XR At a Glance

Rather than rely on a single skillset, workers are increasingly expected to upgrade their skills quickly and efficiently throughout their career—particularly in industries where generations of technology outpace generations of workers. Case in point, auto mechanics are being trained to service and maintain fully electric vehicles through VR. Engineering giant Bosch and auto giant Ford have teamed up to develop applications where auto technicians use VR to “go inside” an electric vehicle, navigate through various modules as if they were walking through rooms, identify problems, and make repairs.

VR offers experiential surgical education, helping surgeons increase their skill level. A study from UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine saw a 230% boost in overall performance in tibial intramedullary nailing, a procedure to repair a fractured tibia, among VR-trained surgeons relative to their traditionally trained counterparts.

VR can spare manufacturers from developing countless physical prototypes by allowing the creation of interactive virtual models. Ford Motor company is working with Gravity Sketch, a 3D VR tool that enables designers to create more human-centric vehicle designs - obviating the need for the 2D design stage and speeding the product design process from weeks to hours. Shifting to a VR design model could revolutionize the entire process by drastically reducing development time and allowing for more 3D representations in the evaluation stage.

Law enforcement is vital to the health and wellbeing of our communities, but police encounters can be stressful and complicated, putting both officers and civilians at risk. VR is helping police officers hone the skills needed to de-escalate tense situations. By virtually putting officers in the shoes of their subjects, VR facilitates a perspective shift, imparting an understanding of how officers’ body language and chosen commands influence outcomes. These skills can be particularly impactful in situations involving subjects living with psychiatric or cognitive disorders. Through VR training, officers can learn to identify behavioral symptoms, understand how those symptoms might affect a subject’s experience, and determine how best to proceed.

For users with limited mobility, VR’s ever-expanding range of sights and sounds can mean the ability to explore caves, play sports, and summit mountains. In VR, a once-avid skier living with mobility impairments can virtually reconnect with the thrill of the sport.

QuiverVision’s Quiver Education app allows teachers to bring concepts to life with AR experiences that work in tandem with real-world coloring book experiences, helping students better understand concepts in fields such as biology and geometry.

AccuVein developed an AR imaging device that allows health care professionals to see a map of peripheral veins on the skin’s surface, resulting in an increase in successful IV insertions on the first try.

Engineers at Lockheed Martin no longer need years of training to be ready to assemble F-35 aircrafts. By wearing AR glasses that overlay images onto their real working environments, engineers can see renderings of cables, bolts, parts, part numbers, and instructions on how to assemble a particular component. This new method has been shown to increase engineers’ accuracy to 96% while increasing their speed by 30%. As the lead contractor for NASA’s Orion spacecraft, Lockheed Martin is also using AR to increase production efficiency and quality: rather than spending a week on a complex assembly process, technicians wearing AR glasses can finish the same process, with fewer errors, in less than one day.

AR is becoming an important part of the firefighter’s toolkit. Recently developed AR technology allows firefighters to see through smoke to identify the people and objects in a smoke-filled space, potentially saving lives—including the
firefighter’s own.

AR is helping individuals overcome sensory barriers. AR is providing blind and visually impaired users with a significantly more unobtrusive and hands-free way to access the world around them. AR is also bridging the gap for the hard of hearing. Developers are creating AR glasses that provide a holographic interpreter to translate verbal speech into sign language in real time. These technologies are proving useful for job training, workplace collaboration and new levels of independence.

Microsoft and Pearson partnered to create a mixed-reality curriculum using HoloLens and Windows Mixed Reality headsets to immerse students in subject areas such as health, history, chemistry, and math.

XR helps surgeons visualize organs, tumors, X-rays, and ultrasounds in real time and from multiple angles without diverting attention away from patients. Surgeons at the Cleveland Clinic are using Microsoft’s HoloLens to layer virtual, three-dimensional projections of their patients’ anatomies atop their bodies, improving efficiency and reducing procedure time.

PACCAR, a global leader in the design and manufacturing of commercial trucks, is using Dynamics 365 Guides and HoloLens to easily create heads-up, hands-free holographic employee training materials.

In 2019, Live Nation Entertainment launched a suite of mixed reality experiences, including a livestream in which users can see three-dimensional views of their selected performances by merely pointing the app toward a flat surface.