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Building from this context, the prospect
of customer specific experiences
configured to consumer products
become possible.
LM: A consortium of major businesses
have come together and selected two
existing ventilator designs from UK
firms Penlon and Smiths Group to
meet high-level specifications for
a Rapidly Manufactured Ventilator
System, developed by clinicians
and the Medicines and Healthcare
products Regulatory Agency to aid the
NHS. Leveraging Microsoft HoloLens,
Avanade and PTC are supporting the
VentilatorChallengeUK to enable a
number of solutions including PTC
Vuforia Expert, Dynamics 365 Guides
and Dynamics 365 Remote Assist to fast
track training and knowledge transfer
of hundreds of assembly workers
across multiple manufacturers and
multiple sites.
RV: Our platform, Fundamental Surgery,
is a unique and market leading example
of XR in use in the surgical training
arena. The multimodal platform has
two offerings.
First, our HapticVRTM product
combines VR with the sense-of-touch
to allow users to experience the same
sights, sounds and feelings they would
in an actual procedure. This allows
trainees to build muscle memory
needed to be a surgeon.
Our new @HomeVR offering
compliments our HapticVR platform by
bringing our accredited simulations to
standalone VR headsets such as Oculus
Quest. This combines Cutaneous
(tactile vibration) and Kinesthetics
(force feedback & position) haptic
technologies in a single platform,
which is optimized for various levels of
the learning process.
Overall, our Fundamental Surgery
platform lets users train and hone
their skills virtually from anywhere
and at any time with simulations accredited by the American
Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the Royal College of
Surgeons of England.
Are we going to see more widespread adoption or will it remain
a relatively niche technology?
LM: For broader adoption of MR technology to happen,
businesses need to establish the ROI and suitable out-of-thebox
use cases before deploying. There are many immediate
solutions available, such as Dynamics 365 Remote Assist,
which allows technicians to collaborate with colleagues
from different locations. Businesses preparing for a reduced
workforce due to pandemic-related safety measures can
use Remote Assist to leverage employee expertise remotely.
Additionally, medical clinicians or technicians maintaining
critical equipment in the field can use Remote Assist while
sharing an in context, real-time view of the work site with
an expert working from a different location. As businesses
realise the potential of MR, the question is not if we will see
more widespread adoption, but when.
RV: I believe that XR training in the medical field will become
mainstream. The Covid-19 pandemic has shown the need
for new ways of delivering ongoing education and bringing
remote individuals together quickly. XR is perfect for this.
XR allows people the unique opportunity to step into virtual
worlds from anywhere to practice, learn and teach.
PH: Last year forward-thinking companies made it a breakout
year for AR, moving projects along rapidly from pilot to
production. Now, as the Covid-19 outbreak forces them to
figure out new ways to provide assistance to workers and
customer in other regions, more and more companies will
see the true value of AR. Newcomers are already seeing the
gains in worker efficiency and quality, whilst reducing the
cost of training by more effectively transferring knowledge
to new workers via AR. Of course, the issues presented by
Covid-19 go way beyond the everyday business concerns of
productivity or cost. This is about the health and safety of
workers and thus demands a far more urgent and targeted
response. AR can provide this, because it is easy and fast to
set up and requires no specialist equipment to run – we see
many companies using tablet and smartphones to consume
AR experiences.
What exciting developments can we
expect in the coming years?
PH: I believe that a Geo Fencing driven
AR experience will be a massive part
of new developments, and evolve
at an unprecedented rate, once the
devices can enable it. Through this,
operators will be able to move from
one environment to another and
have information streamed onto
their device, that is specific to their
surroundings and proximity to the
machines.
RV: I believe we are at the exciting
beginning of XR’s full potential,
especially in the medical space. I expect
we will see developments in the use of
full haptics, which will allow for deeper
immersion and skills development.
Additionally, the industry will
hopefully advance to offer patient
specific modelling through XR that will
allow for surgeons to personalize their
training on each patient. The merging
of mixed and virtual reality hardware
will also allow seamless movement
between both.
Finally, developments in improving
GPU capabilities on smaller devices
is expected, which will enhance
experiences.
LM: From construction sites to
factory floors, to operating rooms
and classrooms, mixed reality, AI, the
intelligent edge and intelligent cloud
are changing how we work, learn,
communicate and get things done. MR,
along with smart devices and IoT will
no doubt transform several areas of our
world, and as technologies continue
to merge, the rate of innovation will
increase exponentially. Over the
coming years we will continue to see
an increase in retail, education and
healthcare businesses developing MR
applications and utilising out-of-thebox
applications to solve a range of
business challenges.
The pandemic has
shown the need for new
ways of bringing remote
individuals together Richard Vincent
As technologies continue
to merge, the rate of
innovation will increase
exponentially Leila Martine
Microsoft’s
Hololens
technology is
increasingly
widely used by
manufacturers
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