Virtual Presence

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A little over two years ago, I started wondering about how to make working remotely easier. It started with the advantage that co-located teams had over those that were dispersed (over time or location). While asynchronous communication can help with project delivery and coordination, serendipity, open discussions, relationships are more difficult. These x-factors were the focus here. The issue took on a whole new meaning once the lockdowns hit and all of us were impacted by the same conundrum.

The solution, by definition, would start with Virtual Presence. However, it had to be more than “better” video conferencing (which is what it was at the time). What would that look like and how would it be implemented were the questions. The beginnings of a vision came from an unlikely source. My kids were really into Fortnite at the time, making me spend hours watching and applauding their achievements. The engagement levels got me thinking.

Conversations with friends and associates started to bring the picture a bit more in focus. The thoughts progressed…

What if we could create a virtual world that represented the workplace an organisation wanted?

What if customised Avatars were available to the employees?

What if these Avatars could provide insight into the individuals – skills, backgrounds, achievements, preferences, objectives?

What if we could walk the hallways and meet others in the same corridors serendipitously?

What if we could use spatial audio and have conversations? What if others within “earshot” could hear us and join the conversation?

What if we could retire to a cafe to continue the conversation?

What if we could do interactive learning? Self-paced or instructor led?

What if we could have a designated spot for specific subjects? A place where we could find “live” expertise which could be verified by their enriched avatars?

What if we could have client spaces? For learning about the organisation (passive) or interact with employees (active)?

You get the drift. Each discussion resulted in a greater euphoria as to why this would be nirvana for every person and every organisation. The applicability seemed to range from educational institutions to corporate houses to conferences and beyond. Such joy…

However, as we got deeper, a sense of the dependencies needed started to knock on our dopamine laden brains. That led to an analysis of the potential impacts of this. You might understand why we freaked out a little based on some of those thoughts.

Processing Power. We realised that going to anything beyond basic Avatars might lead to prohibitive performance requirements. Having an anywhere, any time availability meant that there needed to be enough processing on the server side as well as device side. Quality graphics became an issue and the effectiveness without it was a little less exciting.

Security. As we added the features listed above, and more, we began to realise that pretty much every system across the organisation would need to be linked to this. Access control, suddenly, did not seem so simple any more. As an example, consider the information needed from HR systems linked into this environment which is accessible anywhere, any time. We could visualise ourselves getting a headache

Lock-in. This started looking like a huge undertaking. If the whole organisation would need to be part of this vision, it would become increasingly difficult to avoid lock-in. Migrating to an alternate solution would cease to become a possibility at some point. Would anybody want to take a risk like this for the long term and be secure in the decisions being taken today with only current information? The headache starts to look worse.

Privacy. And this one took the cake. Are we comfortable being tracked by the organisation? Every action, every conversation, every contact? In a world like this, there would be no way to keep anything unsurveilled or off the record. This is when we realised that this is something we need to be very deliberate with.

Why am I writing about this today? The recent announcement by Meta brought back the whole experience.

Horizon Worlds, Horizon Workrooms, et al bring back the vision that we were thinking of. Along with the Meta Portal and Meta Quest, they bring a promise of a mesmerising future. A future that shows us whatever we can imagine. It really sounds exciting, no matter which angle I approach it from.

However, the concerns that we have come to the fore again. I will wait for Meta to provide more information that I hope will help me understand how they will deal with these. Maybe SASE (in combination with others) will help with the security concerns. The effectiveness of the partner eco-system depends tremendously on this.

One more thought does get added to this. While we were concerned about one organisation having this power over a set of people, are we OK with one firm (or one person, if you prefer that) having this power over so many people around the world. With other offerings in the Metaverse space (like Satya Nadella talked about at Inspire 2021), one can always hope for a more decentralised and interoperable approach. This would also help tremendously with the lock-in concerns.

The privacy concerns, though, seem to be a bit more complex. Nothing new there, but this does take the implications to a new level.

Being Able to Experience Things as They are Intended…

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One of the things that I hear more and more is “collect experiences, not things”. That is a fascinating statement to me on multiple levels. I start thinking about how we collect experiences, and how could we keep increasing the collection realistically. In todays world, this could be done using 3D-technologies. Let us take a journey.

Let us go hunting for a new place to live. We begin our search with photographs and, maybe, some floor plans. This gives us some perspective, but just enough to whet our appetite. The next step would be to actually visit the property and walk around in it. But, what if the property is not yet built, or is inaccessible for a variety of reasons? How will we get the experience we need to trust our decision? This can be done using Virtual Reality (VR). A model of the property can be created which we can use to “walk around” in. It can give us a perspective of the surroundings, the size and the flow. In fact, it can give us more than that – we can get a sense of the light at various times of the day, the seasonal change in surroundings – things that we will not be able to experience even in a visit to the site. Does this give us enough information?

VR is being used today for multiple experiences – some practical, some inaccessible to most people. Take a walk on Mars is an example of an experience that is readily available through VR and something that we would, most likely, not be able to add to our collection in any other way. Will you use VR to go to the top of Mount Everest or attend a live concert of your favourite band?

Let us take this one notch higher. We could take models from companies – furniture, lighting, fittings, etc – and we could place them in the VR model we are walking through. Does the furniture fit nicely leaving enough space to walk? Does the lighting suit the various moods that we are prone to? What is the airflow with the windows open or with the A/C running? Does this increase the information we have?

We can actually do this in our existing abode also. Using Augmented Reality (AR), we would be able to place such furniture models in our home to see how they match up to our existing environment. Ikea Studio is an example of such experiences being available today. Will you use this to place a vase or see how the latest shoe looks on your foot?

How about another notch up? The question you may be asking is how is this an experience? Well, we could get the other senses involved. In addition to light and sound, we could add things like smell, temperature, etc. We already have widespread adoption of sensors today in the home. They sense the temperature and adjust the A/C, they sense your presence and adjust the lighting and they can do a variety of other things. This collection of feedback devices is part of what is called Internet of Things (IoT). The data from the sensors can be fed into control devices which can change the temperature or turn the light on. In fact the models for these reactions can be personalised to you. What if we include the models for these sensors and control systems into our  VR model? We can now see how our potential new abode reacts to our presence and other environmental changes. But, are we still feeling it? Well, we interact with AR/VR systems through an interface. The most common interface is audio-visual, but more complete interfaces have been created. If our interface let us feel the airflow and temperature, let us smell our surroundings, tell us how the chair feels to sit on, we are feeling, no? Now, we have even more information.

Recently, the Ferrari 296 GTB was added to Fortnite. This car was designed for real-life and virtual life together. That means that you are driving a car in fortnite which reacts exactly as it would on a real road. With the enhanced interface, this could become a real experience. You could feel the push on the steering wheel as you drove; you could feel the torque of the engine as the gear changed; you could potentially feel the bumps in the road or even the g-forces as you accelerated or braked. What a rush that would be! 

Well, another level, then? What if the furniture does not fit exactly? Can you ask the manufacturer to decrease the length by 5cm? Can you request an extra bulb in that light fixture? Now, we are actually providing feedback into the system. This can help make our environment become what we want it to become. This can help us shape our experience, not just in the virtual world, but, eventually, in the real world also. Manufacturers would also be happy since they have a new revenue stream without the addition of significant effort to every sale. Now, we are creating information.

You could customise the Ferrari based on the virtual experience and have it manufactured to that spec. In fact, the virtual model could then become the digital twin of your actual car which would allow a mechanic to not only spot trouble quickly, but even predict it. You could do the same to your shoe or anything that you are experiencing in the virtual or augmented world.

But, a major question crops up. How does a manufacturer create a custom piece just for us? We all know that custom manufacturing is rare and very expensive. This brings us to the last piece of the puzzle – Additive Manufacturing, better known as 3D Printing. 3D Printing is designed for mass customization. You can take a 3D model and create a real object out of it. The benefits are enormous (mass customisation, hyperlocal manufacturing, near-zero wastage, ability to create complex geometry), but that is a discussion for a different time. Today, 3D printing is being used across multiple industries including construction. The materials that can be used range from plastic to metals to bio-materials and even food. While there are limitations, they are being overcome, it seems, on a daily basis. Now, it seems, we are creating reality…

This whole paradigm could be extended to any field. Jewellery and dentistry have made great strides here. The auto and aerospace industries are making this a reality. The potential in medicine are enormous (3D printed organs anybody?). The spectrum of 3D technologies today is mind boggling. A fully integrated 3D chain has the potential to change the way we experience the world itself, across all its spheres. Maybe, it has the potential to change the world itself.

What do you think about the possibilities? Do you believe in being able to experience things as they are intended?