In Conversation: Why the VR and AR industry can't ignore the computer in your pocket
The smartphone is today's compute platform. But - as we look towards a world of AR & VR, we see this device's limitations.
Category: Virtual Reality
Author: LENS Immersive

In Conversation: Why the VR and AR industry can’t ignore the computer in your pocket
AUGUST 22, 2018
LENS HQ — Sydney, Australia
Travis Rice, CCO and Founder of LENS Group



DF: Your background is in contemporary art, correct?
TR: My background is in working with artists at that fuzzy intersection between ideas and technology. Contemporary artists are natural early adopters in of technology, as observers and philosophers that hold a mirror up to society. A lot of the stuff that we talk about in museums and galleries overlaps with tech, business and cultural structures, and that’s where the focus of my work is. That’s what I’m doing at LENS.
DF: We talked about the convergence of devices, and you mentioned that this is something many people were looking for — back before the iPhone was introduced.
TR: Back in 2004, A lot of people didn’t think think you could combine a camera, MP3 player, PDA & phone into one device. It’s hard to believe that looking back now. Many thought you couldn’t dilute the device expertise inherent in specialized tech, despite the similarities of components. 2004 was not that long ago!
DF: How do you see VR, AR & AI in 2018, in their current forms?
TR: Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are a natural outcome of digital technologies and culture. This digital revolution is growing from the intersection between disciplines such as the arts, humanities and sciences, which has not only enhanced our everyday lives but has also become a snapshot of the future of humans and technology — within our society and our relationships with technology.
DF: And the smartphone?
TR: The smartphone is today’s compute platform. It’s changed everything about computing. It’s changed the world! But — as we look towards a world of AR & VR, we see this device’s limitations. It’s a tiny window into a world — not a doorway. Not yet. For example, Google Maps. It’s an incredible digital visualization tool we use everyday, understanding your place in the physical world represented in a digital model — but screen real estate becomes an issue when that concept is scaled.
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DF: But there’s almost no limit to what a smartphone can provide.
TR: Yes, our smartphones today now have these ‘super apps’, such as Facebook and WeChat (the king of super apps) but they are still silo-ed experiences. Separate spaces and separate experiences. Devices still don’t talk to each other, limiting the chances of complete immersion. A smartphone doesn’t talk to an Xbox which doesn’t talk to a VR headset — not in terms of display, but in terms of digital awareness. There’s a lack of immersion, and lack of depth — or another way to look at it is a lack of ability to dive into these stories and worlds. Your digital space doesn’t allow for a way for your physical space to be represented.
The ultimate goal of AR & VR is for a true cohesive immersion and a collective experience. A world of true immersion.
DF: How does science fiction influence your work?
TR: I see science and speculative fiction as way for creating a collective vision. We once read Jules Verne’s fictions about traveling to the moon and we got there — working as a huge group, that was energized towards that one goal. When we work in film or in museums on large scale productions or projects — the very first step is to get people on the same page and that starts by visualizing the end goal. This is what science fiction does on a social scale. It gets everyone dreaming in the same direction. A social or collective knowledge that has informed our genuine perceptions of what is possible. For instance in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the guide that is described in the book is essentially the iPhone.
DF: What do you see as the steps towards true immersion?
TR: It has four primary components before we can say we have truly arrived. We’re not there yet.
Virtual presence — you as a person need to have a presence in this digital world.
Monetary value for time and assets — Can you work in this space? Sell an idea? Can you study?
Real world cause and effect — Selling and buying, working and playing must be regulated by rules and laws. If your bank account is hacked, the authorities will be notified. What if your Facebook account is hacked? What if you lose your digital assets? What if it took you five years to accumulate those assets and they’re stolen? If you shoot someone in a game there are no consequences.
Work/play/life integration — Sure, you can get a job digitally or go to school and learn, but you also must be able to have a virtual life in addition to your physical one, and it must be integrated with your physical life. Meaning that the you that has interactions, on your own or with others — must exist on both sides.

DF: What are the barriers to true immersion?
TR: There are a few.
Bulky hardware — it’s just that. Bulky, heavy and not the most pleasant to look at. It also must address our inner ear. The visuals and audio are strong in VR content, but the sense of motion and balance is not there.
Software ‘walled gardens’ — separate apps, no cohesive integrated platform.
Digital technology limitations — display themselves do not even approach what our native eyes are capable of (doing, capturing, seeing, viewing).
Mobile compute power and bandwidth limitations — the necessity to pump all of this data into headsets or other devices requires an enormous amount of computing power and bandwidth that we cannot currently address.
Social limitations — There’s still a social stigma.
Absence of a luxury brand.
Cost is still too high.
Serious lack of engaging content & at the same time, a lack of a user base.
DF: Who’s working to solve this today?

TR: In general, the main players are: Microsoft with the Hololens, and their MR devices; Snap and their upcoming Snapchat Glasses; Facebook with Oculus Rift and Go, the most accessible VR devices; HTC who are pushing room scale VR & Magic Leap with their hotly anticipated and poorly received MR device.
DF: And LENS!
TR: And us! At LENS we have two primary projects, TYKO & TORII. They work together to power the push towards true immersion.
TYKO is our meta platform and user experience, built to leverage the one hundred years of media that’s already been created. To offer something consumable on all the different devices. It mixes market and user generated content. In this TYKO world where we work and play in a truly immersive environment, we need a new digital distribution infrastructure that can meet the data needs of high volume, three dimensional data. That’s TORII.
‘It’s a tiny window into a world — not a doorway. Not yet.’
TORII is the AI highway. It’s our proprietary digital infrastructure, and a new digital distribution model saving bandwidth costs, powered by what we call Progressive AI, which allows for streaming all content types, without downloads.
We see all of this satisfying that collective vision, of all the platforms converging into one common experience. Device convergence in 2018. It sounds like science fiction, but it’s happening and we’re building it.

At LENS, we believe streaming video should be clearer, faster and more economical.
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