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Congratulations to our guys who continue to receive new sports trophies! The Qualium Systems team took second place in the 5th league of the Kharkiv Region Futsal Cup. The goalkeeper of our team was recognized as the best goalkeeper of the 5th league.

In the Qualcomm Investor Day 2021 livestream, President and CEO Cristiano Amon stated that more than 10 million Quest 2 have been sold worldwide. The information is based on Qualcomm producing the Snapdragon XR2 Platform for them. By comparison, total Xbox Series sales as of June 30, 2021 were 6.5 million consoles, according to analyst Daniel Ahmad.

Summing up the results of the year, it can be noted that the pandemic has made its own adjustments to recruiting. However, the same large number of beginners are looking for a job. When looking for the first job, information in a candidate’s resume plays a particularly important role. Working with a large number of job applications and resumes, the HR Department has put together a small selection of tips that Junior Developers may find helpful. Necessary points in the resume: contacts and preferred communication method for quick communication; a set of skills and their gradation / the number of years of work with a certain technology; optional: technologies that the candidate is studying or plans to study; links to the repository or alternative sources where one can view the code / project. It is especially important to have pet-projects when looking for your first job. work experience: implemented tasks and used technology stack, role in the team, duration of the project, information about the project sphere. Of course, in compliance with the NDA; education: completed or in progress, it is important to mention the courses taken / previously read specialized literature or other resources. We hope this information will be useful and you will find an excellent career opportunity for yourself. Our department is always in touch to discuss it! Elena Lukianova, Recruitment Specialist at Qualium Systems

The field of augmented and virtual reality development is developing by leaps and bounds: Facebook announced its plans to build a metaverse, major market players release new AR / VR / MR devices, new technologies and tools appear regularly. These factors represent both opportunities and challenges. It is very easy to lag behind the development of new directions, to concentrate on the familiar and convenient. Research & Development in VR/AR In order to stay at the peak of new solutions, we at Qualium Systems made a decision about a year ago to create an R&D department in virtual and augmented reality. As part of this department, we master and test new features, tools and capabilities. We use everything that has a perspective to solve the business problems of our clients. Passthrough API For example, we were one of the first to test a then new feature for Oculus Quest 2 – Passthrough API. This technology enables mixed reality experiences that combine real and virtual worlds into one. Immediately after an update became available, we started testing the API. It is an exciting promise by Oculus and has a lot of perspective. We are already brainstorming the ideas of using Passthrough API to solve our clients’ business issues. To test Passthrough API, we used the following Technology stack: Unity SDK, Oculus SDK 31-34, Passthrough API. Our experiment with the Passthrough API was for V31 when the technology was in experimental mode. In the further V34 version of Oculus, the Passthrough API has ceased to be an experimental function and now it does not need to be activated by a user via the console. You can watch our experiment in the video.   Comparison of the Oculus 2 with Passthrough API and HoloLens 2 Also, in continuation of our experiments with the Passthrough API technology, we decided to test the hypothesis – Can the Oculus 2 with Passthrough API take the place of HoloLens 2? After the MRTK library has been adapted to the Oculus Quest 2 and in the ver. 30 of the Operating system we received a pass-through feature, we decided to check if Oculus 2 could be used as an alternative to expensive HoloLens 2. To validate the idea, we’ve made two applications with the same features on the Oculus Quest 2 and on the HoloLens 2. You can see the result in the article http://ad88-46-150-10-153.eu.ngrok.io/blog/ar-vr/can-the-oculus-2-with-passthrough-api-take-the -place-of-hololens-2-checking-the-hypothesis. As part of our experiments, we are trying to highlight the industries that can most benefit from XR technologies, especially during a pandemic and its aftermath. The standalone application with computer vision base on Barracuda and TF model We understood that during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people lost the opportunity to train in the gym with a trainer. Lack of coaching support can lead to improper exercise performing, which in turn can lead to injury. But thanks to modern technology, it has become possible to train correctly. We are creating a standalone application with computer vision based on Barracuda and TF model. You view a recording of an exercise with a trainer and repeat it in real time. The computer vision based on Barracuda and TF model technology compares your movements and displays information on how well you perform the exercise. You can see the result in the video.   Tensorflow lite body recognition As part of testing our hypotheses that can be applied to sports and fitness, we compare Tensorflow lite body recognition based on PoseNet model and Unity Barracuda using tfjs-to-tf and tf2onnx.   Face tracking on PC with Unity SDK and UltraFaceBarracuda One industry that can benefit from XR adoption is Retail. As part of this direction, we tested Face tracking on PC with Unity SDK and UltraFaceBarracuda: depending on the face position, the picture that a person is looking at moves. As a result of this, the effect of a hologram is created. It is an interesting solution for marketing purposes with the ability to track people’s actions and test various marketing activities. To do so, we used the Technology stack: Unity SDK, UltraFaceBarracuda. See the result in the video. This is a small part of our experiments. We continue to research, hypothesize, and help our clients.

The AR / VR industry is rapidly evolving. One by one, tech giants announce the release of new devices, solutions and technologies. We decided to make brief reviews of the most interesting news, so that you keep abreast of the latest events. Lynx-R1’S Successful Kickstarter Ends With Over $800,000 Raised The Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign for the Lynx-R1 mixed reality (MR) headset was a success before it even had time to warm up, managing to exceed its $300,000 USD funding goal in less than a day. Now the campaign has concluded with over one thousand backers supporting the project and just over $800,000 raised over one month. https://www.vrfocus.com/2021/11/lynx-r1s-successful-kickstarter-ends-with-over-800000-raised/ Meta and Microsoft announce partnership to integrate Workplace and Teams Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, announced a partnership with Microsoft that will allow customers to integrate Meta’s Workplace enterprise social network software with Microsoft Teams. The integration gives customers access to Workplace content inside the Teams app. Likewise, users can view Teams video meetings in the Workplace app. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/10/meta-and-microsoft-announce-partnership-to-integrate-workplace-and-teams.html Nreal Brings The First AR Glasses To America, Via Verizon Light was previously only available in Germany, Spain, Japan, and South Korea. It weighs around three times a heavy pair of sunglasses, or a third of a Magic Leap One headset. To achieve this form factor Light is powered by your smartphone over a USB cable, there is no battery or full-fledged chip onboard. https://uploadvr.com/nreal-light-ar-glasses-usa-launch/ Ultraleap raises £60 million in Series D fundraise to be the primary interface for the metaverse Ultraleap, the world leader in interface technologies – hand tracking and mid-air haptics – announced it has completed a £60 million ($82 million) Series D round of investment. The raise will enable Ultraleap to further develop and commercialise its revolutionary technologies for existing and next generation computing platforms. https://www.ultraleap.com/company/news/press-release/series-d-fundraise/ Huawei Launches VR Glass 6DoF Headset Speaking at the Huawei Full Scenario Smart Life Conference, the Chinese tech giant said as quoted by Huawei Central it would launch its VR Glass 6 degrees-of-freedom (DoF) game headset, which weighs only 188 grammes and can connect to Huawei smartphones and PCs with a Type-C cable. https://www.xrtoday.com/virtual-reality/huawei-launches-vr-glass-6dof-headset/ Niantic Receives $300 Million Investment From Coatue Niantic Inc., developer of the world’s first and only planet-scale AR platform, announced that Coatue has made a $300 million investment in the company at a valuation of $9 billion. Niantic will use the funds to invest in current games and new apps, expand the Lightship developer platform, and build out its vision for the Real-World Metaverse. https://nianticlabs.com/blog/coatue/

A renowned analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted Apple’s augmented reality headset release in late 2022 in a new research report. According to Kuo, the headset’s main processor will be similar to the M1 chip that Apple introduced to its computers last year, with a second processor operating the sensors of the device. Presumably, the AR headset will work independently, without the need to be tied to a Mac or iPhone, and Apple intends to support a “wide range of applications” with an eye on iPhone replacement within ten years. There is also the possibility that the headset will be able to support the virtual reality function thanks to 4K Micro OLED displays from Sony.

Virtual reality is a continuously developed technology as a powerful tool for learning in enterprise environments. The main advantage is that virtual reality training allows students to practice working processes with near real-life experience in a suitable time and place. It allows to check a student’s knowledge and trained skills consistently by using well-developed work processes flow scenarios with assessments on the special checkpoints and, what is important, all of that is going in-game. The PwC study found that VR in soft skills training can provide such advantages: Employees in VR courses can be trained up to four times faster. VR learners are more confident in applying what they’re taught. Employees are more emotionally connected to VR content. VR learners are more focused, VR learning can be more cost-effective at scale. In this article, we are providing two case VR simulators overviews that were developed by our company, so based on this information, you could consider whether it’s a good idea for your company training strategy as well. You can consider the VR simulators usage if: You want to train and cooperate in VR despite distance and time. You want to save money and time. You want to make your training effective and engaging. You want to engage employees in a fun like a game way to reduce overwhelming. You want to train safety procedures in a comfortable, safe environment. Let’s go deeper into the specific VR simulators area of usage. Please note that we developed our simulators for Oculus Quest 2. This device has a low price, but it allows you to use all the possibilities of virtual reality. Safety skills training Chemical safety training VR simulator VR can be used to carry out affordable, simple to organize safety skills training of various types under the regulatory requirements. If your company manufactures chemical mixtures in Canada, Europe, or the US, you may be subject to different regulatory requirements, one of which is the presence of chemical safety training modules for the workers. Our VR simulator provides near real-life experience training in the VR environment for the workers and allows them to go through the whole tech process step-by-step. The training provides tips for each step with consistent implementation. The worker gets theoretical knowledge and sharpens practical skills under the safety rules set for this specific industry. Technology: Unity3D, C#, 3DS Max, Photoshop Equipment training VR welding training VR can be really an irreplaceable thing when it comes to training the skills of working with special equipment. VR welding simulator is intended for students as a near real-life training which simulates the whole process of the welding torch set up before starting the work. VR simulator, as an operation and maintenance of welding and cutting equipment, is conformed to the provisions of American National Standard Z49.1, “Safety in Welding and Cutting”. VR allows students to experience real-life experiences without real-life consequences. VR offers a student the opportunity to become completely immersed in a given working situation using equipment that can be set up virtually anywhere. This experience is different to screen-based learning since a student becomes surrounded by the experience. Technology: Unity, UnityXR Interaction Toolkit, Blender, C# Conclusion If you want to avoid mistakes in the working places, save money and time for their correction, you can get on track with the VR cutting edge technologies implementation into your corporate training world which will bring a bunch of benefits for your company.

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The AR / VR industry is rapidly evolving. One by one, tech giants announce the release of new devices, solutions and technologies. We decided to make brief reviews of the most interesting news, so that you keep abreast of the latest events. Qualcomm launches new AR dev kit, acquires Clay AIR Qualcomm today launched a new developer platform for building head-worn augmented reality experiences: the Snapdragon Spaces XR Developer Platform. https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/09/qualcomm-launches-new-ar-dev-kit-acquires-clay-air/ Niantic releases Lightship Augmented Reality Developer Kit AR technology company Niantic has announced that it is opening its Lightship Augmented Reality Developer Kit (ARDK) to developers that will make creating augmented reality experiences more accessible. https://www.financialexpress.com/brandwagon/niantic-releases-lightship-augmented-reality-developer-kit/2366292/ Meta Announces AR Glasses Prototype Project Nazare Alongside the reveal of the new Project Cambria VR headset, Meta (formerly Facebook) has just given a codename to its first pair of consumer AR glasses. Meet Project Nazare. https://uploadvr.com/meta-ar-glasses-project-nazare/ Cisco Launches Webex Hologram For Meetings At WebexOne, Cisco unveiled a preview of its next-generation hybrid work collaboration product. Webex Hologram is the industry’s only real-time meeting solution that takes advantage of augmented reality headsets to combine feature rich Webex meeting functionality with immersive 3D holograms. http://svdaily.com/2021/11/02/cisco-launches-webex-hologram-for-meetings/ Microsoft Teams enters the metaverse race with 3D avatars and immersive meetings Microsoft is entering the race to build a metaverse inside Teams, just days after Facebook rebranded to Meta in a push to build virtual spaces for both consumers and businesses. Microsoft is bringing Mesh, a collaborative platform for virtual experiences, directly into Microsoft Teams next year. https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/2/22758974/microsoft-teams-metaverse-mesh-3d-avatars-meetings-features