Spatial Perspectives

Live sporting events are back on the menu in the wake of COVID-19 — but that doesn't mean they'll look the same as they did prior to the pandemic.In addition to safety measure and other touchless innovations present at the world's stadiums and arenas, technologies like augmented reality could be ready to make a huge impact on the way fans consume live sports.To learn more, MarketScale invited Spatial Perspectives host Dan Cui to share his insights."As we get back to attending live sporting events, augmented reality offers teams, sponsors and fans a unique way of engaging with one another.Just prior to this COVID shutdown, AT&T Stadium partnered with Nexus studios to provide location-based augmented reality visualizations throughout the stadium, giving fans a virtual way to interact with their favorite players, which enhances the overall game night experience.But the benefits don't stop there. All aspects of stadium and team activities can become more exciting. Halftime shows, historical game overlays, player statistics, on field rulings, even food, beverage and swag — purchasing can become part of the adventure of attending a live event infused with augmented reality.From a marketing perspective, augmented reality clearly enhances team brand loyalty by providing sponsors innovative ways of reaching their target audiences. Keep your eyes open at the next live event you'll be attending and join in on the fun."

Cybersickness may sound like a sci-fi ailment, but it's a very real and very big deal for some users of cutting-edge technology.For some, VR headsets can result in negative side effects for up to 24 hours that mimic the seasickness you might experience during a boat ride.Think of it this way. When you go out on a boat for a long day of cruising, then come home, you still feel your bed moving.However, developers are starting to do things to try to eliminate this motion sickness — things like reducing non-forward movement and acceleration. Of course, you can also take things into your own hands.You can take Dramamine, and people have said that pointing a fan at yourself helps. Wristbands that actually look at pressure points, acupuncture, pressure points, alternative movement devices that actually make you feel like you're really physically doing something — these are all different ways users are trying to combat cybersickness.

Today's voice technology is held back by its inability to understand the deep meaning and emotion of human interactions. On this episode of Spatial Perspectives, Host Dan Cui talked with Ken Sutton, CEO, and Co-Founder, Yobe, Inc, which uses an intelligent approach to a more human voice experience. Yobe elevates voice technology to capture the nuances of everyday communication and unlock the potential of voice for modern brands."Our Solution allows us to, very similar to human hearing, to pull out the perceptual value of what's happening in a human voice," Sutton said.This means lowering the signal-to-noise ratio for many solutions, so from an auditory standpoint, you can hear something. A byproduct of their way of doing things also enhances some of the perceptual data, such as biometrics, location of the voice, or the talker. Their solution is similar to a human, according to Sutton, where a listener would know if a speaker is male or female, child or adult, the intent of the speech such as joking or serious."These are some of the metadata that's captured and locked in the voice signal that we've spent all our career really focusing on," Sutton said. "And using AI and different algorithms to extract that data for whatever purpose you want to use it for, whether it be device command and control or something as simple as you want to hear somebody better on a phone call."Listen to hear more and watch an example of how Yobe's technology works.

There have been numerous attempts to make smart eyewear over the past decade or so. Virtual and augmented glasses usually get the attention, but Lucyd is making eyeglasses with sound that allow users to have a hands-free device on their heads.On this episode of Spatial Perspectives, Host Dan Cui talked with Harrison Gross, CEO, and Founder, Lucyd, a company that builds Bluetooth headphones and microphones into eyeglasses. The duo spoke about Lucyd, VR and audio eyewear, and Harrison's role in the company.Gross sent Cui a pair to test out for this video podcast, and Cui noted how cool it is to talk through the eyeglasses while sitting on the video. One thing about the glasses is that there is no need for headphones while wearing the glasses, as they can connect via Bluetooth to any smart device.Lucyd has been working on smart eyewear since 2017. They have run through numerous beta versions of the glasses to figure out what it takes to bring smart eyewear to the mainstream. One of the challenges they've faced is making prescription glasses. Their new products, the Lyte Wayfarer and The Lyte Round came out in January, and Gross believes it's the first smart eyewear that's suitable for all-day wear.“It has a number of advantages over other products in the space,” Gross said. In addition to being able to wear them all day, the technology is advanced enough that a consumer wouldn't be able to tell they're smart eyewear. They look like regular glasses.

There are numerous technologies on the market that cater to virtual and augmented reality. But, there aren't as many ones that focus on touch. When entering these virtual worlds, it's essential to consider that touch is missing and an invaluable sense when interacting in new worlds."We want to make the most realistic possible sense of touch feedback, which is extremely useful for virtual reality and robotics and potentially other applications.” - Joe MichaelsOn this episode of Spatial Perspectives, Host Dan Cui talked with Joe Michaels, Chief Revenue Officer, Haptx, a company that makes “the only gloves with true-contact haptics. Our patented technology displaces your skin the same way a real object would. With 133 points of tactile feedback per hand, HaptX Gloves DK2 achieves a level of realism that other haptic devices can't match.” And, according to Michaels, they are working to make the most realistic gloves when it comes to touch.“What we've been trying to do is create haptic technology, which means technology that simulates the feeling and sense of touch,” Michael said. “We want to make the most realistic possible sense of touch feedback, which is extremely useful for virtual reality and robotics and potentially other applications.”In this special episode, Cui cued up the video of these gloves at work. Michaels provided commentary and elaborated that now when in virtual reality, you can see things, but you can also touch them on your hands and fingers. In the video, a person with Haptx gloves touches a plane. According to Michaels, the gloves receive forced feedback and tactile feedback, and provide extremely precise finger and hand motion tracking.“We want to be the world's best and most realistic and immersive form of touch feedback for those applications,” Michaels said.

Wireless location tracking is working its way into how multiple industries operate. On this week's episode of Spatial Perspectives, host Dan Cui is joined by Ned Hill, CEO of Position Imaging, a tracking technology company.Position Imaging began in the video games business creating virtual reality and augmented reality software platforms. As the company continued to innovate, it pivoted from games and focused its radio tracking technology on logistics. “We're a software company with a hardware problem,” Hill said. The AI platform, the algorithms, and the user interface are combined with hardware from the company's partners.The company's unique AI based computer vision solution called Amoeba Computer Vision can track people, packages, vehicles, bringing greater visibility and efficiency to the last mile of delivery. Using the 3D wifi technology they developed, this solution is the most accurate tracking technology in the world.Currently, Position Imaging is implementing this technology in multi-residential buildings and facilities so that the location, origin, and destination of every package can be viewed at any time through an AR interface. Everything is shipping is dynamic, but over time the AI platform will learnThe last mile of getting products and packages to customers has multiple pain points and bottlenecks. For instance, with Amoeba Computer Vision a delivery driver has the data to know exactly where in the truck every package is so they don't have to hunt for them.Position Imaging plans to expand into retail and backroom inventory, bringing efficiencies to the industry that are needed more than ever as customer behavior shifts. More and more shopping is being done online with delivery, in-store pickup, and in-store returns as part of the system. These present new inventory management issues and location tracking technology is the forward-looking solution.To learn more about Position Imaging, see videos demonstrating the technology, and delve into the details of location tracking, tune into this enlightening conversation on Spatial Perspectives with Dan Cui.

Exploring the world of all things related to 3D Images and Holograms on Spatial Perspectives—a podcast series hosted by Dan Cui, a technology ambassador—brings industry innovators and thought leaders together to discuss their contributions and insights in the rapidly-evolving spatial reality arena. And on today's podcast, Russ Baker, VP of Business Development of Avalon Holographics, joins Dan to chat about the company's Avalon's holographic displays and what exactly is a hologram.The drive to start Avalon came from the need and want “to do 3D right.” They tried to do holographic displays without any tricks, so when a user views the hologram, it's as if the user sees the object. To Baker, there is a difference between genuine and non-real holograms. Then some folks call things holograms that aren't even close to being holographic. Some groups are considered “purists” that only think holograms are composed of lasers invented in the 1960s.“There is a pretty wide spectrum of things that call themselves holographic and definitely aren't,” Baker said. “Then there are some things that are at least trying to get close to the real deal.”The public also has a different perception of what it thinks is a hologram. Most of the time, it's floating light. This isn't feasible, according to Baker. Nobody knows how to change the direction of light in space, so this idea of a hologram can easily be dismissed."I would call that a hologram if it could be done. It's just not possible to do it,” Baker said.Some companies now offer half-holograms, half-parallax, according to Baker. Another point of confusion is that some companies are now applying Augmented Reality to holograms, which isn't true. Anything in AR is stereoscopic vision. The duo dug into detail the difference between 2D and Holographic vision.To learn more about Avalon Holographics, watch videos demonstrating holographic technology, dive deeper into holograms, and listen to Baker's explanation on what is precisely a hologram, tune in to the Spatial Perspectives with Dan Cui podcast today.

Spatial Perspectives brings a new perspective to the AR/VR conversation by talking about a new platform to support extended reality development. Host Dan Cui welcomed Dan Cotting, Director of Product Innovation at BreadVan. Cotting described BreadVan as a content management system (CMS) for 3D content.While AR and VR adoption is rising, it's not easy for companies to develop and manage apps. BreadVan seeks to take the friction out of the process.“Most companies are making their own tools every time, and we wanted to develop something that's intuitive for both developers and non-developers,” Cotting said.The interface is reminiscent of any CMS. It allows for prefab element creation. It also has an asset manager. One of the coolest features is that to update the app, no redeployment is necessary.“You can just hit refresh, and it updates, without having to turn the app off,” Cotting said.As noted, this tool is accessible for non-developers. “Most of the time, if an organization needs to make a change, they have to use a developer, which isn't always available. Whoever needs to manage it whenever is possible, it removes the need to go to IT every time.”The system could support a wide variety of businesses. Cotting spoke about how a salesperson in the field could use it, based on a partner they have. “A lot of it is 'imagine if,' but not all people can imagine. With AR/VR, they can see it.”The company plans to launch the platform this year officially and currently has a beta program ongoing. “We're still seeking participants for feedback and want to understand how users will use it,” Cotting shared.

Smart contact lenses aren't just in the movies. Mojo Vision is seeking to make them a reality. Through invisible computing, this innovation is well on its way to being available. To discuss the concept, host Dan Cui spoke with the company's Senior VP of Product and Marketing, Steve Sinclair.Sinclair said, “The idea is to be able to see content in front of you without a screen yet look like yourself.”The invention has many use cases, but the central message is to allow people to be engaged in the real world and not be bombarded with content. The first application the company is working on is for those with low vision conditions. “They aren't blind but have difficulty seeing, and the lens can correct this allowing those people to get back some independence,” Sinclair explained.How exactly does it work? There's a lot of technology in the small lens, including biosafe batteries, motion sensors, and image sensors. It also has the smallest, densest dynamic display.What about comfort and safety? Sinclair said, “It rests of the white of the eye, which has fewer nerves, and it's custom fit. The display is small enough not to bother the eye, but it's always in clarity and resolution.”The company has been working on the product for five years. It's both a consumer electronic and a medical device, so FDA clearance is necessary. “It does require FDA certification, and we applied for the breakthrough devices program. We have frequent sprints on topics and get feedback, which we take back to iterate,” Sinclair shared.

The next generation of video calls is here, powered by AR. To discuss this new AR technology application, host Dan Chui welcomed Ryan Fink, Founder, and CEO of Streem. Streem offers a platform that takes video calls to the next level, facilitating better communication and collaboration with AR.Fink explained the three pillars of the product. “First is the video, then AR enhances the experience, and finally is the data capture to extract context, spatial information, measurements, and images.”Streem experienced a lot of interest once the pandemic hit. “It accelerated adoption, for sure, as businesses need to keep doors open and couldn't physically go into spaces,” Fink noted. That need led to collaborations with businesses big and small, including Lowe's. “They jumped on the technology and offered it for free to their contractor network,” Fink shared. Other companies use it with great results, including diagnosing repair issues remotely so that contractors come with the right parts and spend as little time as possible in the customer's home. Fink also spoke about a cleaning company using the program for quoting. “They can virtually see the space, capture video and data, and quote remotely. They are using Streem for 82% of their quotes. It also allowed them to allot the exact amount of time to clean the space,” he added. What's next for the app and the AR industry? Cui and Fink discussed the use of LIDAR, which allows for 3-D masking and interacting with models.

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have many applications, and new solutions are emerging every day. It's becoming a regular part of daily life supporting remote learning, events, training, and marketing. But can one company bring a complete platform to the table? The answer may be yes, and host Dan Cui spoke with The Glimpse Group Founder and CEO Lyron Bentovim on the idea. The Glimpse Group includes eight AR/VR software products that apply to a vast array of industries.Cui and Bentovim discussed each of the eight products, highlighting some of the most in-demand and innovative options. “Right now, the leading application is education and learning from lots of angles, K-12, higher ed, and corporate training,” Bentovim said.The forced remote way of life for school and work led to the acceleration of these technologies. “The Adept Learning platform integrates AR into teaching as well as creates computer-generated scenarios for corporate learning,” Bentovim explained.Another area of focus is healthcare. Many AR/VR applications in this space involved surgical training, but their products do much more. “It's more about procedures and how to work in certain environments and evaluate what they're doing,” Bentovim added.Brand marketing is also vertical for the group, working with well-known retailers like Panera Bread. Bentovim shared this success story. “Panera Bread created an AR experience and tracked what happened after viewing, finding that 20% of users went into the store within 48 hours.”Overall, the company received a bump in interest. They seek to be a collective solution pushing the realms of AR and VR to deliver connected and immersive experiences.

It is an undeniable fact that data affects our everyday lives. While data gets a bad rap in the news when associated with data breaches or privacy concerns, the collecting and analyzing of data can change lives. Stan Karpenko, Co-Founder & CTO at GiveVision knows this first hand. Dan Cui, Host, Spatial Perspectives, sat down with Karpenko to learn more about the true value of data.GiveVision's goal is to make the lives of visually impaired people better with the help of their products and services. One such asset they provide to those who are visually impaired is a services product that's attached to their glasses that will allow the clinicians to have the ability to actually monitor their patient and provide new treatment regimes for that patient based on what they see happening on a daily basis.When it comes to data, Karpenko feels it is a vital element of developing products that can help people. “I think the data becomes the key part. I think the hardware becomes irrelevant over time, it will become a commodity. The real insights and the real values in the data,” Karpenko said. He posed important questions like, can we effectively collect the healthcare data about the patient over a long period of time to make clinical decisions? Can we arrive at a point in time where we don't need the patient to call the doctor when they can feel the symptoms? Can we pick up the symptoms before they can feel them? “So the entire sort of changing the career pathway is really what we see as the biggest opportunity facing the AR and VR world. I think, in reality, there's an enormous opportunity for AR and VR companies to develop products that will, just the same as smartwatch, become just a vehicle to collect healthcare data for the benefit of the patient,” Karpenko explained.He believes that those devices will be used for entertainment, or in our case as an enabler for them to do things. “But as a byproduct of that, they will be able to watch for patients and inform the doctor when they need to see the patient before it's too late. So thinking about preventative medicine if you like,” Karpenko said.For more insight into how data is a key element of progress, listen in to this week's episode of Spatial Perspectives.

With many of the companies in the AR VR space being technology companies, it isn't uncommon for these companies to push their technology instead of the use cases. Medical Realities is taking a different approach.Dan Cui, Host, Spatial Perspectives spoke with Steve Dann, Chairman & Co-Founder, Medical Realities about how his company is really pushing the use case. VR is a valuable tool they've utilized to accomplish that, alongside the assistance of trained medical staff taking on technologist roles.Part of the reason that Medical Realities works with medical staff in lieu of technologists at times is because of a technologist shortage of sorts at the company. “Where we started off was that we always knew that what we had to do had to be right medically and we have a lot of medical doctors writing for us and scripting what we do,” Dann explained. These staffing resources gave the company a great jumping off point.Thinking outside the box has its benefits. Dann's team is always trying to push the envelope a little bit to make use of the greater advances that are happening in spatial computing and immersive technology. “We actually want to attract technologists to actually help us in our journey,” Dann explained while qualifying that utilizing trained medical professionals gave them the kickstart they needed.Dann shares more about the work Medical Realities is doing, how AR will play a role in the medical industry, and how COVID-19 has affected their business on the latest episode of Spatial Perspectives.

Exploring the world of all things relating to augmented, virtual, and extended reality, Spatial Perspectives—a podcast series hosted by Dan Cui, a technology ambassador—brings industry innovators and thought leaders to together to discuss their contributions and insights in the rapidly-evolving spatial reality arena. And on today's podcast, Caspar Thykier, Founder and CEO of Zappar Limited, joins Dan to chat about the company's all-new ZapBox MR kit.

The brain could be considered the most powerful computer, but for many, they deal with physical or neurological disabilities that make controlling it challenging or impossible. The gift of technology has overcome many barriers, so why not this one? Andreas Forsland, Co-Founder and CEO of Cognixion, shares how his company is making a difference with assisted reality.The company specializes in neuroprosthetic software to support those with disabilities. They're now introducing the CognixionOne, a wearable that converges AI and brainwaves to create a brain-computer interface.“We've been working on this for years, and it's a headset with electrodes that read brainwaves and can detect what a wearer is looking at in a virtual reality environment,” Forsland said.It's radically different from other VR technology because those were read-only systems. “Read-only is very slow, with no biofeedback. Our is a closed-loop design for faster responsiveness, improving the usability,” Forsland added.VR has mostly been a first-person experience, but CognixionOne changes that. In the video, viewers can see how it works for someone who cannot communicate verbally. The user sees objects and provides word and phrase configuration. The device can generate actual speech, show it on the headset, or integrate it with digital assistants.

Augmented reality (AR) is buzzing, with more demand and opportunities, accelerated partly by a closed world. While smart glasses aren't new, adoption has been low, due more to the fact they just weren't wearable. On today's episode, host Dan Cui welcomed former colleague and friend, Paul Travers, a veteran in the space and CEO and Founder of Vuzix.Cui took viewers way back to the beginnings of virtual reality (VR) with one of Traver's first innovations, the first consumer VR headset comparing it to what available now. He said, “It got much smaller over time. The technology had a long way to go, and use cases have exploded for VR."The company's next-generation smart glass has all the features and functions of any AR product. What makes it unique is its wearability.Travers noted, “They are AR devices that allow you to work in the real world and access information you'd need from a tablet, but it's all hands-free.”They also use Waveguide optics and work like a phone and computer. The company picked up three CES (Consumer Electronics Show) awards this year for the product.The glasses are filling the gap at a time when being there in person isn't possible. “They work as remote support for the medical field, technicians, and others. It's really the future of computing,” Travers added.On the consumer side, Travers sees the glasses as possible a movement toward keeping “phones in your pocket.” With plug and play apps, users can look at a restaurant through the glasses and see their Yelp reviews. They can record a baseball game while actually watching it. Travers also shared the Smart Swim application that automates workouts, measures activity, and more.

Augmented reality (AR) is buzzing, with more demand and opportunities, accelerated partly by a closed world. While smart glasses aren't new, adoption has been low, due more to the fact they just weren't wearable. On today's episode, host Dan Cui welcomed former colleague and friend, Paul Travers, a veteran in the space and CEO and Founder of Vuzix.Cui took viewers way back to the beginnings of virtual reality (VR) with one of Traver's first innovations, the first consumer VR headset comparing it to what available now. He said, “It got much smaller over time. The technology had a long way to go, and use cases have exploded for VR."The company's next-generation smart glass has all the features and functions of any AR product. What makes it unique is its wearability.Travers noted, “They are AR devices that allow you to work in the real world and access information you'd need from a tablet, but it's all hands-free.”They also use Waveguide optics and work like a phone and computer. The company picked up three CES (Consumer Electronics Show) awards this year for the product.The glasses are filling the gap at a time when being there in person isn't possible. “They work as remote support for the medical field, technicians, and others. It's really the future of computing,” Travers added.On the consumer side, Travers sees the glasses as possible a movement toward keeping “phones in your pocket.” With plug and play apps, users can look at a restaurant through the glasses and see their Yelp reviews. They can record a baseball game while actually watching it. Travers also shared the Smart Swim application that automates workouts, measures activity, and more.Listen to Previous Episodes of Spatial Perspectives Right Here!

Pushing the boundaries of immersive experiences, mixed reality (MR) merges the physical world (AR) with a virtual world (VR) to create new environments—a spatial reality where both physical and digital objects interact with one another in real-time. Today, mixed reality technologies enable a plethora of potential applications, proving to be a game-changer for industries spanning education, engineering, entertainment, healthcare, retail and more.Exploring the world of all things relating to augmented, virtual, and extended reality, Spatial Perspectives—a podcast series hosted by Dan Cui, a technology ambassador—brings industry innovators and thought leaders to together to discuss their contributions and insights in the rapidly-evolving spatial reality arena. And on today's podcast, Caspar Thykier, Founder and CEO of Zappar Limited, joins Dan to chat about the company's all-new ZapBox MR kit.Designed around the Google cardboard headset that took the world by storm in 2014, the ZapBox has been in creation for more than five years. Enabling developers and businesses to reimagine how they design, build and create 3D experiences, the ZapBox Mixed Reality kit sports an amped up form-factor that's powered by a smartphone and features two fully-tracked controllers along with a Unity plugin. It provides a super-simple solution that's comfortable to wear at an exceedingly reasonable cost—just $40—a “magic-cheap” price that the company hopes will democratize MR and put the technology into more users hands.“The thing that we've found when we've spoken to a lot of these organizations, is they're so excited about the opportunity of mixed reality and XR in general, but the cost is quite prohibitive when it comes to the hardware. When you're trying to do it in a learning environment where you need or want to have quite a few that the kids or a classroom can use, that becomes challenging,” explained Thykier. “How do we bring the immersion, the excitement around mixed reality to people but at a price point they can afford?”Launched via a Kickstarter campaign that ends next week, ZapBox, as of this writing, has already reached and exceeded Zappar's funding goal.According to Thykier, this is when “the real work starts really, because it's like, right—now we've got to push the button on manufacturing,” said Thykier. “We've got to get everything as good as we want it to be, which is really exciting. That's a really big thing for us 2021.”