Pico, which raised $37 million and launched its next-gen headsets. The Pico Neo 3 Pro and Neo 3 Pro Eye (which includes Tobii eye tracking tech) are priced at $700 and $900 respectively, undercutting both Oculus and HTC.

HP

HP’s Reverb G2 Omnicept Edition, first announced in September 2020, became available in May. Priced at $1,250, the headset provides a wealth of data that can enhance training applications, with sensors for tracking eye movement, pupil size, facial expressions, and heart rate. (Watch HP’s Elias Stephan speak about the Omnicept Edition at EWTS 2021).

HTC

HTC launched two VR headsets in the Spring, along with pro tools for enterprise. The $1,300 HTC Vive Focus 3 is a business headset with 5k resolution, spatial audio, a 120-degree field of view, and new controllers. HTC also unveiled Vive Business, a suite of tools for applications like training, meetings, design reviews, and more.

VARJO

In June, Varjo unveiled its Reality Cloud platform, which allows you to scan a room and share it in photorealistic detail with someone remotely in near real time (essentially teleportation). Varjo Aero, a $2,000 pared down version of Varjo’s XR-3 headset for smaller businesses and wealthy enthusiasts, arrived in October; and Varjo showcased Varjo Lab Tools with which users can bring parts of the real world into VR. In addition, a VR training solution by Varjo and VRM Switzerland became the first to receive approval from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, allowing pilots to earn credited training hours in virtual reality.

SOFTWARE

Remote Collaboration: Arvizio revealed Immerse 3D for iOS, Android, HoloLens, and Magic Leap, allowing users to interact simultaneously with the same 3D model in AR, for instance, during collaborative meetings on Microsoft Teams, Zoom, etc.

Easier AR: Scope AR lowered the bar for AR creation in enterprise with WorkLink Create, a browser-based AR platform enabling industrial professionals to author 3D content without coding.

Expanding footprint: TeamViewer acquired Upskill in 2021 and announced a partnership with Google Cloud to co-develop and market AR solutions built on Google Cloud. Assisted Order Picking is the first jointly developed solution, leveraging Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 and TeamViewer’s Frontline solution.

PTC & Matterport: In April, PTC announced Vuforia Engine Area Targets. With support from Matterport, Leica 3D scanners, and NavVis’ indoor mobile mapping systems. Area Targets allows users to create digital twins of large spaces (think factories, malls, etc.). The integration of Matterport with PTC’s Vuforia platform can enrich enterprise applications such as wayfinding, virtual training, and real-time information retrieval.

Eye tracking: With eye tracking becoming the standard for next-gen VR headsets, WorldViz announced both Vizard 7, a platform for academic research and professional applications that integrates with over 150 VR devices, and SightLab VR, a drag-and-drop tool allowing anyone to set up and run eye tracking experiments in VR.

QUALCOMM & NVIDIA

Among other 2021 highlights, Qualcomm revealed Snapdragon Spaces XR Developer Platform, a kit to help developers build head-worn AR experiences. (As of November, Lenovo’s ThinkReality A3 glasses are the only supported hardware.) Competitor NVIDIA expanded its Omniverse platform allowing designers and reviewers to work together in real time in a virtual world. Available through a $9,000 annual subscription plan, NVIDIA hopes Omniverse will deliver the foundation for the metaverse…at least in enterprise.

____

In summary:

–       Apple glasses rumors

–       Mark Zuckerberg’s philosophical musings about the future of social and work

–       The Metaverse

But really, pay attention to the remote collaboration space in 2022, which will likely be the first mainstream metaverse application in enterprise; and get excited for upcoming headsets like Magic Leap 2 and a return to San Diego for the Augmented Enterprise Summit 2022 (formerly EWTS).

COVID-19 has continued to create global supply uncertainties, disruptions, and inflationary forces which are forcing companies of all sizes to better manage their supply chains. Combined with the ongoing growth of online shopping, attaining new productivity levels for product transportation, inventory management and order fulfillment will become a distinct competitive advantage.

Smart glasses are becoming a cost-effective tool to facilitate these objectives and an increasing number of the world’s largest firms are starting to move from trialing them to deploying them.

“Vuzix has spent a fair amount of time and resources honing this technology and we are now seeing growing market adoption of our products that are allowing companies to operate with greater productivity. We are pleased to be working with this client, which represents just one of multiple major retailers either implementing or testing our technology for logistics and warehouse usage,” said Paul Travers, President and Chief Executive Officer at Vuzix.

Human ability to imagine objects that are not physically present is limited. It is even more difficult for us to mentally place them in an existing environment. How often, for example, has it happened to you that a newly purchased piece of furniture was too large for the intended space?

In construction planning and architecture, this problem is amplified. Whereas in the case of the previously mentioned piece of furniture, only a single part has to be inserted into an existing space, in architecture we are often dealing with entire buildings in which floors, rooms and objects stand in a relationship to one another; and of course, the building itself as a whole must also fit into its surroundings. In this process, our lack of imagination can lead to mistakes with far-reaching consequences.

This is where technology helps our imagination tremendously. Augmented reality (AR) in combination with Building Information Modeling (BIM) ensures that we can “actually” see all objects and relationships.

What is BIM? What is AR?

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is to be understood as a digital method that is used throughout the life cycle of a building. In this process, all data and information related to the construction is stored and mapped in a BIM-enabled software.

Augmented reality is the computer-aided expansion of reality perception. Specifically in construction planning, the BIM models are “projected” into the real environment.

Benefits of AR in Construction Planning

AR applications for construction planning help our imagination tremendously. They support the entire decision-making process both on the side of the construction planner and on the side of the client. AR glasses can be used to better present and understand the planned building. Thus, decisions in the early planning phases can be made more easily and more correctly, which reduces planning and construction costs accordingly.

“Especially in the case of existing building conversion, it is advantageous if you can visualize the superimposition between the model and reality.”

DI Dr. Timur Uzunoglu, Managing Director convex ZT GmbH

AR Use Cases in Construction Planning at convex

At convex ZT GmbH, we use AR technology from the design phase to operation. With Holo-Light’s AR3S software, we bring BIM planning closer to clients and enable greater planning transparency. Building owners feel more involved in the planning process during our AR-assisted planning meetings and can make better decisions. We make AR inspections together with the builders directly on site. These AR inspections provide a direct impression on site in real time and help to weigh alternatives against each other. In revitalizations of existing buildings, it is often challenging to bring the new structures into a functioning harmony with the existing buildings, and AR helps very well there, too.

The Ministry of Defence said, “The operation was performed by a medical team headed by Colonel Doctor Ahmed Al Jahuri, senior consultant and head of the Orthopaedic Department at the Armed Forces Hospital, and medical staff from the orthopaedic, anaesthesia, operations, radiology and medical engineering departments.”

Speaking about the surgery that employed cutting-edge technology, Dr Al Jahuri said, “The Armed Forces Hospital was able to use state-of-the-art technology in augmented reality as a solution for the development of minimally invasive spine surgeries.”

Dr Al Jahuri added, “In this technique, low-dose 3D CT scans are combined with optical imaging with fixed cameras, which results in the creation of a three-dimensional display of augmented reality of the patient’s internal anatomy, and this combined image acts as an exploration device that guides the surgeon in fixing the vertebrae with surgical screws in place.

“This helps us conduct surgery that is precisely defined and reduces the chance of injury to nearby sensitive tissues such as nerves and blood vessels,” he went on to say. ““Following this approach leads to increased clinical accuracy as the surgeon can be sure that the surgical instruments are in the right place before the operation and this helps the doctor reduce surgical risks, medical errors, pain, and blood loss, which leads to faster patient recovery and reduces their in the hospital, as well as cuts down on subsequent medical complications and costs.”

The technology is expected to have a significant role in enabling surgeons to perform complex operations, especially in the field of spinal curvature. Thanks to the ability to adapt augmented reality to the needs of the surgeon, doctors can focus on what is happening right in front of them.

The tech also offers surgeons direct x-ray vision into anatomical areas that are not visible to the naked eye, which makes this new technology a mainstay in the future of surgery.

Ali bin Hamdan Al Ghafri, the patient who underwent the operation, said, “I was suffering from spinal pain, and after continuous review at the Armed Forces Hospital and the necessary medical examinations, the results showed friction in some of the vertebrae of the spine, and it was decided to perform a surgery using augmented reality technology.”

“I was briefed about the details and stages of this procedure from the doctors concerned with the operation, and what encouraged me to agree to perform the procedure was the presence of an Omani medical team of high reputation and efficiency, as well as what the Armed Forces Hospital possesses in terms of advanced modern devices in the field of spine surgery.”

Hanan bint Saif, who oversees the operating theatres at the hospital, said, “Spinal operations are complex procedures that require the surgeon to be careful when dealing with the nerves and vessels connected to the spinal cord.”

“Augmented reality technology is one of the latest technologies in spine surgery,” she added. “Globally, many doctors have been able to perform this surgery using this technique.”

The solution works using sustainability targets from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA), which aims to build a carbon-neutral future for the planet.

Citing EPA figures, ThirdEye said the COVID-19 pandemic sharply reduced global transport traffic, which was the “largest contributor to anthropogenic [US] greenhouse gas emissions at 29 [percent].”

ThirdEye’s AR/MR telepresence solutions allow companies to lower their carbon footprint by reducing the overall need for global transport, and the firm’s RemoteEye platform has cut onsite visits to allow significant cost savings, leading to a major improvement in return on investment (ROI).

Nick Cherukuri, Founder of ThirdEye, said his company’s RemoteEye platform aims to include a Carbon Footprint Score for its users to calculate the organisation’s carbon footprint with AR.

Explaining further on the benefits of AR technologies, he continued, stating,

“Not only are AR and MR teleconferencing platforms financially prudent due to traveling less, but by using this technology to share knowledge and operational workflows, there are tremendous carbon emission savings. For example, we can bring education and telehealth to underprivileged areas around the world with augmented and mixed reality”

The company’s RespondEye, which complies with the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), also allows doctors to tackle health problems for remote patients “anytime, anywhere.” Doctors can later assign patients and carers medical diagnoses and treatment options.

Enterprises can also benefit from the introduction of 3D digital twins to reduce inventory and other digital assets, ThirdEye said, adding doing so would reduce production emissions and costs.

The news comes as the US firm aims to expand its solutions to the Asia-Pacific with its X2 MR smart glasses and a major partnership with Go VR Immersive, a Hong Kong-based XR startup.

Tthe smart glasses would be deployed to remote workers across China, just shortly his firm inked a major partnership with Microsoft to deploy HoloLens 2 MR head-mounted displays in the Asia-Pacific region.

A few things mentioned include:

• Eye examinations can be done at a fraction of the cost
• Magic Leap’s next generation AR glasses are smaller lighter, faster
• They have a greater field view – this has doubled in their next gen device
• Vertical representation e.g. surgery digital content overlaid across the knee and look at virtual screens
• Bringing light dimmer to bring more focus to what needs to be concentrated on (again surgical use)

Answering criticism about lack of progress, Johnson argued that 4 healthcare companies are testing the devices right now and other industries are working with Magic Leap at the moment. These include:

• Health
• Defense and Public Sector
• Manufacturing
• Automotive and Transport
• Oil and Gas
• Architecture, Engineering, Construction (AEC)

You can watch the video here 

This offers a frontline connected worker platform for the integration of multiple assisted and augmented reality (SLAM) experiences into a high-performance industrial solution

RealWear Navigator™ 500 solution is the all-new head-mounted device product platform specifically designed to engage, empower and elevate the frontline worker for the next several years.

Building on the accumulated experience of the last four years, working with 5000 enterprise customers in 60 countries with solutions based on our HMT-1™ and HMT-1Z1™ platforms, this new product brings targeted innovation in all the key areas that matter most to achieving solid results at scale.

RealWear has been known for establishing and gaining major customer deployments for frontline worker solutions based on “assisted reality”.

The core concept of assisted reality is that it makes a different tradeoff than mixed reality. Assisted reality is better suited to the majority of industrial use cases where user safety is paramount.

The goals of assisted reality are to keep the user’s attention in the real world, with a direct line of sight, for the most part unoccluded by digital objects or “holograms” that require extra cognitive focus for humans to process.

Situational awareness of moving machinery, approaching forklifts or other vehicles, steam escape valves, slip and trip hazards and electrical and chemical hazards is key for RealWear’s customers. These are the same working environments that mandate specific personal protective equipment for safety glasses and goggles, to hard hats, hearing protection, heavy gloves and even respirators. Users in these situations mostly require both hands to be available for the use of tools and equipment, or to hold on to railings, ropework, etc.

In turn the user interface for assisted reality cannot rely on the availability of hands to operate handheld controllers, or to draw gestures in the air.  RealWear’s assisted reality solutions rely on voice recognition that is field proven in very high noise environments, plus the minimal use of head motion detection. The platform uses a single articulated micro-display easily adjusted to sit below the dominant eye that does not obstruct direct vision and provides the user a view similar to a 7-inch tablet screen at arm’s length.

A core concept of mixed reality has been the placement of virtual 3D digital objects overlaid on the physical world – such as 3D models or animations. This requires two stereoscopic see-through displays that are brought to a point of focus that typically is not in the same plane as the real-world object. The resulting vergence-accommodation conflict – where the greater convergence of the eyes when looking at near objects is in conflict with the focal distance, or accommodation of the eye’s lens needed to bring the digital image into focus – is a source of eyestrain, discomfort and in some cases headaches after extended use. In addition, in bright conditions, especially outdoors, mixed reality displays struggle to provide sufficient contrast with the real world and therefore they always either cut a significant amount of light from the real world using darkened glass or have to generate such a bright display that battery life is very short unless tethered with a cord to a separate battery pack. Both situations contribute to eyestrain with extended use.

However mixed reality applications do allow information to be overlaid on the real-world asset which in some use cases can provide an additional boost in productivity in identifying the item to be worked on.

So how could this tradeoff be solved?   Is it possible to tag or overlay information on the real 3D world while also maintaining safety, situational awareness, low eyestrain, hands-free use and full-shift battery life?

We’ve long believed that the answer lies in amping up the amount of “assistance” in assisted reality rather than solely focusing on the amount of reality, with power-hungry, wide field of view, super bright stereoscopic, transparent and ultra-high resolution displays. With advanced camera capabilities and computer-vision processing, key information about real-world assets can be placed on the camera view shown in the single, monocular, non-see-through (opaque) display.

Read more. 

With the latest funding, ManageXR will support its expanding team and go-to-market strategy as the company has experienced rapid growth since becoming available to beta users in November 2019 and officially launching in April 2021. The startup will continue to look for ways to expand its partner network of hardware and software companies across the globe, Luke Wilson, founder and CEO of ManageXR told TechCrunch. The company will focus more on large enterprises next year, he added. 

ManageXR built an enterprise device management platform designed for VR and AR devices to serve as the core infrastructure for organizations. Its platform looks to scale enterprises’ XR deployments, enabling them to control remotely every aspect of their XR device fleet, including distributing apps and files, customizing the home screen user experience, tracking device health and usage and more. 

“Device management solutions have been around for years, but until recently, there hasn’t been a viable option for VR and AR devices. We’re solving that problem for businesses at an inflection point in the industry,” Wilson said. 

ManageXR has facilitated more than 200,000 sessions to date across thousands of VR and AR devices used by small, midsize and enterprise companies, including XRHealth and Brink’s. The company also recently partnered with Pico Interactive, a VR and AR hardware manufacturer, to preload ManageXR on all Pico devices in the U.S.

“We see a growing trend in companies delivering XR to their employees at a very large scale, evidenced by Accenture’s latest deployment of 60,000 headsets. These organizations are using XR to onboard, train, and upskill employees, as well as unlock new workflow, using the metaverse as a new place to communicate, collaborate, and get work done,” Wilson said. “Device management is not a new concept to these corporations, and they understand how crucial this type of infrastructure is to ensure technology can be used in a scalable and secure way.”

Wilson founded ManageXR in 2018 with the intention of building VR experiences for pediatric patients in the hospital. At the time, the company had to develop its own rudimentary device management platform to deliver its content in the healthcare environments, Wilson told TechCrunch. In late 2019, the company realized that every other company, like ManageXR, would have to solve the same problems on its own, so it pivoted to focus solely on ManageXR in early 2020. Its team understands the challenges of using XR at scale on a deep, personal level, and it’s made a huge difference in how they operate the company, Wilson said. 

Its competitors include incumbent mobile device management companies, which build similar tools for mobile phones and laptops, and some device manufacturers. However, XR is a nascent and fast-moving market with different requirements that these companies are not equipped to handle, Wilson continued. 

“These hardware manufacturers have created their own rudimentary device management systems, but they consistently miss the mark in terms of functionality and usability. These OEM management systems also force their users to only use one manufacturer’s hardware, which prevents customers from using the wide variety of hardware on the market,” Wilson said. 

Its customers pay a monthly or annual fee per device, Wilson noted. Depending on the product tier, the licenses cost $7-$10 per device per month. Its premium product tier, which costs monthly $10 per device, is by far the company’s most popular offering. 

“Between the recent investments in the space from the largest tech giants and businesses now using VR and AR for everything from employee training to patient care to sales enablement, extended reality in the enterprise is at the cusp of mass adoption and we’re thrilled to have Rally Ventures join us for the ride,” Wilson said. 

“XR is set to fundamentally change how we conduct business, collaborate, and experience the world in our professional and personal lives, but as adoption increases, so do the challenges that businesses face in successfully implementing their programs,” said Jay Borenstein, venture partner at Rally Ventures. “I am very excited to support Luke and his growing team as they accelerate how corporations can manage and benefit from XR devices at scale and ultimately bring enterprise-wide XR to the mainstream.”