The Virtual Bristol VR Lab - a startup incubation and remote worker networking space

虚拟布里斯托尔 VR 实验室 - 初创企业孵化器和远程员工网络空间

• 批准号: 56464
• 金额: $ 7.26万
• 依托单位: OPPOSABLE GAMES LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Feasibility Studies
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=56464
• 关键词: Virtual; Bristol; VR; Lab; startup

The Bristol VR Lab has, for the last 2 years, successfully been acting as an incubator for startups working in VR & AR, as well as associated ML and IOT, and has also hosted a huge number of talks and meetings to accelerate this field.The coronavirus has created massive disruption which is leading to increased remote working and networking, fields in which VR and AR are going to be transformative.With headset sales increasing and workers moving to home offices, there will be a great need for people to come together in shared digital 3d spaces. We are already seeing this in platforms like AltSpaceVR, and in video games like Fortnite, however these are focused on the engine and not the applications such as assisting the technology community and startup development.Bristol VR Lab has started work on developing a virtual digital mirror of the physical Bristol VR Lab, which can host daily connection for workers, can host virtual talks and seminars, can host meetup events and enable other new ways to network. Due to Coronovirus we see the societal need to implement and actively grow this space, open up to our local members and residents, and to a national and international audience, who will have increasingly limited opportunities to collaborate face to face.The main objective will be to create and add functionality to a 3D model of the Bristol VR Lab, with areas for virtual working, one to one meetings, 'coffee' breaks, small workshops, seminars and group classes or relaxation. Once this is built, we will host it in AltSpaceVR and use the network and track history of the Bristol VR Lab to drive engagement through hosted events and talks, as well as providing real world training sessions to help members of startup companies, corporates and members of the the public access the space using their VR headset or PC / mobile phone.This will be an innovative project - as such there is no well known virtual meeting space, and the process of setting up the space and scaling for a potentially huge global audience with multiple functionalities will be useful in assisting other companies set up their own virtual meeting areas.-- EXTENSION FOR IMPACT --The project has so far been successful in building the virtual space and running events. We wish to engage TechSpark, an organisation that runs media and events to an audience of 25,000 companies and professionals, to design, promote and host a number of events between January and March 2021, that will encourage more companies to make use of the virtual space. We will work with TechSpark to develop business models to drive revenue in the product to achieve self sustainability in 2021. We also have uncovered an issue with the use of the space on Mac computers, and have designed a solution where Mac users can seamlessly stream from a high end PC or server, and Amazon are providing GPU Cloud credits for the purposes of the project, we wish to extend the project to develop this capability.

在过去的两年里，布里斯托尔 VR 实验室成功地充当了 VR 和 AR 以及相关机器学习和物联网领域初创公司的孵化器，并且还举办了大量的会谈和会议来加速这一领域的发展。冠状病毒造成了巨大的破坏，导致远程工作和网络的增加，而 VR 和 AR 将在这些领域带来变革。随着耳机销量的增加和工人的转移， 在家庭办公室中，人们非常需要聚集在共享的数字 3D 空间中。我们已经在 AltSpaceVR 等平台和 Fortnite 等视频游戏中看到了这一点，但这些平台的重点是引擎，而不是协助技术社区和初创公司开发等应用程序。布里斯托尔 VR 实验室已开始开发物理布里斯托尔 VR 实验室的虚拟数字镜子，它可以为工作人员提供日常连接，可以举办虚拟演讲和研讨会，可以举办聚会活动并支持其他新的网络方式。由于冠状病毒，我们看到社会需要实施和积极发展这个空间，向我们的当地成员和居民以及国内和国际观众开放，他们面对面合作的机会越来越有限。主要目标是为布里斯托尔 VR 实验室的 3D 模型创建和添加功能，其中包括虚拟工作、一对一会议、“咖啡”休息、小型研讨会、研讨会和小组课程或放松区域。一旦建成，我们将在 AltSpaceVR 中托管它，并使用网络并跟踪布里斯托尔 VR 实验室的历史，通过主办的活动和讲座来推动参与，并提供真实世界的培训课程，帮助初创公司、企业和公众成员使用 VR 耳机或 PC/手机访问该空间。这将是一个创新项目 - 因此没有众所周知的虚拟会议空间，也没有为虚拟会议空间设置空间和扩展的过程。 具有多种功能的潜在大量全球受众将有助于协助其他公司建立自己的虚拟会议区域。--影响力扩展--该项目迄今为止在构建虚拟空间和举办活动方面取得了成功。我们希望与 TechSpark（一家向 25,000 家公司和专业人士运营媒体和活动的组织）合作，在 2021 年 1 月至 3 月期间设计、推广和举办一系列活动，这将鼓励更多公司利用虚拟空间。我们将与 TechSpark 合作开发商业模式，以提高产品收入，从而在 2021 年实现自我可持续发展。我们还发现了 Mac 计算机上空间使用的问题，并设计了一种解决方案，让 Mac 用户可以从高端 PC 或服务器无缝流式传输，亚马逊正在为该项目提供 GPU 云积分，我们希望扩展该项目以开发此功能。