You’ve Heard of AR and VR. But What Is Spatial Computing?
You would think its science fiction or the magic of visual effects if someone told you that you could bring your thoughts in the world with a few spoken words and a wave of your hand. But to your surprise, it’s the new reality. It’s not just Robert Downey Jr. in Avengers swiping, pulling, and pushing digital interfaces in the air to devise a plan to defeat Thanos. You can do it too.
The technology that will enable you to merge computers into your real-world is called spatial computing.
In theoretical terms, spatial computing is how we, humans, are advancing our interactions with computers beyond the static machines we currently use, to using the physical space around us to send inputs to and receive outputs from a computer. It is essentially how we are increasingly stepping inside the world of computers, rather than just interacting with them from a distance.
Up until now, you have been communicating with computers using your mouse pad, typed commands on your keyboards, and touch controls that appear on a 2D screen. But a simple way to think about spatial computing is to visualize how you naturally interact with objects in your real-life converted to 3D. You see, touch, move, and speak aloud if you want a specific action to be performed. Spatial computing allows the human-computer interaction to take place the same way you would interact with objects in your real world.
To empower this next wave of computing, augmented, virtual and mixed reality are the technologies that come closest to disappearing the gap between humans and computers.
Virtual reality shuts off your current environment completely and immerses you in a digitally created environment. On the other hand, augmented reality retains your current environment and overlays it with digital objects that augment the way you watch movies, shop online, play games, or learn on the web. Mixed reality takes augmented reality one step further and makes the digital content interact with your current environment. It understands the physical space around you and automatically makes digital objects sit atop or beside surfaces in your real world.
AR filters on Snapchat and Facebook, chasing digitally created Pokemon characters in your real world, and seeing pro gamers equipped with helmet-shaped headsets attached to multiple wires is how you may have immediately thought about AR and VR. But the industry is moving beyond gaming and social use-cases.
And that can be witnessed, particularly during uncertain times, like the COVID-19 lockdown. The healthcare industry is using AR and VR to remotely and collaboratively install ventilators across hospitals in the world, and surgeons can view immersive x-rays and 3D scans of the infected body parts to diagnose the symptoms correctly. The travel industry is building virtual cities in VR so tourists can gain insights about the city they would like to visit once the curve has flattened. The automobile and space industry is deploying mixed reality to train astronauts and ground workers to minimize risk and ensure workers’ safety.
Solutions that can be provided with the help of spatial computing don’t just save time, money, improve productivity, but also improve the overall satisfaction of those who use this technology to improve their current way of performing any activity. Be it working remotely with colleagues, playing games with friends, or watching your favorite movies on a 100inch screen at the comfort of your home.
Augmented and virtual reality may not have reached your home yet or you’re waiting for the “killer” app to come and make the technology a part of your life. Some companies are working on different components individually: hardware, software, experiences, cloud, and 5G, to bring the technology into the mainstream.
At Jio Tesseract, we are bringing all the components of a mixed reality platform together and playing our part to take the power of spatial computing to the masses by solving two key issues preventing the broader adoption of AR and VR. That is the lack of affordable and accessible devices and a strong repository of content that will enable you to meaningfully spend time with this deep technology to an extent where it becomes a daily habit.
With the launch of our latest mixed reality device, the Jio Glass, we’re also making the transition easier for you by giving you the ability to use your 2D applications in a 3D format with a simple smartphone plug and play. No hefty headsets, just a simple wayfarer sunglass that comes with a powerhouse of optics and processors.
We’re not waiting for the “killer” app to blend your physical-digital worlds and enhance human-computer interactivity. We’re making it happen by building an end-to-end ecosystem that will reach millions of consumers with the best-in-class content and devices.
We’re bringing the future right here, right now. Join us.
Do you have experiences or ideas you would like to showcase or view in AR/VR and improve our relationships with computers? Let us know by enrolling in the Jio Tesseract Global AR/VR Developer Program or reaching out to us on developers@tesseract.in. We’ll get in touch with you and see how we can make it reach a million customers.
