Discover how virtual reality is revolutionizing education as my company, Voxbox, joins forces with the US government, heralding a new era of immersive learning. This episode promises a deep dive into our pioneering initiative to create a VR educational platform, with a special spotlight on our CTO and Co-Founder Ryan and our Lead Spatial Architect Ora who's creating an interactive world where STEM comes to life like never before. I'll walk you through the potential of this technology to transform education, especially during challenging times like lockdowns, and share the excitement of our current project—a VR world that rewards underserved youth for learning tech skills and earning certifications.
To further enrich your understanding and engagement with my content, I invite you to visit my website: www.alwaree.com
To learn more about this podcast, go to: www.techalmighty.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
AL Ware (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Tech On Mighty, exploring the
fusion of God, technology andbusiness, the show where faith
meets innovation.
I'm Al Ware, your host, today'stopic what we are building for
the US government and why it'simportant.
Let's dive in For those of youwho don't know what I do for a
living, I'm the CEO andco-founder of a company called
(00:20):
Boxbox.
We're one of the top fourthinking immersive metaverse
design studios who has built formajor celebrities, enterprise
companies and now the USgovernment.
We're mainly focused onthinking outside the box and
delivering solutions withindigital worlds that people
typically don't think of.
Our innovative approach is whywe are nominated for awards year
after year and it's why the USgovernment has taken interest in
(00:44):
our company.
Currently, we are building avirtual world funded by the US
government.
But before I break down what weare building and why, let me
break down why our government isheavily invested into virtual
reality.
The US government recognizes thetransformative potential of
virtual reality and augmentedreality in education, leading to
strategic investments in thosetwo technologies to enhance
(01:06):
learning outcomes.
Immersive VR and AR experiencehave been shown to encourage
higher engagement, improvememory recall for complex or
abstract topics and offerpersonalized learning approaches
that accommodate differentlearning styles and abilities.
These technologies areparticularly effective in
subjects like STEM, which standsfor science, technology,
engineering and mathematics.
(01:27):
As of right now, many of youare not aware that VR is being
integrated into K through 12 andhigher education settings to
enhance classroom experiences,support remote and hybrid
learning and offer new tools forstudents with learning
disabilities.
There is a possibility that wewill face another lockdown and,
if so, vr will allow educationto continue outside physical
(01:47):
classrooms with accessible tools, while allowing children to
feel connected within a safeenvironment.
To touch on this a littlefurther, I know first hand here
in Houston, texas, some of theschool districts are creating
pilot programs to implementvirtual reality, extended
reality, ai and other varioustechnologies, and they have
(02:09):
asked me to speak on some ofthese subjects.
I'm not teaching the class.
What they don't want me to dois just come in and talk about
the technologies, of what we'redeveloping and how we're
implementing them, and they wantme to give some insight to
these children because, at theend of the day, they are the
future, especially this alphageneration, and as technology
(02:31):
grow, they are going to continueto grow.
Recently, our governmentannounced significant funding
through the education,innovation and research grants
to support various educationalprojects, including those
focusing on VR and ARtechnologies, such as our
company, voxbox.
These grants aim to addressacademic recovery and advanced
educational equity andinnovation.
(02:53):
Now, the announcement didn'tspecify the exact amount
dedicated to VR AR, but it ispart of a broader $277 million
investment in innovativeeducational projects such as
ours.
The White House has highlightedseveral funding opportunities
for VR educational projects.
These include grants andresearch funding aimed at
developing commercially viableeducation technology products
(03:15):
and supporting research thatcontributes to the school
readiness and improved academicachievement.
Specific programs offer fundingfor serious STEM games,
immersive simulations that offeracademic and technical skills,
and projects that demonstratemedia as art.
This focused investment in VRand AR for education reflects a
strategic effort to leveragecutting-edge technology to
(03:38):
improve educational outcomes,making learning more engaging
and preparing students for the21st century workforce.
The emphasis on education in VRreflects a broader
understanding of its potentialto revolutionize how we aim to
teach and learn.
So here are some facts thevirtual reality market is
projected to reach a size of$67.66 billion in 2024, with
(04:02):
expectations to expand to$204.35 billion by 2029,
showcasing a compound annualgrowth of 24.74%.
This growth is driven by theincreasing adoption of VR in
commercial applications and arising demand for VR setups
across various end-user segments, including gaming, media,
(04:26):
entertainment, retail,healthcare, military and defense
, real estate and education.
Now that you know the backstoryof our government stance in
virtual reality, let's continueon with what we are building.
I can't give details of thecompanies involved, who we're
building for and the city thatthis will be implemented into,
(04:47):
but I can talk about the type ofbuild we are building in
virtual reality and why we'rebuilding it, which is a
learn-to-earn educational modelfor teenage kids for a nonprofit
organization.
This project was brought to myattention in December of 2022,
and we didn't get the finalapproval from the US government
(05:10):
until December of 2023, with thestart date of January 2024.
So, to answer your question,yes, you have to have a lot of
patience when dealing withgovernment contracts, because it
is a long process in waiting tobe awarded whatever funding you
are granted, so you could beginthe project Now.
(05:32):
As soon as we started theproject, which we are now in
month three, it has been amazing.
It has been nothing but nonstopfun, as if we're kids working
on this project, and I can tellyou right now this is something
that I truly feel we are goingto open so many doors for other
companies, other entrepreneurs,other schools.
(05:54):
I mean there's just so manythings within this project that
we're building that I'mbeginning to see the bigger
picture.
The goal for this nonprofitorganization is to help the
youth within their city, toexpose them to technologies that
they don't see on an everydaybasis.
Now, keep in mind, these arechildren who don't have access
to opportunities that otherchildren may have.
These are children who havenever been exposed to
(06:17):
technologies in this type ofsetting, so what we are building
for them is a learn to earnvirtual reality world where they
can socialize with theirfriends, play video games with
their friends and learnalongside with their friends and
never feel as if they're alone.
The goal is to help them earncertifications within tech, and
(06:38):
one of the things that we as acompany had to think of is how
do we keep them fully engagedand want to stay in and learn
through these different modulesthat we create?
So our CTO, ryan, who is also aco-founder of Voxbox, he has
been thinking of ways how toimplement an interactive game
(07:00):
where they don't want to leaveand they want to stay there and
they want to talk to theirfriends, and the cool thing
about this is that they caninteract with their friends
through mobile, desktop andvirtual reality headset.
Not only that, but we're alsointroducing a sneak peek of AI
enabled avatars, which will beable to speak to the students
whenever they're talking andtrying to learn a certain topic
(07:23):
within this world.
And this is just a small peekto show what's coming in the
near future, because we knowthat AI and the metaverse go
hand in hand and you can't gowithout one or the other.
Besides all the cool things thatRyan is developing, in the back
we have Orr, who is our leadspatial architect, and he's an
actual architect in real lifewho has a master's degree, and I
(07:44):
want to say his master's degreehas an emphasis in
sustainability.
Now, orr, if I butcher that,please forgive me, but Orr is an
amazing builder and he wastasked with keeping the children
fully engaged in an environmentwhere they will want to come
back time and time again.
So the approach was build afuturistic environment that had
(08:06):
a mysterious looking feel,because we know, as humans, by
nature, we are curious peopleand through curiosity we are
going to explore thisenvironment, and the only way we
can explore an environment isif it has a mysterious look
where it's going to trigger usto explore due to our curiosity.
So we had to think of how do webuild this environment in a way
(08:29):
where people are going to lookto the left, look to the right,
look up and look down and belike, wow, like what is over
there?
I need to see why everybody isin this area and I need to see
why there are certain elementsin this other area.
So there were certain thingsthat we created, especially
keeping it as an openenvironment to where people can
(08:51):
typically see each other withinthis entire space, no matter how
far they are.
So those were certain littleaspects that we were focused in
on, because the overall pictureis to help enhance these
children's lives through thisinteractive virtual world.
We are three months into thisproject and we are launching on
(09:13):
May 17.
And the goal for phase one isto create the environment and
introduce these modules withinthis learn to earn, model and
get the kids accustomed tovirtual spaces with AI enabled
avatars.
Now, through all that, we alsohave a financial system within
this world we're creating toteach financial literacy.
(09:35):
Now the goal is to meet orexceed the government's impact
score.
For those of you that are notfamiliar with how the government
funding operates.
An impact score is similar to agrading system, so if we exceed
, if we meet or exceed thisgrading system, then it will
open more funding to where wecan initiate phase two.
(09:55):
Now, the reason I'm telling youall this about what we're
building is due to the fact thatwe also have another government
build that we are about tostart, which is police training
and virtual reality.
So keep in mind, these are twoprojects through the government
that are educational based.
Based on this information, Iknow here in the United States,
(10:18):
our educational traditionalsystem is dramatically changing.
If you don't understand whatvirtual reality is, or the
metaverse, I highly suggest thatyou start educating yourself.
There are so many things onGoogle for free that you can
start learning what thesevirtual worlds are and how you
can implement them into yourbusiness or your life.
Not only that if you're aparent is good that you
(10:40):
introduce this to your childrenas well, and most likely your
children are already introducedand you don't even know it,
because some of these schoolsare actually introducing
children to the metaverse, andwhat's unfortunate is that some
of these teachers areintroducing the metaverse to
their students thinking it'sonly an interactive, two
dimensional educational videogame, and it's not their fault,
(11:00):
because when most people thinkabout the metaverse or virtual
reality, they automaticallyassume that you have to have a
virtual headset, which is nottrue, and a lot of these
interactive models that theseschools are introducing to these
students have metaverseelements.
As we come to a close, I wantyou to have an open heart and
mind in regards to virtualreality.
I know that there are people outthere that think somehow
(11:23):
virtual reality is going toenslave them, but I want you to
keep in mind that there is goodand bad in everything we do in
life.
It is up to us to decide whichpath we want to walk on, and
that is one of many blessingsthat God has given us, which is
the freedom to choose our ownpath.
Now listen to this episode witha prayer.
(11:44):
If you're in a place where youcan close your eyes and focus, I
invite you to join me.
Heavenly Father, guide us as weexplore virtual realities,
granting us wisdom to usetechnology for good.
Help us to learn, connect andgrow in ways that honor you.
May we always remember the realhearts behind every screen,
using virtual spaces to showyour love and kindness, protect
(12:07):
our minds and keep ourintentions pure.
In Jesus name, we pray Amen.
Thank you for tuning in to TechAlmighty.
I'm Al Ware and it's been ablessing to discuss this
critical aspect of what we'rebuilding for the US government
and why it's important.
Join me next time for moreinsights where technology,
business and Christianityconverge.
(12:28):
Until then, keep striving forexcellence in all you do, guided
by faith.
Hello and welcome to Tech On Mighty, exploring the
fusion of God, technology andbusiness, the show where faith
meets innovation.
I'm Al Ware, your host, today'stopic what we are building for
the US government and why it'simportant.
Let's dive in For those of youwho don't know what I do for a
living, I'm the CEO andco-founder of a company called
(00:20):
Boxbox.
We're one of the top fourthinking immersive metaverse
design studios who has built formajor celebrities, enterprise
companies and now the USgovernment.
We're mainly focused onthinking outside the box and
delivering solutions withindigital worlds that people
typically don't think of.
Our innovative approach is whywe are nominated for awards year
after year and it's why the USgovernment has taken interest in
(00:44):
our company.
Currently, we are building avirtual world funded by the US
government.
But before I break down what weare building and why, let me
break down why our government isheavily invested into virtual
reality.
The US government recognizes thetransformative potential of
virtual reality and augmentedreality in education, leading to
strategic investments in thosetwo technologies to enhance
(01:06):
learning outcomes.
Immersive VR and AR experiencehave been shown to encourage
higher engagement, improvememory recall for complex or
abstract topics and offerpersonalized learning approaches
that accommodate differentlearning styles and abilities.
These technologies areparticularly effective in
subjects like STEM, which standsfor science, technology,
engineering and mathematics.
(01:27):
As of right now, many of youare not aware that VR is being
integrated into K through 12 andhigher education settings to
enhance classroom experiences,support remote and hybrid
learning and offer new tools forstudents with learning
disabilities.
There is a possibility that wewill face another lockdown and,
if so, vr will allow educationto continue outside physical
(01:47):
classrooms with accessible tools, while allowing children to
feel connected within a safeenvironment.
To touch on this a littlefurther, I know first hand here
in Houston, texas, some of theschool districts are creating
pilot programs to implementvirtual reality, extended
reality, ai and other varioustechnologies, and they have
(02:09):
asked me to speak on some ofthese subjects.
I'm not teaching the class.
What they don't want me to dois just come in and talk about
the technologies, of what we'redeveloping and how we're
implementing them, and they wantme to give some insight to
these children because, at theend of the day, they are the
future, especially this alphageneration, and as technology
(02:31):
grow, they are going to continueto grow.
Recently, our governmentannounced significant funding
through the education,innovation and research grants
to support various educationalprojects, including those
focusing on VR and ARtechnologies, such as our
company, voxbox.
These grants aim to addressacademic recovery and advanced
educational equity andinnovation.
(02:53):
Now, the announcement didn'tspecify the exact amount
dedicated to VR AR, but it ispart of a broader $277 million
investment in innovativeeducational projects such as
ours.
The White House has highlightedseveral funding opportunities
for VR educational projects.
These include grants andresearch funding aimed at
developing commercially viableeducation technology products
(03:15):
and supporting research thatcontributes to the school
readiness and improved academicachievement.
Specific programs offer fundingfor serious STEM games,
immersive simulations that offeracademic and technical skills,
and projects that demonstratemedia as art.
This focused investment in VRand AR for education reflects a
strategic effort to leveragecutting-edge technology to
(03:38):
improve educational outcomes,making learning more engaging
and preparing students for the21st century workforce.
The emphasis on education in VRreflects a broader
understanding of its potentialto revolutionize how we aim to
teach and learn.
So here are some facts thevirtual reality market is
projected to reach a size of$67.66 billion in 2024, with
(04:02):
expectations to expand to$204.35 billion by 2029,
showcasing a compound annualgrowth of 24.74%.
This growth is driven by theincreasing adoption of VR in
commercial applications and arising demand for VR setups
across various end-user segments, including gaming, media,
(04:26):
entertainment, retail,healthcare, military and defense
, real estate and education.
Now that you know the backstoryof our government stance in
virtual reality, let's continueon with what we are building.
I can't give details of thecompanies involved, who we're
building for and the city thatthis will be implemented into,
(04:47):
but I can talk about the type ofbuild we are building in
virtual reality and why we'rebuilding it, which is a
learn-to-earn educational modelfor teenage kids for a nonprofit
organization.
This project was brought to myattention in December of 2022,
and we didn't get the finalapproval from the US government
(05:10):
until December of 2023, with thestart date of January 2024.
So, to answer your question,yes, you have to have a lot of
patience when dealing withgovernment contracts, because it
is a long process in waiting tobe awarded whatever funding you
are granted, so you could beginthe project Now.
(05:32):
As soon as we started theproject, which we are now in
month three, it has been amazing.
It has been nothing but nonstopfun, as if we're kids working
on this project, and I can tellyou right now this is something
that I truly feel we are goingto open so many doors for other
companies, other entrepreneurs,other schools.
(05:54):
I mean there's just so manythings within this project that
we're building that I'mbeginning to see the bigger
picture.
The goal for this nonprofitorganization is to help the
youth within their city, toexpose them to technologies that
they don't see on an everydaybasis.
Now, keep in mind, these arechildren who don't have access
to opportunities that otherchildren may have.
These are children who havenever been exposed to
(06:17):
technologies in this type ofsetting, so what we are building
for them is a learn to earnvirtual reality world where they
can socialize with theirfriends, play video games with
their friends and learnalongside with their friends and
never feel as if they're alone.
The goal is to help them earncertifications within tech, and
(06:38):
one of the things that we as acompany had to think of is how
do we keep them fully engagedand want to stay in and learn
through these different modulesthat we create?
So our CTO, ryan, who is also aco-founder of Voxbox, he has
been thinking of ways how toimplement an interactive game
(07:00):
where they don't want to leaveand they want to stay there and
they want to talk to theirfriends, and the cool thing
about this is that they caninteract with their friends
through mobile, desktop andvirtual reality headset.
Not only that, but we're alsointroducing a sneak peek of AI
enabled avatars, which will beable to speak to the students
whenever they're talking andtrying to learn a certain topic
(07:23):
within this world.
And this is just a small peekto show what's coming in the
near future, because we knowthat AI and the metaverse go
hand in hand and you can't gowithout one or the other.
Besides all the cool things thatRyan is developing, in the back
we have Orr, who is our leadspatial architect, and he's an
actual architect in real lifewho has a master's degree, and I
(07:44):
want to say his master's degreehas an emphasis in
sustainability.
Now, orr, if I butcher that,please forgive me, but Orr is an
amazing builder and he wastasked with keeping the children
fully engaged in an environmentwhere they will want to come
back time and time again.
So the approach was build afuturistic environment that had
(08:06):
a mysterious looking feel,because we know, as humans, by
nature, we are curious peopleand through curiosity we are
going to explore thisenvironment, and the only way we
can explore an environment isif it has a mysterious look
where it's going to trigger usto explore due to our curiosity.
So we had to think of how do webuild this environment in a way
(08:29):
where people are going to lookto the left, look to the right,
look up and look down and belike, wow, like what is over
there?
I need to see why everybody isin this area and I need to see
why there are certain elementsin this other area.
So there were certain thingsthat we created, especially
keeping it as an openenvironment to where people can
(08:51):
typically see each other withinthis entire space, no matter how
far they are.
So those were certain littleaspects that we were focused in
on, because the overall pictureis to help enhance these
children's lives through thisinteractive virtual world.
We are three months into thisproject and we are launching on
(09:13):
May 17.
And the goal for phase one isto create the environment and
introduce these modules withinthis learn to earn, model and
get the kids accustomed tovirtual spaces with AI enabled
avatars.
Now, through all that, we alsohave a financial system within
this world we're creating toteach financial literacy.
(09:35):
Now the goal is to meet orexceed the government's impact
score.
For those of you that are notfamiliar with how the government
funding operates.
An impact score is similar to agrading system, so if we exceed
, if we meet or exceed thisgrading system, then it will
open more funding to where wecan initiate phase two.
(09:55):
Now, the reason I'm telling youall this about what we're
building is due to the fact thatwe also have another government
build that we are about tostart, which is police training
and virtual reality.
So keep in mind, these are twoprojects through the government
that are educational based.
Based on this information, Iknow here in the United States,
(10:18):
our educational traditionalsystem is dramatically changing.
If you don't understand whatvirtual reality is, or the
metaverse, I highly suggest thatyou start educating yourself.
There are so many things onGoogle for free that you can
start learning what thesevirtual worlds are and how you
can implement them into yourbusiness or your life.
Not only that if you're aparent is good that you
(10:40):
introduce this to your childrenas well, and most likely your
children are already introducedand you don't even know it,
because some of these schoolsare actually introducing
children to the metaverse, andwhat's unfortunate is that some
of these teachers areintroducing the metaverse to
their students thinking it'sonly an interactive, two
dimensional educational videogame, and it's not their fault,
(11:00):
because when most people thinkabout the metaverse or virtual
reality, they automaticallyassume that you have to have a
virtual headset, which is nottrue, and a lot of these
interactive models that theseschools are introducing to these
students have metaverseelements.
As we come to a close, I wantyou to have an open heart and
mind in regards to virtualreality.
I know that there are people outthere that think somehow
(11:23):
virtual reality is going toenslave them, but I want you to
keep in mind that there is goodand bad in everything we do in
life.
It is up to us to decide whichpath we want to walk on, and
that is one of many blessingsthat God has given us, which is
the freedom to choose our ownpath.
Now listen to this episode witha prayer.
(11:44):
If you're in a place where youcan close your eyes and focus, I
invite you to join me.
Heavenly Father, guide us as weexplore virtual realities,
granting us wisdom to usetechnology for good.
Help us to learn, connect andgrow in ways that honor you.
May we always remember the realhearts behind every screen,
using virtual spaces to showyour love and kindness, protect
(12:07):
our minds and keep ourintentions pure.
In Jesus name, we pray Amen.
Thank you for tuning in to TechAlmighty.
I'm Al Ware and it's been ablessing to discuss this
critical aspect of what we'rebuilding for the US government
and why it's important.
Join me next time for moreinsights where technology,
business and Christianityconverge.
(12:28):
Until then, keep striving forexcellence in all you do, guided
by faith.
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