Virtually Better
The COVID-19 pandemic couldn’t have come at a better time for virtual reality. It has caused many workers to work remotely, introducing many workers to collaborative tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams and even more to video platforms like Zoom or Skype. But we’re just beginning to understand what collaboration could look like — such as virtual reality (VR).
As CNBC noted: “Virtual reality is booming in the workplace amid the pandemic.” Even a pre-pandemic Perkins Coie survey, done for the XR Association, predicted an explosion of immersive technologies like VR, augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). Elizabeth Hyman, President of XRA, said: “We are at the precipice of an integration of XR technology that will transform businesses and society for the better.”
The report expected healthcare to be the industry most impacted by immersive technologies (outside of gaming/entertainment).
Take VR-start-up Spatial, which thinks it has a better mousetrap. Chief Product Officer described their solution to MIT News:
Spatial is a collaborative, holographic, augmented reality solution. You can teleport to someone’s space, work as an avatar sharing that 3D space, and use it instead of a screen to manage a project, present an idea, and more.
Don’t you love the “and more,” as though the teleportation wasn’t enough?
Spatial has been around since 2016, but in the wake of the pandemic Spatial made its enterprise version of the platform free. It works on most virtual reality headsets, although there is a web browser version that can be used without a headset. Design and engineering companies have been the biggest users, but that is changing. “After coronavirus, interest went up 1,000 percent,” Dr. Lee said, “and a big part of that was from smaller businesses, hospitals, schools, and individuals.”
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