I was on a high-rise construction site 34-floors above the city. I was talking to the construction crew when a fight broke out. There was an explosion and the floor collapsed. I removed the virtual reality (VR) goggles and laughed. It was so real. The VR solutions provided an incredible experience, almost like being there. As good as my experience was, it was not reality. It was a controlled pre-programmed experience - a notional idea. Today, however, VR, sensors and sensory feedback technologies enable a notional idea to become reality – a Real-Reality.
IoT sensors extend our physical senses beyond our physical reach. Haptic feedback systems enable us to physically feel distant objects and experience events, digital odors can be collected, profiled, transmitted and recreated locally on odor printers, 3D infrared scanners can capture and scale physical shapes and environments and transmit them anywhere to be used by 3D printers or in digital scenes. We can visualize, sense, and mentally and emotionally experience events. These experiences, which are data centric and data heavy, go far beyond virtual reality, to Real-Reality (RR).
Wikipedia defines reality as, ”The state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined.” With enough sensors collecting data, and with the right VR solutions and sensory feedback systems in place, we can step across the line from virtual to real reality. These technologies enable us to sense, feel, and experience actual events - potentially on the other side of the world. This is a big deal. This can enable experts to be anywhere on the planet, with maximum understanding of local situations.
Although many of these technologies are still in their infancy, they hint of a time very soon when the ability to bring distant realities into homes, industry and boardrooms are not only possible, but commonplace. The keys to making this future a reality, are measuring and collecting the right data, transmitting it, and optimizing the sensory experience.
How do we understand distant situations, activities, operations and events today? In many cases a human tries to capture and recreate the situation in words, and then forwards as an email or message. There are obvious limitations to this means of communication when fast moving and complex situations are involved. RR solutions with the required level of digital transformation implemented, including real-time sensors and sensory feedback systems, can communicate these experiences directly to our minds and bodies from anywhere in the world in real-time, thus bypassing the limitations of intermediary humans and written languages.
RR enables experts from anywhere in the world to conduct medical surgeries, repair specialized equipment, manage factories, farms and other kinds of operations from distant locations. The obstacles of the past that resulted in operational blind spots and incomplete information are quickly going away as RR becomes a reality - a real-reality.
RR enables experts from anywhere in the world to conduct medical surgeries, repair specialized equipment, manage factories, farms and other kinds of operations from distant locations. The obstacles of the past that resulted in operational blind spots and incomplete information are quickly going away as RR becomes a reality - a real-reality.
Follow Kevin Benedict on Twitter @krbenedict, or read more of his articles on digital transformation strategies here:
- Technology Must Disappear in 2017
- Merging Humans with AI and Machine Learning Systems
- In Defense of the Human Experience in a Digital World
- Profits that Kill in the Age of Digital Transformation
- Competing in Future Time and Digital Transformation
- Digital Hope and Redemption in the Digital Age
- Digital Transformation and the Role of Faster
- Digital Transformation and the Law of Thermodynamics
- Jettison the Heavy Baggage and Digitally Tranform
- Digital Transformation - The Dark Side
- Business is Not as Usual in Digital Transformation
- 15 Rules for Winning in Digital Transformation
- The End Goal of Digital Transformation
- Digital Transformation and the Ignorance Penalty
- Surviving the Three Ages of Digital Transformation
- From Digital to Hyper-Transformation
- Believers, Non-Believers and Digital Transformation
- Forces Driving the Digital Transformation Era
- Digital Transformation Requires Agility and Energy Measurement
- A Doctrine for Digital Transformation is Required
- The Advantages of Advantage in Digital Transformation
- Digital Transformation and Its Role in Mobility and Competition
- Digital Transformation - A Revolution in Precision Through IoT, Analytics and Mobility
- Competing in Digital Transformation and Mobility
- Ambiguity and Digital Transformation
- Digital Transformation and Mobility - Macro-Forces and Timing
- Mobile and IoT Technologies are Inside the Curve of Human Time
Kevin Benedict
Senior Analyst, Center for the Future of Work, Cognizant
Writer, Speaker and World Traveler
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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
