Job interviews don’t tend to be the most pleasant of experiences as potential employers grill you on what makes you suitable for a particular role. Hence why a lot of people tend to get nervous, flustered and then worry they’re not presenting themselves in the best light. This is where soft skills training specialist Bodyswaps comes in with its latest solution, a job interview simulator.
The Job Interview Simulator course is split into four modules aimed at helping you practice your pitch whilst teaching you various interview techniques and how to answer questions with confidence. The modules are:
Managing Interview Anxiety
Landing The Perfect Job, On Your Own Terms!
Three Steps to Answering (almost) Any Question
Interview Simulation
There are 75+ questions to work though, with behavioural analytics on verbal and non-verbal performance given. Thus, students can gain confidence in a safe virtual environment and repeat modules to help bolster weaker areas.
“Educational institutions often lack the resources to engage students and give everyone the time and attention that mastering great interview skills needs. Our Job Interview Simulator leverages VR and AI, to support repeated, autonomous and hyper-personalised practice. For students, this is an opportunity to learn to present their best self and get the job of their dreams. For organisations, it’s a groundbreaking approach to boosting student outcomes, quickly and at scale, in these challenging times,” said Bodyswaps CEO Christophe Mallet in a statement.
If you’ve been stressing about an upcoming interview then good news, the simulator is available today, with a free demo available via the Bodyswaps website. For the best experience, you’ll want to be in virtual reality (VR) but the software does support smartphones and PC’s as well.
Bodyswaps offers a range of soft skill training solutions for individuals and employers including Active Listening, Clear Communication and Challenging Non-inclusive Behavior. It joined HTC’s global XR accelerator program, Vive X, in 2020 to help expand its content lineup, with more course planned for 2021. As further updates are released, VRFocus will let you know.
Virtual reality (VR) has seen a leap in both technology and accessibility in the past decade. A wide variety of standalone and tethered devices are available to consumers at a reasonable price, like the Oculus Quest 2 and the HTC Vive. A majority of the public interest around VR has been as an immersive gaming experience, but the practical applications of VR go far beyond videogames. In recent years, VR has become a subject of intense interest in medicine and medical education.
A Treatment Modality
One of the major subjects of interest for VR has been post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorders. Several studies have investigated whether VR can be used to help people suffering from PTSD. These found that VR could enhance the effects of exposure therapy on PTSD symptoms. Still, it is unclear how applicable these results are to a general population as the sample groups were predominantly male military service members. Other studies examining VR as a treatment for members of the general public with anxiety disorders or depression found promising results regarding symptom relief.
Clinicians have also found novel methods to apply VR in the context of other psychiatric disorders. Patients with major psychotic symptoms like paranoia, persecutory delusions, and functional impairments found symptom relief by VR-based cognitive therapy. Some studies have found that addiction disorders like substance use and gambling demonstrated that VR could provide a safe environment to undergo exposure therapy without relapse. Body image disorders seem to respond well to VR as well, with bulimia and binge eating disorder patients experiencing symptom relief for up to a year after VR therapy.
VR has also been applied to the management of neurodevelopmental differences as well. Promising results have emerged, revealing that VR improved attention span similar to the more traditional continuous performance test training but with greater enthusiasm from participants. Some therapists use VR to help children on the autism spectrum develop social skills in a consequence-free environment with guidance from a therapist.
An Educational Tool
The field of medicine does not only benefit from VR as a treatment, but also as a powerful educational tool. VR is enabling immersive training programs that can reduce costs by avoiding costly props and other expenses. These simulations have the advantage of being versatile and highly customizable. The SimX system, for example, allows for the creation of tailor-made simulations to match the specific needs of each user. This is especially useful for training for less common conditions wherein finding simulations would require travel or pose a long wait time.
Finally, VR is bringing the promise of remote learning to new levels. With VR and online services, learners worldwide can work together to tackle each scenario in real-time. In times of social distancing and learning from home, VR provides an alternative to endless web meetings that is both engaging and effective.
Conclusion
The field of medicine is finally reaping the benefits of decades of advancements in VR technology and public interest. Although more research is needed to determine the best methods to use VR in healthcare, it is apparent that the technology will play an ever-increasing role in medicine in the coming years and shape the future of medical education.
Digital transformation is a conversation that is and was taking place before COVID-19. Businesses wanted to know how to become more competitive, reactive, and efficient, and how services for users can be improved. McKinsey’s global survey of 889 executives reported that COVID-19 certainly accelerated digital transformation by several years in some sectors. Many of these changes are expected to remain in place long-term.
Here, we take a look at the top COVID-19 tech trends and how they will remain part of our lives in the future, post-pandemic.
Image credit: Spatial
Are remote working and virtual reality training the future?
Remote working was clearly one of the biggest COVID-19 tech trends. The number of people remote working took a quantum leap as we were forced to stay in our homes and continue working as normal where possible.
Hybrid office and remote working models are likely to continue following the pandemic. The pandemic has disrupted cultural and technological barriers that prevented working from home in the past, creating a social shift in workplace expectations. McKinsey predicts that over 20 per cent of the global workforce could be working remotely three to five days a week. This would have a significant impact on local economies, transportation, and general spending.
Virtual training took precedence in the education and corporate world, with the widespread adoption of online activity fuelling this. While some may be concerned about effectively emulating an in-person learning experience when training remotely, virtual reality training can deliver exactly that. Virtual reality training helps to create a live, synchronous virtual environment and has been used in healthcare and medicine, engineering and auto manufacturers, and many more industries.
A report from PwC in 2020 forecasted that around 23.5 million jobs across the world will be using augmented and virtual reality by 2030 for training, meetings, and customer service. Virtual reality is cost-effective, practical, and a safe place to learn new skills.
Contactless payments
The COVID-19 pandemic changed how we pay for things. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that we avoid cash and use contactless. Contactless payment has been a popular option for many years and has now become the preferred way to pay for the majority. So much so that research has reported that 54 per cent of shoppers would change to a retailer that provided contactless payment.
From start to finish, this technology has gone more mainstream, with mobile and contactless payments becoming the norm. It is predicted that this will become the standard method to pay, with faster, convenient, and secure checkouts that will dictate consumer behaviours.
Image credit: Wander
Virtual reality tourism
The concept of virtual reality tourism would’ve likely been a futuristic one. Nobody would have ever predicted we would be staying in our own countries all year with airline companies struggling to stay afloat. That’s leaving plenty of us frustrated with a holiday itch to scratch. More and more of us are turning to virtual reality to relieve this demand for travel.
Virtual reality travel experiences are possible through headsets that give users realistic access to places like Antarctica and the pyramids in Egypt. Currently, virtual reality is used to help travellers decide where they want to go. It allows customers to take 360-degree tours of resorts, directly book their flights, and choose seats on planes, and specific hotel rooms at home.
The world needs sustainable tourism, and this is becoming a viable option to cut down emissions. This can also help preserve historic sites that are being damaged through mass tourism. Although virtual reality tourism isn’t intended to replace the experience of real-world travelling, it can help keep interest alive in locations abroad.
3D printing and laser scanning
Logistics and supply chains have been disrupted during COVID-19, resulting in shortages of goods. 3D printing has been adopted rapidly in many instances during the COVID-19 pandemic, with factories manufacturing on-demand resources for essential services like personal protective equipment and ventilators for healthcare.
The market study firm CONTEXT commented: “The demands made of printers in all price ranges increased as they were used to create pandemic-related items ranging from PPE to nasopharyngeal swabs.
“While this could not fully compensate for lost demand from closed markets (such as consumer products, education, and the dental and automotive industries), it clearly demonstrated the flexibility of the technology, showing how it can be leveraged to help overcome supply-chain disruptions and could, in future, be so used across many industries.”
The flexibility of 3D printing shows the value this can hold across industries. It allowed organisations to act quicker than other manufacturing technologies in the production process, removing the need to rely on complex supply chains that were disrupted. It would be a wise investment for the future.
COVID-19 has innovated tech in many different ways. It has changed everything from the way we do mundane things like pay for goods to how essential services are facilitated through specialist 3D printing equipment.
Last week British XR specialist Make Real announced a new partnership with construction services company Kelbray. This week the studio has revealed another, teaming up with Immerse to provide an all-in-one virtual reality (VR) training platform for their enterprise customers.
Both companies are already well-versed in providing immersive training solutions across a range of industries. The partnership will see them create a library of VR training content which enterprise organisations can access through the Immerse platform.
Initially, Make Real will add its current selection of training programmes to the platform. These will include Slinger Signaller, Site Access Traffic Marshalling, Rear Guard and D&I Perspectives VR (all Oculus Quest compatible) and End Point Assessment (for HTC Vive). All available alongside Immerse’s own VR content, covering topics such as health and safety, business development, and soft skills training.
“Since going on the road to promote our immersive experiences at events from 2014 onwards, we have always had a great, supportive relationship with Immerse, often sharing expo floors and crossovers of clients and sectors we both focus on and service within. As we move forwards into 2021 and the rapidly growing enterprise marketplace, it is the right time to formalise a strategic partnership to bring the experience and unique strengths of both companies together,” said Sam Watts, Immersive Partnerships Director at Make Real Ltd in a statement. “This will form a unified solution of a virtual reality software platform combined with engaging content, providing the best outcomes for enterprise customers of learning and measurement.”
“Partnering with Make Real is a fantastic step in our endeavour to enable all businesses to capitalise on the opportunity offered by immersive technology in a rapidly changing world. This collaborative offering will enable companies to import and deploy world-class content on a powerful platform, with minimal setup and expertise required. Immerse prides itself on delivering innovative solutions to complex challenges across businesses processes, and we hope that this will be the first of many partnerships of this nature,” Tom Symonds, CEO at Immerse adds.
Between them, they already have customers including Shell, DHL, Vodafone and Lloyds Banking Group. As the partnership continues to grow and expand its content selection, VRFocus will keep you updated.
British XR specialist Make Real has a broad product portfolio ranging from training solutions for traffic marshalls to consumer videogames like Loco Dojo. This week the team has announced a new partnership with Kelbray, a civil engineering and construction services company to create a range of virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) applications.
The partnership sees both companies form MRKL LLP as they look to build a range of products catering for the construction industry. Initially, these will utilise Make Real’s SkillShield training application support tool which includes features like timestamped evidence of completed training and native Oculus Quest support.
The training applications MRKL LLP has planned aim to enhance and improve offerings throughout the industry, offered as off-the-shelf licensed packages to customers. So that means software, hardware, device management solutions and training, allowing companies without any XR knowledge to put these products to use.
“After working closely with the Keltbray XR team for the past three years on internal applications, we felt it was the right time to form the official partnership, to co-create and offer validated immersive technology training applications to the wider construction sector. These initial products have been in development over the past year with internal user testing and feedback, until we all agreed that they were ready to go to market. That time is now,” said Ben Dykes, Client Services Director, Make Real Ltd, in a statement.
“We are delighted to have established our formal partnership with Make Real after a number of years successfully working with Keltbray Extended Reality, led by Dave Rowe to create applications which push the boundaries of what is possible with Mixed and Virtual Reality in the construction industry,” adds Holly Price, Group Skills and Communities Director, Keltbray.
“Our SkillShield platform provides the missing link in virtual reality training, creating indelible records connecting the trainee irrefutably to the evidence of their training. Added to this, direct access to Keltbray Lifting Services, led by Steve Leyton, has enabled us to produce industry-leading immersive training content that will help transform the industry’s approach to people development, and bridge the growing skills gap in our industry.”
Im Laufe des Tages werden direkt zwei DLC für FitXR auf der Oculus Quest und Oculus Quest 2 veröffentlicht.
FitXR DLC für Oculus Quest
Mit Absolute Dance und Absolute Box werden heute zwei neue DLC für das Spiel FitXR für die Oculus Quest erscheinen. Beide Pakete werden mit jeweils 7,99 Euro zu Buche schlagen.
In Absolute Box müsst ihr im Takt Bälle zerschlagen und in Absolute Dance müsst ihr versuchen, Choreografien zu erlenen und umzusetzen. Beide DLC sollen einen Umfang von ca. vier Stunden bieten.
FitXR ist auch auf andren Plattformen erhältlich. Auf dem PC und auf der PSVR wird der Titel jedoch als Box VR geführt. Die Umbenennung in FitXR ist bisher nur auf der Oculus Quest umgesetzt. Für Box VR werden jedoch auch die neuen DLC nicht erscheinen und es ist fraglich, ob das Team noch Energie in diese Versionen stecken wird.
Enterprise use cases for virtual reality (VR) may not have been a major consideration when the original HTC Vive launched but nowadays its a mainstay of the industry. Today, HTC Vive in partnership with FreeRangeXR has announced workplace safety training solution ElevateXR specifically for the Vive Focus Plus standalone headset.
ElevateXR provides three hazard safety modules designed to simulate real-world scenarios. Helping to improve workplace training and safety, the software tests users’ knowledge of safety protocols for fall protection, lockout/tagout (LOTO) and confined spaces.
Fall Protection: “Teaches trainees how to inspect proper and functional personal protective equipment (PPE) and distinguish safe anchor points and lifelines from unsafe ones, as well as allowing trainees to use best practices while working at height.”
Lockout/Tagout: “A LOTO plan defines the necessary steps to disable equipment that could release hazardous energy. This module allows trainees to simulate the full LOTO procedure, from isolating energy and then repowering it again. It reaffirms collaborative behaviors that ensure trainees can protect themselves and others in isolating potentially hazardous energy sources, including learning to inspect proper and functional PPE and identifying equipment that requires LOTO and those that do not.”
Confined Space Training: “Reinforces the importance of situational awareness and environmental evaluation with simulated confined space scenarios. This module will familiarize workers on the use of necessary personal protection gear and tools such as radios, gas monitors, and air blowers.”
The modules each contain three lessons engaging trainees in realistic environments whilst complementing existing annual certification tests.
“Virtual reality is changing the way we learn, including how companies and organizations train employees and reinforce safety protocols. We developed ElevateXR to provide an all-in-one training solution that allows trainees and employees to receive real-life safety training in VR, without real-life consequences,” said Dan O’Brien, HTC Global Head of Enterprise in a statement. “Effective in accelerating training around the top workplace hazards, ElevateXR saves firms time and money while equipping their employees with the knowledge they need to stay safe on the job.”
Companies in the US are now able to buy the Vive Focus Plus bundled with ElevateXR for $3,999.00 (excluding tax). HTC Vive launched the enterprise-focused standalone headset in early 2019 for $799, offering a 2880 x 1600 combined resolution and full 6DoF tracking. For further enterprise VR updates, keep reading VRFocus.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has meant not only hospitals having to improve their training procedures for staff and volunteers but also care homes and whose looking after the most vulnerable. A recent study conducted as part of the UK government’s TechForce19 challenge – in collaboration with VR training solution specialist Virti – has found improvements can be made when it comes to health and safety using immersive technology.
Provided with training on hand washing, donning and doffing PPE, and responding to an unresponsive patient (including resuscitation), carers in the randomised control interventional study were split between Virti’s solution and standard training.
A pre to post-training knowledge test found that on average carers who used immersive tech saw a performance increase of 230.1% in comparison to 16.75% for the control group. The test scores also highlighted the carers understanding of infection control measures was only 16% for the control group while the intervention group hit 92%, a significant difference of 76%.
“As a surgeon, it’s critical to me that our technology is evidence-based. As we roll out a completely new way to train, we want our users and customers to continue to see this platform as effective and reliable,” said Dr Alex Young, NHS surgeon and the founder of Virti in a statement. “Ensuring our care workers have the training they need to keep themselves and their patients safe is of critical importance.”
“Our care homes have taken the brunt of the impact during the pandemic, despite heroic efforts from staff, so we must ensure they are as prepared as possible to fight a potential second wave,” Young continues. “This study is an important step forward in how we can help that happen safely and at scale. The impact of digital, immersive training when it comes to knowledge retention and in reducing anxiety is evident from the findings of this study. We hope it starts a conversation around how we can better prepare the workforce for the future and for the challenges employees in any sector face.”
TechForce19 challenge awards UK innovators grants of £25,000 GBP to test solutions which support the elderly, vulnerable and self-isolating during COVID-19. Virti has been providing its healthcare training solution since 2018 and as it continues to make advancements, VRFocus will let you know.
When the UK Government put the country into lockdown due to the coronavirus (COVID)-19) pandemic it also requested volunteers to help with the influx of patients the National Heath Service (NHS) was expecting. Thousands of people did volunteer but that created another issue, how to suitably train so many people with critical COVID-specific skills. One method the NHS used was Virti’s immersive training solution.
The Bristol-based company’s technology was used to deliver remote educational programmes to NHS employees at scale, rolling out COVID-19 modules to staff via a virtual reality (VR) headsets, desktop or smart devices.
Virti’s software covered key areas such as how to safely apply and remove personal protective equipment (PPE), how to engage with patients and their families as well as navigating an unfamiliar intensive care ward. And because of the influx of staff tens of thousands of training sessions were recorded.
Previously selected to join the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) programme, Virti’s system uses AI to assess users and improve their performance after they’ve interacted with hospital environments and real patient cases in either VR or AR.
“We’ve been using Virti’s technology in our intensive care unit to help train staff who have been drafted in to deal with COVID-19 demand,” said Tom Woollard, West Suffolk Hospital Clinical Skills and Simulation Tutor in a statement. “The videos which we have created and uploaded are being accessed on the Virti platform by nursing staff, physiotherapists and Operational Department Practitioners (ODPs) to orient them in the new environment and reduce their anxiety. The tech has helped us to reach a large audience and deliver formerly labour-intensive training and teaching which is now impossible with social distancing. In the future, West Suffolk will consider applying Virti tech to other areas of hospital practice.”
Virti was founded in 2018 by NHS Trauma and Orthopedic surgeon Dr Alexander Young who was looking to improve healthcare training. The company is one of a number VRFocus has covered recently from the sector including Osso VR and Precision OS, two apps which specialise in surgical training.
As Virti continues to expand its immersive training solution, VRFocus will keep you updated.
US aerospace giant Boeing will use Varjo’s VR-2 advanced mixed reality headset to train astronauts for its Starliner spacecraft.
NASA has used virtual reality for training for decades, but the low resolution limited the range of tasks that could be simulated. Boeing says this is the first end-to-end VR astronaut training system.
Starliner, currently in the uncrewed testing phase, is Boeing’s upcoming reusable crew capsule. It will be used for the same NASA program as SpaceX’s Dragon 2, which in late May launched astronauts for the first time. Essentially, the task once handled by the Space Shuttle (ferrying crew to the International Space Station) will now be taken by these two private companies.
Varjo is a Finnish company which sells ultra high end VR headsets, some with powerful mixed reality capabilities. The unique “bionic” display system projects a smaller but higher resolution image in the center of the lenses. Within this central area, Varjo claims “human eye” resolution.
That comes at a cost though- the VR-2 is priced at $4995. Companies like Facebook and Sony design hardware for a consumer market, but Varjo doesn’t have this restriction.
The astronaut training system can be used for an entire mission, from pre-launch to docking with the international space station, and the full journey back to earth.
The system’s development was lead by Boeing’s Connie Miller. Engineers in Australia recreated the Starliner in Unreal Engine, and this was then integrated in the Houston training center. Miller saw Varjo’s headsets as a breakthrough thanks to the resolution, which allows even the smallest controls to be read clearly.
Using VR also has the advantage of allowing training to continue in pre-launch quarantine, which was not possible with traditional systems.
Starliner includes one seat for potential space tourism. Boeing hasn’t announced concrete plans to commercialise this, but the Varjo based training system has the potential to make training tourists much easier than before.
Boeing hopes the VR system can be brought aboard Starliner itself when it launches in 2021, allowing for in-orbit training of advanced scenarios. In 2017 an Oculus Rift was sent to the International Space Station, but Varjo’s resolution enables completely new use cases.
