Lockheed Martin’s space division has partnered with Scope AR to support the manufacturing of spacecraft, including NASA’s Orion.

Lockheed Martin’s space division is now using Mixed Reality headsets and software to speed up the time it takes for engineers to learn about and conduct manufacturing processes on spacecraft. The defence contractor is one of many major industry players to embrace Mixed Reality and incorporate immersive tech in their industrial processes.

Lockheed Martin is one of many major industry players to embrace Mixed Reality and incorporate immersive tech in their industrial processes
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What started as a pilot has been incorporated into the company’s manufacturing processes, including those involving the Orion space vehicle being built for NASA to travel to Mars
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They began experimenting and studying how to use augmented reality in production beginning five years ago, but what started as a pilot to explore what would be possible using the technology has increasingly been incorporated into the company’s manufacturing processes, including those involving the Orion space vehicle being built for NASA to eventually travel to Mars.

“In a complex field where errors simply cannot be made, Scope AR’s WorkLink Augmented Reality platform has tremendously helped our space division build high quality spacecraft by reducing the time it takes to interpret work instructions by more than 95 percent, as well as reducing training time and errors significantly,” says Shelley Peterson, emerging technologies lead, Lockheed Martin. “The ability to easily use the product across platforms means that anyone on our team, including our interns, can take advantage of AR to build and use manufacturing instructions quickly and accurately.”

Whereas technicians previously relied on paper instruction or computer 3D models viewed through a screen, they can now overlay data and schematics directly onto the relevant environment using the Microsoft HoloLens. Using AR, workers can now see the digital information and work instructions needed overlaid onto the actual components of the spacecraft. Giving technicians the tools to readily access information as and when they need it has resulted in extremely positive ROI.

Whereas technicians previously relied on paper instruction or computer 3D models viewed through a screen, they can now overlay data and schematics directly onto the relevant environment
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Using AR, workers can now see the digital information and work instructions needed overlaid onto the actual components of the spacecraft
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Over the course of their AR deployment, the team achieved an astonishing 95% reduction in the time it takes technicians to interpret drawings and text instructions and 85% reduction in overall time for training.

“Lockheed Martin’s use of WorkLink is a great example of how dramatically AR technology can improve understanding of complicated instructions and technician efficiency, while also reducing errors in manufacturing,” says Scott Montgomerie, co-founder and CEO of Scope AR.

And since Scope AR software doesn’t require complex coding, Lockheed Martin IT workers can quickly design 3-D representations of relevant objects and instructions to be overlaid onto real-world environments and pieces of equipment.

The team achieved 95% reduction in the time it takes technicians to interpret drawings and text instructions and 85% reduction in overall time for training.
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“The reduction in time to create AR work instructions is the key enabler for this new technology,” adds Peterson. “In the past, it could take an expert software engineer months to create a set of work instructions.  Using Scope AR’s WorkLink platform, an entry level engineer can build a more advanced work instruction within days. And, these are not simple, one step procedures – the instructions are enabling technicians to manufacture major components of a spacecraft. We have had teaching fellows and interns join us for a summer and after taking an online training course which lasts less than a day, they are able to start building basic AR work instructions in WorkLink.  Before the week is over, they are skillfully building more advanced work instruction sets.”

At this rate, it looks like Mixed Reality could make a very significant contribution to – as Buzz Aldrin puts it – getting our ass to Mars. To infinity and beyond indeed…

It looks like Mixed Reality could make a significant contribution to getting our ass to Mars
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The reduction in time to create AR work instructions is the key enabler for this new technology
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For companies looking to get into VR/AR/MR our Virtual Reality Consultancy services offer guidance on how these technologies can enhance and support 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 LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Building Spaceships with Mixed Reality appeared first on Tech Trends.

SpaceVR will use Virtual Space Tourism to connect us to our planet and to each other, expanding the limits of human consciousness.

“Let’s launch cool s**t into space!”

As far as elevator pitches go, that’s not a bad start, but as I talked to Ryan Holmes about plans for his company’s upcoming launch later this year, things got even curiouser.

From out there on the Moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.' - Edgar Mitchel
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Located in the heart of San Francisco’s emerging nano-satellite industry, SpaceVR developed the world’s first virtual reality camera satellite, betting on creating a market for cinematic, live, virtual space tourism. When I met him at the Pioneers tech conference in Vienna, Austria, in May, Holmes was rocking the quasi-guru look – dressed in loose-fitting robes adorned with large fresh red roses – and he talked passionately about using virtual reality to expand people’s consciousness.

“SpaceVR aims to give everyone the opportunity to experience the truly infinite, boundless Universe through virtual reality,” he explained in quietly earnest tones, which were somewhat disconcerting to a cynical old tech journalist.

His inspiration, he told me, was a well-documented phenomenon called the Overview Effect, which is that first moment an astronaut realizes their place in an infinite universe, something they only achieve through direct observation. This in turn leads to reprioritization of protecting the earth and working together on a global scale.

It’s what prompted Neil Armstrong to say space travel made him feel “very, very small,” and is best summed up by a colorful quote from Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchel, who in a 1984 interview for People Magazine said: “From out there on the Moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.’”

SpaceVR initially launched as a Kickstarter in 2015 with a plan to send a 12-camera rig to the ISS that would be capable of shooting 3D, 360-degree footage. It felt well short of its ambitious $500,000 goal, although a subsequent scaled-back campaign managed to raise $100,000. It was a $1.25 million investment from China’s Shanda Group, however, that turned the project from a pipe dream to what now looks more of a viable proposition.

Located in the heart of San Francisco’s emerging nano-satellite industry, SpaceVR developed the world’s first virtual reality camera satellite
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Although Holmes wistfully admits that some of it was spent on what he describes as “his stupid mistakes,” there was enough left of their seed round investment to develop onboard software for the satellite, begin development of its content delivery and distribution channels, and invest in a worldwide satellite dish ground station communication network.

SpaceVR promises not only a whole different take on stargazing, but a truly transformative, almost spiritual experience
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This all promises not only a whole different take on stargazing, but a truly transformative, almost spiritual experience, and this most Silicon Valley of startups is now gearing up to its first pilot at –where else? – Burning Man.

The experience will last 11 minutes and 11 seconds, and will be housed on the 11^th floor of the Tree of Life art installation, currently being crowdfunded on Indiegogo.

The idea, as far as I could tell, involves people experiencing the VR footage from space while literally being immersed in flotation tanks to simulate the zero gravity feeling of actually being in orbit. They even refer to these units as “Galactic Spaceships” to be housed within Galactic Temples which Holmes plans to eventually place in all 197 countries of the world.

“People will enter the Galactic Spaceship and lay on a specially designed sound bed (8 speakers) where sound will play through their body as they experience a transcendent CGI based VR Overview Effect experience. The Tree and Galactic Spaceship are both built to house ambisonic sound experiences where one is completely surrounded by 3D audio,” explains Holmes.

It’s the sort of plot that would not be out of place in HBO’s Silicon Valley spoof, and it’s precisely the reason why so many of my colleagues in the tech industry can’t bear to watch the show. It’s just too close to home.

It's the sort of plot that would fit right into @SiliconHBO
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But while doubters may roll their eyes and dismiss the idea, there is compelling evidence and research suggesting that VR experiences can be extremely effective in engendering greater empathy towards our fellow humans and the environment. Jeremy Bailenson, a professor at Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab has run many experiences which demonstrate that even short experiences in relatively low resolution headsets can produce a change in behavior and predisposition in people who take part, so it is not that much of a stretch to say that people might get hooked onto these meditative experiences and end up caring a lot more about the planet in the process. Neither would be a bad thing, so could warrant a pass on the new-age stuff.

In 2016 SpaceVR partnered with NanoRacks LLC – a company that runs the commercial laboratory aboard the international space station and has experience launching hundreds of payloads into space, counting the European, German and US space agencies – to overcome the remaining logistical hurdles and deploy the satellite.

Users will get a taste of the SpaceVR experience @burningman this year
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The company will take the footage from the cameras and stitch it all into a 360-degree sphere — with live-streaming being the ultimate goal
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The satellite – aptly called the Overview — was due to launch inside one of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule, but was postponed due to some parts not being delivered to spec. SpaceVR is now working with their partners to rectify this and are a planning the launch for November 2018. Yet although the delay of the satellite launch means that the live SpaceVR images won’t be available to the Burning Man crowd, Holmes assures me the experience will be very similar.

When it does go into orbit, the Overview satellite will use 4K sensors to capture high resolution 360-degree video of earth from space and the content will be viewable on any virtual reality device, ranging from smartphones to Oculus Rift to extreme resolution devices such as the StarVR.

The video below demonstrates the quality at which the satellite will be able to eventually record the images from space:

The company will take the footage from the cameras and stitch it all into a 360-degree sphere — with live-streaming being the ultimate goal. The idea is to sell subscriptions to that footage, which will “immerse someone in space as if they were floating outside,” according to Holmes.

This article was originally published on Forbes

The Startup That Wants to Use Virtual Reality To Make The World A Better Place (From Space)https://t.co/hV4Bnt7zdj

— Forbes Tech News (@ForbesTech) June 6, 2018

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 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 Making the World a Better Place with Virtual Reality appeared first on Tech Trends.

Dutch company BlueTea has partnered with Boeing to build an advanced simulated spaceflight training environment.

The power of immersive technologies to enhance learning is something we’ve covered a lot here on Tech Trends in the past, and we only really started to scratch the surface of what is possible there. “Learning by doing” is a powerful concept, which essentially boils down to the fact we remember things we’ve experienced first-hand much better than those we’ve merely read, watched or were told about.

Learning by doing is a powerful concept embodied by Virtual Reality
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It of course takes extensive (and very intensive) training for astronauts to learn how to handle any situations and potential emergencies that could arise in space. This is why it makes sense to leverage VR tech to practice and imprint correct responses to a variety of high-pressure scenarios that that they might encounter – which is exactly what BlueTea, a Dutch developer of modular 3D training simulations is doing.

BlueTea will work with Boeing to build a simulated training environment for Astronauts
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The company was contracted by Boeing to build a Virtual Reality system based on advanced Simulated Training technology and BlueTea’s own VirtualStudio software, so they can prepare Astronauts for the unique challenges of their spaceflight while their feed are still safely planted on planet Earth.

Their solutions support hands-on training with simulations and gamification. Adding gaming elements to the training tools increases the fun factor, leading to more efficient knowledge transfer. The user experience is more intense and users learn the process or procedure faster as a result.

Their solutions support hands-on training with simulations and gamification
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BlueTea CEO Ruud Dullens

“As a small Dutch based company with smart innovation power we’re going to help astronauts train in the most effective way, using Virtual Reality,” says BlueTea CEO Ruud Dullens.

The Limburg-based company claims that its location in the southernmost region of the Netherlands gives them something of a strategic advantage, since they’re “sandwiched between Germany and Belgium and no more than 90 minutes away from at least 5 international airports and 6 universities.”

Dutch companies often punch above their weight in terms of innovation
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It is interesting how Dutch companies often punch well above their weight in such innovative areas. In fact, this culture of innovation in the Netherlands was something that Tech Trends recently experienced as guests of the #HollandMobility press tour we joined last month.

Boeing will now be integrating the BlueTea software into its systems, coordinating between its Virtual Reality Lab in Philadelphia and the Starliner training systems in Houston. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner is under development in collaboration with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to transport humans to low-Earth orbit destinations like the International Space Station.

Boeing's CST-100 Starliner is under development with NASA's Commercial Crew Program
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Photo credit: Fred Troilo/Boeing

The point of the system is to provide astronauts with safe and cost-effective training
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“Ultimately, the point of the system is to provide astronauts with a safe and cost-effective training environment in the form of a fully virtual 3D cockpit,” explains Dullens, adding that in order to do that, “each and every component of the Starliner’s virtual cockpit, right down to the tiniest switch, must be digitally connected to the spacecraft’s physical simulator located in Houston. That way, astronauts can prepare for every possible scenario, both virtually and in the real world.”

The first phase of the project involves creating a 3D simulation of part of the cockpit and linking it to the hardware simulator using their in-house software package VirtualStudio. This is unique because its intelligent 3D models and training scenarios are completely separate, meaning that a training manager can come up with endless combinations of controls, tools and events.  The second phase of the project involves developing a full 3D cockpit to communicate with the hardware simulator. From that point on, the astronauts in training can use the scenarios designed by their training manager in the VR lab to practice in a real-time and fully interactive environment, no matter where they are in the world or what medium they have available (PC, tablet, VR glasses or other devices).

Virtual training has proved to be an effective way of preparing for real-life practice. It is also an ideal training environment when a physical simulation would be too expensive or hazardous, concludes Dullens. And application such as these show how (particularly in this case) the sky really is the limit as far as applying immersive technologies to learning, training and simulation environments.

Tech Trends’  Virtual Reality Consultancy services offers support for companies looking to get a foothold in the growing Mixed Reality spectrum and enhance their brand strategy with these exciting new technologies. 

Every component of the virtual cockpit has to be connected to the physical simulator in Houston
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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 Sending Astronauts into Orbit with Virtual Reality appeared first on Tech Trends.