Listed as No. 663 on Inc. 5000 list, Bldg-25 is one to watch in software development. Led by Troy Knight, who has taken his game design past and turned it into a software company whose philosophy is deeply rooted in gamification and psychology. Senior Vice President of Client Experience, Chris Haire presented to our ecosystem a unique take on Industry 4.0 and the 4th Industrial Revolution: Why XR is the Secret Ingredient to Industry 4.0. Extended Reality, or XR, is an umbrella term for augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, and everything in between. His question to the audience was, “How can XR create better interactions between users and machines?”
As the 4th Industrial Revolution carries on, Chris’s belief is that moving requires key digitalization technologies. Things like big data, analytics, AI, and autonomous robotics will continue to evolve and push us forward to a smarter and more independent manufacturing system. An important part of that will be the next big convergence. Chris sees a not-so-distant future where smartphones, mobile VR headsets and AR glasses are going to converge to a singular device, an XR Wearable, which will be the next disruptive computing platforms. Visions of Tony Stark and Ironman popped into my head when he said this, and all I can say is, “I am Ironman.”
So what does that mean for Industry 4.0? When the XR Wearable becomes a reality, the use cases in industry become limitless. Employee engagement, upskills of current work forces, productivity improvement in production lines, inspection and maintenance uses, product and production design, and minimizing travel, just to name a few. The list could go on and on, but the key takeaway from my perspective is, how XR will open up the immersive learning experience. As Chris pointed out, XR will let employees learn in a ‘doing’ learning environment which will decrease the amount of learning time and increase retention. Again, limitless opportunities.
Chris went on to share exciting facts about how CEOs feel the integration of XR will impact the work force and manufacturing, as well as the many issues that can be solved by leveraging XR. Find some time to watch the full recording of this session to learn where the XR industry is headed as well as hear the great Q&A, which (spoiler alert) talks about XR giving us ‘superhuman’ abilities. Let’s go Ironman.