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5 AR/VR Solutions To Improve Merchandising in 2021

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 16:19:58 +0000

5 AR/VR Solutions To Improve Merchandising in 2021

Nowadays, retail uses Augmented and Virtual Reality for improving shopping experience in offline and online stores. Most often this approach applies to 3D displaying of products only. However, the possibilities of immersive technologies are much wider, especially in the merchandising field. VR and AR apps can help to test planograms, demonstrate products, and collect customer behavior data to make the shopping experience even more enjoyable. Let’s talk about how AR and VR shape the future of merchandising in our new article.

Merchandising is aiming to achieve the following goals:

New products placement
SKU Rationalization
Alternative pricing scenarios and promotions testing
Sales impact from displaying and advertising measurement
Sales impact of packaging changes determination
Shopper decision tree design
Qualitative research

However, achieving each of these goals requires the use of different optimization tools. One of such tools is Virtual and Augmented Reality. Thanks to their unique features, AR and VR can help to model and improve promotional displays more effectively as well as collect customer behavior analytics.

How AR and VR improve merchandising?

Immersive technologies provide an opportunity to experience a life-like activity for both marketers and customers. In particular, marketers use VR for shaping product layouts and testing how convenient product placement is for buyers. VR can be also used for collecting customer behavior data, which is crucial for measuring and assessing the effectiveness of merchandising.

Traditionally focus group surveys were used to collect this information. However, studies show that data obtained in this way is often untrue. This is where VR can be used for consumer testing. Such approach is a new way of simulating shopping experience within a virtual store that helps merchandisers to decide how to layout retail space.

In return, AR apps allow to visualize the planning inside the store and is also a great tool for digitizing planograms. Such approach allows marketers to use planograms to display goods in the POS conveniently, as well as check the compliance of product layouts.

These are just a few examples of how Virtual and Augmented Reality are being applied in merchandising. Now let’s look at specific use-cases.

Virtual Reality for collecting customer behavior data

Each marketing cycle is an important part of product promotion. Attention-capturing testing is a useful tool for verifying advertising strategies in merchandising. One of the best tools for collecting information about what triggers customers’ attention is Virtual Reality with eye-tracking technology. It is much more efficient than focus-group surveys because it is less likely to be biased by recall than self-reported measures of attention. So it helps retailers simulate shopping experiences in a cheaper virtual environment to define the placement of products. These decisions can sway millions in revenue when at scale.

VR apps with eye-tracking help brands and retailers to understand their audience better, as well as test and improve their promotional strategies. Virtual Reality Apps for Merchandising help retail businesses to extend their reach to geographically dispersed participants, perform research faster, more affordably, and at a larger scale while providing holistic conclusions.

AR/VR for testing new POS environments

Virtual and Augmented reality can simulate any retail environments and shopping experiences. Thanks to immersion, these technologies are a great tool for testing and improving shopping experience. In particular, they show marketing and merchandising managers how and where the shelves should be placed, how exactly the products should be laid out on the shelves, advertising exhibitions, shop windows, etc.

With the help of VR goggles or a regular smartphone and tablet, managers can see the closest to reality view of products and advertising displays. Moreover, marketers can change and improve the design of the shelves before they are manufactured. As a result, this approach reduces costs and time spent on creating effective promotional displays. No more misunderstandings and approximations.

AR/VR for Virtual Showrooms and Staging

VR and AR technologies allow marketers to design their own digital showrooms or stores in a virtual environment. Therefore, retailers can significantly reduce both costs and man-hours by eliminating the need to regularly update the decorations of the store.

In addition, the implementation of AR and VR gives customers the opportunity to experience a completely new shopping experience. It is especially relevant during a pandemic. In this way, the customer can walk around the virtual store and interact with virtual products before buying their physical version. All this he can do while staying at home. Isn’t that impressive!

Our company already has experience in creating such projects. In particular, SmartTek experts have designed and developed a full-fledged showroom for Jaguar. AR Jaguar Car Showroom is an augmented reality app for iOS and Android platforms that recreates the lifelike experience of examining a real-sized luxury vehicle in any location, providing users a unique chance to check out the desired car without visiting a showroom. Developed as a showcase solution it allows car brands to demonstrate autos to their clients all over the world.

AR/VR POS Merchandising Tool

Such Augmented Reality applications take into account all types of promotional stands/displays/showcases and contain “cells” where merchandisers or POS employees can place products. Besides, having such an app, managers will be able to conveniently and comfortably manage the displaying of any products on shelves and stands. All they need is to have the application installed, open it, and point it on the shelf.

The AR system recognizes the shelf from any angle and shows exactly which products should be placed in a particular cell. As a result, POS employees have specific visual instructions on how to place goods, and merchandisers can easily check whether they are displayed correctly.

Moreover, marketers can update planograms each marketing cycle. This information will automatically synchronize with the application, so it is always up to date.

VR/AR Samples of Any Products

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality eliminate the need to keep expensive and bulky samples on hand. Besides, VR and AR also help retailers to show the customer how to use the product properly. As a result, businesses reduce real costs related to logistics, losses, and manufacturing samples. Moreover, since a person has the opportunity to gain experience with the product, the number of purchases increases, and the number of returns drops.

Summing Up

Virtual and Augmented Reality technologies allow marketers and merchandisers to better understand factors that impact the buying behavior of their customers, as well as collect large amounts of data.

SmartTek team specializes in software solutions for the retail industry. Our experts will determine the right combination of technologies for your project as well as provide you with various services including VR/AR applications design, development, and 3D modeling.

Want to get a quote for your project? – Just contact us here.

VR/AR Merchandising Solutions for Tobacco Industry

admin — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 09:46:00 +0000

VR/AR Merchandising Solutions for Tobacco Industry

Visual merchandising has a clear and positive effect on tobacco retail sales. Clear pricing, well-stocked shelves, simple displays, and prominent sale signs can help drive profits while improving the shopping experience for customers. However, since each tobacco company has thousands of sales points, it is quite difficult to achieve a perfect product layout in each of them, as well as to check the effectiveness of planograms. Virtual and Augmented Reality helps to solve this problem easily. How exactly? Read in our new article.

Nowadays the total cost of retail merchandising commands an impressive 85% of $15 billion spent in promoting cigarettes in the US [read more]. According to CDC, in 2018 promotional allowances paid to cigarette retailers, such as payments for stocking, shelving, displaying, and merchandising particular brands was $180.3 million. We can assume that the major part of this budget was spent on the creation of stands with tobacco products for their maintenance and management, as they are the main tool for advertising and promotion of such goods.

However, with Virtual and Augmented Reality merchandising and product shelving can be more effective. In particular, thanks to these immersive technologies, it is possible to test and significantly improve the efficiency of planograms, as well as completely replace the manuals for shelving and displaying goods for merchandisers and employees of purchase points. Let’s learn more about each of the options below.

For tobacco promotional displays creation

Placing of cigarettes and other tobacco products on POS shelves directly affects the number of purchases, so this part of the product marketing campaign should be considered very carefully. Marketers usually use planograms for merchandising planning. However, such planograms usually remain schematic and do not allow to see the tobacco displays or promotional displays in a real point of sales at the development stage. Nevertheless, there is a solution that allows immersing into the process of creating a planogram – Virtual and Augmented Reality.

Thanks to VR and AR, marketers and merchandisers can create three-dimensional shelves and immediately see how they will look in a particular POS from different angles. They will be even able to choose between different types of virtual shelves and see how they would fit a tobacco zone. Such a designing approach allows marketers and sales reps to create the most efficient shopping experience.

POS Merchandising Tool

Planograms design is an important and fundamental stage for each marketing cycle. It is especially true for the tobacco industry, as tobacco products advertisement is strongly regulated. Therefore, it is very important to ensure the correct facing items per SKU and tobacco products sequence according to planograms at points of sale. Quite often, traditional printed materials are used for this purpose. However, manuals often change or can be lost at point of sales. An alternative to printed planograms can be a mobile Augmented Reality application that would be flexible to changes as well as easy to use for both merchandisers and POS employees.

This application takes into account all types of promotional stands/displays/showcases and contains “cells” where you can place cigarettes and other tobacco products. Besides, having such an application, merchandisers and POS employees will be able to conveniently and comfortably manage the displaying of tobacco products on shelves and stands. All they need is to have the application installed, open it, and point it on the shelf. The AR system recognizes the shelf from any angle and shows exactly which products should be placed in a particular cell. As a result, POS employees have specific visual instructions on how to place goods, and merchandisers can easily check whether the goods are displayed correctly.

Marketers can change planograms in the app each marketing cycle. This information will automatically synchronize with the app, so it is always up-to-date.

What are your next steps?

If you are looking for a brand-new and effective solution, contact us here.

SmartTek team specializes in software solutions for the FMCG industry. Our experts will determine the right combination of technologies for your project as well as provide you with various services including VR/AR applications design, development, and 3D modeling.

Want to get a quote for your project – just contact us here.

How Virtual and Augmented Reality Boost Manufacturing: 4 Use Cases

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 09:36:52 +0000

How Virtual and Augmented Reality Boost Manufacturing: 4 Use Cases

Manufacturing companies always have to look for innovative solutions to remain competitive in volatile markets. In particular, assistance is needed in production improvement, decision-making, updating and adapting production management tools, etc. Such tasks require software that allows the control and modeling of different flows of the production system. Virtual, augmented, and mixed reality are some of the most interesting approaches to simulate and design production systems. Let’s take a closer look at how to improve the Manufacturing Industry through Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality.

Virtual and augmented reality for industrial design

Industrial design is crucial for product innovation in today’s highly competitive market. To provide design teams with the opportunity to freely and naturally express their ideas, the creation process should be performed as immersively as possible. Modern technologies such as AR/VR/MR allow designers to fill the technical gap in the iterative design process and use rapid prototyping (CAD-RP) to complement the traditional design process.

For example, Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality allows the combination of virtual components with real ones into a virtual production system to establish a better configuration. Virtual and Augmented Reality can also be integrated into PLM (product lifecycle management) environments. This approach is based on the industrial engineering process and uses multi-agent systems on virtual reality platforms.

Virtual and augmented reality also helps industrial line developers test their models at the design stage, as well as optimize the production system.

Virtual, augmented, and mixed reality for training in manufacturing

Immersive technologies allow the improvement of three main components of cognitive capacity:
– experience – to master certain operations and approaches;
– comprehension – understanding their meaning and purpose;
– learning – how to act in specific situations.

Moreover, VR/AR/MR Training Simulators can be enhanced with a hand-tracking system for life-like interactions with virtual environment models in real-time. Such training also includes an analytics system, which records the correctness of the exercises and generates reports for each employee.

Our team created a Virtual Training Platform that already includes:

user and roles management
extensive analytics
key interactions for workers in the retail industry.

You can benefit from your custom VR simulation platform in a month.*

Check out our Virtual Training Platform for Healthcare here.

*depending on your use case.

Virtual simulations for safety training

The main feature of Virtual and Augmented Reality technologies is immersion. It is widely used by major industrial players to keep workers safe. VR/AR/MR Safety Training allows trainees to get ready for emergencies in a secure virtual environment. As a result, such preparation is much more effective than regular safety briefings.

Virtual, augmented, and mixed reality for improving workstations

Have you already heard about digital Virtual desktops? Such apps mirror a user’s computer monitor to the VR headset so users can work as if they do it on a real PC. The technology produces 3D holograms of real-time data that are more efficient than other display technologies. Read more about how Virtual Reality is shaping workstations of the future here.

Conclusion

Today, immersive technologies are used for many industrial goals such as training, decision support, service assistance, modeling of industrial operations, etc. Virtual, augmented, and mixed reality allow users to visualize and interact with industrial modeling. Nowadays it is one of the most modern and efficient approaches in manufacturing.

Need expert advice on AR/VR implementation? Request a free consultation now from our expert team here!

Educational Revolution in Retail: 6 Types of Virtual Reality Training

admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 14:56:43 +0000

Educational Revolution in Retail: 6 Types of Virtual Reality Training

Personnel training in retail can be quite challenging. In particular, the need to train staff to perform routine operations correctly, be polite and inclusive, and to act in a coordinated manner during stressful and dangerous situations. Conventional or manual training is not very effective due to the low level of immersion and the high cost of professional coaching services. Lately, large retailers have started integrating new technologies, like VR, into their training programs to work out various situations as efficiently as possible. How exactly? Read below!

VR training is used by top retailers

Three large retail companies, Walmart, Lowe’s, and IKEA have used VR to train their team members. While each business used the VR experience a little differently, all of them achieved a faster assimilation process and improved knowledge of basic skills among their employees. Moreover, in Walmart’s Academy training centers the staff is now learning how to deal with real-world experiences through a VR retail-training simulator. Walmart has also created VR training experiences to prepare personnel for “Black Friday” chaos.

Other large retailers also use Virtual Reality for onboarding and training. For example, Lowe’s allowed their staff to practice DIY projects without wasting products. In its turn, IKEA uses VR-experiences where the co-workers can interact with the IKEA key values.

VR Training in Retail

We have selected six examples of how Virtual Reality Training is used by different retailers.

If you are in retail and thinking about incorporating immersive experiences into your workflow, please contact us here. We’ll be happy to show you the benefits VR can bring to your business.

Smooth onboarding

Hiring and adapting new employees is a significant and lengthy process. Of course, everything depends on the department and the position of a new employee. However, it is still very important that new employees clearly understand the values, goals, and objectives of the company. On the other hand, it might be time-consuming for supervisors to conduct regular training for each new worker in situations of high staff turnover. The ideal solution in this case is to automate the learning process. VR simulation is a perfect tool for tracking movements and immersing trainees into a hyper-realistic working environment.

Supervisors or trainers receive extensive analytics on how the process goes and can lead a trainee or a group based on results achieved during the course.

Another advantage of virtual reality training for retail is that the information is always presented equally well. Everything is simple, clear, and accessible.

Virtual reality for onboarding training has long been used in large retail networks, including IKEA.

Mastering skills and procedures more effectively

Each company has a clear employee training plan, which usually consists of many different manuals. In most of cases, these manuals contain theoretical knowledge and do not enhance practical skills. In addition, training through manuals makes it impossible to test the learning progress automatically, so the presence of an expert who can check the employee’s actions is required. This results in increased costs and more time to train each employee.

The Virtual Reality Training Platform is a tool that makes the learning process easier, quicker, and provides trainees with practical experiences along with theoretical knowledge. This is the newest and the most effective training solution that can aggregate different learning scenarios in one place.

Besides, the VR Training Platform for Retail can contain blocks with analytics for each trainee, so you can track the training progress of each employee, see which topics this person has already passed and which they haven’t yet, as well as determine where mistakes were made.

Here are a few use-cases for VR Training for Retail:

Basic procedures
Package handling
Logistics
Merchandizing

Generally speaking, you can do training in many areas — the possibilities of virtual reality simulations are endless.

Improving soft skills for communication with employees and customers

If hard skills can be developed by reading a few manuals, then soft skill situations are a bit more complicated because this is primarily about emotional intelligence. However, VR training solves this issue.

Building a Team

Building relationships within the team is a process that directly affects the success of the company, especially in retail, where it is important to work together to provide quality services to customers. The virtual reality here can help establish the right relations among employees, as well as improve management.

Improving customer communication

Every employee who interacts with customers is the face of the company. So these employees must know how to communicate with customers to keep this image reliable. In particular, you can create virtual reality training that will teach your staff how to communicate with different types of customers properly, how to meet their needs specifically in your store, etc. VR helps employees to put themselves in the customer’s shoes so they can be better prepared to provide excellent, empathetic service.

Our team created a Virtual Training Platform that already includes:

user and roles management
extensive analytics
key interactions for workers in the retail industry.

You can benefit from your custom VR simulation platform in a month.*

Check out our Virtual Training Platform for Healthcare here.

*depending on your use case.

Dealing with emergencies

You can’t prepare your staff for emergencies using just manuals. After all, in a stressful situation, people can act in unexpected ways. That is why many companies simulate different scenarios through virtual reality and train employees on how to act correctly in different situations.

Testing changes to current practices

It is always better to check and test the implementation of new solutions in retail. After all, solutions that work well in some chain stores can fail in others. So if you do one-way training for stores where it is successful, you can test this approach with VR training in other stores. With this attitude, you may either find a new winning approach or, for example, avoid failure that would occur without any testing.

Preparing for the rush

Seasonal sales, store openings, or Black Friday promotions require the coordination of employees to avoid long queues and maintain a comfortable atmosphere in the store. However, during the mass influx of people, it is difficult to achieve that. That is why it is worth conducting VR training for staff. With their help, employees of your stores could be plunged into a situation where the store is overflowing with customers, goods on the shelves are swept away at high speed, and queues at checkouts or fitting rooms stretch for tens of feet.

Virtual reality training can simulate any situation that may arise and tells your employees how to act in a given scenario. Also, VR training can include testing employees’ knowledge and recording their learning progress.

Conclusion

For both individual pieces of training and team-based scenarios, virtual reality training is used in all kinds of retail businesses. Aside from personal development and improvement, VR training provides great benefits to collaborative actions and communication as well as preparing staff and management for emergencies, sales rushes, and testing new approaches.

How Construction Business can benefit from Augmented and Mixed Reality

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 13:59:39 +0000

How Construction Business can benefit from Augmented and Mixed Reality

The construction industry is full of challenges ranging from the need to show the appearance of an unfinished building to the execution of a construction plan without delays and budget increases. Besides, it is necessary to provide builders with all the necessary information to avoid possible mistakes. These are just a few issues that need to be addressed in the construction business. However, they can be solved quite easily thanks to Augmented and Mixed Reality. Read more about it in our new article.

Augmented and Mixed Reality in Construction:

Prevention of errors and discrepancies
Demonstration of a building through AR/MR when it yet exists on blueprints
More effective and safer training for construction workers
Summary

Prevention of errors and discrepancies

Building Information Modelling (BIM) utilizes 3D modeling, IT, and software compatibility to design, construct, and operate a building project, as well as communicate its details. The American Institute of Architects has defined BIM as “a model-based technology linked with a database of project information” [read more].

The killing feature of BIM is that it contains not only a general model of a building but also a layout of pipelines, electrical communications, texture data, etc. Constructors can quickly access this information through Augmented and Mixed Reality. AR/MR applications allow superimposing computer-generated images from CAD or Building Information Modeling (BIM) programs onto a user’s view of the real world, resulting in a composite or augmented image.

Construction supervising

With the help of augmented and mixed reality, builders can observe the construction site seeing the augmented overlay of the BIM model on top of the structure. The constructor can take photos or videos for the project team to view. It also allows checking how unbuilt structures, such as underground pipes, cable lines, or ducts align with a construction plan.

Construction management

Besides, such a superimposition of a building plan on top of a real structure can be quite useful during the straightforward process of development. After all, construction workers can use Augmented and Mixed Reality Applications with a building plan while, for example, laying communications. It significantly reduces the possibility of errors and speeds up the construction process because workers have all the necessary info in the mobile app or MR headset.

Demonstration of a building through AR/MR when it yet exists on blueprints

It is challenging to show your customers how the building will look like when completed. Luckily, you don’t have to build a house and knock it down in case the investor wanted something different. Augmented reality is a smart solution that allows your clients to see the structure on a place where it will be built and experience a real-time walkthrough. Our AR team at SmartTek designs and creates such immersive solutions. Please check out our demo “AResidence” app here.

More info about AResidence on our website.

More effective and safer training for construction workers

Human errors are a fairly common cause of production disruptions and as a result of money losses. One of the reasons for the mistakes is the low qualification of construction staff. However, this problem is often quite difficult to solve, because even engineers with a degree sometimes do not have enough practical skills. Also, such training simulations are time-consuming and dangerous for students.

The best solution is to use augmented and mixed reality applications, which show workers how to perform any task properly in a safe environment and minimize staff errors.

Is Augmented and Mixed Reality Good for Your Construction Business?

If you are looking for an awesome visualization tool for construction, an AR app is a great option. Through augmented and mixed reality you can show your client any type of building at any stage of construction. A combination of AR/MR and architectural visualization is a huge leap for businesses and has been successfully tried out already. Moreover, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality are powerful tools for carrying out construction according to the plan, supervising each stage of construction as well as holding safe and effective training for construction workers.

If you are interested in this or a similar solution, please contact us, we will answer all your questions.

7 VR/AR solutions for patients in healthcare

admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 14:44:53 +0000

VR/AR solutions for patients in healthcare

Nowadays, the healthcare industry is not only about treatment but also about making therapy and recovery more pleasant. Besides, doctors face another challenge – non-drug treatment implementation, as it is safer and partly more effective for patients. However, how to cope with these tasks? Read in our new article!

Virtual and augmented reality technologies are a powerful tool for non-drug treatment and rehabilitation for patients. However, where can they be used? We have prepared a list of areas based on various researches where you can find the answer.

Phobia Treatment

We all know the statement that to overcome fear you need to face it. However, interacting with phobia objects can be dangerous for patients. For such cases AR simulations can be used. Through AR applications patients with e.g. arachnophobia can see how virtual life-like spiders are running on their hands. And in the moment of panic a person can turn off the phone and make sure that there is no actual threat.

Demonstration of future result

With AR technology doctors can allow patients to see what results they will get after treatment. This practice is especially useful for aesthetic medicine – dermatology, dentistry, and plastic surgery.

VR for pain management

Numerous studies have shown that virtual reality helps patients distract from the real world. Immersive technology draws attention to itself, allowing a person to forget about pain or discomfort. That is why VR apps are widely used as painkillers or even instead of anesthesia. Read more about this in our previous article.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder/PTSD treatment

Overcoming post-traumatic stress disorder is a type of nervousness that affects 1 in 13 people in the world. Patients with PTSD receive either psychotherapy or medication. One of the psychiatric treatment types is exposure therapy. Its essence is to create conditions in which patients face their fears to overcome them.

Virtual and augmented reality technologies are an excellent tool for exposure therapy. Studies indicated post-treatment improvement on all measures of PTSD and maintenance of these gains at a six-month follow-up, with a 34% decrease in clinician-rated symptoms of PTSD and a 45% decrease in self-reported symptoms of PTSD [read more].

Relaxing

Thanks to the immersion, virtual reality also allows you to relieve stress and anxiety and make the patient relaxed. It is especially necessary and useful for patients who are constantly stressed, have neuroses or panic attacks. Users can immerse themselves through VR applications to meditate and recover for a while.

Speeding up recovery in physical therapy

Physical rehabilitation after injuries can be quite long for patients. Also, often performing basic exercises can be difficult even from a psychological point of view. That is why physiotherapists decided to use virtual reality experiences with elements of gamification. Such VR apps enable patients to be more relaxed during procedures, perform more exercises and feel less discomfort during training.

Informing patients and family

It is quite difficult for doctors to fully explain to patients and their relatives how exactly a procedure or operation is performed. As a result, uncertainty creates fears and nervousness, which negatively affects the general condition of the patient. For such cases, virtual or augmented reality applications illustrate the process and make it more clear to patients and their families.

Summing Up

Virtual and augmented reality are powerful tools for improving patient care. These technologies allow healthcare workers to deal with physical and mental problems and promote faster recovery of patients.

VR Solutions As Pain Relievers: Use Cases and Examples

admin — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 07:51:26 +0000

VR Solutions As Pain Relievers: Use Cases and Examples

Nowadays, society is facing an opioid crisis that affects about 2 million Americans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the total “economic burden” of prescription opioid misuse alone in the United States is $78.5 billion a year, including the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement [read more]. However, how to solve this problem?

The main reason for the crisis is the frequent prescribing of opioid painkillers, which are very addictive. This issue can be solved by partial or complete replacement opioid pain relievers by other methods for pain management, like using VR apps.

Virtual reality can significantly lessen pain signals, especially for those who experience more severe pain. Moreover, this technology also allows managing chronic soreness, or discomfort during long-lasting painful procedures. Let’s find out more about this technology in healthcare.

For which institutions does it work?

Hospitals
Pediatric Clinics
Rehab Centers
Hospice Houses
Cancer Treatment Centers
Transfusion Centers
Midwifery Birth Centers

When does VR can help?

Ease the pain during childbirth

Epidural anesthesia is considered rather dangerous for dealing with discomfort during labor. However, it is often painful to give birth without any pain management. We need an alternative solution. A great option is using relaxing virtual reality apps.

How does it work? Everything is quite simple! The woman wears a VR headset, where she sees soothing pictures of nature, and a background voice tells her how to breathe properly. This method of pain relief has been repeatedly tested in practice and has got many positive reviews from patients.

Burn Victims Rehab

Bandage replacement and wound care is a very painful procedure that is constantly faced by patients with burns. Therefore, as an alternative to medical pain relief burn survivors started using VR gaming to lessen the excruciating pain. VR was found to decrease pain levels, anxiety and time spent thinking about pain.

Another working option is augmented hypnosis. Procedurally, such hypnosis is administered by providing the patient with an audio recording of hypnotic induction, suggestions for pain relief, and then drifting the participant into the virtual world [read more].

Reducing discomfort during dental procedures

Dental procedures are usually unpleasant. Because of this, many patients delay a visit to the dentist until the last moment. VR applications will help to solve the problem of pain during the treatment of the oral cavity. Read exactly how it works in our previous article.

When the anesthesia is contraindicated

Anesthesia can often be even more dangerous than the medical operation itself due to a large number of possible complications and precautions. That is why there is a large number of patients who are generally contraindicated to reduce pain with medication. However, their need for pain relief does not disappear. The use of VR pain management apps perfectly solves this problem. Additionally, it doesn’t require a lot of resources – just a headset and an application.

Let’s improve pain management for your patients! Contact us here.

Pediatric Pain Distraction

VR makes injections and other painful or potentially frightening procedures less distressing to children. Before the procedure the little patient is put on VR goggles with exciting games or videos and the child does not pay attention to unpleasant manipulations in real life.

Help with phantom limb pain

Nowadays, amputees avoid phantom pain in lost limbs by playing VR games. In the virtual environment, patients could see and move missing limbs, which had a positive effect on their prosthetic adaptation skills, mental health, and overall quality of life.

Dealing with cancer pain

Studies show that VR supplements help cancer patients withstand painful medical procedures, including chemotherapy, lumbar puncture, and port access. 82% of children stated that treatment with VR was better than previous treatments and they would like to use VR again [read more].

Relaxing during routine medical procedures

Many routine medical procedures, such as a blood draw, intravenous placement, and immunization can be painful and anxiety-provoking. The virtual reality app helps patients to switch their attention from the procedure and instead meditate, play games or even learn useful information thanks to 360 videos.

Chronic pain management

VR applications for overcoming chronic pain have two main functions – relaxation and physiotherapeutic. The first one works in VR meditation and relaxing apps. The second one contains the necessary set of exercises that patients need to perform. Thus VR apps help to manage acute procedural pain and aid in physical rehabilitation.

Let us help you to take care of your patients. Contact us now.

How Does VR As A Pain Reliever Works?

There are several approaches used in VR applications to relieve pain. The first includes immersion and distraction from pain or unpleasant medical procedures. These features are implemented in VR games, meditation applications, apps with 360 videos.

Another way to control pain with virtual reality is augmented hypnosis [read more]. These apps provide the patient with an audio recording of hypnotic induction, suggestions for pain relief, and then drifting the participant into the virtual world [read more].

Both of these methods have been studied for ten years and are demonstrating tremendous results already.

Why VR is better than traditional pain-relievers?

VR can be a safe, effective, and drug-free solution for some types of pain. The greatest benefit from virtual reality is obtained by people with severe pain who are intolerant to certain drugs as well as patients with chronic pain who could not use pain relievers due to their high addiction or health problems.

Disadvantages Of VR Apps As Pain Relievers

VR Pain Relieving helps, but it’s not strong enough

There are a lot of studies that show the effectiveness of VR applications, but the main feature that makes them effective as pain relievers is a distraction. And it is clear that very severe pain, such as during surgery, can not be overcome because of the distraction of the patient only.

VR Pain Relieving is still a method that requires a lot of clinical research

Although VR has long been used in medicine to relieve pain, this method has not yet become widespread. However, for decades, scientists around the world have been conducting researches that show the effectiveness of virtual reality for pain management.

Summing Up

VR can help people better manage pain and other symptoms that traditionally require medication. Yet several more questions need to be answered to better understand the full potential of VR in a clinical setting.

Having years of expertise in VR we know how to bring treatment experience to the next level. Get in touch with us now.

AR and VR Solutions For Dentistry: Benefits and Use Cases

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 14:05:10 +0000

AR and VR Solutions For Dentistry: Benefits and Use Cases

Healthcare requires special attention to each patient. It is reflected in the high requirements of the HCW’s qualification as well as in comforting the patient. Virtual and augmented reality are great tools to help meet both the first and the second needs. Let’s take a closer look at where AR and VR can help healthcare professionals in the field of dentistry.

As an element of interactive learning

Thanks to VR and AR, you can recreate any situation in a virtual environment. It, in turn, allows you to interact with equipment and patients, learn and sharpen your working methods and skills. And you only need a VR headset and a software. Nothing more! With this fairly inexpensive device, you can train any experience, work with any equipment, and do it without being tied to any place.

Nowadays the use of virtual reality technologies is a common replacement for standard simulation labs. Read what are the advantages of VR Simulation lab compared to regular ones in our previous article.

Moreover, according to recent studies, medical students who were given VR training completed it 20% faster and completed 38% more steps correctly than those in the traditionally trained group (Western Orthopedic Association). Its main advantage is the ability to immerse in learning situations without any threads for trainees.

Opportunity to study remotely

One of the main advantages of using VR and AR for training is the ability to practice anywhere, even at home. Besides, you can conduct joint training with people who are in different places. It helps to share experiences and set up the most effective communication between specialists.

To achieve the effect of real-time surgery

Students can watch lessons on prosthetics and oral treatment as a direct participant in the procedure. Also, they can not only watch the prepared scenario of the operation, but also try to reproduce it individually, in pairs, or under the guidance of a professional.

Virtual reality allows you to connect to the training an unlimited number of trainees. So students can train complex operations as a whole. Moreover, virtual reality training applications allow you to record the progress of each trainee, check the correctness of their tasks, and so on. It is especially useful for Training, Retraining, and Refreshing Competence Centers.

Ability to shape the future result

In dentistry, namely in prosthetics, the accuracy of the final result plays an essential role. However, developing a model of a patient’s future perfect smile requires skills and special equipment. Generally, it needs about 3–4 months after the dental prosthetic treatment until the wound heals to install dentures.

However, without modeling the future result at the initial stage there is a high probability of dentist error, which leads to occlusion dysfunction. The best solution is the pre-surgical plan, which you can create by using AR and VR technologies. Such an app helps you to adjust and design the precise placement of the implant, and not only shorten the operation time because of the small wound or even the flapless surgery, but also accurately predict and avoid the nerve.

As a pain reliever during painful procedures

A good dental clinic always tries to make the patient’s visit as pleasant as possible. However, quite often the treatment of the oral cavity causes discomfort to the patient. How to reduce such negative effects without using anesthesia? The best solution is a VR application that can relax your patients during dental treatment as well as advertise your clinic. In particular, you can show meditation videos, educational videos about oral care, or stories about your hospital that will be interesting and useful to patients.

App development time and prices

Application development is usually quite a complex task. Below we have tried to summarize the creation of VR and AR applications for dentistry. Descriptions and prices are approximate. Please, contact us here to learn more.

VR training simulators

Thanks to the immersion such apps boost training retention and performance. These solutions help to make training cost-effective and educate people in a safe environment.

Let’s take a medical VR training simulator for dentists as an example. The main task of any training simulator is creating hyper-realistic 3D images and the environment takes more than 4 weeks. App development can take from one week up to several months, depending on the complexity of the project.

The approximate price for VR Training Simulator development starting from $6 900.

Augmented Reality solutions

“Perfect Smile” AR App

If you want to help your patients to visualize how they would look like after the dental procedures we recommend creating a “Perfect Smile AR App”. Such an app replaces a patient’s teeth with 3D overlays. This AR tool can be created in 8-12 weeks.

AR Manual

Users have difficulties in finding and understanding a solution in a large user manual and sometimes they misunderstand procedures. If there was a mobile app that would help to deal with dental chairs or any other special equipment without a handbook, wouldn’t it be great? Augmented reality gives a possibility to create an interactive user manual. To create such an app on average takes 4-8 weeks.

Augmented Reality Training

AR Training experience with digital twin heavily depends on scenario complexity and additional features such as user management, roles management, and analytics. Simple scenarios with 3D assets provided can be delivered in 4-6 weeks.

What are your next steps?

If you are looking for a brand-new and cost-effective solution, contact us here.

SmartTek team will determine the right combination of technologies for your project as well as provide you with various services including VR/AR app design, development, and 3D modeling.

Want to get a quote for your project – just contact us here.

7 advantages of VR Simulation Labs

admin — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 08:31:08 +0000

7 advantages of VR Simulation Labs

Simulation Lab is an essential step in the training of any future or current healthcare expert. However, is it possible to optimize this experience? Studies show that the practice can be made even more useful for trainees by implementing VR technology. But how exactly does this work? Let’s find out in a new article.

Main advantages

To begin with, let’s highlight the main advantages of using virtual reality during training of healthcare professionals.

No need for large space

Traditional Simulation Labs usually require a large room where you can place all the necessary devices, mannequins, etc. However, the more scenarios you have, the larger space is needed. In return, by using VR Simulation Lab, you don’t even need a specific room to study. A small room will be enough.

Minimum equipment

Each experience in a regular Simulation lab requires a considerable amount of training equipment. On the other hand, for a VR lab we need only a headset as all environments are modeled in 3D. SmartTek experts develop and design medical equipment and characters, determine scenarios and interactions. Possibilities are limitless.

3. Wide range of experiences

In virtual reality, trainees can play any scenarios or situations. Besides, unlike training with a mannequin, in the VR simulation lab we can interact with “life-like” patients. It makes the experience more realistic and consequently leads to better results.

4. Easy to scale

One of the main advantages of VR Simulation Labs is the ability to store an unlimited number of training scenarios.

5. Remote Study and Analytics

Your staff or students can train from any convenient location, even from home. And at the same time, they would receive the same knowledge and experience as if they passed such training in a usual simulation lab. Moreover, all results and scores are stored and can be accessed at any time.

6. Full immersion

We can confidently say that VR is the technology that allows you to fully immerse yourself into the learning process. Namely, you can simulate the active phase of any situation, such as the process of providing emergency care. This means that virtual reality training not only sharpens professional skills but also improves stress resistance in difficult situations.

7. Collaborative learning

Being able to train simultaneously together with people who are in different locations is an important feature inherent in the VR labs. For example, you can train with a specialist who is on the other side of the world.

VR Simulation Lab Development

Developing a VR Simulation Lab requires a lot of time and resources. However, the timing of creating a virtual lab depends on the complexity and number of experiences you need to develop. Detailing of three-dimensional objects also plays an important role.

The development timeline starts from 7 weeks.

The price of VR Simulation Lab development starting from $12 000

What are your next steps?

If you are looking for a brand-new and cost-effective solution for your business, contact us here.

SmartTek team will determine the right combination of technologies for your project as well as provide you with various services including VR app design, development, and 3D modeling.

Want to get a quote for your project – just contact us here.

How much does VR application development cost?

admin — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 15:03:06 +0000

How much does VR application development cost?

VR applications have become a real successor in many industries from gaming to healthcare. After all, by immersing customers or employees, businesses and organizations have an opportunity to interact with them much more cost-effectively. Why are VR trainings so reasonable? How much does it cost to develop a VR application? Find out this and much more in our article.

By the way, you can also check our previous blog if you want to know about AR project types and costs.

Why do VR apps rock?

Powerful visualization

VR is a great tool for physical product visualization. It enables users to see products in 3D, interact with them, rotate from all sides and literally “feel” objects. Also it is possible to share the experience with other users no matter how far they are.

Virtual Reality apps can be applied quite well in the tourism industry. VR provides you with an opportunity to show your client how great is the hotel or resort you offer. Let the customer see the exotic islands just by sitting in your downtown office. Besides, you can use this technology for virtual tours of museums or galleries, as well as in regular retail stores. We are convinced that this experience will be remembered by your customers.

More effective training

VR training is a very powerful tool for educating students and employees within the organization. According to recent studies, medical students who were given VR training completed it 20% faster and completed 38% more steps correctly than those in the traditionally trained group (Western Orthopedic Association). Its main advantage is the ability to immerse in learning situations without any threads for trainees.

Deep immersion

This feature is inherent and works for all industries, but in this context is most suitable for the gaming industry. After all, VR technology can fundamentally change the gaming experience, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the plot. Besides, by using controllers users can feel like a real hero of the game, fight with a physical sword or, for example, hit the ball with a real baseball bat on a virtual baseball field.

Which industries need VR applications

Virtual reality technology can make any business more efficient. We have identified a few areas that simply need to implement VR in their work, study, or sales process.

Games
Healthcare
Tourism
Real estate
Retail
Hospitality
Architecture
Construction
Manufacturing
Design, etc

If you have ideas that involve virtual, augmented, mixed reality, or 3D modeling, please contact us. Our experts will be happy to discuss them with you.

How much does it cost to develop a VR application?

The cost of application development depends on a huge number of factors. You, as a customer, must have not only a general idea but also answers to the following questions:

What is the main goal of the project?
What are the key features?
Define your design preferences.
How do you see the user experience?

Also you have to decide a target VR device for your application.

The incredible variety of VR headsets allow you to choose the best one for any need. Our team creates applications for Oculus Quest/Quest 2, Oculus Rift, Oculus Go, HTC Vive, Pico VR, Microsoft HoloLens/HoloLens 2. Contact us to find out more.

VR development estimation

The general development time can vary from 4 to 20 weeks. It can take even a year if the app functionality and 3D models are very complex. Let’s look at all the types of VR applications we can develop for your business.

Architectural Visualization App

Businesses in this area can take advantage of VR apps by an architectural visualization or 360 walkthroughs. These solutions provide a delightful experience to increase customer engagement.

Costs depend on two main factors: property size and level of detailing. e.g. To visualize a six-room apartment will take from 6 weeks.

360 Virtual Tour

With VR tours the potential buyers can explore how the building looks or will look like in the future. It helps better understand or visualize their dream house. Besides, 360 Virtual Tours provide an opportunity to create unique experiences for visitors of museums, galleries and other art institutions.

360 virtual tours can be done from 6 weeks.

VR training simulators

Thanks to the immersion such apps boost training retention and performance. These solutions help to make training cost-effective and, moreover, educate people in a safe environment. VR Trainings are widely used in healthcare, construction, energy, military, aviation, automotive, etc.

Let’s take a medical VR training simulator for surgeons as an example. As the main task of any training simulator is to create hyper-realistic 3D models, the design of several human organs takes more than 4 weeks. App development can take from one week up to several months, depending on the complexity of the project.

VR Learning Management System (LMS)

LMS collects performance data that helps trainees to understand their strengths and weaknesses, and exposes them to situations they can use to develop skills quicker and digest information easier. Moreover, VR Learning Management System helps you to get all student’s data in one place. In this system organizations can store all essential knowledge and training materials, simulate different scenarios, aggregate results and automate learning process.

The development includes cloud and back-end infrastructure setup along with CMS and databases for roles and user management. The development timeline starts from 8 weeks

VR Simulation Lab

Such solutions substitute standard simulation labs. One of their biggest advantages is that VR Sim labs don’t need large spaces and expensive equipment to hold numerous training experiences. With VR Sim Lab all training is held in a realistic virtual environment and trainees are provided with as many scenarios as needed. Furthermore, with multiplayer functionality trainees can execute complex procedures together in the same place.

The development timeline starts from 7 weeks.

Approximate costs for development will be as follows:

Architectural Visualization — starting from $3 500
VR Training Simulators — starting from $4 900
VR Learning Management System (LMS) – starting from $10 000
VR Simulation Lab – starting from $12 000
360 Virtual Tour – starting from $3 500

What are your next steps?

If you are looking for a brand-new and cost-effective solution for your business, contact us here.

SmartTek team will determine the right combination of technologies for your project as well as provide you with various services including VR app design, development, and 3D modeling.

Want to get a quote for your project – just contact us here.