When venturing into the world of corporate XR, the hardware is a very important piece of the puzzle as what type of headset you use will massively influence the quality of your experience. High end headsets require a powerful computer to run. While lower end headsets like the Oculus Quest are standalone devices.

In addition, there are multiple extras, ranging from the basic hand controllers to more complex equipment like treadmills or haptic gloves that react to virtual stimuli. These all add to the level of immersion you can experience in XR.

Oculus Quest for Business

Oculus Quest is Facebook’s first standalone headset that offers 6DOF tracking on both the head and hands. That means that the headset has the same full tracking capabilities typically reserved for high-end VR headsets that are hooked up to a computer. Because Quest has full 6DOF tracking, it opens the door to significantly more immersive and interactive content than other standalone headsets. Given that it’s a “standalone”, Quest’s biggest advantage is its low friction experience.

PROS

• Low friction experience
• Excellent VR for a standalone device
• Reasonable price

CONS

• Limited graphics capability compared to other headsets
• Heavy on the face

HTC Vive Pro / Vive for business

With a resolution of 2880 x 1600, the HTC Vive Pro offers amazing image quality. If graphics are important this headset is a safe bet. A nose guard keeps light leakage to a minimum. The kit comes with lighthouses that need to be installed in an elevated position for the headset to work. These lighthouses are sensitive to other light sources like the sun’s rays and therefore need to be placed in a setting with minimum natural light.

PROS

• Blocks most outside light
• Comes with headphones
• High resolution display

CONS

• Complicated setup
• Headphones tend to crackle

Varjo VR-2

The makers of Varjo VR-2 pride themselves on delivering “human eye-resolution”. The target market for this headset is industrial settings where clients require the highest visual fidelity possible (current clients include Audi and NASA). The Varjo VR-2  features eye tracking technology that allows clients to analyze users’ gaze for research, training, simulation and industrial design for example. The VR-2 Pro also features hand tracking. No need for bulky controllers. Users utilize their hands just as they would in real life.

PROS

• Extremely high resolution
• Excellent eye tracking
• Hand tracking

CONS

• Very expensive

HP Reverb G2 Omnicept

The HP Reverb G2 Omnicept is raising the bar for what a VR headset should be by incorporating multiple biometric sensors to help developers and enterprises better track users’ reactions. This is of course particularly useful for companies looking to gather user data in a VR setting.

PROS

• Face recognition camera
• Heartbeat monitor
• Gaze and pupil size monitor

CONS

• Will not hit stores until next year

Microsoft Hololens 2

The main difference between Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality (MR) is that VR shuts out the outside world. MR overlays virtual objects within the real world. The Hololens 2 is specifically targeted towards enterprise use and Microsoft has built a solid library of use cases where the use of AR with this headset has brought massive ROI to their clients.

PROS

• Suitable for “first line workers”
• Hand tracking

CONS

• Expensive
• Limited field of view

PC / Phone / Tablet

While not at all as immersive and powerful as experienced through an XR headset – it’s also completely possible to view virtual content through a PC, a phone or a tablet. This is particularly useful when working on large teams where not everybody has access to an XR headset but can still participate in the experience.

PROS

• Inclusive as anybody can see what’s going on
• Ubiquitous and accessible in corporate settings

CONS

• Lacks in immersion

The first ever citation of the term ‘digital twin’ came during the Apollo 13 program in the 1960s—and the concept has since exploded as the underlying technology has matured. Digital twins and digital threads are quickly becoming the cornerstone of Industry 4.0 and form the basis for much of the productivity growth predicted in the 21^st century.

So what exactly are they? Simply stated, a digital twin is the current representation of a product or system in a virtual simulation. Data collected from IoT sensors and ubiquitous connectivity is transformed into a spatial representation of a product or system—like a forklift, factory or warehouse—generated by a computer. A digital thread is the record of the twin’s lifetime from creation to removal –—software, supply chain, performance, product design etc.– over time and across platforms.

AI can mine this data, derive business intelligence, reveal trends and support strategic executive decision making. Today digital twins are valued at about $6 billion and the market is growing at breakneck speed.  Digital twins not only save on hard costs of infrastructure, design and training; they also reduce ongoing operating, maintenance and other expenditures. The money saved will ultimately be measured in trillions of dollars of productivity gains.

Experts forecast that digital twins/ digital threads will be worth $47 billion in a few short years:

Digital Twin Market Forecast

• 2021: $13 Billion
• 2023: $16 Billion
• 2025: $36 Billion
• 2026: $47 Billion

 

Real world examples of successful digital twin applications abound:

• Logistics company DHL created a digital twin warehouse for Tetra Pak, a food packaging and processing company in Singapore. The supply chain digital twin receives real-time data from the physical warehouse and continually tracks performance to identify optimal storage solutions.
• The energy market is complex and highly changeable. Oil companies use digital twins to optimize pipelines and allocate capacity across the country. The model combines the commercial side with the logistics function to better serve customers by having the products on hand in the correct locations at peak sales times.
• Benefits of digital twins in manufacturing extend beyond the factory to the retailer and consumer. Unilever uses DT technology to improve the production process in eight facilities by aggregating data from IoT sensors, analyzing the information and feeding insights back to the physical plant. AI and digital twin optimization helped the company reduce alerts by 90%, down from 3000 a day!

 

In short, digital twins offer a virtual proving ground for smarter products, more efficient manufacturing and optimized supply chains. Today most use cases are industrial—but digital twin technology will impact all sectors in the not too distant future. From smart cities analyzing traffic flow and utility consumption to healthcare testing of drug effectiveness through autonomous vehicles digitally validated over millions of miles and billions of traffic scenarios. Space exploration, rocket ships to Mars and Lunar colonies, will depend on digital twins and advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning—a large step from the original use in the Apollo 13 rescue.

Recently we helped our client Marathon evaluate a planned gas facility in VR. Seven experts toured the facility virtually and discovered several ways the facility could be optimized and modified. Have a look at our recording of the session. This is a great example of how XR can help improve safety, design and bring workers together regardless of geographical locations and how this technology will shape the fourth industrial revolution. A revolution that is gaining momentum fast in the wake of the global pandemic that we are facing today.

As human beings in the 18th century harnessed the power of the steam engine the industrial revolution saw the light of day. With the advent of electricity, assembly line factories and mass production of consumer goods we saw the second wave of this revolution. It wasn’t long before automation and computers gave rise to the third industrial revolution.

We are now in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution – industry 4.0. This wave will build on the third revolution and enhance computers and automation with smart and autonomous systems fueled by data and machine learning.

Over the coming years, as Industry 4.0 unfolds, computers will communicate with one another to make decisions without any human involvement. A combination of the real and virtual world, the Internet of Things will make this new, smart world a reality. As machines get smarter and smarter and gain access to more and more data factories will become more efficient and productive. This interconnection of machines all over the world is what will unlock the true power of industry 4.0.

The coronavirus is making sure this happens sooner rather than later.

Since the start of the pandemic businesses all over the world have faced unforeseen challenges related to supply chain disruptions, shortage of workers due to quarantine rules and resource downtime. Some industries have seen the demand for their products crater while others have seen the demand skyrocket.

The global coronavirus crisis is gradually transitioning industry 4.0 technology from an option to a necessity. Through increased connection of all the components in a supply chain that chain will strengthen and be better able to withstand stormy shocks to the system like the current pandemic.

As more and more businesses grasp this new reality technologies like Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality will take center stage and prove key in maximizing efficiency throughout the entire economy of corporations as well as nations.

As the pandemic drags on, remote and immersive technologies like VR, AR and MR have proven an invaluable tool for corporations wishing to remain on top of their game.

Virtual events have allowed the industry to keep organizing seminars and conferences without personal contact. At countless of online events visitors have walked through exhibition stalls and interacted with vendors and corporate executives, experiencing products and engaging in discussions.

In the post pandemic world XR technologies will help in building a competent workforce while limiting risks and boost productivity across a wide range of industries, helping businesses achieve a competitive edge, greater market access, customer satisfaction through smart manufacturing. The COVID19 pandemic is not the first pandemic, and it won’t be the last. But there’s a silver lining – when the next pandemic or whatever crisis it might be hits the world we will be in a much better place and industry 4.0 will not be as vulnerable as our current system.