Orion Innovations joins the VR/AR Association and provides Artificial and Cognitive Intelligence Services

Orion Innovations, an Innovation Agency focused software services company headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida is pleased to join VRARA and offer artificial and cognitive services. Orion has been around since 2007 and offers full stack software development, AI/ML, and blockchain technologies as a service. Orion serves a variety of vertical markets including oil and gas, fintech, retail, real estate, and government.

Marc Asselin, Orion’s President and CEO, said, “We are very excited to join the VRARA and contribute. We look forward to learning and partnering with the VRARA Members and hope to build truly transformational solutions together.”   

About Orion Innovations: 

Orion Innovations is an Innovation Agency headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida with more than 30 years of experience in software development and project management. For more info visit: 

https://Goorion.com

VR/AR Bytes Podcast - Dr. Kay Stanney, Founder/CEO of Design Interactive

Welcome to VR/AR Bytes, a weekly show featuring the movers and shakers of the VRARA Central Florida / Orlando Chapter. My guest today is Dr. Kay Stanney who is a researcher, professor, author, visionary and founder/CEO of Design Interactive, a company that specializes in human systems integration and development of innovative solutions that accelerate human performance.

Kay is also the undisputed leader in cybersickness research. Please feel free to contact her for some samples (of her research)!

While our podcast is normally scheduled for 5 minutes today’s episode runs longer. Kay has so much valuable information to share and some very enlightening insights such as the integration of AR and VR in the same environment and the limitation of broader adoption due to human physiological responses to virtual reality. She also shares who she follows and who inspires her. It is definitely worth the extra time. Consider it bonus material!

Thank you Kay and we look forward to seeing your latest tactical combat care casualty training solution that blends VR, AR and MR together at one of our upcoming chapter events

Call for Online Participants! The Perception of Virtual Humans Investigators

This is a call for participation in a research study exploring how the features of a virtual human affect attitudes and perception. Participation will consist of a single online survey, which can be taken at a location of your choice. The session will last about 15 minutes and will involve a brief demographics survey, watching a 2-minute video of a virtual human, and answering questionnaires regarding your opinions and perceptions of the virtual human. Participation is voluntary. Eligible participants must be 18 years of age or older, speak English, and not have any visual, auditory, neuropathy, or neurological disabilities. If you are interested in participating, please take the survey here:

https://ucf.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0jmKsif1tk9RBpH

Contact

Ryan P. McMahan, Ph.D. (rpm@ucf.edu),

Tiffany D. Do (tiffanydo@knights.ucf.edu)

VR/AR Bytes Podcast: Captain Evey Cormican, Co-Founder and CEO of Visionary Training Resources

Welcome to the VR/AR Bytes Podcast, a weekly show featuring the movers and shakers of the VRARA Central Florida Chapter!

My guest today is Captain Evey Cormican who is the co-founder and CEO of Visionary Training Resources, a training development company focused on improving training for Airline Pilots using immersive 3D technologies. She is also the co-Chair of the VRARA Aerospace committee.

Evey is an amazing person who has had a very impressive career. Her lifelong passion for flying led her to become a pilot with United Airlines starting in 1997. She rose to the rank of Assistant Chief Pilot for United where she was responsible for overseeing the safety of United's 2200 pilots.

She is also a public speaker who inspires young women to become aviators, check out her TEDx talk "Come Fly With Me" on https://lnkd.in/eFq7wWk

Join me to hear how Evey is now focused on transforming the way commercial pilots are trained!

Bill Little joins VRARA Orlando Chapter Advisory Board

After nearly 36 years with NASA at Kennedy Space Center, William Little is pleased to join the VRARA Central-Florida-Orlando Advisory Board. Prior to retiring, Bill created and led of the KSC Augmented/Virtual Reality Lab. The AVR Lab’s charter is “… to investigate the AR and VR technologies coming onto the market, learn how they work, understand their strengths and weaknesses, and recommend potential applications of these technologies to the work we do at KSC, processing spacecraft, launch delivery systems, and ground support equipment.”

In his role as the AVR Lab lead, Bill made extensive use of NASA’s Office of STEM Education (OSTEM) and Pathways internship programs to bring students from colleges and universities across the country to KSC to work in the lab and learn about the growing world of Extended Reality (XR) research and development. His experience of mentoring members of the Artemis generation, along with his involvement in numerous public and education outreach activities for NASA, have instilled in Bill a passion for advocating STEM education at all levels, from elementary to post-graduate. Bill brings that dedication to the VRARA Advisory Board, and looks forward to continuing his advocacy of XR technology as a learning tool in government, industry, and academia.

Industry-Leading VR/AR Innovator, Bohemia Interactive Simulations, joins the VR/AR Association (VRARA)

On the heels of a recent defense industry VR award and the release of VBS4, Bohemia Interactive Simulations’ (BISim) most important product release since the release of VBS3 in 2013, the Orlando-based company is pleased to announce it has joined the VR/AR Association (VRARA). 

Pioneering VR/AR/MR for Military Simulation

BISim began exploring VR’s potential for defense training in 2013 and in 2015 the BISim booth was the only I/ITSEC booth to showcase the beta version of Oculus Rift, having optimized VBS IG frame rate experience sufficiently to pass Oculus’ high standard of FPS performance. Also in 2015, BISim started working directly with military customers on VR/AR projects, most significantly with the U.S. Navy on a VR-based pilot training system that included virtual hand gestures generated through the Leap Motion system. By 2016, BISim’s VBS3 offered out-of-the-box support for the Oculus Rift and HTC VIVE. 

In 2018, drawing on its extensive experience with VR/AR headsets, BISim introduced VBS Blue IG, a high-performance, 3D whole-earth image generator optimized for VR/AR/MR applications. BISim’s work has expanded to evaluating and developing VR, AR and MR systems for other military organisations and commercial integrators. See how customers are using BISim products for VR/AR/MR applications on our Customer Showcase.

Outstanding VR/AR/MR Application 

BISim was recently selected by Military Simulation and Training (MS&T) magazine as its 2020 winner in the category of Outstanding VR/AR/MR Application for work on the British Army’s Virtual Reality in Land Training (VRLT) pilot study. MS&T’s Outstanding VR/AR/MR Application Award recognizes the innovative use of VR/AR/MR technologies to develop effective and efficient training and performance support interventions. BISim delivered a series of training events to the British Army in 2019 demonstrating VR and MR capabilities using its products. These included a high-fidelity Warrior IFV 3D model for VR and the use of mixed reality to allow users to take notes and annotate maps during exercises without breaking immersion. Read more about VRLT. 

VBS4 - Easier, Faster, Global 

BISim recently released VBS4, an easy-to-use, whole-earth virtual and constructive simulation. VBS4 becomes BISim’s flagship product — a fully featured desktop training and simulator-ready replacement for all VBS3 capabilities, with its hundreds of use cases and integration possibilities.

VBS4, together with VBS Blue IG, delivers the highest performance and greatest possibilities for military VR/AR/MR when paired with the latest generation XR headsets. Unlike many other game engine-based simulations, the VBS4 engine (VBS Blue) is optimized to serve the military simulation and training domain, so it offers more military XR use cases out of the box. VBS Blue offers millimeter accuracy and global scale simultaneously, and with a flexible terrain ingestion pipeline capable of facilitating quick use of terrain data from any conceivable source, users are well equipped for developing innovative XR projects. Learn more at vbs4.com

About Bohemia Interactive Simulations

Founded in 2001, Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim) is a global software company at the forefront of simulation and training solutions for defense and civilian organizations. BISim utilizes the latest game-based technology and a 200-strong, in-house team of engineers to develop high-fidelity, cost-effective training and simulation software products and components for defense applications.

Globally, more than 500,000 military personnel are trained every year using VBS software products. More than 60 NATO and NATO-friendly countries and over 250 integrators/prime contractors use VBS technology, many making significant funding commitments to extend VBS product capabilities. Customers include the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, Australian Defence Force, Swedish Armed Forces, French MoD and UK MoD and most major integrators. VBS products have become, by far, the world’s most widely used COTS product range in the military-simulation sector, supporting hundreds of military use cases and vastly greater military exploitation than any comparable products. 

Contact

David Dadurka

Marketing and Communications Manager

Bohemia Interactive Simulations

p: 407-890-5510

a: 3050 Technology Parkway, Suite 110 Orlando, Florida 32826

w: bisimulations.com  

e: sales@bisimulations.com

Pinnacle Solutions joins the VRARA and launches its Virtual X Training (VXT©) Product Line

Pinnacle Solutions, an Aerospace focused engineering and services company headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama announces the launch of its Virtual X Training (VXT©) product line to address the growing demand for virtual training solutions. VXT© products bring the engagement of real-world training to the modern student in any setting.

Mike Durant, Pinnacle’s President and CEO, said, “In military aviation, we have leveraged the benefits of simulation and training for decades, but it has been primarily focused on flight operations. By using emerging technologies such as extended reality (XR), we are now able to produce realistic and cost-effective training solutions for maintenance and back-shop personnel to improve proficiency, shorten training cycles, reduce cost, and improve safety. These benefits become even more significant as flying hour costs increase, and aircraft availability remains a critical and irreplaceable tool in the ground force Commander’s toolbox.”   

The Virtual Maintenance Trainer (VMT) family of VXT© products deliver in-depth maintenance training and assessment on aircraft systems, subsystems, and components, as well as fault identification, isolation, and remediation and familiarization. Pinnacle’s VXT and VMT products for the UH-60M and UH-60A/L helicopters are currently in use with U.S. Government, Special Operations Forces, and international military customers.

Duke Tucker, Pinnacle’s Vice President of Business Development adds “we are excited to join the VR/AR Association to get actively engaged in the rapidly growing global ecosystem of companies and individuals who are working in XR. The VRARA community is a global community and a great platform to network with potential business and technology partners around the world who are leaders in the industry.  We are also looking to expand the VRARA’s presence here in Huntsville in partnership with the VRARA Central Florida Chapter.”

Huntsville Alabama, also known as Rocket City, is an important aerospace research and development center with NASA and the US Army having a number of important organizations located there.  John Cunningham, Chapter President VRARA Central Florida Chapter adds, “we are pleased to welcome Pinnacle Solutions to the VRARA, they are a recognized leader in the aerospace training and simulation industry and Huntsville is an important technology hub for aerospace development.  We also look forward to supporting Pinnacle Solutions to develop the VR/AR ecosystem in Rocket City!”

VMT Solution Sheet

About Pinnacle Solutions: 

Pinnacle Solutions is a CMMI-DEV, v1.3, Level 3-appraised, AS9100 certified aerospace company headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama with more than 12 years of experience in simulator and flight training, training device development and modifications, engineering services, aircraft maintenance and operations, and technical publications development. For more info visit: pinnaclesolutionsinc.com

VR/AR Association Day declared in Florida. Magic Leap present for the special occasion

Here’s a recap of our Orlando Chapter event!

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer declared July 10th 2019 as VR/AR Association Day in Orlando in recognition of the launch of the VR/AR Association Central Florida - Orlando Chapter.

Thanks to Mayor Dyer (Orlando), Mayor Jerry Demings (Orange County) and Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy (7th District) for your support of the VRARA and our mission of making Central Florida a global hub for VR/AR technology and services. Special thanks to Graeme Devine, Chief Game Wizard of Magic Leap for his presentation on how spatial computing will change our world and how he is helping to create the Magicverse. Also to Jesse Havens from Valorem Reply on how Mixed Reality and IoT are benefiting the enterprise.