Agenda

Description

Within USA TODAY NETWORK's DNA is the desire to innovate the way the organization tells stories, and 2020 proved to be a phenomenal year for interactive and immersive storytelling. USA TODAY NETWORK’s Emerging Technology team constructed over 15 highly engaging interactive projects that explored complex and trending news topics in ways that have not been done before. From interactive stories like exploring Perseverance’s mission to Mars, a visualization of how the COVID-19 vaccine works, and an animated graphic novelization of famous Women’s Suffrage speeches. USA TODAY NETWORK and its Emerging Tech team created a stronger experimentation and rapid iteration culture to meet their audience’s growing expectations for new forms of premium interactive experiences.
Ray Soto, Sr Director of Emerging Technology, will share insights into USA TODAY NETWORK’s development workflows, editorial challenges, and its vision for the future of premium interactive editorial experiences.

Speakers

Ray Soto

Director of Emerging Technology , USA Today

Description

Hart will discuss the process of bringing an idea from his head into augmented reality, often embracing unconventional humor and special FX in the process.

Speakers

Hart Woolery

CEO , 2020CV, Inc.

Description

Mobile augmented reality has the potential to bring to the users vibrant and immersive representations of important information at the right time and the right place within the physical world. Yet existing mobile augmented reality systems often make mistakes in identifying the objects present in the real world, thus generating incorrect virtual objects for the users. They also make mistakes in placing virtual objects within the real world, making them appear as shifting, oscillating, or jumping around. This talk outlines a vision of addressing such environmental awareness limitations by taking advantage of Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and controllers located in the vicinity of mobile augmented reality devices, along with edge computing infrastructures. Many IoT devices, such as smart lights, cameras, and displays, are already pervasive in smart homes, offices, and other environments. The talk will outline how to improve mobile augmented reality environmental awareness by using these IoT devices as sources of additional information about the real world, and as means for partially controlling the state of the world. The talk describes how this IoT support will make mobile augmented reality more reliable, paving way for its widespread applications in health-critical and safety-critical domains.

Speakers

Maria Gorlatova

Assistant Professor , Duke University

Description

At REI we have been very busy leveraging XR solutions to display some of our products in augmented reality, and in providing immersive 3D captures of some of our stores. But we have a greater vision for how we can leverage this technology to help us be better enterprise operators and as a means to aid our millions of members in getting out and exploring their natural surroundings. I’d like to share with you some of the XR initiatives that are currently in-flight and present some ideas on what our collective futures might look like with these emerging technologies.

Speakers

Alex Goldberg

XR Innovations , Blue Origin

Description

Covering the revolution in mobile scanning with the recent addition of depth sensors to many mobile devices, Laan Labs talks about creating a capture pipeline for consumers and enterprise alike. They share a few case studies of how the combination of LIDAR & computer vision is opening up new opportunities for industries like construction/BIM, shipping, GIS, and everyday consumers.

Speakers

Jason Laan

Partner , Laan Labs

Christopher Laan

Partner , Laan Labs

Description

The advent of 5G technology will usher in an era of new, immersive experiences in fields from gaming to education. Big corporations and leading Telcos such as Samsung, LG and Apple jumped on the 5G bandwagon in the fall of 2020, and other major companies are following suit as they develop 5G compatible technologies. In fact, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report (November 2020), there will be 3.3M 5G subscriptions worldwide by 2026.
At Inception, we believe 5G technology will take entertainment to the next level, enabling innovative capabilities never seen before - faster speeds, hyper-capacity, and high-quality streaming experiences. Inception’s flagship product, Bookful, is a 5G compatible educational reading app offering rich and immersive content, encouraging kids to read, and promoting productive screen time. Our 5G powered app opens up a whole new playful reading universe for children. This talk will focus on how Bookful and its partners are using 5G to offer an improved experience to consumers, thereby transforming the future of reading.

Speakers

Dana Porter

Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer , InceptionXR

Description

The Virtual Dimension Center (VDC) is Germany's leading network for virtual and augmented reality. Last year VDC started setting up a V/AR Measurement Lab and creating a benchmarking environment for headsets, tracking devices and AR marker tracking libraries. The published results include (among other things) measurements of image sharpness, image contrast, field of view and the stereoscopic range of headsets or the precision and working range of tracking devices.

Speakers

Christoph Runde

General Manager , Virtual Dimension Center Fellbach w.V.

Description

“Ship of the Dead” is a first-of-its-kind immersive storytelling experience that is viewable in both VR and AR. Based on the short story by international best-selling author, Kate Mosse, audience members use their smartphones or headsets to have a frightening encounter with the Ankou, a ghostly creature from Breton lore. As the audience uncovers the story, their decisions impact whether or not they will become the Ankou’s next victim. This project turns a piece of literature into two experiences that can be enjoyed in both VR and AR. The AR version features the author accompanying readers throughout the narrative. The VR version is self-driven and encourages readers to explore the story world themselves.


This will be a lively panel to discuss the creative process behind “Ship of the Dead” and the inevitable intersection of immersive technologies and literature. Aside from a best-selling author, the “Ship of the Dead” team consists of talented heavy hitters who previously worked for Marvel, Magic Leap, Apple, Riot Games, Royal Shakespeare Company, and more. 


Panelists will discuss a wide array of topics such as: combining the worlds of traditional literature with XR, contract considerations for partnering with a published author, the challenges of creating experiences that are accessible in both VR and AR, the development of a custom cloud-based technology for the experiences, strategies for marketing and distributing an immersive literature piece, and ways to approach authors for potential XR partnerships.


Panelists

1. Andy Lanning - Creative Director at Qxr Studios. Former Marvel/DC Comic Book Artist/Writer and Creative Director for Magic Leap

2. Graeme Devine - CTO at Qxr Studios. Former Magic Leap, Apple, Microsoft, Lucasfilms, Activision, and Virgin Interactive Engineer.

3. Kate Mosse - International best-selling British author and OBE (Office of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire)

4. Lou Doye - Executive Producer at Qxr Studios. Former Immersive and Live Theatre Producer for London’s West End, Royal Shakespeare Company, and Magic Leap.

5. Elena Piech - Experiential Producer at AMP Creative. Former Senior Marketing Manager for AR/VR platform company The Glimpse Group, and an Emmy-nominated journalist.

6. Rory Mitchell - Producer at The Mercantile. Former Beard & Glasses VR.

7. Naomi Augustine Lee - Art Director at Qxr Studios. Former Raytheon, Riot Games, and Magic Leap

Speakers

Elena Piech

XR Producer , ZeroSpace

Naomi Augustine-Yee

Art Director , QXR Studios

Graeme Devine

Creative Technical Officer , QXR Studios

Kate Mosse

Author

Description

Through countless partnerships, ZEPETO is home to virtual versions of celebrities like Selena Gomez, BLACKPINK, Twice, and more. From avatar-driven official music videos to virtual merchandise and virtual meet and greets, real world celebrities are embracing ZEPETO as they double down on metaverse strategies. However, there is a rapidly growing community of influencers in ZEPETO who are avatar natives. From a virtual fashion designer who makes six-figure incomes by selling clothes on ZEPETO to virtual influencers who land deals with MCNs that picked up their ZEPETO activities, there is a large - almost 1 million - community of creators on ZEPETO who are using ZEPETO exclusively or near-exclusively for their online output.

Speakers

Rudy Lee

Chief Strategy Officer , Naver Z

Description

The central location of the book "Ready Player One" is The OASIS, a fully embodied VR metaverse that began as a game, but was so compelling, so useful and fun, that everyone - every person, every business, every institution and even every game - had to have a presence there. Sort of like the formative Internet in the 90s. This is fiction, of course, Mark Zuckerberg says we will soon regard Facebook as a "metaverse company." Epic Games (maker of Fortnite), announced their most recent funding round of one billion dollars will be spent building a metaverse. But how shall we define it? Who else is building - or has built - a metaverse? What technology does a metaverse require? What might its terminal form be? On which platforms - AR, VR, Mobile - will these virtual, social spaces manifest, when, and how?

Speakers

Charlie Fink

Consultant, Columnist, Author, Adjunct , Forbes

Description

A talk showcasing real lessons learned from Music, Gaming and location based entertainment, and how combined with XR/AR/VR they hold the key to making a lasting impact in education as well as healthcare and wellness.

The goal of the talk is to present real world examples from my experience as a gamifying pediatrics hackathon semifinalist and member of CHLA’s Innovation studio*, together with game industry experience working under the mentorship of Niantic, and other music and entertainment industry experts. The hope is to inspire the next generation of creativities to apply their talents to more altruistic endeavors and showcase how it can simultaneously be financially and emotionally rewarding.

Speakers

Elias Clarke Campbell

Visual Musician , Forge Modern

Description

Digitizing large physical spaces in Augmented Reality holds tantalizing possibilities across industries. Join us for lessons learned from the digitization of Building Construction Projects. Learn about how to leverage your enterprises' existing building assets to make project management and inventory data spatial & how to use your physical space to design efficient AR workflows. Finally, we'll dive into tech challenges implementing AR in large areas and how to overcome them--including drift, repetitive elements, and vertical travel.

Speakers

Logan Smith

Chief Technology Officer , Argyle.build

Maret Thatcher

CEO , Argyle.build

Description

This talk will address several common problems associated with traditional systems in medicine and how Extended Reality technologies are solving them. This will include the use of Virtual Reality for preoperative planning and surgical simulation in neurosurgery and the impact of virtual reality on patient consultation and informed consent. Further attention will be given to the deployment of Augmented Reality technologies to help make brain and spine surgery safer and less invasive, including recent published data on early outcomes. Finally, we will cover broad scale development and deployment of Immersive Therapeutics for pain and anxiety as well as a comprehensive program for maternal mental health.

Speakers

Robert Louis

Chief of Neurosurgery , Hoag Hospital

Description

Conversational AI systems now have the power to give intelligent, empathetic voices to all types of consumer electronics including xR devices, vehicles, robots and more. SapientX powers state of the art, photo-realistic, purpose driven characters and virtual assistants which can be embodied directly by popular game engines such as Unity and Unreal, including support for Epic’s new Meta-Humans and other high-resolution characters. Find out what it's like to have an intelligent conversation with a hologram (Meta-Ori!) and what's next for AI powered digital humans.

Speakers

David Colleen

CEO , SapientX

Description

Music has always been enhanced by the visual arts, from album covers to music videos to laser light shows. In the last few years, artists have begun leaning into AR as the next frontier for such experiences, but never at scale, and never holistically across the broad spectrum of listening experiences, be it at home by yourself, out on a walk, hanging with friends, or attending a live concert or festival. Thanks to the unique capabilities of Niantic's new Lightship ARDK, with additional support and partnership from Unity and Warner Music, the two-time Auggie award winning AR studio, HEAVY.io will be showcasing their newest project (it's a secret, we can't tell you yet!), presenting a new paradigm for audio-visual experiences at the convergence of music, AR, NFTs, and participative art creation.

Speakers

Chris Nunes

Head of Studio , Heavy

Tiago Correia

Director - New Business & Ventures , Warner Music Group

BC Biermann

Creative Director , Heavy

Description

No matter the industry, the impacts of downtime add up quickly. Renault Trucks, a top manufacturer of light and heavy goods vehicles and transport solutions, deployed its “Optiview” service, to help counteract this. The service combines Librestream’s #1-rated augmented reality (AR) and remote collaboration solution, and RealWear’s HMT-1 headsets to enable hands-free remote support service for their dealerships.
Join Librestream and RealWear to learn about Renault Trucks’ path to digital transformation, implementation, results, challenges, and lessons learned. You’ll walk away with actionable insight into how you can achieve the benefits offered by hands-free, AR-powered remote collaboration solutions.

Speakers

Dan Flynn

VP of NA Sales , Librestream

Sanjay Jhawar

Chief Strategy Officer , RealWear

Description

Join us at The Glass House (2 S. Market Street San Jose, CA 95113) for the official AWE Afterparty! One way shuttles available immediately following the Auggie Awards. Open to all AWE participants with AWE badge and vaccination verification wristband

Description

The rise of virtual care services is an emerging trend to provide medical services without the need of physical presence. However, there are barriers related to the physician’s ability to measure vital signs, emotional and physical conditions, which prevents virtual care to deliver the same level of experience, as is the case with face-to-face care.
We have come up with innovative solutions based on set of our technologies, related to Vital signs measurements, EmoGraphy stress management, 3D depth sensing, etc., to enable AR/VR Enhanced Virtual Care. The proposed solutions try to improve upon existing virtual care by combining remote physiological measurement with 3D computer vision models of human pose and new forms of rendering 3D health information in an immersive and interactive manner, allowing spatially aligned rendering of vital signs data with captured images.
The proposed solution, can be extended to remotely monitor multiple subjects, which is useful for providing elderly care in crowded places.

Speakers

Vibhu Sharma

AR/VR Program Lead , Philips

Description

Augmented reality will fail without a method to adapt to the user’s context. Annoying or frustrating pop-ups will lead to distraction, frustration or confusion. This talk presents the world’s first contact-free facial expression and emotion sensing glasses. Applications include content testing in real-world environments, adaptive displays, and hands-free gesture interaction. The presentation includes a live demo.

Speakers

Charles Nduka

Co-founder and Chief Scientist , Emteq

Description

P&G Virtual LifeLab is a multiplayer immersive experience that has been created and launch for CES in 2021 to showcase P&G’s Brand and Citizenship stories. P&G Virtual LifeLab has been awarded 2nd best experience at CES and has been since evolved to support external and internal events. The innovative platform allows P&G to re-imagine their interaction with consumers, media, customers - always putting the visitor at the center of the experience. In this session you will learn about what it takes to balance creative, scale and impact by doing a deep dive into design, organization and platform choices. P&G is leaning forward using immersive technologies with upcoming initiatives @ CES 2022 and beyond.

Speakers

Ioana Matei

Global Head of Innovation , Louis Dreyfus Company