Each Monday iQ3 will post content related to iQ3, the XR market, or the industries we serve. This post is intended to outline how iQ3 addresses the common XR adoption inhibitor of device requirements. The iQ3 platform is device agnostic, meaning that our adaptive screen technology enables XR experiences to be deployed on any combination of VR, AR, PC, and mobile devices. Being device agnostic reduces XR implementation cost and risk.
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Tag: iQ3Connect Blog
Monday Morning Coffee Blog – Access and Deployment
Each Monday iQ3Connect will post content related to iQ3, the XR market, or the industries we serve. This post is intended to outline how iQ3 addresses the common XR adoption inhibitor of access and deployment. iQ3’s one-click access allows guests and trainees to enter a multi-user immersive meeting space or training.
VR for Facilities Integration: Cable Routing and Rack Configuration
iQ3Connect recently partnered with a large facilities management company to solve a time consuming and costly challenge in facility integration: cable routing and cable rack configuration. The complexity of the facilities and the the numerous vendors involved, not only in the construction of the facility itself but also in the provision of the equipment for the facility, consistently leads to changes and/or confusion in the facility plan, from equipment placement to bulkhead/floor penetration sizing, to cable type and cable containment sizing. These constant changes mean that the final cable routing and rack configuration can’t be completed until near the end of the project and require extensive collaboration and field inspections to successfully deliver on time.
Creating a digital copy of the as-built facility through LiDAR scanning provided new opportunities for improving the design process. Scans of critical areas could be completed within hours, with the 3D scan data made available to the engineering team shortly after. However, having just the digital models and data did not allow them to fully realize the improvements to the design process. To do so required a method to visualize the data while designing or updating the cable routing and rack configuration in real-time and in collaboration with other stakeholders.
LiDAR scan of large processing facility. Image and scan data courtesy of MADTECH.
iQ3Connect provided an immediate solution. Our web-based VR/AR collaboration platform enabled our partner to visualize the 3D scan data, simultaneously configure cable racks (CAD models) in real-time, and collaborate with their team and other project stakeholders in an immersive, virtual workspace using only a web browser. While the engineering team had access to VR headsets and could explore the 3D data in a fully immersive environment, other stakeholders could still participate using their PCs or mobile devices and benefit from the real-time collaboration.
Cable racks built in real-time in the iQ3Connect immersive virtual workspace
This new design process was able to reduce the overall time to make decisions on cable routing and rack configuration. Additionally, through our collaboration with our partner, we identified further time-saving opportunities that could be achieved by providing for more accurate and quick alignment of cable racks in the iQ3Connect immersive workspace.
In our latest release, we have built on our capability to seamlessly combine LiDAR scans and CAD data by adding a new feature that enables precise and rapid alignment of CAD objects in the immersive workspace. This will enable teams to more quickly build and modify cable rack configurations on the fly and make adjustments to them as the as-built data changes.
Monday Morning Coffee Blog – Democratizing XR
Each Monday iQ3Connect will post content related to iQ3, the XR market, or the industries we serve. This post is intended to outline how iQ3C0nnect addresses the most common VR adoption inhibitor (cost) and our goal to democratize XR.
Monday Morning Coffee Blog – XR Adoption Inhibitors
Welcome to the iQ3Connect Monday Morning Coffee Blog where each week we will post content related to iQ3Connect, the XR market, or the industries we serve. This post is intended to outline the four common adoption inhibitors for XR in the industrial and manufacturing industries.
– Cost (XR expertise)
– Access & Deployment
– Device requirements
– Applicable content
Monday Morning Coffee Blog – XR in Manufacturing
Welcome to the iQ3Connect Monday Morning Coffee Blog where each week we will post content related to iQ3Connect, the XR market, or the industries we serve. This post is intended to outline how extended reality fits into the manufacturing space.
Monday Morning Coffee Blog – XR News
Welcome to the iQ3Connect Monday Morning Coffee Blog where each week we will post content related to iQ3Connect, the XR market, or the industries we serve. This post is intended to outline a few of the news sources that our iQ3 team uses to stay on top of what is going on in the XR industry.
Monday Morning Coffee Blog – XR Terms
Welcome to the iQ3Connect Monday Morning Coffee Blog where each week we will post content related to iQ3Connect, the XR market, or the industries we serve. This post is intended to define the terms XR, AR, MR, and VR and the importance that they play for industrial enterprises.
Monday Morning Coffee Blog – Introduction to iQ3Connect
Welcome to the iQ3Connect Monday Morning Coffee Blog where each week we will post content related to iQ3Connect, the XR market, or the industries we serve. This post is an intro to the blog and an overview of iQ3Connect. Stay tuned each week for new and exciting content.
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Leveraging VR/AR Technologies to Address Skill Shortages and High Workforce Turnover
People are the strength of an organization. The recent skills gap and high workforce turnover rates faced by many manufacturing and industrial enterprises are inhibiting their productivity and competitiveness. In this blog, we will discuss how the latest VR/AR solutions can help enterprises cost-effectively solve these challenges.
The Skills Gap and Transformation of Work
A study conducted by Deloitte & the Manufacturing Institute reveals that the skills gap may leave an estimated 2.4 million positions unfilled between 2018 and 2028 (Deloitte Study). Additionally, as the Fourth Industrial Revolution transforms the way we work, it is predicted that the new technologies driving this transformation (artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, automation, analytics, and the Internet of Things) are likely to create even more jobs than they replace. This transformation of work and increasing skills gap makes efficient training programs all the more important to ensuring future productivity and competitiveness.
Hands-On Training is Becoming Increasingly Cost Prohibitive
Physical training infrastructure, such as facilities, equipment, and the related travel and shipping costs, comprises about 40% of the average training budget for manufacturers. In the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as machines and facilities become more advanced, expensive, and specialized, this percentage is likely to increase. Onsite training means production must be paused or physical mock-ups must be built, neither is an appealing option. Moreover, traditional digital means such as training videos and slide decks can’t replace the hands-on training requirements of complex technical work. This means that we must look toward new technologies to help address the skills shortage.
How VR/AR Technologies Can Replace Hands-On Training
Many hands-on training programs can be cost-effectively virtualized by leveraging 3D digital assets that an organization already has access to, whether it’s CAD data from engineering or 3D scans from the facilities team. Existing videos and slide decks can be used as-is in virtual training, all while a trainee is interacting with the 3D digital models. If 3D content isn’t readily available within the enterprise, there exists several online marketplaces where models can be purchased at minimal cost. Even building a custom digital model from scratch can be more cost-effective than physical mock-ups.
Once the 3D content is on hand, many software solutions now enable non-programmers to develop complex immersive training modules without any coding. The same technicians, trainers, etc. who were building the original training program, can seamlessly create these new immersive training routines. Additionally, VR/AR solutions can now integrate directly into Learning Management Systems for uninterrupted and consistent tracking of training completion.
What are the Benefits of Deploying VR/AR Training?
VR/AR technologies offer the same cost-savings and efficiency benefits as the traditional digital tools (videos, slide decks, etc.) with the added benefit of being able to replicate many of the complexities and realism of hands-on training. It is often much more cost-effective to build a digital twin than to shut down production or build a physical mock-up. Moreover, VR/AR training can be used in training scenarios that are dangerous to physically perform such as in health, safety, and environment training. Finally, VR/AR training can reduce the overall workload on trainers, improve trainee knowledge retention, and increase reusability of training content.
Stay tuned next week for our blog discussing the different industrial training use cases for which virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are best suited.
