Tag Archives: VR

Kokomo is the VR communication tool you’ve been waiting for @ CES 2023



Canon Kokomo VP communicationEver since Facebook changed its corporate name to Meta, the word of the industry has been Metaverse. And, while many people don’t know exactly what that means, every company wants to be part of it. There have been a number of half-hearted attempts, including from Meta and Microsoft, but Canon has a different take on the concept that seems to show a lot of promise.

What is the Metaverse?

The metaverse is an ever-evolving digital universe that blends physical and virtual worlds. It is a place where diverse communities of people, companies, and governments interact with each other in a never seen way. In the metaverse, users are able to collaborate, create and explore new possibilities in a virtual world that feels alive. The boundary between the digital world and the real world continues to blur as technology advances, allowing people to engage with content on an unprecedented level.

By connecting people on an emotional level through interactive experiences, the metaverse helps build strong relationships and bonds that can be carried into our everyday lives. From virtual shops to virtual education centers with AI tutors, the opportunities for growth provided by the metaverse are limitless – providing us with infinite possibilities for exploration and creativity.

How is Kokomo different?

Kokomo, which is a project of Canon (yes, the camera company), is intended to be a communication platform first and foremost. The company decided that, rather than trying to be everything to everyone, they would focus on what people need and want the most – a solid way to communicate with their friends, families, and colleagues even when they are not together.

The company decided that Kokomo should be a video calling and conferencing platform that brings people together in an engaging way. The fully immersive environment allows you to see the people you are talking to in a virtual world, but in a way that looks and feels more real than other platforms.

This is accomplished by not just relying on the hardware of the virtual reality system, but by augmenting it using other equipment. This is where Canon’s camera background really comes into play. Using an external camera, the system is able to track full range of motion and replicate it within the environment.

If you’ve guessed that Kokomo uses full body avatars, then you’d be right. unlike so many of the other platforms, Kokomo shows a full person as the avatar, because motion tracking allows for greater control over a full body. You don’t have to worry about thinking about moving your avatar – you can just talk and enjoy your time with your friends while letting Canon makes the experience more real.

Summary

Kokomo is available soon from the Meta Quest App Lab as a free download in early access. The company intends to keep the platform free for users with in-app premium content available for those who want to expand their experience. To learn more about Kokomo and to get an alert when the platform goes live, you can head to the project’s website.

Interview by Daniele Mendez of The New Product Launchpad.

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Skinetic adds haptic feedback to virtual reality and more @ CES 2023



Skinetic Haptic Feedback VestPlaying a videogame is intended to extend the experience of entertainment into a more personal connection. With a movie or TV show or even a play, you watch what is happening and pretend to put yourself into the action. With a videogame, however, you are in control over the experience – sometimes in small ways and others in large ways. However, we’re still generally separated from the game in a variety of ways, but Actronika wants to bring you directly into the game experience with Skinetic.

Who is Actronika?

Actronika is a company specializing in haptic technology. While we all think of haptics as the phone vibrating when we touch it, there’s much more to the technology. In this case, the company focuses on a more high-definition version of haptics. The more focused technology allows for the creation of different haptic zones as well as different textures.

This technology has come together to form Skinetic – a haptic vest that can provide feedback during an entertainment session. The vest is able to replicate the sensation experienced by the character on the screen while not intentionally hurting the one experiencing it. The best part is that this is not limited to gaming. In fact, it can be used across nearly any type of entertainment.

Skinetic in gaming

The Skinetic vest is a perfect companion for gaming. When you’re playing a game and a grenade goes off nearby, being able to feel that explosion makes the game a more immersive experience. But, because of the detail of the vest, you can also have a smaller experience, such as being tapped on the shoulder.

While this seems like a perfect companion for traditional gaming, it’s even better for virtual reality. VR glasses are specifically designed to place you in a first person perspective for your entertainment experience. By adding Skinetic into the mix, the experience truly does become more personal as well as more immersive. The game can bring you into the action and leave you with more of a consequence for failure.

Skinetic in movies and television

While interactive entertainment is the most obvious place for Skinetic, it can also work well for passive entertainment. The inclusion of haptic feedback into movie and television can help to pull you more into the entertainment. In gaming, you’ll have consequences for your own actions, while in this example you’ll have consequences for the actions of the characters on screen.

How does Skinetic work?

Skinetic has to be integrated into the development of the entertainment experience. For example ,a videogame developer must know about Skinetic and build for it. Fortunately, we’ve already seen some big titles get on-board, including the VR experience Half-Life: Alyx, which many consider to be one of the definitive VR games.

Development is made easy, though. Unlike many gaming tools, Skinetic support can be built outside of the game.development tools, you can create and test the individual textures and feelings.ect and quicker development. Once you have your texture, you can import it into your game.

The vest is incredibly detailed in design. There are 20 action zones, meaning that if someone taps you on the left shoulder, you can feel it only on the left shoulder. This is something that sets it apart from other VR vests, in that the experience can be tailered to the game environment.

Summary

The Skinetic is still under development, but developers can get ahold of a prototyping kit or evaluation kit. For consumers, you’ll have to wait only a little while, as the pricut is intended to hit the market in May 2023. To learn more about Skinetic and Actronika, head over to the company’s website.


ION3 makes entertainment more real through scent technology @ CES 2023



ION3 Virtual ScentsWe’ve all seen movies where someone smells something, and it transports them to another time or place. Whether it’s the smell of freshly baked cookies that takes you back to your childhood or the smell of a summer rainstorm that reminds you of a romantic moment, scent can be a powerful trigger for memories. Now, thanks to OVR Technology‘s ION3, we can experience smell through our entertainment.

What is OVR Technology and how does it work?

OVR Technology’s ION3 merges the virtual reality experience with actual reality through scent. Using an ION3, users can attach scent capsules to their existing virtual reality headsets. When the user is in a particular environment or playing a game, the scent capsule will activate and release the chosen scent. This makes for a more immersive experience as you can smell and sense what’s happening around you like never before.

Imagine being in a cooking game, and while cooking, the game was able to produce scents to represent the virtual food being cooked. Or, in a game like Left 4 Dead, you can smell the environment around you. This would allow you to know when a zombie has approached you based on the strength of the scent. Or you can identify Special Infected because of a change in scent around you. Of course, the smell would not be pleasant, but it would be effective.

How does OVR Technology’s ION3 work?

The system uses a scent cartridge, similar to a printer cartridge. In this cartridge are what the company describes as the eight “core scent profiles.” From these 8 scents, a developer can create a large variety of scents in various strengths. The technology can be integrated into nearly any type of media type, including games and movies, enhancing the experience.

The scents are programmatically created, meaning that the application or media property must be involved in the creation of these scents. This means that developers, directors, and producers are going to have to buy into the concept in order to see this concept gain momentum.

Fortunately, the concept has a long history in entertainment – especially in live entertainment. If you’ve ever been to a theme park, you might have been on one of the 4D experiences. While the majority of the experience is based around a 3D movie, the enhancements come from air, water, and smell. These experiences are scripted and controlled under the constraints of the movie experience, making the technology a little easier.

However, OVR Technology’s ION3 has managed to take the concept and make it universally applicable outside of the controlled environment. In addition, they have made the technology small enough that it can be included into a home rig, but powerful enough to be included into professional experiences.

Summary

The ION3 from OVR Technology is currently planned to be launched publicly during 2023, though plans can always change. To learn more about the company, the ION3, and how this technology might fit into your life, you can head over to the company’s website.

Interview by Don Baine, The Gadget Professor.

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BioflightVR makes world-class medical training accessible @ CES 2021



BioflightVR medical trainingPauly Suchy is the Business Director at BioflightVR, a health care education company that uses Virtual Reality (VR) to train doctors, nurses and students. He joined us at CES 2021 to talk about the company’s training platform and their vision for the future.

VR training and simulation environments can save money and time, reducing training time for medical professionals by 40% from traditional training methods. When they employ high definition immersive environments like BioflightVR’s , they can also impart a heightened sense of excitement and urgency, just as a real world experience would, providing for more realistic training.

Launched by a grant from Facebook five years ago, BioflightVR’s first project was a pediatric resuscitation program developed in partnership with Oculus, Facebook and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. Another program involved the creation of hybrid surgical training procedure with Duke University, utilizing a high definition 360 view of a recorded surgery. Bioflight VRs process is unique both for the gamification aspects of their training programs and the realistic immediacy created through real world recorded scenarios, developed in partnership with medical experts.

BioflightVR works with the medical community in three basic ways: enhancing existing training curriculum and helping develop new training procedures, creating immersive labs across a variety of VR platforms that include Oculus, HTC Vive, Oculus Go, and WebVR among others; and providing full VR and 360° video production services.

The end goal, said Suchy, is a cloud based platform where a user can take an Oculus , download an application and get access to a world class education from doctors around the world , in real time, from their operating rooms. Ultimately, BioflightVR believes the tool can decentralize and democratize access to what can often be unattainable training and resources for remote or underserved facilities and the medical professionals who serve them, bringing better health care to all.

Visit the company’s website to learn more.

Interview by Scott Ertz of F5 Live: Refreshing Technology.

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Rendever is allowing seniors to get back into the world @ CES 2021



Rendever senior virtual realitySocial isolation has been a growing problem in modern life and has grown worse in the past year. It’s a particular problem for the older population, many of whom have had major life changes, moving out of their homes and into various versions of eldercare. While in younger days, they may have been used to going out for a day of fun or traveling the world, in older life, these abilities may have been lost. This is the problem that Rendever is looking to solve.

Rendever merges two surprising things into one – seniors and virtual reality equipment. Now, we have all seen prank videos where kids introduce their grandparents to virtual reality through shocking environments, but this is certainly not that. In fact, the company is using virtual reality equipment to create environments to reduce the social isolation that seniors feel. These seniors can explore the world, whether it be new places that they always wanted to see, or even revisit locations that hold special meaning.

The best part of this technology is the ability to go on these experiences together. Other residents of a facility or family members can come by, wear their own headsets, and virtually travel together. Imagine being able to have another family vacation or a recreation of a honeymoon, all without having to leave your facility or bringing staff with you.

The technology is already being used in some high-profile senior living facilities, through healthcare systems like UCHealth and Cleveland Clinic, and has commercial partnerships with AARP and Verizon. While the system was designed to be used in facilities, the oddity of 2020 has led the company to explore the future possibility of remote group experiences, as well.

To learn more about Rendever and its VR technology, check out the company’s website.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

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Rockchip IC Design House



Rockchip LogoStarted in 2001, Rockchip is a Chinese integrated circuit design company with 700 staff and three R&D centers in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen. Daniel finds out more from Henry Chan, Director, and Yanyan Hsing, Brand Manager.

Although Rockchip probably isn’t a familiar name to most GNC readers, its chip designs are used in many products including Chromebooks and tablets, and on show at CES was a prototype Android wireless VR headset designed to show of the capabilities of their latest chip, the RK3288. With luck, we’ll see this incorporated into a consumer product in the next year or so.

(Apologies for the background noise in this interview.)

Daniel J. Lewis is the host of the award-winning podcast about podcasting, The Audacity to Podcast. Daniel helps others launch and improve their own podcasts for sharing their passions and finding success.

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