From 3D printing to Artificial Intelligence, Lush shows how even old-school companies can embrace technology.

Over the past twenty years, Lush has sold countless tons their strong-smelling handmade cosmetics ranging from colourful bath bombs to soap which is sold by weight, cut from giant slabs in their shops. For environmental reasons, they are very much against using packaging unless strictly necessary, so prices and product information is usually written by hand in chalkboard style signs, and everything is left “naked” on display (hence the strong smell of the mingling essential oils that you get every time you walk past one of their shops, of which there are about 1000 worldwide).

Which is why it wasn’t really surprising that the most high-tech thing you could spot in a Lush shop for many years was a set of scales much like you’d find in a street market.

Sure, they had a website where you could mail order, but to be honest for many years it was rather a cumbersome affair and I always found it easier (and nicer) to just go to my nearest shop. Which I supposed was the whole idea. Instead, their main vehicle for updating the loyal customer base on product news was an old-fashioned newspaper which was printed and distributed in the shops every month. The Lush Times.

Lush has pivoted to embrace digital technology over the past few years
Share on X

But that has all pivoted a few years ago, and Lush’s transformation into modernity has been driven largely by Jack Constantine, the son of Lush Founders Mark and Mo who is currently the company’s Chief Digital Officer – and inventor. The family still owns most of the business and are very much a part of its day-to-day running (his sister Claire and brother Simon also work at Lush).

“Lush Digital is my baby. It’s been something I’ve been working on for the past 5 years and as the digital landscape evolved it became clear we needed to set up a new arm of the business,” Constantine explains.

Jack trained as a graphic designer and then as “online became a thing” moved on to digital marketing, while still getting his hands dirty with inventing new bath bombs in the Lush factory in Dorset, England. He quickly understood that for digital marketing to succeed they needed to overhaul the company’s existing website. But although these days Lush does have a perfectly adequate e-commerce setup, Constantine tells me they will soon be overhauling their online structure in a much more fundamental way. His vision for the new website is rather ambitious:

“It’s not just a website – it’s a cloud based, mobile first global technology infrastructure for the whole Lush business.  All built in-house, using open source software, and aligning to our own ethical policies,” he says.

Even Lush's till system will be entirely run on open source software
Share on X

Even the till system that all their shops use will run on open source software, which Lush believes will not only save on running costs, but also make its customer-facing operations much more customizable and efficient. And to do that, they are busy recruiting in-house tech talent for the team.

But although Poole – where Lush’s UK Headquarters and factory are still based – is one of the top 10 digital tech hubs in the country, recruiting in-house tech talent hasn’t always been easy. “It’s been challenging getting the digital community to understand that Lush  – a cosmetics company – is serious about digital and is building a software & media house, and over time our reputation has developed to where it is today.”

And where it is today involves dabbling with a lot of different tech. At the showcase I spotted 3D printers sculpting intricate bath melts, and a machine that laser-etched soap bars, as well as a fully-fledged media studio, and a setup that captured biometric feedback such as brainwaves to turn it into a relaxing “spa experience” installation.

Now that it has decided to embrace technology, the company seems determined to dabble in them all, and Constantine is particularly excited about the possibilities that Machine Learning and Augmented Reality bring. “Lush is such a tactile brand, and our products are so hands on that having tools that bridge the real world and the digital world is going to enhance everything,” he says.

Lush is keen to incorporate its trademark playfulness into their tech too
Share on X

But while it is clear that Lush is keen to incorporate some of its trademark playfulness into its technology, some of the applications I demoed had a much more practical bend. The “Lush Lens” app, for example, used image recognition technology to give users real-time information on their products. They are also looking at how best to incorporate Google Machine Learning APIs to build a “Lush Personal Assistant” functionality into that offering. Which is all really useful, considering that most people are rather unfamiliar with how you go about using things like hair oil, massage bars, solid bubble bath, shower jelly, or a “toothie tab”.

What Lush shows is that in the digital age every business is at least in part a technology business. And the more you embrace that and integrate tech into your company’s DNA, the easier that journey of modernization will be, and perhaps you can even manage to have some fun along the way.

This article was originally published on The Next Web

From 3D printing to Artificial Intelligence, old-school companies can go digital too https://t.co/5mxi5ksnp6

— TNW Contributors (@TNWcontributors) September 8, 2017

To find out how to leverage VR/AR/MR in your enterprise, Tech Trends offers bespoke Virtual Reality Consultancy support

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Hand-making the Digital Revolution appeared first on Tech Trends.

This Microsoft artistic collaboration blends the real and virtual worlds and blurs the line between human and machines

Transformation Mask is an experiential sculpture piece that brings art and technology together as it morphs from bird mask to human-merged-with-machine. It the result of a collaboration between Canadian artist Shawn Hunt and Microsoft Vancouver’s in-house maker space, The Garage. It Leverages electronics and mechanical engineering in a physical transformation, before beginning an immersive holographic experience for the viewer with the HoloLens.

This Microsoft artistic collaboration blends the real and virtual worlds
Share on X

But while the project is certainly interesting enough from a technical perspective – the way it blends 3D-printed and robotics elements with HoloLens mixed reality holograms via Bluetooth is sure to get anybody with a penchant for geeky tinkering very excited – what makes it truly ground-breaking is the way it uses those technologies to explore aesthetics, identity, and artistic expression in new ways.

Transformation Mask is an experiential sculpture that merges art and tech
Share on X

Shawn Hunt is a successful Vancouver-based artist who – like many people in British Columbia – is of mixed descent, combining Scottish, French and indigenous Heiltsuk heritage. Rather than seeing that conflict of identities as a problem, however, Hunt has always leveraged it as a part of his art:

“I have never felt like I really belonged to any one particular movement, culture, category, or clique. As an artist this has given me an incredible amount of freedom. I don’t feel that my work is conceptual, traditional, artefact or craft. It is neither ancient nor modern. Instead, I feel as though my work has elements of all of these categories. This is a freedom that allows me to distort, subvert, hijack and remix these categories in order to offer new points of view. I want to challenge the viewers’ preconceptions. I like the idea of art being like a catalyst, or a flash point. I think art is most powerful when it poses questions, not when it gives the viewer the answers. My goal is to make the viewer think.”

So it made perfect sense for him to take this subversion and remixing to the next step by incorporating cutting-edge technologies in his work. That led him to accept Microsoft’s invitation to essentially come and play with all the shiny toys in their impressive Vancouver HQ. Hunt and his team of artists then collaborated with a host of designers and engineers to explore how Robotics, 3D-Printing and Mixed Reality could help tell traditional stories in a new and powerful way.

The raven in Heiltsuk mythology is seen as the ultimate trickster and that fluid identity seemed like a perfect idea to explore using Mixed Reality
Share on X

The raven in Heiltsuk mythology is seen as the “ultimate trickster” and that fluid identity seemed like a perfect idea to explore using those tools. The interactive installation they came up with features a bird mask in a traditional indigenous design which gradually morphs into a cyborg through a mixture of physical robotics mechanisms and virtual Mixed Reality elements. As the experience unfolds, the mask appropriates the traditional aspects of metamorphosis with the transformation from bird mask to human, yet in this adaptation the human mask has been altered, upgraded, and merged with the machine. Incorporating aspects of technology, sound and space, each part of the work reflects Hunt’s interest in how we understand and identify with the term indigenous.

“This work presents a new trajectory for engagement and exploration of First Nations practice; one that points towards technology and innovation as aspects that expand traditional practices and opens new avenues for interpretation,” says Hunt.

The process started with the production of a paper prototype of the mask, and the team also employed a variety of traditional methods, from initial hand drawn sketches to a full size foam core mock up. These were then replicated into a digital prototype mounted on an aluminium skeleton for hinge measurements. True to traditional form, there are no straight lines on the raven (a concept diametrically opposed to polygonal hard surface 3D modelling) and complex compound curves were lofted to generate the primary beak and head surfaces while procedurally generated hex patterns filled the voids for the raven’s eyes and nostrils.

The process started with the production of a paper prototype of the mask, and the team also employed a variety of traditional methods
Share on X

At every step, the structures were digitally recreated and animated to avoid complications in the hardware build phase. Overall, the mask required nearly 300 hours of 3D-printing time. The model was digitally sliced into over 20 sections to meet printer specifications, with components assembled on open beam aluminium rails with interlocking elements between the printed pieces. The finished mask was made up of over 20 individually 3D-Printed components and measured over a meter.

At every step, the structures were digitally recreated and animated to avoid complications in the hardware build phase
Share on X

The mask’s behaviour was achieved through an array of electronics, sensors, processors and mechanical elements. An ultrasonic range finder detects the presence of an attendee and automatically triggers the experience. Three linear actuators attached to an aluminium skeleton drive the primary phases of motion. Several microcontrollers work in unison to control individual addressable LEDs and behaviour states for the raven’s eyes projected through Windows phones. The mask transforms with the help of three linear servos driven by two microcontrollers, and communicates with itself and the outside world through electromagnetic and optical signals.

The mask’s behaviour was achieved through an array of electronics, sensors, processors and mechanical elements
Share on X

The 3D drawings were enhanced with purpose-built skeletal systems to create organic animation
Share on X

Modified LED strips line the inside of the mask triggering the hardware and software cues throughout the various stages of the experience. The HoloLens impressive computing power orchestrates all these elements, synchronizing the software and hardware over a Bluetooth connection.The holographic experience, where the animated volumetric drawings appear in concert with particle simulations and spatial sounds, was sequenced and rendered in real time using Unity3D. To design it, Shawn started by familiarizing himself with a range of technologies. Drawings that started as volumetric digital sculptures in Tilt Brush were later refined using 2D digital inking to perfect the traditional lines and forms Hunt intended to express. The 3D drawings were further enhanced with purpose-built skeletal systems to create organic animation. Sound was also a key part of the experience, with custom sound design being implemented first, inspiring the timing and intensities for visuals rather than adding it at the end. The result is a powerfully synchronized audio-visual-mechanical experience.

Modified LED strips line the inside of the mask triggering the hardware and software cues throughout the various stages of the experience
Share on X

“Art comes in many forms, can easily transcend cultures and utilize technology to become something new. Life is all about these infinite possibilities and combinations,” says Andy Klein, HoloLens Mixed Reality Designer.

And that’s precisely what makes the Transformation Mask such an interesting use case for HoloLens and Mixed Reality Technology: Rather than separating artistic and technical functions, these were very closely blended throughout the conceptual, design and execution phases of the project. Just as the traditional indigenous masks blurred the line between human and animal, reality and myth, technology brings together human and machine, the physical and the virtual. It is clear that if we are to create compelling, engaging and inspiring content that also resonates culturally with audiences, that’s an approach that content makers would do well to learn from and adopt.

Rather than separating artistic and technical functions, these were blended throughout the conceptual, design and execution phases of the project
Share on X

How 3D-Printing, Robotics and Mixed Reality created this Transformers-style HoloLens art piece https://t.co/pdPrt3jD5Z

— TNW Contributors (@TNWcontributors) July 18, 2017

This article was originally published on The Next Web

For companies looking to get into Immersive technologies such as VR/AR/MR/XR our Virtual Reality Consultancy services offer guidance and support on how best to incorporate these into your brand strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedInand follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Transforming Art with Mixed Reality appeared first on Tech Trends.

Welcome to a world of wizardly wonder, where technology is indeed indistinguishable from magic. If you ever dreamed of going to Hogwarts, this course at Full Sail University might just be for you

I hold in my hands what looks and feels like a wand from a Harry Potter film. But this isn’t one of the cheap replicas you can buy in a souvenir shop. It was 3D-printed right here, in the high-tech workshop where I’m standing. And once I put on a HoloLens headset, it’s incredibly effective against the hordes of advancing dementors.

This blended approach is embraced by industry players like Microsoft
Share on X

The game—and the wand—were developed by Pat Starace, director of the digital fabrication course at Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida. Over a 20-year career, Starace has produced a huge range of models, special effects, and animations for motion pictures and television, including the iconic 1979 title sequence from 60 Minutes. At Full Sail, he teaches students the rapid prototyping techniques needed to convert 3-D drawings into objects like magic wands, while also working on his own projects (like an animatronic toucan and a 3D-printed prosthetic hand modeled after Iron Man’s glove).

The Dementor game switches between AR and virtual reality VR seamlessly within the same experience
Share on X

The Dementor game was built to explore switching between augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR) within the same experience: Players can either blast Dementors rushing at them from all sides of their living room, or be transported to what looks like a room at Hogwarts. In the industry, this type of game is still considered blue-sky thinking—experiences tend to be segmented into AR or VR—but students vying for Full Sail’s Simulation and Visualization bachelor degree, launched in 2016, are encouraged to think big. Already, this blended approach is being embraced by industry players like Microsoft.

“We talk about VR and AR as their own separate industries, but they are in fact simply screens into a virtual world,” says Full Sail program director Rob Catto. “The difference is that the screens actually put you into that world. VR is about much more than just putting on a headset; it’s about all of your senses.”

As in Hogwarts wizards, training AR/VR wizards is a complicated business. Full Sail’s workshop is packed with 3D printers, laser cutters, and milling machines. Students learn everything from basic carpentry and spray-painting to how to make their own circuit boards. They study artificial intelligence, physics, data modeling, and human-computer interaction, and learn a diverse range of technical skills that includes using engines like Unity and Unreal, and coding in C Sharp and C++. The program is not for the faint of heart, and more suited to your average Hermione than your average Ron.

Early on, students at Full Sail University are given a project that requires them to use skills like laser-cutting and circuit-board construction
Share on X

Early on, students are given a project that requires them to use skills like laser-cutting and circuit-board construction. They then go on to assemble and program devices like one Catto shows me in the Full Sail lab. Called a Stewart Platform, it’s a miniature version of what most theme park rides sit on top of, except this one fits in the palm of my hand. It’s engrossing to watch the platform perform a wide range of dynamic movements—heaving, surging, swaying, rolling, hitching, and dropping—especially when those movements are synced to a character’s on-screen movements.

When Full Sail student Carolyn Smith was tasked with building a Stewart Platform, she too turned to J. K. Rowling for inspiration. Smith designed her own version of Quidditch—sort of like football, if football were played on flying broomsticks—complete with a Harry Potter figurine riding a broom. That got Smith thinking bigger: Why not make a broom you could actually ride while experiencing Quidditch in immersive VR?

When Full Sail student Carolyn Smith was tasked with building a Stewart Platform, she too turned to J. K. Rowling for inspiration
Share on X

Smith started by crafting a life-size Nimbus 2000—a high-end broom model featured in the Harry Potter books
Share on X

Smith started by crafting a life-size Nimbus 2000—a high-end broom model featured in the books—using tools and materials from the Full Sail lab. She also found resources online: Being a keen cosplayer meant Smith was familiar with a community that enjoyed building realistic props, and various tutors offered help and advice. (One of them even lent her his personal power chisel.) After a lot of hard graft—she stayed up until 2am spray-painting and hand-layering broom bristles —the model came together, and Smith turned her attention to making it “fly.”

“Two instructors helped me with wiring it and… doing thing like fitting in an accelerometer and connecting it to an Arduino computer,” Smith says. “Two buttons are placed just below the accelerometer [to accelerate and to grab the snitch, if you’re close enough], which also connect to the Arduino, making complex adjustments that link the movements of the platform to those of the character generated on the screen.”

A huge Harry Potter fan, Smith plans to visit Universal Studios Harry Potter ride to see how it compares to her efforts, and it’s not unlikely that she’ll stay in Orlando after graduation: The city has more than 100 companies working in the simulation sector, and the VR boom is continuing to gain momentum. But for now, Smith’s only regret is how the project deadline prevented her from researching all the proper Quidditch lore. “I wanted to try to make the game as accurate as possible,” she says, “but I ran out of time.” Looking at what she’s managed to build, I feel that Rowling herself might let a few inaccuracies slide.

This article originally appeared in Quartz

A Florida university is making Quidditch a (virtual) reality https://t.co/iLIFeskRUm

— Quartz (@qz) June 17, 2017

For companies looking to gain a competitive edge through technology, Tech Trends offers strategic Virtual Reality and Digital Transformation Consultancy services tailored to your brand.

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Being a Wizard at Virtual Reality University appeared first on Tech Trends.

At first glance the Print the Future shop in Midtown Manhattan looks much like any other sleek designer homeware store. Upon closer inspection, however, the geometric stools, chunky chairs and curvaceous settee have something rather unusual in common. They’ve all been 3-D printed by a machine like the one currently whirring away in the back of the room as it makes a bright blue stool to add to this tasteful display.

3-D printing has so far been seen as a gimmick but it has huge practical applications
Share on X

The idea behind Print the Future is to enable a community of designers to convert their ideas into 3-D objects that are both practical and beautiful, and to sell these directly to consumers. Their pop-up shop – which stays open in Manhattan until March 31^st – is to show these consumers that the technology has moved beyond being a gimmick and is now a viable way to produce customised and useful products.

The Vancouver-based company currently has an online presence and large-scale printing operations setup with partners in Sweden and Germany, but the plan is to roll out this model they’re piloting in New York on a permanent basis, opening up shops in major cities where customers can come in to discuss and co-design their 3-D printing ideas, watch the items materialize, and collect them once they’re finished.

You can get a custom piece of furniture printed in 24 hours or less on the spot
Share on X

Their ambitious plans are to capture a 5-10% share of the 3-D Printing market, which is predicted to double in size to reach $35 billion by 2020. Patel puts to me that they want to become to 3D printing what Google is to search or Amazon to e-commerce. In order to do that, they will start by disrupting the home furnishings market by offering customized furniture printed to order within 24 hours, with prices currently ranging between $500-$1500. Patel’s previous company, Kabuni, is a marketplace that connects interior designers with their customers, and they plan on using that existing community as a springboard to quickly scale up.

3-D printing is finally on the cusp of becoming a consumer-facing technology
Share on X

There’s been huge investment and excitement around delivery technology in recent years, yet this concept is fundamentally even more disruptive than the idea of having a drone delivering your Amazon order. “I grew up watching Doctor Who, and what we’re talking about is that Science Fiction concept of zapping ideas across space,” says Print the Future CEO and Founder Neil Patel. “The idea that you can upload a design and have it materialize as a complete product halfway across the world, is incredibly powerful.”

Read the full article on the Fast Company website

You can now get 3D-printed designer furniture that won’t break the bank https://t.co/B7u8rhjVdI pic.twitter.com/N4bKq4EWGm

— Fast Company (@FastCompany) March 14, 2017

The post 3-D Printing Designer Furniture appeared first on Tech Trends.

Since the entire United Kingdom seems unable to focus on anything else but the future of the country’s most beloved TV show, I thought it was one of those “If you can’t beat them, join them” moments.

Will 3-D printing make for a stress-free #bakeoff future?
Share on X

For the record, I enjoy baking as much as the next person, but stop short of believing that the move of said TV show (The Great British Bake-Off in case you’re one of those unenlightened individuals who have no idea what I’m going on about) from one TV Channel to another constitutes the end of civilisation as we know it.

But baking is an interesting activity to bring tech into, actually, because it’s one of those things that a lot of people find both relaxing and stressful in equal measures. And there is a lot of debate around what constitutes “cheating”.

Baking is an interesting activity to bring tech into
Share on X

So when I got an invite to a demo of a Food Printer prototype that promised to produce pizzas, cookies, macaroons, chocolate and icing decorations I was intrigued to see what those would look like.

This food printing prototype can make pizzas, cookies and macaroons
Share on X

XYZ is one of the largest 3D Printing manufacturers out there, but this is their first foray into the food market. It brings, as one might expect, some considerable challenges.

First of all, the printer requires you to carefully mix your icing /dough/batter and load it into cartridges. Once that’s done, you’re able to use their software to turn any image into 3D shapes, but realistically this only works well with fairly uncomplicated designs. The Union Jack one came out quite well, although it took a considerable amount of time to churn out.

The creations then have to, of course, be baked separately, so realistically you are going to spend a lot more time and effort than it’s worth at this stage to get your cookie fix, but there’s a certain Jetsons-like appeal to the idea of doing it this way. Much like drone technology, it might all seem pointlessly convoluted and expensive right now, but things are advancing rapidly, and we’ll probably live to see the day where these things actually make it to our kitchen counter in one form or another.

we’ll probably live to see the day where these things makes it to our kitchen counter in some form
Share on X

At which point you might very well be sending your smart 3D printer a text on the way home to let it know to have a pizza and some cookies waiting. In the meantime, best take a leaf from Mary Berry’s book and get your baking mitts on.

The post Great British Print-Off? appeared first on Tech Trends.