Games bring entertainment and enrichment into our lives. The gamification market is one of the most rapidly developing sectors – it is expected to reach $38.42 million in value by 2026, almost four times as much as it was valued in 2020. The main reason for this aggressive expansion is the increase of the number of smartphones and mobile devices owned by the public.

Additionally, gamification systems can influence human behavior, increasing productivity and engagement, inducing innovation, curiosity, and positive emotions. Games are not used only for entertainment anymore – they are now an integral part of marketing, education, various types of training, tourism, and more.

So, what happens when a traditionally loved game like treasure hunt meets cutting-edge technology like augmented reality?

We’re not going to lie, the results are pretty incredible. But let’s start from the beginning.

Treasure hunt is a game in which participants have to find clues that will lead them to their “treasure” – some sort of a prize at the end of the game. A scavenger hunt is a similar activity; although in a scavenger hunt, participants typically look for specific hidden objects from a list, not a series of clues.

The original treasure hunt has been popular since the 1930s, especially among children. However, no one says that adults cannot have their own versions of treasure hunts and enjoy them just as much as the kids.

This is especially true if the classic treasure hunt concept is enhanced with augmented reality.

In augmented reality (AR), the real world is supplemented with digital content. To better explain this, here is an example: imagine that you are watching your friend swinging a broom around as though it were a lightsaber. When you switch on your phone camera in the right AR experience and point it at your friend, the broom handle can actually become a lightsaber on the screen!

To take part in an AR experience, all you need is AR software (a pre-made experience) and a mobile device that supports this type of technology. (Most smartphones do, these days.)

The clues that you find in the AR treasure hunt are in augmented reality. Typically, you have to find a specific trigger (an image or a QR code) to scan it with your phone to see your clue. You also might have to reach a certain location to have the AR clue show up on your mobile device. (Think Pokemon Go and all the different creatures scattered around the world.)

Here is an example of what an AR treasure hunt app may look like:

The most significant benefit of an interactive treasure hunt app is that it can be used in any business in any industry. Here are some of the advantages of incorporating this type of software solution into your work:

• Sky-high engagement. Whether you’re looking to increase brand awareness, brand loyalty, strengthen your relationship with your existing customers, or increase the engagement of your students or employees – there is no better way than a game in emerging technology. Augmented reality is still new enough for most, and incredibly entertaining to use. You never know what you’re going to get when you scan the next clue, and the excitement becomes palpable!
• Enhanced storytelling. Brands that tell their authentic story develop deeper bonds with their customers. And strong customer relationships lead to customer loyalty and repeat purchases. An AR treasure hunt app will help you tell your brand’s story in a way that’s not been done before. Each clue could be a part of your brand’s journey, and your consumers will love to follow that adventure as it unfolds.
• Increased retention. Textbooks, PowerPoint presentations, and monotonous training videos are a thing of the past. Not one student or employee can remember much from a dreary training session where a disinterested instructor drones on about an uninteresting topic. But even an uninteresting topic presented in a cool, innovative way can become fascinating! Studies have shown that, through the use of AR and VR, people tend to remember what they’ve learned better and for longer periods of time compared to traditional learning techniques.
• Stronger team bonds. If you’re not sure what activity to choose for your next team-building event, an augmented reality treasure hunt is a serious contender. Divide your employees into teams and watch them take part in some friendly competition to win the treasure hunt prize! Expect a lot of laughter, playful ribbing, and excited running around, especially if you organize an outdoor AR treasure hunt.

Based on the way in which clues are found and AR experiences are loaded on mobile devices, there are two primary types of AR treasure hunt games you can choose from:

• Marker-Based AR Treasure Hunt – Marker-based AR means that there is a marker – an image, a QR code, or a 3D object that you scan with your phone camera. The marker then triggers your AR experience. A treasure hunt game based on this typically involves participants looking for specific 2D or 3D images or QR codes hidden across a specific area. It can be used both indoors and outdoors.
• Geo Location-Based Treasure Hunt – An AR experience can also be activated by a GPS location. All a person needs to do is to arrive at the designated destination with their mobile device (and AR app), and their experience will start, guiding them through their task or hinting at the next location they need to visit. A GPS treasure hunt is better suited for the outdoors, but it can work indoors as well, with certain limitations.

All of those participating in the AR hunt need to have an AR-ready mobile device. Whether or not a phone is AR-ready is difficult to say, as there is a variety of technologies available for building augmented reality experiences.

If you want to make sure that all or most of your participants will be able to enjoy the treasure hunt, check with the software developers about the type of mobile devices their solution supports. If you’re looking for an app developed for a specific purpose, have a discussion with your software providers about the mobile device requirements.

Even if you have an AR-ready device, you cannot play a treasure hunt game unless you have the right application installed (or can access it via the web).

Treasure hunt software solutions can come in various forms. Here are some of the notable features they can have:

• Indoor and outdoor versions
• A single AR treasure hunt or a series of them
• Sign up screen (users who do not have the right username and password cannot participate)
• Augmented reality-based clues
• Questions and answers to make the game more challenging
• Hints
• “Ask a friend” via social networks option
• Cash prizes, or voucher rewards
• Leaderboard
• Game analytics

The software you’re planning doesn’t have to include all of these. You need to select the features that will drive the most engagement for your business and provide the most memorable experience for your consumers.

If you’re interested in an AR treasure hunt adventure for your customers, employees, or students, you’re in luck! ARVRtech happens to have just the right product for you. Take a look at our AR treasure hunt page and contact us with your project details. We’ll be more than happy to develop a game that will blow your competitors out of the water!

Even though virtual reality technology has yet to become mainstream in the private sector, it is, by and large, revolutionizing a wide variety of industries. Healthcare, law enforcement and military, real estate, retail, the automotive industry – all of these have found great use of this emerging technology. The manufacturing industry is no different.

In 2018, the global VR in manufacturing industry size was $924.7 million. In 2026, this number is expected to reach a staggering $14.887 billion! The CAGR of this forecast period is estimated to be nearly 40% (39.2%)!

So how is virtual reality doing this? What is so special about this innovative tech that it is changing one of the world’s largest, most significant industries?

How is virtual reality disrupting the manufacturing industry?

The breakdown of virtual reality is this: VR is a 100% computer-generated world; a wholly digital environment. Users can access this world through a VR head-mounted device (VR HMD) or, more simply, a VR headset. There are two main types of VR headsets, based on the amount of freedom of mobility they provide:

• Standalone Headsets – HMDs that don’t have to be connected to a console, such as a PC or PlayStation. The user is free to move around with this VR headset however they choose.
• Tethered Headsets – HMDs that need to be plugged into a console. The user’s movements are limited by the length of the cable connecting their VR headset to the console.

The virtual world inside the VR application can be anything you need it to be. It can be a simulation of the real world, but it can also be a product of imagination, with fantastic digital universes consumers have never dreamed of.

• Product Design and Development

Benefits: faster market growth, shorter production time and costs, rapid adoption of new product designs

Virtual reality is an excellent tool for fast and seamless prototyping. Advanced VR simulation means that manufacturers no longer need to spend inordinate amounts of time and money to create and approve one prototype. Engineers and designers can bring their ideas to life in virtual reality. With everything created in 360 3D, this process enables them to observe, edit, and evaluate their prototypes and spot potential errors or bugs in the design.

Ford Motor Company, for example, has been using VR in the development of its designs since 2000. With a VR headset, employees can look at a vehicle prototype and even sit in it, allowing them to experience it fully. In one year, Ford has managed to assess more than 193 prototypes using virtual reality!

Additionally, this use case is beneficial for aerospace manufacturing, where building full-scale models is extremely expensive.

• Product and Workplace Safety

Benefits: increased worker safety, better compliance with safety guidelines, safer products

Virtual reality can simulate pretty much any scenario you can think of, including production processes. By observing these operations in VR from the sidelines, managers and safety directors can identify potential hazards or dangerous maneuvers. Virtual reality also offers the opportunity to completely immerse a worker in their future workstation. Superiors can then assess the feasibility of a task or proficiency of the worker.

To expand with another example from Ford – this automotive giant reduced its employee injury rate at the assembly line by 70% through introducing virtual manufacturing. The company uses VR to certify new assembly processes before it even starts producing the first vehicle. Their VR software can predict the physical impact of building cars on their workers in over 900 simulated assembly task assessments for a new product launch.

Virtual reality is also a great way to reproduce various traffic and weather conditions to predict how a vehicle will behave and whether its safety features are up to par.

• Hands-On Experience and Training

Benefits: workers with improved skill sets, faster onboarding, better health and safety training, reduced training cost

Several research studies point out how there’s a growing skill gap in the manufacturing sector and a worrying reduction in workers available for these types of job positions.

With a VR training system set in place, your business can offer on-the-job training in an immersive environment that doesn’t disrupt the work of others. Your new employees can get an immediate and authentic sense of the processes and protocols they should follow; your current employees will get a chance to practice their new skills over and over again without fear of endangering themselves or their coworkers. Virtual reality manufacturing training doesn’t require any downtime, unlike traditional training. It reduces the risk of poor decision-making and errors on the job.

Hands-on virtual reality training useful in manufacturing can include practicing emergency drills, equipment and line changeovers, and more.

• Factory Floor Planning

Benefits: infinitely faster factory planning, drastically reduced planning costs

Factory planning is the process of deciding where and how to place equipment, personnel, and tools and how to connect them for maximum productivity and efficiency. Factory floor planning requires complex designing, testing, and trials, and any errors or unexpected delays can lead to costly shutdowns. Virtual reality technology dramatically shortens and simplifies this process.

Before any changes or construction begin in the real world, your engineers can test production flows and factory layouts as much as they want in VR. They can add virtual workers or robots to test how they perform tasks. Even ergonomics can be tested in virtual reality to ensure that no undue stress is placed on your worker’s bodies.

Here is an example of how VR production planning looks like for a stamping production line:

Virtual environments are not challenging to implement, yet they offer an incredible range of advantages to manufacturing companies:

• Improved health and safety
• Higher productivity and efficiency
• Faster training processes
• Less downtime
• Drastic reduction in costs
• More skilled workers
• Optimized planning of new operations and building layouts
• More immediate product development and turnaround time
• More rapid market growth, etc.

To incorporate VR into your workflow, you will need the proper hardware (a VR headset and a PC with high processing power), as well as the right software.

ARVRtech will be happy to help you craft just the right virtual reality application to improve your manufacturing business. Contact us with your ideas and what you would like to achieve, and our virtual reality and augmented reality experts will come up with just the right solution!

Even though they are technically still emerging technologies, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have established a strong foothold in the corporate world. The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to this. It dramatically increased the demand for safe remote technologies that will allow for smooth business operations even in social distancing times. Virtual and augmented reality for business is rapidly becoming the norm.

The AR market is expected to reach $60.55 billion by 2023 – almost twice as much as the VR market. AR is more widespread and easier to adopt than VR mostly because of the less cumbersome and more practical equipment required to use it (more on that after the jump). As it stands, the highest demand for AR is in healthcare, retail, and e-commerce, as well as manufacturing sectors. It can be a powerful business tool when used right.

However, augmented reality can find its use in practically any business in any industry.

In simple terms, augmented reality or AR represents the real world enhanced by computer-generated content, such as 3D models, images, videos, sounds, etc. Imagine pointing your phone at a cluster of trees at a park and seeing a 3D dragon attempt to land between the branches on your phone screen. Or seeing your child kick around a ball through your phone camera, but your phone turns the ball into an alien spaceship. All of these are examples of augmented reality.

The most famous example of AR is Pokemon Go, the 2016 augmented reality game in which you walk around the real world and discover and catch Pokemon.
In short, AR technology overlays digital content over real-world environments to create a striking mix of digital and real-life.

Augmented reality keeps the real world in focus but enhances it with 3D objects and digital content. It adds a new layer of perception and supplements your real environment. To access an AR experience, all you need is a mobile device, such as a smartphone or a tablet.

Virtual reality is completely immersive – the user finds themselves in a 100% virtual environment. The virtual environment might resemble the real world, but it is entirely computer-generated. To enter virtual reality, you need a VR headset (head-mounted display or HMD). You can interact with VR objects and virtual people with the help of hand-held controllers.

Mixed reality is a combination of AR and VR. Some might even consider it a leveled-up form of AR. When using mixed reality devices (such as the Microsoft Hololens), you can interact with physical objects and virtual objects at the same time. It allows you to have one foot in the real world and the other in a digital environment. MR breaks boundaries between reality and imagination.

There are many ways AR can boost your business. Here are some of the most popular AR applications:

• Product development and 3D modeling. Thanks to AR, designers and engineers can develop their projects in 3D space without limiting themselves to 2D observations of those 3D projects. Prototypes are no longer expensive to produce – AR is a quick, cost-effective way to compare old and new designs in different stages of development. 3D designs can be superimposed on the physical world, offering a better understanding of what works and what needs further improvement.
  Volkswagen has been successfully using AR for just that. By comparing prototypes with the latest release through augmented reality, they greatly improved the accuracy of their quality assurance process.
• Product demonstration. Using cutting-edge technology to showcase your new product is bound to leave a positive impression on potential customers. An example of this is IKEA’s Place AR app that allows users to place IKEA’s furniture in their home and see how it looks before they make a purchase.

• Try before you buy. An AR app also allows your consumers to try the product they’re interested in in an innovative way. Beauty and makeup brands make use of this feature with the help of AR filters that enable their consumers to test beauty products on their faces. All they have to do is turn on their front-facing camera, choose the AR filter (makeup product) they want to apply, and they’re all dolled up!
• Remote training and support. The augmented reality industry has seen a major boom during the COVID-19 pandemic. With social distancing rules in place and most of the global workforce working from home, remote training has become a necessity. AR excels in this area. It allows experts from any corner of the globe to connect with trainees and offer them detailed, step-by-step instructions and training. The visual aspect of AR makes this a far more productive experience than a simple video call.
  The opportunity to see 3D objects, zoom in on them and examine their complex inner workings is invaluable in training and support.
• Increasing brand interaction. Even if you ‘only’ want to use AR for the purpose of marketing and spreading awareness and good vibes about your brand – that is a perfect application for it! Augmented reality is still a new and exciting technology for many, and consumers are sure to have a mind-blowing experience trying out your app – and possibly even become loyal customers of your business!

If you decide to integrate AR into your business operations, there are many benefits you can expect:

• Increased positive feelings about your brand. AR belongs in experiential marketing, delivering unforgettable customer experiences. It is estimated to be 3 times more memorable than non-AR marketing tactics. Once consumers walk away from your AR event, they are left with a strong positive impression about your brand and are more likely to engage with it in the future.
• Sky-high customer engagement. Augmented reality experiences are twice as engaging as their non-AR equivalents! Around 200% more engagement!
• Better conversion rates. For consumers who come into contact with AR, conversion rates are up by a whopping 90% compared to consumers who don’t.
• Higher student and trainee motivation. If you’re in the education or training sector, your students are bound to love learning from AR rather than a boring old textbook. The visualization that AR brings helps with understanding abstract concepts, retaining information, and making learning an overall exciting practical experience!
• Safer healthcare. AR has already demonstrated its value in healthcare. It provides an indispensable visualization element to surgical procedures and connects medical professionals from all over the world for better, well-rounded treatment consultations. Take a look at how doctors at Johns Hopkins utilized AR in spinal surgery:

• Lower costs. The initial investment in AR devices may (keyword being may) be costly, but it is nothing compared to the long-term budget savings they will bring to your business. For most AR experiences you don’t need much more than a mobile phone. Even if you want to purchase more advanced AR glasses, they will quickly prove their worth. You won’t have to spend money on transportation or housing of your remote employees or complex scans and imaging systems when it can all be effortlessly displayed in augmented reality.

What hardware you will need to launch your AR experience depends on the purpose and the complexity of that experience.

If you’re interested in a retail, marketing, product demo, or even educational augmented reality application, you and your consumers won’t need anything more than a mobile device! The beauty of AR experiences is that all you have to do is download an AR app (or access an experience via the web), and you can enjoy it on your phone or tablet. Make sure that it is an AR-ready phone or tablet, however, because not all are.

If you want AR technology for training or advanced work in construction, design, repair, or similar, perhaps it would be better to go for an AR headset or glasses (or a mixed reality headset), such as the aforementioned Microsoft Hololens 2. There are plenty of other options out there (Google Glass Enterprise 2 and Lenovo ThinkReality A6 come to mind). Even Apple has announced their very own AR glasses coming in the next few years!

To make your AR ambitions come to life, you need an AR software company to develop a solution for you.

Have a cool augmented reality idea you need help with? Contact us at ARVRtech for a pinch of expert advice and assessment. We’d love to work together to bring your business to life with this innovative tech!

Team building is the foundation of strong company culture. Your team members need to know each other, trust each other, and rely on each other during various projects and assignments. In these COVID-riddled times, in-person bonding and team-building exercises have taken a back seat. Due to social distancing rules, many organizations have turned to virtual team building – and that is precisely where VR team building shines.

A VR group experience contributes to increased motivation and higher productivity, especially if your employees are limited to working in isolation from home.

Here is everything you need to know to plan a successful VR team-building event.

• Innovative Scenarios

In virtual reality, you can do anything! Transport your VR team to another planet, a date in history that’s long past, or come up with a fun balance game on top of a skyscraper. There is no limit to what your team-building experience can entail. Whatever you imagine can be realistically developed in VR. This enables you to generate honest responses from your team members that you otherwise would never be able to glean.

• High Levels of Engagement

In most team-building events, some stay on the sidelines, content in observing their teammates have fun. However, in virtual reality team building, engagement and interaction levels are through the roof! Design inclusive events where everyone gets a turn. These unique immersive experiences will foster friendly competition, strengthen your employee’s communication skills, and improve teamwork.

• Cost-Effective

Compared to spending money on transportation, accommodation, food, and other expenses of a traditional team building event, group VR activities are much more cost-effective. The initial investment in a VR headset and a computer that can run VR experiences may be high, but your teams can use and reuse those headsets time and again.

Furthermore, it isn’t wise to gather all your coworkers together in one space in the middle of a global pandemic. They can participate in virtual reality team building from the safety and comfort of their homes without exposing anyone to a potential respiratory infection!

When you consider traditional team building requirements (venue selection and booking, searching for props, coming up with games, etc.), virtual reality team building activities don’t require much.

• VR headset

The headset can be standalone (untethered to any device) or connected to a PC or console. It should come with VR controllers that people can use to interact with the VR environment. Additionally, your headset may have special sensors that track your body’s movements in space, making for a more immersive experience.

If you want better performance and more powerful graphics, you might need to sacrifice the freedom of movement for a professional-grade tethered headset such as the VIVE Pro.

If you’d rather that your team can move around without being connected to a computer or console, then a standalone headset such as the Oculus Quest 2 is a good option.

• PC or Console

For tethered headsets, you need something to connect them to. This something should be a powerful PC that can run VR applications or a gaming console such as a PlayStation. The PC should have a top-of-the-class graphic card and CPU to run VR team-building games smoothly.

Standalone headsets do not require any computer or device to be attached to – they already come with accessible platforms where you can browse the internet, watch movies, or play the VR applications you have installed.

• VR Application

Lastly, you need to choose the activity or game your team will participate in. There are dozens of published games and VR apps that will fit your needs out there. However, if you want something unique that you can’t find anywhere, you can always commission a software company to develop a VR game specifically for your business and your teams.

When considering a VR team-building event, you can go down two paths: either organize it yourself and acquire everything necessary for it, or hire a company to set it up for you.

If this is your first time stepping into group VR activities, maybe a short-term rental of VR devices and software is a good way to try everything out. It will be less expensive, and if you or your team end up not liking the experience, you can easily opt for a different activity or hardware set-up. Furthermore, professional VR team-building agencies often have facilitators and trainers who can help your staff get comfortable with the technology.

However, if the feedback is positive and you want to make it a more permanent thing in your company, continually renting VR devices and software is not the best financial move. In that case, you might want to consider investing in your own VR headsets, PCs, and equipment and setting up a more or less permanent VR team-building installment in your company. (Or, due to COVID-19, setting up a remote team building network.)

In the process of deciding whether to go solo or with a professional organization, consider the following:

• Short-term and long-term costs
• The interest (and excitement) levels of your staff
• The benefits of VR team building vs. traditional team building

Here are some of the best VR games for team building that you and your employees will absolutely love.

• Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

This adrenaline-packed game is all about defusing a bomb. One team member is in direct contact with the bomb – they need to accurately relay information to the other members so they can all work together to deactivate the explosive device. Time is running out, and the only thing that will help is to keep talking!

Best for: collaboration, communication, problem solving, friendly competition

• Fantastic Contraption

The goal of the game is to get the pink ball through the pink goal. To achieve this, you will have to build contraptions out of this world! This VR game stimulates your brain cells by making you think outside the box – build bridges, transportation devices, musical instruments, and so much more. What fantastic contraption will your team come up with first?

Best for: innovation, collaboration, problem solving

• Arizona Sunshine

If your team isn’t too squeaked out by zombies, they might get a kick out of this zombie apocalypse survival game! Arizona Sunshine pits you against hundreds of zombies coming your way that you must take out before it’s too late. Each employee should have their turn to see who survived the longest in the zombie assault!

Best for: friendly competition, communication, adrenaline rush

• Guided Meditation VR

In these uncertain times, we’re all under a lot of stress. Even if your team works remotely from home, they’re bound to be pressured by dozens of fears and anxieties of the modern lifestyle. Offer them an opportunity to kick back and relax in this Meditation VR experience. As a team, you will all take a moment to breathe, recenter yourselves, and prepare for future work challenges.

Best for: relaxation, collaboration, mindfulness

• Everest VR

One of the best VR team-building games is centered around summiting Mt. Everest. Team building often involves traveling to new and exciting destinations. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this is no longer possible in most of the world. However, with this one-of-a-kind VR experience, you and your team will get the opportunity to climb the tallest mountain in the world. No prior training required!

Best for: collaboration, communication, virtual field trip, problem solving

VR team building is experiencing a meteoric rise not only because it allows teams to come together remotely. It is also cost-effective, drives high levels of excitement and engagement from employees, and offers unique scenarios for corporate groups to try out.

All you need for a great enterprise VR team-building event is a VR headset (or several), a PC or console that can run a VR app (if the headsets aren’t standalone), and a VR application that will wow your employees!

We hope that our list of the best VR games for team building will prove helpful for you and your team members. If you’d like to have a custom-made VR team-building game for your company, don’t hesitate to reach out and contact us at ARVRtech. We’d be more than happy to help you build a fun solution that your organization will be able to use repeatedly!

The next level in developing augmented and virtual reality solutions is to harness the potential of artificial intelligence and machine learning to the fullest. Artificial intelligence is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, expecting to reach $126 billion in global revenue by 2025.

Forbes declares that “whoever controls the strongest artificial intelligences controls the world.”

The reason why AI is so powerful is that it deals with a vast amount of data. And in this highly political era of economic powers fighting for supremacy, data represents a significant competitive advantage.

But what do AI and ML have to do with AR and VR? In what ways could these two technologies of the future work together?

Before we dive into the particulars of AI and ML boosting AR and VR, let us start with defining the terms AI and ML and the differences between them.

Artificial intelligence entails that the machines are capable of carrying out so-called “smart tasks” and making independent decisions. Machine learning goes a step further – it enables machines to improve themselves as time goes by and as algorithms become more and more sophisticated.

Several groundbreaking innovations were important for the advancement of AI and ML.

The first one was Artur Clark’s approach that instead of teaching machines everything they should know, we should teach them how to learn and improve themselves. Secondly, because the internet and a monstrous amount of data became available worldwide, better learning and modeling of the machine mind became possible.

Up until now, software developers would supply intelligence to a system with their supreme coding skills – a process that is not artificial intelligence. Those were simple software applications with no capabilities of learning.

However, AI is now being used to automate many mundane processes. It can be implemented in all industries that rely heavily on complex data sets: healthcare, banking, retail, business, logistics, and more.

There are various ways that artificial intelligence can be applied along with virtual and augmented reality.

Let’s take a look at some of the most striking examples:

It is incredible that VR and AR, together with AI, can educate the next generation of professionals in life-threatening and high-risk jobs such as doctors, factory workers, firefighters, pilots, and alike.

We have shared our own example when VR is used for training and maintenance in factories of the future. The same kinds of solutions are used for doctors that can go through countless virtual scenarios without jeopardizing a single life.

Healthcare, in particular, can benefit from data reorganization. In countries across the world, patient data is stored in fragments – a powerful AI solution that untangles and connects those fragments piece by piece will revolutionize this sector.

Virtual reality powered by AI is also available to firefighter teams that go through the worst scenarios, pilots that bring back the plane’s altitude to safety, or emergency medical teams (EMTs) that save people’s lives from traffic accidents and natural disasters.

One of the most significant benefits of artificial intelligence is that it has the power to make complex decisions. This is incredibly useful in the defense industry. Before any actual weapons are used, an AR military system fuelled by AI can be deployed. This set-up would allow for many simulations that can be tested and compared to the system archives to find the best military strategy.

The constant advancement of tech shows us where future battlefields will take place.

For example, the ARC4 is AR technology that delivers tactical situational awareness no matter the time of day. It connects to the military satellites and drones to highlight dangers and threats in AR mode.

AR filters have become the norm on social media. How many of your friends have used filters where they can transform themselves into a cat or dog or a Disney princess? How many have used the ‘Which __________ are you?‘ filters? All of those are considered AR filters since they augment reality – make it appear on the screen as something more than it is in real life.

Chatbots are typically AI-powered services that you can find on plenty of web pages. If you see a chat icon in the corner of a screen offering you instant help, it’s a high chance that there isn’t a human but an AI system behind it.

These AI chatbots are evolving as we speak, and one of the next avenues is to include a VR component. VR Chatbots will come in the form of avatars – life-like human simulations that should, thanks to AI, talk and act exactly like real humans. The benefit of VR chatbots lies in more realistic interaction. They should be able to help you with pretty much any question you have or retrieve any data from an accessible database.

Similar to high-quality CAD (computer-aided design) models for training and maintenance, companies are turning to AR to help them map large areas and enhance them with relevant data. (Data that can be gathered by AI.)

Take the example of a Danish construction site that emphasizes health and safety. An AR solution helped them view full BIM models on-site in real time, allowing them to recognize and avoid any inaccuracies that can occur in early-stage construction. AR has succeeded in turning a reactive approach to construction errors into a preventative one.

Our future looks promising because we are continually expanding our frontiers of what is possible through technology. Not only do we map the walls and furniture inside buildings, but we can also see the internal organs of patients that need to be operated on in real time.

In June 2020, surgeons at Johns Hopkins performed the first-ever AR surgeries. Neurosurgeons performed one spinal fusion operation and another to remove a cancerous tumor from a patient’s spine. In both cases, they used AR headsets that project the patients’ CT scans onto their body – essentially providing the doctors with X-ray vision.

Timothy Witham, M. D., who led the first spinal fusion operation, said, “When using augmented reality in the operating room, it’s like having a GPS navigator in front of your eyes in a natural way so you don’t have to look at a separate screen to see your patient’s CT scan.”

By taking advantage of AI, ML, AR, and VR, all these insights and automatic depth perception with precise adjustments will be ingrained into emerging technology devices.

Our examples of this cutting-edge tech in healthcare, construction, military and defense, and customer service are just a glimpse of what is possible. When it comes to machine learning, the options are endless. We are looking forward to a future where machines take over routine procedures with more accuracy and less risk of error than humans will ever be able to achieve.

Interested in an AR or VR app for your business? Contact us with your ideas, and we’ll see what we can do to make them a reality!

Virtual reality is not the only rapidly developing innovative technology of the 21st century. While we’re immersed in VR and finding new ways we can utilize this groundbreaking tech, something else is looming on the horizon: artificial intelligence. In fact, the worldwide AI market revenue is expected to grow from $34.87 billion in 2021 to $126 billion in 2025. Yes, it’s that impressive.

With this parallel advancement of augmented and virtual reality and artificial intelligence, it was only a matter of time before the two revolutionary technologies started merging.

So, how exactly can VR and AI work together? How about VR and ML? And where does deep learning fit into all of that?

Let’s start from the beginning – by establishing the core differences between artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning.

Artificial intelligence is the opposite of natural intelligence. Natural intelligence is displayed by humans and animals, and it includes consciousness and emotions. In contrast, artificial intelligence is displayed by machines (think Terminator). In 2021, the applications of AI are too numerous to count. You can find AI in autonomous vehicles, video games, healthcare (medical diagnoses), online advertising, predicting flight delays, image and facial recognition, search engines (for example, Google Search is powered by AI), and more.

Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence. In simple terms, machine learning enables the machine (computer) to learn based on experience. Machines learn through practicing tasks or being exposed to large data sets. Then they make predictions and decisions from what they learned without explicitly being programmed to do so. You will most commonly find machine learning in computer vision and email filtering.

Lastly, deep learning is a subset of machine learning. It is also known as deep neural network or deep neural learning, and it imitates the function of the human brain. The essence of deep learning is multilayered neural networks that learn from vast amounts of data. It is called deep because the neural networks in the machine can have anywhere between 10 to 100 layers.

Geoffrey Hinton, a leading computer scientist at Google, said: “Deep Learning is an algorithm which has no theoretical limitations of what it can learn; the more data you give and the more computational time you provide, the better it is.”

Virtual reality on its own does not utilize artificial intelligence. They are two independent technologies that can function separately from each other.

However, the potential of combining VR and AI is limitless.

At its core, artificial intelligence processes data – monstrous amounts of data. Machine learning, in particular, requires large samples of data to understand a problem and solve it. Virtual reality, while not necessarily data-driven, is an amazingly immersive visualization tool. When merged, VR and AI represent a powerful solution that visually represents neural networks in a way that offers critical insights into data. Observations of data in an immersive, interactive VR environment helps validate the integrity of a data model and identify any edge cases that may occur.

Here are some examples of how VR can utilize AI:

Most of the deep learning technology in VR is focused on environment and content creation, reconstructing real locations in virtual reality, and enhancing interactions between human players (VR users) and virtual characters.

We expect the future of VR and deep learning to continue in the same direction.

Virtual characters will offer more intelligent responses, possibly even going as far as becoming “life coaches” or “financial coaches” or any other form of guide through purchase decisions.

Intelligent contactless interaction will gain more attention. Contactless interaction focuses on the gaze, gesture, or body pose signals. Thanks to deep learning, VR characters will recognize these gazes and gestures and offer more complex interactions.

VR environments will become so lifelike that users may not be able to tell them apart from the real thing. The limitations of VR hardware (the heaviness of the VR headset and the presence of VR controllers) will be the only thing separating the virtual from the reality.

Will VR become a household technology? Will VR and AI together become so big that people will start opting out of the real world in favor of the virtual?

We wouldn’t go that far yet.

VR has yet to become the next big thing in the consumer’s minds. While VR tech is rapidly growing and is permeating the enterprise world, it still hasn’t reached the massive popularity of other electronic devices such as smartphones and tablets.

And as for a world where humans plug into virtual scenarios and completely neglect their real lives… AI certainly offers a lot of potential for that future. However, at the beginning of 2021, this is only a (cool) trope in science fiction stories that will likely stay that way for years to come.

Do you have a cool VR and AI project you’d like to develop? Contact us to get a free quote. We’d love to work together in making your software come to life!

The year 2020 was unprecedented in many ways. With the spread of a pandemic, most of the global workforce was forced to start working from home. Travel has been severely restricted, and large events were canceled altogether. Due to all these COVID19 restrictions and the need for remote work and learning, augmented and virtual reality experienced a market boom. There’s no better moment than now to learn about the AR and VR trends in 2021 that will disrupt the tech industry.

According to Statista, the value of the virtual and augmented reality market in 2020 was around $12 billion. By the year 2024, this number is expected to reach $72.8 billion. That is an astounding growth rate in just four years!

With pretty much every industry out there realizing the potential and necessity of quality AR and VR technology, here are the exciting innovations we’re expecting to see in 2021.

Outdoor navigation is an electronic device standard. There is no smartphone, tablet, or even smartwatch out there that can’t provide navigation services through built-in GPS.

However, indoor navigation is decidedly more complicated. GPS is useless in enclosed areas; visual positioning systems work only for large indoor spaces; WiFi positioning systems are often pricey and challenging to maintain.

Augmented reality is the perfect solution for indoor navigation. It offers more accurate user positioning data with a whole host of benefits for organizations:

Take a look at how Volkswagen utilized AR indoor navigation to improve localization in their manufacturing processes. This caused a dramatic decrease in costs and downtimes, as well as better optimization of inventory management, inspections, and more. We can expect large investments to be made in AR indoor navigation technology in 2021.

A rising trend in the augmented reality market is remote assistance.

Imagine a quite regular situation: you’re having trouble with your WiFi. Your router is malfunctioning, and you dial the call center of your provider for help on how to solve the issue.

Typically, an assistant would come on the line and try and guide you through a solution over the phone. If it doesn’t work, they would have to dispatch a technician to take a look, and you might have to wait for a couple of days until you get your WiFi back.

AR remote assistance eliminates all of this. No more blind phone call guidance, no more waiting for an expert to save the day. AR technology will allow you to share what you see directly with a technician without having to wait for them to come over. The technician will be able to annotate your screen, point out what you need to do and where, and easily fix your issues in record time!

Remote assistance in AR is the future of a post-COVID19 world.

Machine learning, or artificial intelligence, is experiencing a meteoric rise of its own. This is partially due to the ongoing health crisis – AI is helping in the process of early detection and infection diagnosis, development of vaccines, and assisting overworked healthcare workers.

AR and VR software developers are dedicating more time to AI and creating artificially intelligent solutions for a wide variety of industries, especially the healthcare, automotive, and entertainment sectors.

For example, a combination of AR and AI could provide an additional layer of safety to drivers by pointing out potential hazards on the road. At the same time, these technologies could also alert the driver to historical landmarks or sightseeing spots they might be interested to check out.

The power of AI’s incredible data processing capabilities and AR and VR visual representation will have a significant impact on automation, image and facial recognition, and highly interactive workspaces.

One of the virtual reality trends that will continue growing in 2021 is the result of the immersive nature of the technology. Education through VR might be a bit behind, but VR training is steadily gaining popularity. Across the world, businesses are investing in virtual reality hardware and software to safely, inexpensively, and effectively coach their employees in new procedures and processes.

Virtual reality in retail industry is a prime example of this. By immersing themselves in VR, employees can learn how to manage long queues or crowds of shoppers without disrupting the actual daily workflow.

Top virtual reality industry trends include this versatile technology taking its rightful place in training programs, everywhere from manufacturing and manual labor to healthcare procedures to dealing with customers in retail or food service industries.

A major benefit of VR is that it can be used for improving both soft and hard skills, which can become invaluable to organizations of all types.

A niche use of virtual reality is integrating 360-degree scenes into marketing campaigns. These relatively simple scenes allow consumers to get a realistic impression of a hotel room, a travel destination, a real estate property, a new car they’re hoping to buy, or similar.

It is experiential marketing at its finest. Organizations aren’t offering just static pictures and a list of features – they’re offering an entire experience. A consumer that enters the 360 space and gets a feel for the environment first-hand is not likely to forget it any time soon. They’re even more inclined to make a purchase after a positive experiential marketing event.

With the development of 360 videos, 360-degree marketing is taking on a whole new dimension in 2021. Platforms for developing virtual tours are popping up left and right, and you might want to look into setting up one for your business before your competitors beat you to it.

Augmented and virtual reality future trends aren’t limited just to the sports, gaming, and entertainment industries. With the rapid development of technologies such as AI and ML, more use cases are unlocked for AR and VR across the board.

We’re facing breakthroughs in augmented reality medical applications, mixed reality applications, virtual reality marketing, training and education applications, and more. AR indoor navigation will set a new standard for manufacturing companies, while AR remote assistance will have a massive impact on how different procedures are handled in most industries.

There are still some drawbacks that we have to mention – even though VR trends are on the rise in the business sector, we still can’t expect this technology to replace convenient smartphones, tablets, and other household devices. VR headsets are still too cumbersome and too limited with their use for virtual reality to become ubiquitous.

That being said, the future looks promising. 2021 will be a productive year for AR and VR, and hopefully, it will treat us all a little bit kinder than the previous one.

If you want to learn more about how to incorporate these innovative technologies into your business, feel free to send us a message. We look forward to collaborating with you!

Statistics say that 90% of home buyers search online for their next home. Since the 1990s, real estate agencies have listed properties on their websites with picture slideshows and 360 panoramas. The introduction of 360 VR tours in real estate was a game changer, allowing future homeowners to experience properties for sale first-hand. Nothing beats a fully immersive experience of a 360 virtual reality tour.

Since their inception, 360 virtual tours seamlessly slid into their rightful place in the real estate industry. The opportunity to view houses for sale in their entirety without leaving the comfort of your home is appealing to most consumers, especially in these times of mandatory social distancing. 360 VR tours have become indispensable in property marketing.

This post will explore why you should integrate VR 360 tours into your real estate business and what you should look for in 360 virtual tour software. Not every VR application has the same features; explore what’s on offer so that you can choose the best combination of functionalities for your brand.

Aside from the obvious benefits for the consumers, 360 VR tours have many advantages for real estate agents as well. Here are the most important reasons why you should include these types of tours on your website:

Setting up open houses or house tours takes a lot of time and effort. Real estate agents need to organize schedules, prepare everything in advance, and drive down to the house. Then they need to spend hours showing people around, talking about the finer details of the property, and answering questions.

An evident yet crucial benefit of a 360 virtual house tour is that it is permanently available. All your potential clients need to do is log in and take a look around. Agents don’t have to walk with them or worry whether an appointment will go over time. Virtual staging doesn’t require nearly as much time and money as real-life staging.

You can share your 360 real estate tours on social media and in blog posts, where buyers can ask questions. Additionally, they can share the house they’re interested in with their friends and family so that everyone can get a feel for the place.

Open tours for real estate can get a little impersonal. Future homeowners are led on a previously arranged walkthrough, with slight variation. Usually, there isn’t enough time to stop and size up the living room, consider where each piece of the furniture would go, and similar.

Virtual tours allow buyers to explore at their leisure. They can spend as much time as they want inside the house for sale, and they can discover each room at their own pace. Without the standard urgency of an actual real estate tour, homebuyers can develop a genuine connection with a house. They can imagine how they will decorate it, where their dogs will be, where their kids will play, and much more.

The more time they spend inside a virtual house, the more likely they will come to you for further inquiries and perhaps even a decision to buy it.

Virtual reality isn’t just a cute marketing gimmick. It is a set of immersive experiences that leave a lasting impression on its users. Being immersed in a different, computer-generated reality doesn’t happen often. This innovative technology is exciting; people will want to spend as much time in VR as possible, zooming in on the details and wanting to learn more about the property.

As a result, they will be more motivated to take the next step in the buyer’s journey.

One of the significant advantages of 360 virtual home tours is their versatility. A real estate agency doesn’t have to showcase only the properties currently for sale. Through the power of 3D-modeling and VR, they can also present houses and apartments that are not yet open for viewing.

360 VR tours of buildings and houses in construction allow the buyers to understand what the new space will look like once it’s complete. If the tour is interactive enough, the buyers can envision the house after it’s furnished to get a better sense of whether or not it suits them.

If you want to invest in VR software that will help you create 360 VR tours, you should find out what features you can choose from. There are plenty of options in the world of VR software development – it’s just a matter of finding the features that fit your business the best.

Here are some key VR tour app functionalities you should consider:

We’ve already discussed how virtual reality technology is becoming essential for all types of industries. Its ability to transform the real estate sector is undeniable as more and more real estate businesses are including 360 VR tours on their websites.

The advantages of incorporating VR tours in your practice are that you will have a permanent open house that your consumers can explore at their leisure and that you can use the tour to showcase any property type, including properties that are not yet ready for viewing in real life. Virtual reality is an immersive, interactive experience that will allow your users to develop a stronger relationship with their future home.

When considering what 360 VR software to invest in, look at the features you would need: a simple, web-based creation, points of interest, analytics, question points, a map for easy navigation, and more. Perhaps a virtual staging option could be a good addition. App development should be tailored to you and your business, no matter what company you go for.

If you want more information on 360 VR tours and would perhaps like a quote for your company, contact us at ARVRtech. We develop cutting-edge augmented reality and virtual reality solutions that will help your business thrive! We’re incredibly proud of 360 VR enterprise solutions, so don’t hesitate to reach out!

More and more businesses are turning to VR applications to enhance their storytelling, raise brand awareness, and improve customer satisfaction. The latest trend in the technology of virtual reality is 360 virtual tours for business – an excellent way to create immersive experiences for a wide range of consumers.

When the first 360 degree tours emerged, they immediately became a perfect fit for the tourism and real estate industries. A virtual reality real estate tour offers the chance of exploring a house or property without leaving the comfort of your home, while virtual tourism has been on a steep incline. The current global health crisis that mandates social distancing means that traditional travel avenues are shut off – there has never been a better moment to turn to 360 VR software than now.

Aside from tourism and real estate, other industries also see advantages in virtual 360 tours. These sectors include:

If you are wondering whether your business could benefit from a 360 degree virtual tour: wonder no more. What follows is a list of business segments that can be completely transformed through the power of virtual tour software.

Organizing lectures and training sessions for old and new employees is a task that requires time, money, and effort. The employer needs to set up the training space and equipment, find the lecturers, and possibly even to pause regular work activity to demonstrate critical job processes.

All of this can be easily avoided by creating an interactive virtual tour instead. 360 virtual tour training can be used in two different ways.

An employer can create a virtual tour that guides their workers through new processes they need to learn for the job. The employees will find themselves in different 360 scenes – images or video – abundant with information on how to perform various tasks, how to handle different equipment, and what they should pay attention to.

Immersive VR experiences help improve both hard skills (technical skills specific for the job) and soft skills (people skills and personality traits useful for most job positions).

Aside from skill training, VR 360 tours can be used for health and safety training. The principle is the same: create a series of 360 scenes that will teach the employees the importance of personal protective equipment (PPE) and safety protocols. These scenes can include the assembly line, the factory floor, packaging lines, or any other environments that require special health and safety education.

While wearing a VR headset, workers will feel as though they are actually in those environments. They will have an easier time understanding the risks of the job and how they can be prevented without getting in the way of other workers or putting themselves in any danger.

An excellent example of VR safety training is our project VR Factory, where we enabled a cement factory to educate its employees about working at heights without actually leaving the comfort of an office.

360 virtual tour software can include questionnaires related to the material the employees have just gone over to test their newfound knowledge.

360 house tours are already becoming indispensable in the real estate industry. A 360 virtual reality tour has the unique advantage of placing the user directly inside the property or home they are interested in purchasing. This instant immersion makes the sales process a breeze even if you can’t visit the actual property.

However, 360 viewing is useful for car sales (a 360 degree tour of a car dealership, for example), fashion and retail, as well as a wide range of promotions.

A virtual 360 tour can be created for exploring the comforts of a luxury airline, for virtually stepping inside hotels and restaurants, promoting the importance of national parks and green living, increasing brand awareness for pretty much any type of business, and more.

One of the more recent examples of a marketing 360 VR tour is for Cathaway Pacific. Through a series of 360 scenes, you can find out exactly what it’s like to be a first-class passenger on this innovative airline.

Team building is typically not a favorite among employees. It gets a bad reputation because it mostly resembles forced group activities in middle school, when you had no choice but to communicate with children you didn’t like.

However, team-building exercises are essential for a thriving business. They build trust between team members, help resolve conflict, and improve communication and collaboration. A team that communicates well is a team that knocks projects out of the park.

Imaginative 360 VR tours can help in strengthening team bonds by setting up unforgettable team-building experiences.

If your 360 VR tour software comes with the appropriate features, such as a scoring system and a leaderboard, you can build entertaining tours that will show your team with a great time. Upload 360 scenes that require team members to answer quiz questions or even interact with objects to find clues and solve puzzles. All you need for an adventurous virtual tour is a pair of VR headsets and a team that excels in fun yet competitive environments.

Now that you’ve caught a glimpse of how you can make the best use of a virtual reality tour for your business, a question remains: what should your virtual reality application include? What kind of software features should you look for?

Here are a few key aspects a 360 virtual tour platform for business should have:

Many virtual reality companies attempted to develop products with all of these features combined. To our humble knowledge, ARVRtech is the only one that succeeded in this endeavor. Reach out to us for more information on how you can integrate a virtual tour app into your enterprise. Let’s see what we can create together!

Even though VR has yet to become commonplace in everyone’s home, industrial VR training is slowly but surely taking over a multitude of industries. Most recently, Walmart has introduced VR for training their employees in a wide range of skills, including soft skills like customer service, empathy, and compliance.

With so much hype around Walmart VR training, it is clear that this immersive technology has a lot to offer when it comes to employee training processes. Here are some industry examples where VR training can be used:

In this post, we will explore the advantages of virtual reality training, in what situations it can be applied, and how it will transform your business into a workplace of the future.

From where we’re standing, there aren’t any downsides to VR training programs becoming a standard part of your business. We can, however, spot numerous benefits of virtual reality training, with the main ones being:

If your employees are expected to acquire new skills or learn how to operate dangerous machinery, the training environment is not the safest. The process would require personal protective equipment, constant vigilance, and there would be a considerable risk to the worker’s health and safety, especially while they are still learning.

Being a real-life simulation, virtual reality poses no threat to anyone’s safety. Everything happens within the simulation, with the workers comfortably standing or sitting with a VR headset over their eyes.

A good example of safe VR training is our VR Factory solution, specially developed for workers in a cement factory who had to operate from great heights. Thanks to our virtual reality training software, the workers were able to learn about personal protective equipment and the importance of safety harnesses in a realistic 360-degree environment. They didn’t approach these great heights until they passed their safety course and were ready to take on the job.

A study from 2018 determined that virtual reality aids recall, meaning that those who learn something in VR are better at recalling what they’ve learned than had they studied using traditional methods. Additionally, VR improves knowledge retention. The training your employees undergo in VR will stay with them longer than other forms of training.

The reason for these improved statistics when it comes to learning in VR lies in its immersive qualities. Many people learn better through action than through reading a textbook or watching a presentation. Their brains memorize not only the facts and protocols but also the motions, the audio instructions, and entire settings. A VR training simulator is not just a plain showcase of data – it is an entire experience that your workers will remember for a long time to come.

Traditional training courses can put a dent in your budget. You need to find a suitable space, educators, and equipment, among other things. The training might even require production downtime, depending on how disruptive it is to everyday workflow in your company. A lot of planning and organization goes into it, requiring whole teams to take time off from their regular work activities.

Fortunately, none of this is an issue with VR training. You will only need a VR head-mounted display (VR headset) and a little bit of space for the worker to use. In case the VR headset needs to connect to a computer, you will also need one of those. Instead of looking for trainers or lecturers, you just need to find the right VR training software and you’ll be good to go!

In regular training, employees can only watch emergencies on video or read about them in text. They need to memorize guidelines and instructions, but for obvious reasons, they cannot learn what to do in an emergency by performing the actions. Or at least, they couldn’t until virtual reality for training arrived.

Thanks to the versatility of VR environments, your employees can find themselves in all sorts of emergency situations. From machine malfunctioning to chemical spills to fire emergencies to natural disasters – no scenario cannot be simulated in VR and made to look incredibly realistic. With this type of hands-on training, your workers will have no doubts over how to act if a crisis hits.

Skills are most commonly divided into hard and soft skills. Virtual reality can help improve both.

Hard skills are also called technical skills. They are specific to each job, can be taught, and easily quantified. For example, if you’re working in a restaurant kitchen, your hard skills would include dicing ingredients and successfully combining flavors. If you’re an IT developer, a hard skill could be how much you’re familiar with Java programming.

Soft skills, on the other hand, are not related to any specific job and are more difficult to measure. These are usually interpersonal skills, such as leadership abilities, communication, teamwork, conflict resolution skills, and similar.

Virtual reality simulations can be specifically tailored to what your business needs. If you require an employee to learn how to handle a machine, they can be placed right in front of a VR-version of it. Just look at the use of VR for medical training: new doctors and surgeons around the world are sharpening their hard skills without having to wait for the right patients to walk through the door.

The same applies to any soft skill training as well – every training program can be replicated in VR.

While there are plenty of VR training programs out there, the ideal one would be designed specifically for the needs of your company. The perfect VR solution can be customized to fit the size and type of your business, the type of training your wish to present to your employees, and whether or not you want any additional features. These additional features can include analytics and reporting, scoreboards to motivate your workers to perform well, and many others.

We at ARVRtech develop just such virtual reality training solutions. Our primary concern is to understand the challenges of your business and develop software that will benefit you and your employees the most. If you wish to step into the immersive world of employee VR training, we would be more than happy to offer advice and guide you along the way. Feel free to contact us at ARVRtech to get a free quote.

Let’s see what we can make together!