New connected spaces offer fully immersive experiences by combining interactive 360° video content – complete with lights, sounds and smells – compatible with augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and extended reality (XR). BT Immersive Spaces simulate real life environments for businesses and public sector organizations – including education, healthcare, retail, transportation, tourism, manufacturing, construction and sports. The in cooperation with Immersive Interactive Ltd. Launched 5G-enabled immersive spaces can help enhance learning and development, create consumer experiences and create immersive enterprise experiences Meetings: Cadoxton Primary School in the Vale of Glamorgan and Borders College in Galashiels are among the first clients, both of which are interactive, introduce immersive classrooms
BT announced today that it has launched immersive spaces for corporate and public sector customers, creating the first 5G-enabled interactive simulation experience in the UK market.
BT Immersive Spaces was developed in partnership with Immersive Interactive Ltd. is brought to life and simulates real-world environments in an internal or external space or mobile unit to create an interactive, immersive experience.
The fully immersive spaces are connected to the EE cellular network and use cameras and HD projectors to bring 360° content to life across the walls and floor of the space. Within the space, users can experience real or imagined scenarios in detail and add interactive elements – virtually immersing themselves in simulated environments, supplemented by lights, sounds and even smells.
Each room has a content library with more than 3,000 computer-generated scenarios, real-world environments, games, and training experiences. BT Immersive Spaces can be used for anything from training paramedics in a simulated, playful roadside accident scene or hospital unit, to recreating fan experiences at a football game, important historical moments, or even a trip to a beach in Thailand. The rooms are also compatible with VR, AR and XR technologies to enhance the user experience.
Immersive Spaces offers use cases for a variety of industries. BT is seeing early demand for training and development use cases in education, healthcare, retail, transportation, tourism, construction and sports – creating virtual experiences in operating rooms, buses, warehouses, supermarkets, construction sites and arenas. They are suitable for any business or organization with learning or development needs.
BT Immersive Spaces’ early customers include Borders College in Galashiels, Scotland and Cadoxton Primary School in South Wales. Both use technology to create fully immersive and interactive classrooms.
“The kids absolutely love it,” said Hannah Cogbill, Senior Principal at Cadoxton Primary School. “Her favorite topic so far is life under water. We can’t wait to explore more experiences and collections and then start developing our own content. We look forward to using it to support the development and advancement of our children’s imaginative writing. But it will also be a great framework to support learners with prior experiences they might be nervous about – like taking a train or boarding a plane.”
Construction students at Borders College, who previously had no way of gaining access to large-scale inner-city construction projects to learn on-site, can now use technology to get first-hand lessons about the construction environment. Students taking courses from engineering to medicine, health and social work will also benefit as they can tackle real world scenarios and increase their understanding of how each career path works. These include electrical safety isolation, ambulance training and dementia training.
David Lowe, Assistant Director for Curriculum and Sustainability at Borders College, said: “Thanks to this new innovative 5G-enabled equipment from BT, there will no longer be a gap between the opportunities offered to rural and inner-city students. Our students will be able to learn from wide-ranging developments, which is incredibly important in helping them navigate their career opportunities and understand where their preferences lie in this diverse sector. As educators, this gives us far more flexibility to update our courses as new practices and techniques emerge, which will open up a broader and “greener” range of skills for students.”
BT’s Immersive Spaces are the first in the UK to allow customers to edit and create interactive content of their choice. In addition to a pre-populated content library, this includes the ability to film, edit and even live stream your own videos using a 360° camera provided by BT.
Alex Foster, Division Director This technology has the potential to transform education and development in every industry. When clients grasp the power of immersive content, they can experience learning in a whole new way, tailored specifically to their needs – which can vastly improve information retention and problem-solving skills. It can also enrich the remote selling experience, bring gaming and esports to a new level, and carry people virtually anywhere, anyplace, and anytime in history.”
BT’s Immersive Spaces are fully supported by EE’s 4G and 5G network. With 5G, users can live stream content from a physical location directly into the BT Immersive Space. Where this is not possible, they can download and store content over 4G or even fixed fiber optics.
David Salt, MD at Immersive Interactive Ltd said, “The potential for immersive technologies is huge. The ability to interact with every surface of an immersive space and enjoy additional sounds, smells and sensory effects allows people to truly immerse themselves and be transported to new environments virtually, as if they were experiencing the real thing. We are very excited to be working with BT to bring this technology with limitless potential to businesses and consumers who can benefit from new, interactive learning.”
BT offers its customers an end-to-end service – from building and preparing immersive rooms, to providing 360° video equipment, to training and instructions on how to use the rooms, as well as 24/7 customer service support.
More information can be found here
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