In this post we will explain VR/AR applications for companies, and we will focus on improving Hard Skills. If you want to know how to improve Soft Skills, we explain it to you in this other post.
In today’s post, the immersive technologies applicability in the business field is exposed, more specifically in Hard Skills training for professionals. Although, as we already indicated in the previous post, Soft Skills are those interdisciplinary skills and abilities that make the difference when assessing a professional, there is a whole series of technical knowledge that continues to be essential in the performance of the most important jobs.
In the industrial sector, we increasingly need a higher and more refined technical knowledge, as technology and machinery advance, and we with them. In this sense, the repair and maintenance of machinery are highly relevant tasks, and immersive technologies have much to contribute in this field. One of the most successful immersive tools for these tasks is remote technical assistance, which allows us to share the space where we are or the machine we want to repair in real time through streaming technology, through our smartphone or through smart glasses.
Being an Augmented Reality tool, it offers great advantages:
“ONE OF MIXED REALITY CHARACTERISTICS IS THAT IT DOES NOT ISOLATE YOU FROM WHERE YOU ARE, YOU STILL SEE YOUR WORKSPACE, BOTH IN INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENTS AND DURING AN OPERATION. WHAT IT ACHIEVES, THROUGH HOLOGRAMS, IS INCREASING THAT REALITY WITH TOOLS THAT HELP PERFORM THIS WORK IN A MORE EFFICIENT WAY”
– José Antonio Lozano, Sales & Business Development en Plain Concepts, (Microsoft partners), points out.
It is an effective problem solving tool with which we can pause the image, mark or highlight 3D objects, add text, share the voice even with simultaneous translation, or add features such as the incident log. This tool completely revolutionizes the training field for professionals at the time it integrates learning in the same job. In other words, there are no longer two differentiated spheres – the learning sphere and the putting into practice sphere – but with remote technical assistance we can train an employee, teach him new things, at the same time that he performs his tasks. This can help us optimize time and resources in short and long term, as well as increase our profits and our brand image, because:
– We no longer have to wait for a maintenance or repair technician to come. We save time and costs for the technician to travel.
– The employee can learn while receiving help from the specialist assistant. You can record the operations, use “virtual office material” (post-its, markers, highlights, notes, check lists…) that are recorded and that you can consult on other occasions.
– Thus, we increase human capital, promoting Hard Skills, creating horizontal and dynamic intra- and inter-departmental knowledge networks. In addition, with tools such as collaborative assistance via video call, we can introduce more than one interlocutor.
– We can add functionalities such as access to data in real time. Take advantage of the potential offered by Big Data and Analytics to be more efficient and effective.
– Incorporating these technologies into the business structure is a paradigm shift, it means betting on the future. With this, we position ourselves as a benchmark company in the sector, aligned with technology and very attentive to the latest innovations in the market. Without a doubt, a competitive advantage that will differentiate us from other companies.
But, what success stories do we have in the use of VR/AR to improve Hard Skills? Here we leave you some examples that you can consult about these success stories. We encourage you to investigate other news or to imagine your own success story!
- Mahou San Miguel incorporates augmented reality glasses in all its centers and springs operations.
- Gregorio Marañón Hospital develops a pioneering Augmented Reality system for operating rooms.
- Thyssenkrupp explores Augmented Reality use in production processes.
There is another sector that is very aware of immersive technologies potential in learning Hard Skills. It is about the professionals training in the world of health and well-being. We already talked in the previous post about Soft Skills importance in professionals. And it is true that, in this health field, the most important thing is people, so Soft Skills are fundamental. Speaking clearly: a very knowledgeable doctor, for example, in stomatology, has to be able to inform his patient with assertiveness and closeness of a stomach tumor detection. A good diagnosis and good treatment are essential, but so is humane treatment and the doctor-families-patient relationship. Emotional and personal are increasingly part of the medical process and the healing or patient accompaniment. If you want to know more about this topic, here is a post on health professionals training through immersive technologies, as well as a project by Immersium video to improve doctor-family-patient empathy.
But, what concerns us today is the formation of the Hard Skills. What can immersive technologies contribute in this regard?
One of the revolutionary advances is the use of photogrammetry to make ultra-realistic digital organs reproductions or other human body parts. These pieces photorealism allows the student to connect directly with real life, because they are faced with an impressive, realistic object that enhances their engagement and learning. But photogrammetry is not an immersive technology. What we can do is use this tool to include realistic 360º 3D models in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality experiences. So let’s say that photogrammetry is the technology that is “behind” that realism that characterizes immersive experiences. So, once we have the 3D model, for example, of a human brain, what can we do?
In AR. We can include this model in a traditional textbook, adding it as digital information to the traditional analog support. The advantage of including this 3D model through AR is that, unlike a traditional photograph, you will be able to interact: you can zoom in, zoom out, move, rotate and see the object from different perspectives by moving your finger on your touch screen. We can also add information points (for example pointing to the parts of a human brain), or dynamic interaction such as quizzes or dropdowns.
In VR. We can integrate this model into a Virtual Reality experience. With the right hardware, you could move that model (zoom in, zoom out, rotate it, even open it up to separate human brain parts) with your bare hands. Quizzes interactive features, information points and dropdowns also have a place in VR. In fact, they are more interesting because the raised immersium feeling will increase student retention and engagement by more than 80%.
Until now we have seen the most basic and simple photogrammetry and immersive technologies application in Hard Skills training in health professionals. But this can become very complex and enriched. For example, through virtual simulators, professionals can perform complex operations or surgeries and experiment, without this implying a risk to a real patient health. You learn best by failing, but in fields like health we can’t afford to make mistakes: that’s why VR and AR have a lot to offer in this field. Virtual Reality experiences can also be designed in which the user enters a human body, seeing its different parts and organs, entering the interior of an organism, thus improving knowledge.
So far we have explored in considerable detail the advantages offered by immersive technologies in training professionals terms in the industrial and healthcare sectors. But there are advantages that go beyond the peculiarity of these sectors, since training through immersive technologies differs from traditional ones in that:
– Intensifies the training effectiveness because it increases the retention, engagement and learning students rates.
– Student responses and interactions are fully monitorable. We can use them so that the student consults them later, or to create Big Data bases for decision making.
– Training costs are minimized. Logistics is simplified. In addition, time, money and effort are saved in the company’s training activity
– The international homogeneity obtained in the training is impossible to achieve through traditional training (for example, a Role Play will never have the same outputs). This way we make sure that the professional is learning the key points that are expected.
In addition, at a psychopedagogical level, immersive technologies maximize learning because:
- They increase the content retention percentage by more than 70%.
- They increase user engagement with the experience by more than 80%.
- They intensify emotions by making the student the protagonist of the experience.
- They put Active Learning into practice: they make the student an active user who has to overcome challenges and tests to advance in the experience.
In the next post we will continue to delve into the benefits offered by immersive technologies in training and learning. If you have any questions or comments, do not hesitate to send them to us through our social networks or using our contact details.
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