NEWS

"Connecting Digital + Reality"

Industrial XR / 3D Tech / Reality Capture / Digital Twin / AI / Spatial Computing / Connected Workforce

January 2, 2025: Issue 127

Happy New Year! 🥳 Forecast for 2025? CONVERGENCE! 💡 2024 was a groundbreaking year for industrial AI—full of big wins, unexpected twists, and lessons learned. From smarter systems tackling sustainability goals to collaborative AI transforming workflows, the industry leveled up in a big way. This week, we’re breaking it all down and looking ahead to 2025, where generative AI and autonomy are set to take center stage.  

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What’s Inside: 

• 📅 What Industrial AI Taught Us in 2024 (and What It Has Planned for 2025)
• 🖥️ AR Guidance: Tech Integration at Industrial Sites
• 📈 Schaeffler 3D Scanned 48 Of Its Factories, Efficiency Surged 80%
• 👊 PTC, Microsoft, VW Team Up on Generative AI
  
• 🚀 Watch NASA Use VR to ‘Explore’ Upcoming Lunar Space Station

WHAT'S BIG

What Industrial AI Taught Us in 2024 (and What It Has Planned for 2025)

(Image Credit: MaconRaine)

2024 was a wild ride for industrial AI—kind of like watching a robot try to moonwalk: impressive, a little awkward, but undeniably groundbreaking. From smarter factory floors to AI that hugs the edge (of computing), we’ve seen big change.

In this week’s article, we look back at 2024 to unpack the year’s biggest industrial AI wins and lessons, and then we get our crystal ball to look ahead to 2025.

Here’s just a taste:

• Data quality is the ultimate MVP—because bad data is like giving your AI a map from 1995.
• Collaborative AI proved it’s better to work with humans, not against them. 
• When put to use for sustainability, AI is making real strides toward net-zero goals.

If 2024 blew your mind, wait until you see our 2025 predictions. Generative AI is coming for industrial design, and autonomy is the name of the game on factory floors and beyond.

Read our look-back and look-forward.

Here’s to a great 2025. We’ll be here covering all things industrial immersive.

👌 Industrial AI = Your Competitive Advantage! 👉 Join us at the Industrial AI Nexus Converge next March 3-4, co-located with Industrial IMMERSIVE. Discover the jaw-dropping AI solutions and real-world use cases that are revolutionizing industrial AI. Don’t wait—your competition won’t! Grab a pass today and save!

WHAT'S UP

• Augmented Overhaul: HD Hyundai Infracore revolutionizes construction machinery maintenance with Unity-powered AR Guidance. Learn how their Global Product Support team leverages AR for troubleshooting and efficiency.
  
• Double Take Tech: Schaeffler has embraced the NavVis VLX, a wearable 3D scanner from NavVis, to capture indoor environments in 360º and integrate them into its digital twin platform, NavVis Ivion. With this technology, a 500,000-square-foot factory can be scanned in less than a week. To date, the company has created digital twins for 48 factories, scanning over 16 million square feet. With this digital twin technology, project lead times for data capture are up to 80% shorter compared to traditional methods.

SPONSORED BY: US! Kickstart your 2025 resolutions at the 7th Annual Industrial IMMERSIVE on March 3-4, 2025, in Houston, TX! This year, swap "hit the gym" for "hit the future" as you dive into where digital meets reality at the industrial spatial computing event of the year.

Join 450+ industry visionaries and immersive tech leaders exploring everything from XR/AR/VR and digital twins to AI-powered breakthroughs. 💡 Transform your professional game with cutting-edge spatial computing, reality capture, and 3D solutions. It’s the ultimate power move for your New Year’s goals: more networking, more innovation, more intel and way fewer sit-ups. 📈💪 Don't delay! Lock in your seat now —because your future self will thank you!

WHAT'S NEXT

• ENGAGE announced version 3.10 of its flagship application, which allows professionals and classrooms to work together in shared virtual spaces. The new update looks to enhance AI integrations, desktop controls, and session access-including improving the integration of Meta’s AI Llama framework.

• The AEC industry is modernizing its data sharing practices. Geo Week News spoke with Zelus about the transformation of their data-sharing workflows, turning to digital solutions that specialize in the transfer of large data files. 

WHAT'S THE DEAL

• PTC has confirmed it is partnering with Microsoft and the Volkswagen Group on a generative AI product for software development in physical products.
• Saipem, a company specializing in engineering services for the energy and infrastructure sectors, and AVEVA, a provider of industrial software, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to co-develop artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) solutions.

WHAT ELSE

(Image Credit: @NASA_Gateway on X)

NASA has shared footage showing astronauts using VR headsets to learn what it will be like aboard the Lunar Gateway space station.

The Lunar Gateway will orbit the moon and be used mainly for getting astronauts and cargo to and from the lunar surface during the upcoming Artemis missions. It’ll also be used as a space-based laboratory similar to how the International Space Station, which is in low-Earth orbit, operates today.

The space agency called on experienced astronauts Raja Chari and Nicole Mann to try out the VR experience.

“When they slip on their headsets, they’re not just seeing the station — they’re in it, meticulously surveying every detail and offering crucial insights on design and functionality,” NASA said in an article on its website. “During VR testing, astronauts engage in a variety of tasks that they expect to encounter in their day-to-day life on Gateway during real Artemis missions, including performing science experiments, retrieving supplies, and preparing warm meals.”

While Chari and Mann no doubt had a blast donning the headsets to explore a virtual representation of the first-ever lunar space station, there’s a serious side to the exercise as their feedback will allow engineers to refine the design of the outpost to make it safer and more comfortable for visitors. Read more --> (h/t Yahoo News)

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