EON Reality, a global company based in Irvine, California, has been at the forefront of providing extended reality (XR) solutions to education and industries across the globe for two decades. At its annual EON Experience Fest 2022, the company announced a slew of new features and products that are fueled by artificial intelligence (AI).
“The world is moving toward artificial intelligence and I believe that we here at EON Reality are poised to do so more smoothly than nearly anyone else due to our experience with contextual information, guidance assistance and performance-enhancing technology,” EON Reality Founder, Chairman and CEO Dan Lejerskar said at the two-day event. “I have long discussed the evolution of ‘Human 2.0,’ as I have called it, but I realized that the future is not a different type of human, but a way for all of us to augment ourselves and reach new heights with the help of technology and artificial intelligence.”
While many businesses and institutions have been following and have seen the benefits that augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and XR—an umbrella term for AR, VR and mixed reality (MR)—offer, up until recently, those technologies were still often considered more for the gaming sector. Innovation and incorporating other technologies are changing that.
XR Solidifying Its Importance
COVID-19 forced nearly everyone to rethink and change how things are done. With more meetings being held virtually came with extra challenges for research facilities, designers, R&D researchers and more. Being together and immersed in the project was still essential even if the times didn’t allow it.
While still in its infancy, the metaverse has provided another solution to handle the changing world of design, construction, simulation, learning and other aspects of doing business. As the main way to enter the metaverse, VR has seen a boost in adoption in the past two years. According to a 2022 survey by PwC, 51% of companies are currently integrating VR or already have VR into some segment of the business process.
From creating apps to make it easier for consumers to buy cars to determining the best way to set up a welding situation in real-time prior to installing the equipment, XR is becoming easier to incorporate. When it comes to training and development, the PwC survey indicated that using VR made it four times faster to train than in a traditional classroom. Additionally, learners trained with VR felt 275% more confident in their newfound skills.
With the XR industry growing, which is expected to reach $364.9 billion by 2030, let’s take a look at what EON Reality has and is doing to push that market growth.
EON Reality’s New Products
EON-XR was initially launched in 2016. EON Reality created the SaaS-based platform to make it easy to develop code-free XR for publishing on a range of devices, from a simple smartphone to a high-end XR system. Designed to be simple yet powerful, the company claims more than 1.8 million EON-XR licenses.
The latest release has two new products: EON Interact and EON Knowledge Worlds. As the names suggest, the former provides an improved level of interaction while the latter allows users to create a digital world.
Although users were able to interact with objects before, EON Interact offers more details and complex interactions. Regardless of the part, trigger, location or conditions, users are allowed to interact with each unique object. For instance, objects can be rotated at different angles to create a customizable reaction. Featuring “touch-and-go” AI, a user can click on an element, such as a drill, to see it in action. Other features include the ability to add particle effects, sound and smoke. Additionally, the effects of gravity, a specific process function and specific steps can be incorporated.
While perhaps more on the gaming or learning side, EON Knowledge Worlds enables the creation of a digital world in which users can trade and land, objects, experiences and content. As EON Reality’s first venture into non-fungible token (NFT) features, this product offers a new way for consumers to integrate. Key features include the ability to create avatars, navigate public and user-made locations on a 2D map and multi-user interaction. Users will have a plethora of building content from both a pre-defined library and third-party libraries.
New EON Reality Suite Features
Although only released in June 2022, EON Reality’s Metaverse Builders is already getting an update. Instead of having to make 60-plus clicks to create, EON Metaverse Builder Automations was created with AI to decrease that to 15 clicks. The AI automatically generates assessment portals via the asset name as well as making it easier to search for optimal assets. It also comes with an AI avatar that serves as a tutor.
EON-XR also received a significant update, especially regarding how content appears and feels. The EON Reality team aimed to create a modern and more personal look while also easing the search process. That modern vibe gives a nod to social media functions, such as the ability to comment or like a function as well as keeps track of a user’s content views.
Whether a project or learning experience, tracking what is happening is a must. EON Illuminate allows for cloud-based anchoring of a physical location for specific users. For example, a designer across the globe would be able to lock an object to a specific location, such as by using Google Maps and then share it to users to interact with the content in the same session or different ones. The design can also be unlocked, allowing for enhanced collaboration among key contributors regardless of location. Users have the option to use an avatar or their real bodies.
Last, EON Marketplace offers a place to buy and sell experiences with immediate payment, primarily using STRIPE. The open XR market provides users with different specialties to find and purchase content to enhance their own creations. EON Reality considers this market an ideal way for institutions and businesses to find high-quality content made by experts in various subjects.
What’s Ahead?
Along with the new products and features that are now available, EON Reality has a couple more AI-based technologies in the works. EON AI, expected to be released at the end of 2023, will be focused on training and learning. An AI-based companion can accompany users in their day-to-day lives with the ability to have conversations about nearly any subject while also interacting with objects. Incorporating images, video and 3D models, EON Reality expects this new platform to become an important part of training. As a virtual on-hand trainer, users will be guided through procedures or trained on a new skill from plumbing to engineering and electrical work.
Also on the horizon is EON Universal, which is an effort to make EON content available on any device. Planned for early 2023, EON Universal will allow users to create content on any device and then get the XR experience on any common head-mounted immersion device. Later that year, the company plans to allow for multi-user sessions across devices. For teams collaborating from afar, that means the ability for one person to use any tablet while another is on a smartphone in the same session.
With evolving technologies constantly on the horizon, embracing them is the logical change for any business, especially industrial applications.