TechViz - Blog - AR / VR for engineering

Traditional VR often requires powerful computers and other high-performance devices to provide a good user experience. But what if there was a way to work with VR content from any device and anywhere? This is what Cloud VR - also called virtual reality cloud - promises to VR users. With the arrival of 5G and other network offers, this future for virtual reality technology might be sooner than we thought.

The history of VR has often been influenced by the defense industry. One of the first VR projects was developed in the 1960’s for a US military combat system. Virtual reality has always played a significant role in the military field and was adopted by all services: army, navy, and air force. It is mostly used for army training purposes, but there are other use cases where VR is a powerful tool.

In 2080, one third of the European population will be 65 or older. For smart factories through the path of the Industry 4.0, it means having a “good” workplace is not enough, and its design should anticipate the preservation of the operator’s wellbeing. Therefore, the working environment for modern manufacturing workplaces must allow for the best productivity and quality outputs, while offering a secure environment for the workers.

Many businesses have integrated virtual reality in their processes, especially since the covid-19 pandemic. More and more sectors undergoing digital transformation are taking advantage of enterprise VR to access cost-effective tools to conceive better products and collaborate more efficiently with 3D data.

Have you seen 2020’s Hype Cycle for Emerging technologies from Gartner?

Notice anything? Take some time to look at all the emerging technologies. Isn’t there something missing? Where is Virtual Reality? In a world where social distances and virtual collaboration has become essential to many industries, how come a technology like VR vanish from the Gartner Hype Cycle?

Hand tracking in VR is a very appealing feature. No need to learn the placement and functions of the buttons on the controllers anymore. How convenient and enjoyable would it be to just move your real and virtual hand in sync through your HMD? Just a move of your hand and voilà! Which means real-time hand tracking in VR has a lot of potential for casual and professional VR., especially because it replaces the controller and makes the VR experience even more immersive.

As manufacturing grew more complex, the need to find and fix errors before production has become crucial, hence the need for design reviews. But let’s be realistic a moment: if it happens with the 3D model of an airplane or a manufacturing plant, good luck finding it! This is where Virtual Reality (VR) intervenes (and especially VR collaboration). VR design review enables you to be immersed in your 3D data, see your product at full-scale and simulate its operation.

The automotive industry is a fast-paced sector which continuously adopts technologies that powers their digital transformation. Virtual Reality (VR) is one of the most fitting technology to provide the automotive sector with new methods and tools to design better vehicles, test different configurations, check driving ergonomics, refine manufacturing processes, etc.

Many opportunities and challenges were brought by Industry 4.0 to the manufacturing industry. The new technologies connect digital and physical assets, which changes all the business processes. To embrace this radical change, companies must understand and master all the steps from product conception to selling. However, only Digital Champions have adopted these technologies today, and others will likely struggle to keep competitive. So far, only a few companies have emerged as Digital Champions and gotten all the benefits from Industry 4.0.