Category: Emprender

Re-innovate or die. And now What else?

Carlos J. Ochoa FernándezLeave a comment

Innovate, change or alter something, introducing new features. This is how the dictionary of the real academy defines this word so repeated and with such insistence in these times. There is no doubt that innovation can be redefined in many ways and in fact, it is done and interpreted that way, but if we want to simplify the definitions and make them understand in a simple way, we could say that it is the process of redoing, reinventing something in a different, efficient way that adds value. Think different, act different, reinvent yourself, anticipate, imagine, dream and carry it out with all the passion you are capable of showing.

These have been the keys to the success of some visionaries of the 20th. century, but also that of man throughout the development of its history, however only a select few are on the list of geniuses. Innovation is permanently linked to the evolution of man and it is enough to look around us in an instant of our life, on a street or in an office and look at the elements that surround us and that just a few years ago did not exist and even were unimaginable to think of its single existence in the near future like today.

And it is the “imagination” that allows us to dream of a new world and innovation that materializes it and turns it into reality. These being the key pieces for the beginning of a new cycle, where integrity, intuition, responsibility and creative thinking will be a benchmark for the new visionary companies of the 21st century.

In this minimal corner of the cyber-space, we are going to unravel the keys to Innovation, the barriers we encounter on a daily basis, the potential solutions and the escape routes, in order to come up with a mini guide for entrepreneurs who have decided to reinvent themselves or reinvent their business, promoting innovation at critical points in the value chain of their businesses.

However, over the last few years, it has become clear that beyond innovation there is entrepreneurship. And it is vitally important to understand that “Innovation” has no value until you are able to create a business model around this idea and turn it into a product or service ready to be sold. If you are not able to turn an “Idea” into something that creates customers, this does not work.

And that is when the figure of the entrepreneur makes sense. And that is why it is important to clearly identify and differentiate between innovators and entrepreneurs.

An “Innovator” is fundamentally a creator, a person capable of solving or solving problems in a creative and differential way, with great passion for constant improvement. Innovators are fundamentally thinkers. But an “Entrepreneur” is oriented to action, to the construction or materialization of things. This includes the development of a business around an innovative idea, for its subsequent materialization.

Therefore, when an “innovator” approaches us, with that special sparkle in his eyes and says: !!! I have a great idea!!!.

The entrepreneur’s response is immediate: Can we materialize and monetize it? Who is your target customer? What is the business model? Why will customers go crazy with your product?

Investing in Innovation without a developed entrepreneurship model is like throwing flowers into the sea, they will never grow.

Carlos J. Ochoa Fernández ©

Lead or follow the leader?. This is the question.

Carlos J. Ochoa FernándezLeave a comment

From the most remote origins of humanity, the need to know and discover things has been a struggle for subsistence and the development of life itself on the planet. With its evolution, scientific discoveries and technological evolution and innovation, it became a fundamental lever of human activity. But it has been from the last centuries and especially in this last decade, when this role has grown exponentially, almost in parallel with the same growth of the world population. The world’s population reached 7.7 billion in mid-2019, having added one billion people since 2007 and two billion since 1994 and with strong and accentuated tensions between rich and poor countries. In which the main viability engine up to now was development and growth, and which from now on must reconsider at a global level a new sustainability model that allows a fair redistribution of raw materials and finite wealth, to do so viable in the medium term.

Faced with this situation, the need for adaptation has always been an exceptional quality of the human being and therefore, the need to seek ways of evolution and sustainable growth necessarily goes through the impulse of research, development and innovation in search of a coherent and sustainable progress in convergent areas of knowledge and at a different time in different spaces. That is, in a global environment, although “knowledge” is accessible to everyone in almost real time, its application in different parts of the planet is affected by the variable time and this must be adapted to the reality of each space in each moment. With this, the potential benefits obtained in a certain place are not always replicable in the same way in other spaces / different territories.

To go beyond space and time in search of common patterns and homogeneous development denominators, or what is the same, geopolitical borders and time, MegaTrends are defined. Definition that comes from the world of research and that aims to redefine a framework of global trends in the evolution of society applied to all its agents (state, society and market). Or put another way, it is the knowledge and prediction of our possible future, where convergent sciences and technologies must deepen the path of sustainability.

After reviewing and reading in depth different works and documents of experts and reference organizations, everything seems to indicate that over the next few years, we are going to find an exaggerated and uncontrolled population growth, especially in countries of the so-called third world, a growth of the countries of the western world close to 2%, while in so-called emerging countries this will be higher than 7%. An aging population in developed countries with a clear inversion of the population pyramid, with all that this entails, is very considerable. If we add to this, that to guarantee this model of average growth of 5%, we have scarce natural resources to supply the planet and finite energy resources to guarantee growth and development, it is necessary to review the model urgently or this process is simply not feasible.

In any case, Megatrends have a different meaning for different agents, states, companies or individuals. The prediction or definition of potential future scenarios does not guarantee in any way that this is the true future to occur, since the development of society and its interrelationships is happening temporarily and the parameters are permanently affected by different situations that affect the total of the formula. That is, the evolution and development over time and the impact on society and its agents, is affecting day by day in the new future or immediate future that is presented to us and therefore the scenario that we draw from our knowledge in Today may not be anything like the one we will achieve tomorrow. But thanks to these models, we will have been able to adapt and theoretically, thanks to the knowledge and application of science and technological innovation, improve it.

In our particular case, we are going to consider “Megatrends” as a methodology for the future strategic and innovative development of society and, in particular, of companies. This methodology, combined with others, can help us to elaborate the development and innovation framework of our company. But this is not a guarantee of success or failure, since the way of applying these methodologies, for some visionaries, is based on the definition of scenarios in which multiple variables interact and therefore, they must be constantly reviewed and updated, to control and evaluate the interferences between all of them and see how it affects the evolution of our prediction model.

The methodology proposed here is a compendium resulting from the study of the analysis of the most prestigious consulting firms, organizations, universities and international magazines in the new technologies and innovation sector.

Imagining a global world in 2030, how we will live and develop our vital activity, we have grouped into five large blocks the Megatrends that will guide the world throughout this period and in particular, what will be their impact on society, on business and how they will affect current companies and how they must position themselves today to achieve success in the immediate future. Development opportunities in the markets, their size and main stakeholders.

Once these Megatrends have been defined, we identify possible ways of development and innovation, as well as possible actions to take into account in different scenarios. Each of these Mega Trends is broken down into trends, moving from an initial global perspective to a more local perspective and its potential geopolitical and temporal impact.

And finally, once all these possible trends have been analyzed, we identify potential actions to consider in each case, by the different agents involved in the process. Development of potential business opportunities, key and strategic businesses, as well as ways and keys for Innovation in them, identifying the value generated in a special way in the value chain of each business.

References: Fundación de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Fundación Telefónica, Fundación Acciona, European Commission, Onu, FAO, Unesco, Frost and Sullivan, e_Consultancy, TrendWatching, IDC, Gartner Group, Siemens, e_Consulting, Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies, Bertelsmann Future Challenges, MIT, IESE, Babson College Community, Harvard Business Review, LinkedIn Groups …

Carlos J. Ochoa Fernández ©

#ArtificialIntelligence, #HumanIntelligence and #COVID

Carlos J. Ochoa FernándezLeave a comment

Another Brik on the Wall

I have a question. Does anyone have a reasonable answer about that? Today’s COVID data is terrifying: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Hospitals are saturated, professionals are exhausted, the economy collapses, staff morale is on the ground, radical movements are accentuated and mobilize more and more people in unpredictable directions, world leaders are fooled by the pharmaceutical multinationals afterwards to invest millions of euros in the development of vaccines… and all this surrounded by a lack of leadership and incompetence never imagined.

This is not the script of a science fiction or futuristic movie. It is the summary of the real news of today. On the other hand, they tell us, comment, know, that technologies such as AI can help in some way. Artificial Intelligence is a Computer Science Branch that aims at developing intelligent machines that carry out a broad variety of tasks, typically involving human intelligence and expertise. These smart machines are based on experience and historical information, assessing their environment, and conducting appropriate activities.…

So, the question is, as in all this crazy process, we are not capable of applying AI technologies in a way that helps you solve these very serious problems and situations. To design a global health policy, a plan for the sustainability of the planet, a sustainable economic policy… etc. Or it is simply used for the partial benefit of economic interests that do not benefit society as a whole at all. Yes, it seems like an ignorant question,

I know… and I do confess that every day I feel myself more ignorant, because of so much chatter, unable to provide tangible solutions for the benefit of society. Every day we found more digital barriers, more social barriers, more cultural barriers…or it is just another Brik on the Wall?

Have a nice and safe day.

Carlos J. Ochoa Fernández ©

The History Behind the Picture

Carlos J. Ochoa FernándezLeave a comment

At the end of the 60s, a small group of young people from Madrid, decided to start entrepreneurial careers in the energy sector. And they planned to go to Germany, the benchmark of heavy industry at that time. A trip to the unknown world for them. An unknown country, an unknown language, an unknown culture,… quite a challenge for that group of people, moved by their concerns, intuition and entrepreneurial inspiration.

Four friends, from very humble families, and with no other financial capacity than the result of their work and personal savings effort, in a small car with their suitcases full of dreams. On the way back, they set up one of the first black heat radiator companies in Spain. Later they created a new industrial facility…and so on. Finally, with a lot of work, effort, and sacrifice, they turned their dreams into reality.

One of those entrepreneurs was my father, from whom I inherited the effort, work, and dedication to developing ideas.

Sometimes, overwhelmed by the artificial speed to which we are subjected, we forget who we are, where we come from, and where we are going. Thanks to your effort and energy, today I can be proud to share this little story in your tribute, recognition, and gratitude to “a good man”, my father.

Years later, I started my professional career at Siemens, remembering the first tracks from my father…

In a world where practically everything is trivialized, where irrelevance is rewarded, fake news is the order of the day, our identity is usurped by digital vultures disguised as virtual fairies, many young people pretend to become millionaires by influencing to millions of followers with the most outlandish stupidities, it takes a bit of good sense, to value the things that really have it and to jump a step or two to get out of this crushing mediocrity, to which some ignorantly enlightened visionaries try to lead us.

The picture illustrates the short story related to effort, work, sacrifice and vision of the future, since it is the only toy that I keep on my shelf, and it was his gift from that trip to Germany.

The machine needs to be powered every single day as if it were the last day you are going to go out on the winding and complex paths of life.

Have a nice and safe day.

Carlos J. Ochoa Fernández ©

I fell Like I am Learning to Fly, again…

Carlos J. Ochoa FernándezLeave a comment

Every morning I wake up imagining a new different day, imagining when this nightmare will end. When we will back again to look at each other’s faces, smiling without masks, feeling without fear … getting excited when walking through forest trails and nature paths, with friends and hugging around, holding hands and playing all these old songs…

So many things I can imagine but, I am really exhausted, I am tired of forcing my mind to find the way out and jump out of this new reality.

The one that we have arrived alone, where the harbors are empty and the souls are broken in oceans full of nightmares. Without being able to react to our own incompetence that sakes our faces every single day…

Without limits, we are capable of overflowing us due to our myopia and lack of solidarity with ourselves. I want to jump out of this new reality, always going down.

Dinosaurs were able to live on this planet for millions of years in the past, we are still bent on our self-destruction, what else?.

Meanwhile, I keep imagining the long mountain bike rides through the valleys, enjoying the long-awaited freedom of my soul, playing my old Gibson guitar under the moon, and the stars.

To all my “real” friends all around the world;+)

Take care and be safe.

Carlos J. Ochoa Fernández ©

Education is Open 24/7/365

We are living under complex scenarios of uncertainty. The world faces so many #health & #environmental challenges, and #Immersive Technologies can be part of the solution.

Carlos J. Ochoa FernándezLeave a comment

We are living under complex scenarios of uncertainty. The world faces so many #health & #environmental challenges, and #Immersive Technologies can be part of the solution.

In these new times, we must remain calm and opt for consistent and sustainable solutions and proposals. Sometimes these changes are a band aid solution rather than a long-term fix global problem with short-term measures. There are no shortcuts, since from these unpredictable situations we must learn and take advantage of future scenarios of uncertainty.

Experience, knowledge and imagination must allow us to provide ecosystems of certainty and sustainability. And always in perfect harmony with all the components of the Educational Ecosystem.

During the last years, we have been involved in many “International Projects” regarding Immersive Technologies in Education. In Spain with different organizations and Teachers Associations Grupo MYU, in United Arab Emirates with the Ministry of Education, implementing #SmartEducationLabs in 6 public schools and with the European Union (Germany, Estonia, Lithuania and Spain) #Jobs4Tech program, designing and implementing curriculums and methodologies in VR/AR technologies to train the teachers from Vocational Centers and K12 all around Europe.

Recently, we were involved in Educators In VR global Summit in close cooperation with VR/AR Association Education Committee. Educators in VR made history a couple of weeks ago by holding the largest immersive virtual conference, the 2020 Educators in VR International Summit. It featured 170 speakers in over 150 events on 5 different virtual platforms over 6 days, and an estimated 6,000 people attended.

And last but not least, as Co-Chair of VRAR Association Education Committee and my company ONE Digital Consulting as sponsor of the Committee, we are working in close cooperation with all our members on: Best Practices, helping organizations to implement VR/AR at Schools and organizing “Virtual Meetings” every 2 weeks with the most relevant experts in VRAR in Education around the world.

This experience and global perspective give us the opportunity to offer to the education community our knowledge and contrasted experience to implement realistic and sustainable solutions right now.

For more info, you can contact direct to me: carlos.ochoa@onedigitalconsulting.

Have a nice day.

Carlos J. Ochoa Fernández ©

VR Day in Madrid 2019

Carlos J. Ochoa FernándezLeave a comment

Carlos J. Ochoa, Co_Chair VRARA Education Committee. Madrid 23.11.2019

This weekend the Madrid VRAR Association participated in the VRDayMadrid 2019, within the “Virtual Reality World Day” framework. An event organized by xRWorldMadrid, an independent VR/AR group, sponsored by Everys, GreySkull and butic The New School and supported by VR/AR Association, Samsung, Talent Garden and RealoVirtual.

As one of the world’s referenced VR/AR live events, the VRDay draws industry experts from many verticals and enthusiasts from companies and universities to explore the latest advancements, knowledge and prototypes in VR/AR technology. During the complete Saturday, more than 200 attendants, 20+ speakers, 10+ exhibitors, 5 thematic round tables, 2 workshops and 2 masterclasses and an amazing demo zone with more than 10 VRAR experiences and a live performance, 2019 was the biggest year yet (according the organization).

The VRARA was represented by the Chapter President and Co_Chair of Education, Carlos J. Ochoa and 4 of our most relevant Spanish members and executives from: Seabery, Virtualware, participating in the Industry panel, Visyon presenting the Masterclass ElCano360 and ONE digital consulting in the Education and Training panel.

We were invited to participate in the Roundtable of VR in Education, to talk about future scenarios of “Training of Educators of the Future”. An excellent panel of experts with the participation of Chelu Martin from the IE Business School, Gonzalo Mariscal from XRLab of the European University, Carlos J. Ochoa of VR/AR Association and ONE Digital Consulting and the and moderated by Marco Antonio Fernández of Butic the New School .It was a very special opportunity to contrast the state of VR / AR in Education, from different points of view: University labs, teachers and industry. This allowed us contrasting realities materialized in ongoing projects, and new challenges that are drawn on a very attractive and exciting horizon.

We had the opportunity to present the Association Ecosystem and in particular, the activities of the Education Committee, the White Paper of VR in Education and the VR/AR in Education Survey.

I want to express my gratitude to the organization and their team, for the excellent work done hanging the “Sold Out” sign for several weeks before.

“Attending VRDayMadrid was a great opportunity to showcase the strength of the VR/AR ecosystem, and the incredible talent at work, case studies and projection from our members and share experiences and opportunities with other local companies and institutions.” Carlos J. Ochoa, President of the VRAR Association Madrid Chapter.

Media news: Real o Virtual

Carlos J. Ochoa Fernández ©

A New Vision for Immersive Realities Ecosystems

Carlos J. Ochoa FernándezLeave a comment

I am really happy to share with you our new vision of ONE Digital Consulting and our mission for the next amazing coming years. Please, feel free to share your thoughts with us, will be great to start great conversations with you.

You know what?, what is our value?…Years of experience, hundreds of projects and happy customers, and building great interpersonal relationships. We provide high value through our experience and knowledge in business development and digital transformation.

Never too old to rock and roll, but too young to die.

Keep in touch and stay connected!!!

ONE Digital Consulting is a global company with more than 25 years of experience in the “New Advanced Technologies” arena. We spent many years leading the development of the knowledge society, with the Best in Class services and solutions, covering the complete value chain of our customers.

ONE VR provide innovating cutting edge XR services and solutions for industry, energy, retail, tourism and smart hospitality, that lead to significant improvements in productivity, performance, collaboration, efficiency, and safety, minimizing the implementation and operation.

The future of Immersive Reality technologies is on the way and “We want to give our customers the power to experience anything, leveraging technology, technical expertise and best practices”.

Carlos J. Ochoa, founding member of ONE, have been working with Advanced Technologies since the mid-1990s working for Siemens, Sagentia and Altran. More than two decades of experience on digital world allows us to have an innovative vision to anticipate our customer’s needs. Our methodology covers the whole business process: from business consultancy to project management, integration, implementation, quality assurance and maintenance.

We grow every single day with our projects, customers and team building. With our vision in Immersive Experiences, we want to provide advanced solutions for smart citizens of the new century focus on 5 senses experiences: Smart Hospitality, Virtual Shopping, Tourism and Culture. Providing best value for money and best solutions for a sustainable planet.

Carlos J. Ochoa

Future Jobs Opportunities around VR/AR

Carlos J. Ochoa Fernández1 Comment

Versatilist with Carlos Ochoa Fernandez Podcast.

New technologies are an emerging industry creating employment opportunities and entrepreneurial possibilities. Virtual reality and augmented reality represent incredible areas of opportunity. VR failed to live up to the wildest promises when the new VR systems launched in 2015. But the number of job postings for VR and AR have risen 93% since 2015, with 17% of that growth happening in the past year.

According to projections set out by the European Commission, market demands for qualified information and communications technology (ICT) specialists will not be met, seeing a shortfall of up to 500,000 ICT professionals in 2020. Virtual and Augmented Reality solutions are amongst those with some of the highest market demand in the ICT sector.

Education is the driver to sustainability of our economy and functionality of humanity. Every day we seek to learn new information and and the way we take the lessons and apply to our every day lives, is the core of how we explore we grow and we build futures for ourselves.

Through virtual and augmented realities, the technology allows the user to immerse themselves into a virtual experience or location and the immersive lesson is retained at a much quicker time frame with a more impactful lasting memory. VR & Learning, by the National Training Laboratory, advised retention rates for lecture style learning were at 5%, with reading rates at 10%. Meanwhile, the teaching method of VR scored a retention rate of 75%.

Understanding we are moving into a world with exponential growth, there is a necessary requirement to update our education system to support innovative technologies to understand how it will be applied to job creation and support digital support systems and processes.



It is in this context where Patrick O’Shea and myself, both from ILRN (Immersive Learning Research Network) and ICICLE ( X-Reality for Learning and Performance Augmentation, IEEE IC Industry Consortium on Learning Engineering) talk about Immersive Education around Cup of Coffee.

Thanks Patrick, for this amazing conversation.

Join the podcast here

Carlos J. Ochoa Fernádez ©

Impact and ROI of VR/AR in Training II

Carlos J. Ochoa Fernández1 Comment

You asked the questions, and here are the answers.

,

Our Training Committee held a very successful webinar on “The Impact and ROI of VR/AR in Training” on 16th January 2019.

You can watch the Webinar recording here

You can also watch the solution demos here

It proved a popular event, with over 300 people registering to watch four enlightening presentations on very different Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality training applications. During the lively question-and-answer session it became clear that the number of great questions was larger than the time available to answer them all! This post allows the presenters to respond the questions that couldn’t be answered during the webinar.

Presenter 1 : David Trainor, Sentireal

Presentation Theme

David presented the “AppUccino” software, which delivers AR experiences for special-needs trainees to learn how to be a barista and work successfully in a commercial coffee shop. AppUccino directs trainees through the process of making americano, espresso, latte and cappuccino drinks. It generates AR overlays on the physical coffee-making equipment, including the industrial coffee machine itself, the separate coffee bean grinder and the separate water heater. A short video of part of the AppUccino AR experience can be seen here. Trainee performance measurements are taken as they prepare the drink using AppUccino and these measurements are uploaded to a cloud application, which analyzes them and presents training progress information to authorized training managers. An initial pilot with AppUccino indicated that trainees retained twice the amount of information and developed their skills 50% faster using AppUccino.

Webinar Questions for David Trainor

You said it took ~9 months of definition and dev, how many people were working on your team in which roles in order to accomplish this?

We used one media/content creator and one software developer. The work was carried out over the course of 9 months, but neither the content creation nor the software development role was full-time.

How were the analyses done? Observation? Performance against criteria on task?

The analyses were done based on (i) time taken for the trainee to perform certain tasks (ii) measurements of how accurately the trainee performed certain tasks and (iii) estimates of where the trainee’s attention and focus was at specific points in the procedure.

How many users has Appuccino had? What has been the impact? In how many months after development did you achieve that impact?

We’ve just completed an initial evaluation/pilot involving 15-20 trainees within a coffee shop managed by a partner training organization. At some point in February 2019 we intend to expand this to all barista trainees within that training organization.

How long did it take to create AR content for training?

The 3D models for the AR overlays were completed in approximately 1 week. The media is actually quite simple. Strong, simple content proved to be the best way to present the required information to special needs trainees who are affected by autism, Downs Syndrome or general learning difficulties. However we needed to spend much more time – about 4 months – on the instructional design and the directions, animations and transitions within the AR scenarios.

How did you already go about gathering data on ROI prior to the development (and also launch) of the app?

The data was gathered from a pilot study at one location. This was after the app was developed but before it was publicly released.

Very exciting project! Curious why you selected that small, unique demographic to start? Unique requirements? Expect to scale up to other populations?

We picked barista training as it’s an area where there is expected to be a lack of qualified employees in the future. In the UK, where I’m from, it is estimated that there is a shortfall of 40000 trained baristas. We selected special-needs barista trainees because there is a high degree of underemployment in that group and if we can create a good intuitive solution for special-needs trainees then it should scale up well to other groups and other types of catering or hospitality training applications.

Are these analytics published somewhere?

Not yet – the small pilot study that we’ve carried out gave us some indications on the training improvements and return on investment from AppUccino but we’re starting a larger evaluation in February 2019, when more trainees start to use the app at our partner training organization. We plan to publish the detailed outputs from this larger study.

Presenter 2 : Jeff Meador, Portico

Presentation Theme

Jeff presented Portico’s Diversity and Inclusion VR Seminar, which provides learners the opportunity to practice and master their skills with inclusive language. This program was designed to complement traditional classroom learning by preparing learners with practical applications of the skills discussed during classroom sessions. With Portico’s software, learners speak directly to AI-powered digital avatars and engage in simulated conversations that put their skills to test. Learners also get real-time feedback on their performance through a virtual trainer, who uses AI to guide users towards better language choices.

Webinar Questions for Jeff Meador

How did you factor in orientation to the VR experience to overcome novelty or unfamiliarity with the technology to get straight to the experience?
We didn’t want to rely on the learner having any previous experience with VR. We give users time to look around and explore prior to beginning the scenario. This gives them a chance to understand the parameters and boundaries of the exercise. We also engage in some light chit-chat (“how’s the weather” sort of stuff) to let the learner know that they are expected to talk and that the AI is listening and will respond.

Do you need a quiet room?

A quiet room certainly helps. Current speech-to-text technology is very strong, but having a quiet place for the training is very helpful. It also helps the learner concentrate on the task at hand.

Is Portico looking at including body language (proximity to client gestures, etc.)?

Yes; we’ve done some preliminary work with this and have set some behaviors that change based on the learner’s position and/ or focal point during the training.

How is the real time interaction happening? is it a sort of multiplayer training and a mentor is interacting with you? or the AI is giving you feedback?

Everything within our scenarios is driven by AI, including the feedback. Our goal is to have these role playing experiences run without the need for actors or facilitators.

Presenter 3 : Marlo Brooke, AVATAR Partners

Marlo presented a Mixed Reality Training System for aircraft and aircraft subsystem maintenance. Primarily an Augmented Reality / Mixed Reality solution, this high-fidelity, industrial-grade maintenance training system scales from a tabletop model design, to a full-sized aircraft, allowing the maintainer to train on the job, hands free, at the point of need, without any jitter or drift. The system utilizes object tracking (as opposed to stickers or markers) to ensure highly accurate lock on target, even as the user moves around the aircraft. It also  integrates to any backend system to both retrieve and record/send information about the maintenance task. It supports collaborative tasks and remote assistance.

Webinar Questions for Marlo Brooke

How did you come up with your pricing for your offerings?

Pricing is based on the specific requirement of the customer. AVATAR Partners can develop the application in its entirety, and/or the customer can purchase SimplifyXR to build/extend all or some of the functionality. Furthermore, because we use open source products such as Unity, the customer does not need to purchase SimplifyXR to extend any AVATAR Partners built XR solutions.

Is SimplifyXR proprietary to you or is it 3rd party?

SimplifyXR is is developed by AVATAR Partners using open source development tools, and can integrate to any backend system through APIs. It is licensed and sold through AVATAR Partners and its certified resellers. SimplifyXR is not required to extend any AVATAR Partner XR applications.

Could you please clarify how 97% reduction was calculated? Does it mean that instead of 100 hours of training without glasses only 3 hours with glasses are required?

You are correct. The training task was calculated based on the current training method for that particular wire failure, which involved an experienced maintainer gathering information from 3 different source materials (ETM, Wire Illuminator, and 2D schematics) to trace and identify the wire failure. The current training method is documented as taking 4 hours on average. The AR training experience is 7 minutes in duration, which is a 97% reduction in time to train.

Marlo, you said you have offices around the country.  I didn’t hear if Portico has the same, but do either of your companies look to establish satellite offices in more remote locations? If so, what type of environments do you look for? Developed workforce, local colleges, etc?

AVATAR Partners has regional offices in Huntington Beach CA, Arlington (Crystal City) VA, Virginia Beach VA, and Patuxent River MD, with personnel working in 8 different states within the USA. AVATAR has teaming partners with offices in Atlanta GA, Orlando FL, San DIego CA, Dayton OH, and Fort Worth, TX. We are expanding based on a variety of factors including the locations of teaming partners, certified resellers, and universities both within the USA and Allied Nations.

Marlo, how did you measure those analytics?

The performance metrics were derived from test results by AVATAR Partners based on the comparison of the current methodology versus the use of XR. These tests included accuracy,  time to train, and time to complete the task. Cost savings were derived based on an assumed reduction of errors based on increased accuracy, and will vary depending on the application and cost of parts. We also discussed other studies such as the Boeing/Iowa State Study on wing assembly (Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2014).

I’m not familiar with SimplifyXR — can you describe what that is and whether that is proprietary to AVATAR?

SimplifyXR is a software product developed by AVATAR Partners that allows non-programmers to develop their own Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, and Virtual Reality experiences. It also speeds development time by tenfold by using a user-friendly interface. The product also evaluates the user’s desired XR application and notifies the user whether or not the application is well suited for XR, or if a different training media (e.g. video training) would be more effective. SimplifyXR is owned and licensed by AVATAR Partners, and is developed using open-source tools and industry standards, and also integrates to any backend system using APIs. The product is available directly through AVATAR Partners or certified resellers.

Was there a problem using AR on an object as large as an aircraft?

We overcame several challenges to make the solution commercially usable. Using the basic development tools and markers didn’t work – it caused significant drift, jitter and an inability to accurately track the object as the maintainer walked around the aircraft. AVATAR Partners was able to overcome all of these issues by developing algorithms to lock on target without any drift or jitter to the user. Our solution being hardware agnostic, we found the Microsoft Hololens and android tablet supported higher fidelity. Also, we used Mantis Vision 3D scanners to scan the aircraft, gaining an accurate 3D model so that we could use object tracking (instead of markers). This along with our programming algorithms provides the maintainer with absolute precision as they walk around the aircraft, regardless of the unit’s size (from 1:6 the model size, to full aircraft).

Presenter 4 : Carlos Ochoa, ONE digital consulting

Presentation Theme

Carlos presented XR platform for immersive training, operation and maintenance of industry plant services, eolic farms, which includes advanced reality technologies in 3d interactive environments (extended reality, 360º video and digital data integration), methodologies in a modular architecture (on/off line). Innvestion deploy an intelligent XR ecosystem with the specialized know-how to turn unstructured data into value-adding information, for specific subject when providing services such as preventive maintenance, security management or operational management. Simulation-based training, prefaced with traditional training methods on process fundamentals, is the most efficient and fastest way to train new employees and prepare them for their daily work providing huge added value and benefits.

ONE digital consulting has been working for more than 20 years in the eLearning and Training arena, and with our selected partners network in Europe, Saudi, India, Africa and Latam.

Webinar Questions for Carlos Ochoa

What hardware configurations are everyone on the panel currently using for their XR applications?

For a full INNVESTION experience, the user only needs a mobile device and VR glasses that fit the device. The training centre will need an internet connection to download different modules.

INNVESTION can be used in a single “low cost” VR environment based on Samsung Gear Mobile VR, through the most advanced VR Oculus Rift, HTC Vive configuration. The key issue of INNVESTION is data integration in one device. From reality to virtual reality or vice versa.

INNVESTION can be used in a multi window spheric environment, for multiuser training environments.

What are KPI’s?

The acronym KPI sounds for Key Performance Indicator. This is a general business term referring to any metric used in understanding how an organization is doing. While the term can be tossed around the business world ostentatiously or irrelevantly, the fundamental rationale derives from the simple concept that if you don’t know how you did in the past, you don’t know if you have improved in the future. Because every business has its own economic niche, customer acquisition models, geographic localities, production methods, etc., each business must define for themselves what makes them successful. Therefore, the “key” in KPI, should be a metric key to your enterprise. These indicators are as varied as your imagination, but a number of familiar indicators include monthly recurring revenue (MRR), cost to acquire a customer (CAC) and the term used in this webinar’s title, Return on Investment (ROI).

When you are looking to improve your ROI in your training strategy, you need to understand clearly the training savings metrics, saved commute hours, lifelong expense of your LMS solution, overall productivity and revenue increase, other factors specific to your business and training model.

In conclusion, we can see selected companies  transforming their business opportunities for the XR technology and adopt it regardless of cost and ‘clunkiness.’ Today we see leader enterprises utilizing XR for training, maintenance, engineering, and marketing purposes. These companies eventually pull everyone else in their direction as the industry caters to their operational needs and chases enterprise benefits.