TL;DR -> Ethar is an XR powerhouse, using the latest technologies from leading partners and delivering award winning solutions, while also investing in XR research to make new experiences possible, quick and easy to deliver.
As an avid content creator and educator, these past few years have been tough since I joined Ethar (the premier XR Experience platform). I’ve loved being here since I joined the team and worked hard to accelerate their vision of creating the worlds first truly cross platform and cross-vendor spatial aware platform, however due to my focus I’ve not had as much time as I have had in the past to share what I’ve been up to and demonstrate to others what they can achieve.
The goals at Ethar are huge and we have made great strides to overcome the many complexities of running an XR spatially aware platform, whilst also delivering beyond exceptional work for our clients and AREA research projects.
Whilst I cannot share everything, this article is just a snippet of those solutions I’m most proud of achieving, in a cost-effective, efficient and most importantly, cross-platform way.
A key goal of any XR Spatial browser is the ability to locate and localize XR content in a repeatable fashion, not just a tech demo to show something cool, but ensuring the solution is deployable, re-creatable, and efficient. We achieve this in many ways, some using tech we have built ourselves and others through API integration with other partners.
It is important to note that the world needs to share and integrate with multiple specialized partners to succeed. Just trying to build it all yourself is a waste of precious time and resources.
Where we differ from most, is that through our platform we can integrate with multiple solutions at the same time, dynamically switching or collaborating at runtime to fit the demand and needs of the client or consumer. This includes gathering even content and experiences from other vendors with compatible interfaces to truly deliver on the dream of a shared XR experience platform.
- Image tracking and identification
- GPS localized discovery
- Visual Positioning
- Manual placement with world understanding
- In some cases, a merging of all of these techniques as demand requires it
Simply put, in the digital universe of content and data, we can reliably place and recall information and experiences almost anywhere and at any time, whilst also preserving the protection and permissions of both the content and the user.
Only what the user wants to see and is allowed to see is presented, a keen distinction, no clutter.
| Retail solutions where vendor content is discovered and displayed virtually to meet the vendor’s needs. |
| Browsing the high street and discovering offers and promotions from vendors. |
Enriched interactive content and exhibits
Content on its own is not enough in the advancing world, seeing things through an augmented lens is cool, but being able to truly interact with experiences opens up a new world of exploration. There are many ways to introduce interactivity, but here at Ethar that alone is not enough, the experiences need to be adaptable and updatable on demand according to our clients wishes.
That engagement can be done in many ways:
- Fully interactive conversations and demonstrations.
- Games and discovery.
- Connected experiences with the real world.
- Long-term rewards and collectibles.
Exhibits and interactions need to feel alive and offer more to the end user than a static piece of content, exploring the digital world and enriching the joy of patrons to museums and beyond needs to make the visit a memorable one.
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| Ada Lovelace making an appearance and talking to guests, with several opportunities to talk and interact with. |
These installations can be historical characters, physical installations or even an image on the wall that starts a treasure hunt around the site, with the digital world there truly are no barriers.
At Ethar, we do not stand still, even in the AI revolution that is ongoing, although tempered with the experience of many technical advocates, as safety is paramount when delivering experiences to customers, especially where children are involved.
Merging the physical with the digital world
There are many mechanisms available today to scan and digitize physical objects and people into augmented content, what many do not realize is that these capabilities are now a part of the hardware/software ecosystem of the devices we carry in our pockets every day, each with their own unique traits and rules. All that is required of vendors is to successfully integrate then with their solutions, which is where the challenge truly begins. These standards, API’s, and capabilities are constantly evolving, even more so since the integration of AI into modern devices.
At Ethar, as we specialize in cross-platform integration which is highly componentized, so that any development in one vendor does not impact others, however, this does not affect our downstream applications as they all use a common interface. Adding more vendors only extends the Ethar platforms reach without causing massive rework in our infrastructure. This enables Ethar to stay ahead of the game with limited cost impact, further benefiting our clients and keeping costs down.
And we do not limit what kinds of content and capabilities can be achieved with the hardware available, such as the 2D holograms shown below that can be captured, preserved and then used in digital recreations in the augmented world.
| A 2D Hologram that has been captured on a device and then placed in the world world. |
Our vision for such creations is not limited to single subjects or capture, but intended to enable content creators to recreate entire scenes through augmented reality using characters and content they have captured.
World Discovery and Recognition
When learning new procedures and processes, or completing complicated tasks, traditional learning tools cannot compete in a growing augmented and AI-enabled world. Procedures are becoming more complicated, the safety aspects of even the simplest task are becoming more costly to maintain and repeating training on a regular basis is becoming mandatory through regulation. This means that the cost of doing business keeps growing for achieving the same output, costs which eventually turn into higher prices or operating budgets.
VR training has already demonstrated significant cost reductions and higher adherence to process in a virtual environment, however, the costs to produce such solutions continue to grow as the demands of digital artists increase with higher production and maintenance costs of these virtual solutions.
Ethar is at the forefront of developing solutions fully integrated with XR and AI to both simplify and enhance training and processes, ultimately reducing the costs involved and also improving safety in the workplace. We are heavily invested in building solutions that are both extensible and effective in improving outcomes in training, rehearsal, and active engagement while performing processes. Work in essence should be assisted digitally and where needed, also tracked (should the need require validation) to greatly improve safety and reduce ongoing costs.
| XR-assisted training, identifies the world as seen by the operative and assisted through AI recognition and support. |
Discovering hidden worlds through Augmented Reality
| An AR portal into another world. |
Portals are a fantastic way to showcase the hidden digital world behind windows, doors or magical gateways, even more so when you can actually walk through a door and visit that world (such as the radio operator room on the Titanic above). Ethar’s content delivery system allows us to distribute such portals anywhere with any content and even change the frame to enter or just look at the world beyond.
Technology keeps moving on and the techniques are challenging to implement correctly with little performance impact on the devices we deliver to for our customers.
The Service Framework by the Reality Collective
One of the partners we integrate with is the Reality Collective who specialize in a cross-platform framework for building XR solutions, they provide both an extensive Service Framework that simplifies the creation of a robust multi-platform solution as well as an advanced cross-platform XR framework (the Reality Toolkit) that accelerates XR development (primarily focused on VR solutions at the moment)
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| The Reality Toolkit and Service Framework by the Reality Collective. |
Ethar is a premier partner in this toolkit and helps to extend its functionality and capabilities as this greatly extends Ethar’s capabilities as well, showing that with cooperation, it is far better to work together to build solutions and platforms that benefit all rather than dedicating resources to proprietary and locked down technologies. Ethar benefits from both the investments we make and also the further investments by the Reality Collective’s other partners and host development team, essentially Open Source has more advantages to in-house development alone. Together we build better.
Summary
I have wanted to blog and showcase much of what is shown above (and more) but the world does not stop spinning for long enough for me to put pen to digital paper. Even my talking engagements have significantly reduced (here’s hoping I got more time this year).
But ever the tech-train continues and it is important to keep skills sharp and up to date, there is no such thing as “one solution to fit them all”, so Ethar has to remain agile and keep enhancing it’s “toolbox” to meet the needs of our customers, and I endeavor to be at the front, driving that train to an unknown destination. I don’t know what it looks like yet, but I am excited to find out!
Simon (darkside) Jackson
Engineer, industry executive, research enthusiast. Avid learner with diverse interests in coding, game development, Mixed Reality (AR/VR/XR) and reinforcement learning. 25+ years of experience working in multinational corporations and startups.
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