Today's guest -- Sector 5 Digital's Jeff Meisner -- hopes to put grave robbers out of business, among other things. He pops in to talk to Alan about all the experiential learning experiences his company has developed, from digital cadavers to study anatomy, to the VR design process of Bell Helicopters.
Alan: Hi, I'm Alan Smithson. And
today, we're speaking with Jeff Meisner, CEO of Sector 5 Digital,
about their pioneering work on the Fantastic Journey Anatomy VR Ride,
Fork Lift Training Simulator, and the work they did with Bell
Helicopters, shortening design times from years to months. All of
this and more on the XR for Business Podcast.
Jeff, welcome to the show, my friend.
Jeff: Thanks, Alan.
Alan: I am super excited. So,
Jeff, you are doing some incredible work at Sector 5. Let's start
with the Fantastic Journey Anatomy VR. Right. This just blows my
mind.
Jeff: Yeah. Yes. Just as a
historical perspective on this, we've been working with this
particular healthcare client for a couple of years now. And we
started out initially doing a 3D digital cadaver, basically, that
allowed them to do facial anatomy. And the company is in the business
of doing injections into the face and hand. And so they needed a way
to have safe areas so the injectors would have training. So we
created a basic virtual training tool and that was initially in 3D,
not in VR, but it was driven through our tablets and things like
that. So it had kind of an AR component to it.
Alan: You will learn in 3D
dramatically better than even just on a 2D screen.
Jeff: Yeah, exactly. And we actually did a conference which had over somewhere between 200-300 of their folks training with a massive 3D screen in front of them. So it was used as a training aid, and really now, it's gone global. So it started initially in the U.S. and got picked up by this company, because they are a global company. And what they wanted to do was take that next step, if you will. And so We're creating this, what we call a VR Fantastic Anatomy Journey. We're going to be taking their folks through… well, if you know what Fantastic [Voyage] is —- as most people do -- but taking them through the human body. So you're going to have a really cool edutainment-type experience, whereby you’re going to be on somewhat of a VR roller coaster, although it being through the body, we're going to be adding some elements of teaching at various points. So it'll stop and you'll be asked questions. It's really, the major focus is to be very much a learning experience. But one of the things we're finding —- and I know you are too, Alan —- is if you make it fun for people, it becomes a much more memorable experience and they want to do it again and again. We're combining kind of that gaming-type element, if you will, but with actual data and experience, to make it something that their injectors are going to be learning from, and not just the entertainment element.
Alan: When you guys started
rolling out the 3D digital cadaver, how are they measuring against
baseline? So, what was their baseline learning before? Just a
textbook? Or..?
Jeff: No, they were actually
using "live" cadavers, and cadavers -- and this may sound a
little gruesome -- but they're somewhat hard to come by, especially
outside of the US. The regulatory issues that you deal with are very,
very high barriers there. When we came along with the virtual cadaver
initially, as I said, it was really only being used in a very small
area. But when they realized that they could take this globally, and
they now didn't have the same barriers that they had in the past,
that really opened things up for them and opened up their eyes as to
the value that this would bring.