philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Filament Games turns robotics into virtual reality

Robotics can be cool — and understandable — even if you’re not an engineer.

And if you learn how to control robots, you could beat the odds of having a robot take over your job some day.

That’s one of the messages of RoboCo, a project by Madison educational games development company Filament Games that’s drawing nearly $1 million in grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

It’s not meant to replace the physical act of piecing parts together and wiring circuitry but instead, to present an entrée to the concept of robotics.

Filament received a $225,000 grant to build a prototype in VR format and was recently notified the company has qualified for a phase 2, $750,000 grant to complete the project.

See the full story here: https://madison.com/wsj/business/filament-games-turns-robotics-into-virtual-reality/article_71ff90e6-8be8-5be0-9ca3-058990c46692.html

Handheld robotics and virtual reality converge in the operating room

Osso VR, maker of a VR surgical training platform, is now prepping orthopedic surgeons to use a handheld robotic device to perform implant surgeries.

The robot is called the NAVIO surgical system, and if you're squeamish, this thing is frankly terrifying. It looks like a gun and it's used by surgeons to remove bone surface semi-autonomously during knee replacement. As illustrated in the embedded video, it strikes this medical layman like a handheld torture gun.

See the full story here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/handheld-robotics-and-virtual-reality-converge-in-the-operating-room/

Khronos Releases OpenXR 0.90 Provisional Specification for High-Performance Access to AR and VR Platforms and Devices

The OpenXR 0.90 provisional release specifies a cross-platform Application Programming Interface (API) enabling XR hardware platform vendors to expose the functionality of their runtime systems. By accessing a common set of objects and functions corresponding to application lifecycle, rendering, tracking, frame timing, and input, which are frustratingly different across existing vendor-specific APIs, software developers can run their applications across multiple XR systems with minimal porting effort—significantly reducing industry fragmentation.

Many of these implementations are becoming available for developers to evaluate including the ‘Monado’ OpenXR open source implementation from Collabora and the OpenXR runtime for Windows Mixed Reality headsets from Microsoft shipping today. Additionally, the Unreal Engine from Epic plans to continue to support OpenXR.

The group has a wide array of supporters from across the hardware, software, and game industries. Among the supporters are Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia, Microsoft, HTC, Samsung, Qualcomm, Valve, Oculus, Google, Unity, and others.

Notably absent is Apple.

See the full story here: https://www.apnews.com/Business%20Wire/80b803e294c74c3fa3ca9e0af2c869ef

and here: https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/18/khronos-group-releases-early-openxr-spec-for-ar-and-vr-hardware-standards/

‘East of the Rockies’: Reliving Japanese-Canadian internment

It is July 4, 1942, months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. A 17-year-old girl named Yuki and her family leave their home in Vancouver for the last time.

Like thousands of other Japanese-Canadians, they are forced inland by the Canadian government under the War Measures Act to internment camps in eastern British Columbia.

This depiction of a dark chapter in Canadian history is the subject of “East of the Rockies,” an interactive, augmented reality storytelling app launched on March 1.

Yuki is a second-generation Japanese-Canadian girl, and her story — a 50-minute journey through memories and words — is narrated by her granddaughter Anne, who reads Yuki’s diaries in the present day. The characters are fictional, but the history is behind the tale is true.

“It’s not a novel, it’s not a documentary,” says Kogawa, pointing out that using an app for the story has both strong and weak points. “But it’s a presentation of a piece of history and I hope that it will be helpful.”

See the full story here: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2019/03/17/digital/east-rockies-reliving-japanese-canadian-internment/#.XI63Uy2ZMnU

‘Wizards Unite’: First look of new Harry Potter mobile game by makers of Pokemon Go

According to the website, the game hinges on The Calamity, which is causing magic to spring penetrate the Muggle world.

The players (witches and wizards) around the world must solve the mystery of the “Foundables”, which are artifacts, creatures, people and memories appearing in the Muggle world, and return them to their rightful place.

As players explore the world, the Map will reveal ‘Traces’ of magic.

These Traces are all around while Foundables will be likely to appear at various places in the real world like parks, banks, college campuses, zoos and more.

Players will get the chance to cast spells and find ingredients to brew potions that will help in the Wizarding World journey.

Also, Fortresses will host challenges that allow real-time multiplayer battles, pitting players against dark foes like Death Eaters and werewolves.

See the full story here: https://news3lv.com/news/offbeat/wizards-unite-first-look-of-new-harry-potter-mobile-game-by-makers-of-pokemon-go

HTC launches its Netflix-style virtual reality service

HTC today announced the official launch of its Viveport Infinity service. This is the first unlimited subscription service for virtual reality content - a kind of Netflix for VR.

As HTC explains, Viveport Infinity provides access to a multitude of virtual reality titles (600 applications and games), whether popular (such as Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs, whose worldwide launch coincides with its availability on the platform) or independent. For $19.99 per month, or less if you choose to pay once a year ($79), you can enjoy VR content on an unlimited basis. A paradise for all virtual reality fans.

See the full story here: https://www.androidpit.com/htc-launches-virtual-reality-service

SXSW offers glimpse at future of virtual, augmented reality

And this year’s fest offered another year of its “Virtual reality/Augmented reality/Mixed reality” track, offering badge holders three days of panels featuring technology experts.

One of the most popular projects — and the longest wait time — was for “Mars Home Planet,” where viewers in VR goggles sat in 360-degree rotating plush, red pods. The story, directed by Technicolor Experience Center’s Brian Frager and David Witters, takes viewers through a Martian onboarding center that imagines what Mars would be like if it were inhabited by humans.

Other projects, like “Border Stories,” brought users to the frontline of political debates. The experience, directed by Emblematic Group founder Nonny de La Pena, dropped viewers off at the National Butterfly Center along the U.S.-Mexico border to listen to interviews with people who could be affected by President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall.

Nearby, international consulting giant Accenture hosted its SXSW “Experience Cantina” with three floors of seemingly endless opportunities to try out virtual reality. Users could test Porsche’s 911 model with VR headsets. Other experiences included opportunities to see how the technology can be used for retail, work and play.

One keynote session featured Jessica Brillhart, a filmmaker and VR/AR expert, who noted that headsets haven’t taken off because they’re clunky, hard to use and not in their final form.

“The systems in place are trying to keep something contained that should be constantly evolving,” she said. “Immersive cannot be contained. What we should fear the most isn’t disruption, it’s thinking things will always stay the same. No matter what the old guard says, our generation gets this stuff.”

In a session dubbed “Making VR and AR for Television,” panelists agreed that the technologies have a ways to go -- but when they work, they can pull viewers into a new experience without distractions.

Eric Darnell, chief creative officer and co-founder of Baobab Studios, said mixed reality should focus on producing creative and interesting content for viewers and the technology will get better over time.

The ethics of VR

Other panels in the VR/AR/MR track delved into the ethics of the new technology.

Erickson, the engineering lead for virtual reality experiences at High Fidelity Inc., said she expects there will be solutions to privacy in VR “as the industry starts to mature.”

“I think people are hesitant to hop into this space because they don’t know what it’s going to be,” Erickson said. “It needs to be accessible... and it needs to be safe and private, too.”

See the full story here: https://www.statesman.com/news/20190314/reshaping-reality--sxsw-offers-glimpse-at-future-of-virtual-augmented-reality

Puppetoon Promises to Give Your iPhone the Freedom to Create Augmented Reality Animations

"You just drop a (virtual) puppet into the real world, and then touch and drag it with your finger. As soon as you touch it, it starts recording the movement and your voice at the same time! As soon as your done you can film it and it will play back what you just recorded while your filming.

The app is built on Unity's AR Foundation, which will enable the team to eventually ship the app for iOS and Android.

See the full story here: https://mobile-ar.reality.news/news/puppetoon-promises-give-your-iphone-freedom-create-augmented-reality-animations-0194811/

Facebook’s new creepy VR tech uses your ENTIRE face you have to see this

What is Facebook's Codec Avatars project?

Codec Avatars is Facebook's project for creating lifelike virtual avatars of the users in the digital meeting grounds. The plan is that it would help in social connections because the faces would be very natural and common to those in real life.

The technology combines cutting-edge graphics and advanced motion tracking along with natural interpretations with people in virtual reality as if someone is right in front of you. The challenge lies in creating authentic interactions in artificial environments.

See the full story here: https://www.komando.com/happening-now/555276/facebooks-new-creepy-vr-tech-uses-your-entire-face-you-have-to-see-this

Universities Team Up to Promote Public Interest Technology

Twenty-one universities have partnered to create the Public Interest Technology University Network aimed at creating the next generation of software engineers, social justice advocates and leaders to “develop, regulate and use technology for the public good.” Among those schools founding the network are Arizona State University, City University of New York, Harvard University, Howard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley.

The New York Times reports that, “in other words, the group aims to both humanize technologists and technologize humanists.”

This interdisciplinary field — which includes and combines computer science, law and sociology among other disciplines — is sought after by students interested in “new technology courses and degree programs that make the public good a priority over industry agendas.” The new Network can be seen as a response to that need.

See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/universities-team-up-to-promote-public-interest-technology/