How will VR revolutionize the future of Tokyo’s modern workplace?

It’s no secret that Japan holds a negative stigma to work when it comes to overtime or taking a holiday. Efforts to tackle this dilemma in Tokyo are gaining more attention.

The advance in technology in recent years may change how we work on a level that we never could have imagined. This video will open our eyes to the possibilities:

This video features a futuristic office which utilizes a MR (Mixed Reality) environment developed by Advanced Technology Lab (ATL). ALT is a research space owned by Recruit Technologies Co., Ltd. located in Hiro, Tokyo.

This space allows engineers who are conducting research to gather and freely explore the latest technologies while creating the next generation of innovation. One such technology is Microsoft’s HoloLens. This transmissible head mount device provides its users with an experience of a world of mixed realities that combines the real world with virtual images.

ATL’s experience facility brings the near future to your fingertips

Once you have “tapped” on the floating holographic woman inside the program, the ATL introduction begins. The hologram is able to explain each facility the moment you enter a different location around the space.

Behind the hologram are figures of each visiting researcher at ATL. Because the MR image itself does not change according to our gaze, there is a sense of realism when the person begins to speak after tapping the figure in front of you.

By combining images that perfectly meld in with our real landscape, this technology is extremely unique. It makes you feel as though the commentators are present in front of you. Once it becomes possible to communicate between both the hologram and the user, HoloLens will make the world of science fiction into something tangible.

Furthermore, it is also possible to converse via a VR chatroom. HoloLens has the capability to lay out a virtual space which imitates the ATL facility right in front of your eyes. By holding the device with both hands, this allows users to control an avatar and to simultaneously carry out meetings within the same space.

Technology and Infinite Possibilities

The current goal is to enable technological seminars and study sessions through a virtual reality chat. This would allow us to conduct face to face communications without needing a physical venue with a large number of people. Furthermore, a new industry of businesses may come into being that we find hard to imagine now.

Recently, the consideration on how the Japanese work force travels to and fro their work place has gained more and more traction. Through technologies such as AI, IoT, MR and VR, many companies have already started to revolutionize this style of working. Perhaps the days are not far away where our offices are built within an augmented reality.

This article was originally published on IDEAS FOR GOOD
Translated by Maurice Skinner