People have always been infatuated with large TV screens, and being able to play video games on them. And this trend shows no sign of abatement in the near future; as VR technology adds another ‘dimension’ to the experience quite literally! VR technology is very intuitive to use and because of this, it caters to a large audience. As of now, we use VR in sectors of entertainment, education, medicine, gaming, and much more. There’s a great deal to explore in the field, a lots of companies are investing huge sums, which will lead to the creation of a revolutionary product.
What’s VR technology?
We can describe Virtual-Reality using simple technical terms. It is a ‘3-dimensional environment’, a person interacts with. The computer and the software generates this ‘environment’. A person can then control objects or perform some actions in this digital space. All of this is facilitated by VR headsets which the user wears on the head. While the user wears the Headset, he/she elicits a rich user experience.
Now that we have some insight about VR, let’s get introduced to a company named ‘G for Gestures’. Founded by a 20- year old M.tech student, the company uses a unique combination of VR and gesture technology. Using this product, one can explore a hotel’s suite using only gestures. A user stands in front of a TV screen and easily views the whole room standing in one place.
The interview:
The Agatton team recently got a chance to ask Ms. Rachana a few questions on her achievement. Here are her answers.
First Question –
A: “Can you please shed some light on some of the struggles you faced while developing the product?”
R: “I knew what exactly I wanted to develop and accordingly planned things, so it was all about execution. Few areas were new to me so it took me a decent amount of time to get familiar with them. So more than struggles I would like to call it little challenges in moving forward.(sic)” shares Ms. Rachana.
Second Question –
A: “You’ve currently launched the product in the hotel industry. What other markets do you wish to explore and what’s your target audience in the future?”
R: “Hotel Industry product is more of a demo product as I wished to introduce the concept to people through it. We are actively targeting automotive, advertising, media and entertainment sector.
In future, we look to collaborate with tech giants, advertising agencies, experience designing, and digital media platforms.(sic)” says Ms. Rachana.
Third Question –
A: “VR technology is hot right now and currently in demand. What inspired you to get into the field and what advice would you give to fellow engineers who want to get into the field themselves?”
R: “It’s true, VR is currently amongst the hottest technologies today. I worked as an intern in a Pune based startup where I was working with algorithms behind gesture recognition. I kept exploring the gesture technology and thought of introducing VR with gestures. And that’s how everything started.
For fellow engineers who wish to develop VR products, I would advice to think innovative and develop something which is not something every other VR startup is doing.(sic)” says Ms. Rachana
Fourth Question –
A: “Doing such a great project in college and launching their own company is a dream for most. What were the tools or rather the resources that helped you to realize your product while in college?”
R: “Basically doing a mere college product was the first thought. I only had an idea of integrating gesture technology and VR. Because I didn’t work with VR before this and no one tried something like this, I was never sure if I’ll be able to achieve this. After two months of work when I finally did it, I could sense the potential the project stands in the market because of its uniqueness and then there was no second thought on starting a business. And we started.(sic)” shares Ms. Rachana
Fifth Question –
A: “And finally, what’s the software and the hardware components (without revealing too much of course!) that have gone into the creation of the G for gestures?”
R: “We use Kinect sensor as our hardware. The sensor is usually placed in front of the display screen so that the user can stand in the range of 0.8m to 5m in order to allow the sensor to properly track the body and the gestures. The sensors are made available by Microsoft for commercial use. Other than this the product includes our licensed application.(sic)” says Ms. Rachana.
We thank Ms. Rachana for her time and commend her for her success. VR technology has already captured a huge market in India and will witness an exponential growth in the coming years. We are extremely excited to see what’s in store, are you?
Website: www.gforgestures.com
Demonstration:
