The Tech Chef Podcast welcomes Tony Bevilacqua, founder and CEO of Cognitive3D, who dives deep into the transformative potential of spatial analytics and immersive technologies in the hospitality industry. With a focus on maximizing ROI through data collection, Tony explains how Cognitive3D's platform uniquely measures human behavior in virtual and augmented reality environments. By utilizing spatial intelligence, businesses can gather actionable insights that not only enhance training but also improve consumer research and operational efficiency.

The conversation highlights the critical need for data in decision-making processes, particularly in an industry where margins are often tight. Through engaging discussions, listeners learn about the practical applications of XR technologies, including training simulations that ensure compliance and quality standards within hospitality operations. The episode underscores the importance of integrating these technologies into existing systems, allowing for a seamless flow of valuable insights that can drive business growth and innovation.

Takeaways:

  • Cognitive3D's spatial analytics platform transforms user interactions in virtual reality into actionable insights.
  • The integration of VR training can significantly enhance employee performance and compliance in hospitality settings.
  • Tony Bevilacqua emphasizes the importance of data collection and ROI in XR technology adoption.
  • The future of immersive technologies will likely merge virtual, augmented, and mixed realities into everyday applications.
  • Cognitive3D's technology enables detailed assessments of user behaviors beyond traditional LMS systems.
  • The podcast highlights how immersive technology can address societal challenges and enhance accessibility for diverse audiences.

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Episode Transcript

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(00:00):
You are listening to the TechChef Podcast.
This is episode number 82December 17, 2024.
This show is powered by GrowthAdvisors International Network where
travel and hospitalitycompanies come to grow.
For more information pleasevisit gainadvisors.com this is Tony
Bevalacqua, founder and CEO ofCognitive3, and you're listening

(00:24):
to Skip on the Tech Chef Podcast.
Offering a strategy business continuity.
How about a taste test ofrestaurant technology?
Drive through or curbside?
Mobile apps or AI?
It's all on the menu.
Cook it up for the date.

(00:45):
It's a recipe for success.
You're in good hands with aTech Chef.
Make a plan to be your best strategy.
Strategize with the Tech Chefwelcome to.
The Tech Chef, your one stopdestination for sizzling insights

(01:06):
and game changing strategiesin the ever evolving world of hospitality
and food service technology.
I'm Skip Kipple, your culinarycaptain, ready to dish out weekly
servings of fresh ideas andbold innovations to spice up your
business.
Whether you're a seasonedindustry pro or just sharpening your
skills, we've got somethingfor everyone on the menu.

(01:29):
With a dash of expertise and asplash of creativity, we blend technology
and hospitality to help youstay ahead of the curve, spotlighting
the hottest trends and coolestbreakthroughs shaping the industry.
So grab your apron andappetite for knowledge.
This is more than a podcast.
It's your secret ingredientfor success.

(01:51):
Don't miss out.
Hit the subscribe button andjoin us every week as we cook up
the strategies you need todominate the game and leave the competition
hungry for more.
All right, enough of the puns.
We have been talking a lotabout XR and specifically its use
case scenarios in thehospitality industry.
The number one question I getback are questions about roi.

(02:14):
In order to show roi, you needto have data.
My guest on the show today,Tony Bevalacqua, founder and CEO
of Cognitive3D has created the tool.
Just for that, Tony createdthis product, a spatial analytics
platform that gathers datafrom virtual and augmented reality

(02:35):
experiences in new ways andturns them into actionable insights.
Specifically, Cognitive3Dhelps companies measure human behavior
with 3D simulations.
Prior to founding Cognitive3D,Tony founded and exited another startup
that focused on revenueoptimization and data analytics for

(02:55):
enterprise customers.
Cognitive3D began theirjourney in 2015 with a vision to
change the way human behavioris measured and analyzed.
Through use of immersivetechnology, Cognitive3D identified
an incredible opportunity tocollect spatial intelligence, leveraging
virtual, augmented and mixedreality devices as a vehicle for

(03:18):
data collection.
Today, their technologyprovides an innovative approach to
consumer Research whichenables brands to develop better
product strategy andunderstand consumer behaviors through
a unique, quantitativelymeasured platform.
Their enterprise workforcecustomers are defining spatial objectives
to conduct trainingsimulations with clearer results

(03:41):
to reduce injury, improvesafety, and measure efficiency.
Let the data geekiness begin.
Data, data, data.
I am a data guy, and that isall that businesses are worried about
today, right or wrong.
When I start talking tooperators about implementing XR technologies,

(04:03):
the very first question I getis, well, what kind of data can I
get from it and how can I use it?
Tony, my friend, this isexactly why I brought you on this
show as you have a very uniqueproduct and approach to this problem.
Thank you so much for joiningus on the Tech Chef today.
Hey, Skip, thanks for having me.
You know data roi, right?

(04:25):
You need to hit that and youknow ROI with your.
With your deployments.
Absolutely.
I mean, that's the firstquestion you get is especially in
hospitality, the area that Iconcentrate the most in, you know,
there's very tight margins in.
So ROI is critical to makingdecisions on new products, new strategies,
et cetera.
Can you share a little bitabout your journey leading into the

(04:46):
founding of cognitive 3D andreally what inspired you to venture
into spatial analytics andimmersive technologies?
Yeah, for sure.
So I'm the founder and CEO of Cognitive3D.
I'm nine years into my journeyat this company.
It's a very long time.
Prior to this, I was the chiefproduct officer at a company called

(05:07):
Kinetic.
We had an analytics product inmarket primarily in the mobile category,
and we're addressing games,entertainment of mobile apps, those
types of things.
Through that, I got reallyearly exposure to what was going
on in the virtual reality industry.
Got to try out a really cooldev kit from these folks called Oculus,

(05:27):
and ultimately saw a realgreenfield opportunity to build something
net new for the nextgeneration of computing.
And for me, there was a lot ofopportunity to rethink the problem,
deliver new value, deliver newsolutions in an entire entirely new
landscape of computing.

(05:50):
And in the mobile space, I wasbuilding a lot of the same.
And so we founded Cognitive3Din 2015, started to build out what
we call a spatial analyticsplatform, and effectively a spatial
analytics platform.
We're collecting behavioraldata about what people are doing
inside the headset, howthey're behaving, how they move through

(06:10):
space, what is the things thatthey're doing.
And a lot of how it applies toyour audience, Skip, is that we can
start measuring what peopleare doing in these training simulations.
These different types ofcategories work and understand the
human performance element ofwhat's going on in those environments.
Well, that's what particularlyinterested me in your product.
First of all, I'm a data guy,as I said earlier at the top of the

(06:33):
show.
But, you know, transferringthose experiences into real life
data that you can act upon isvery intriguing to me.
I think we had a discussionabout how I'm helping a company build
out a restaurant training VR program.
And obviously you want tobring as much data as you possibly

(06:56):
can back into the platformfrom not just the interaction with
the user which we're going totalk about, because you get some
pretty cool features in yoursoftware, but also facial tracking
and just inflection of tone of voice.
There's so much you can doonce you really start thinking about
it and applying, you know,some of those, those techniques to

(07:16):
the data that you get in.
And this goes above and beyondLMS systems, which, you know, which
is really why I'm interestedin VR training.
They ha.
It has a very specific roi.
But when you really startconsidering the data behind the very
unique data points that youcan get from VR training, that I

(07:36):
think is where this thing justlights up to the nth degree.
Yeah, I mean, training in thehospitality space is inherently difficult.
It's difficult in allfrontline worker focused jobs.
And VR offers a really uniqueopportunity to deliver things in

(07:58):
a very consistent way to alarge amount of your audience that
maintains your brand'sreputation, your brand's expectations
with your end customers.
And I think that, you know,when cognitive 3D steps into the
equation, it's aboutmeasuring, you know, the different
types of inputs that we cancollect from these training experiences

(08:21):
and making sure that wemeasure and maintain that level of
quality that we expect fromour workforce that's out in the field
working with our customersevery single day.
And so that's really kind ofour role in a training and simulation,
you know, type of situation isto come in and provide that measurement

(08:42):
capability.
When we think about softskills and, you know, kind of these
frontline worker type roles,the opportunity to train somebody
really, really well takes alot of like one on one time.
VR introduces scalability interms of being able to scale that
in a very consistent wayacross your audience and also giving

(09:05):
your frontline workers, yourfolks out in the field the opportunity
to get some repetitions on howthings should be done in a variety
of different situations.
And Tony, you mentionedearlier, first of all, nine years
in this industry is impressivebecause most people view it as a
very startup type of industry,even though it's not that's that's

(09:28):
a misconception.
It's been around for a verylong time.
I think what we need to do isplant the base here and talk about,
you know, who are some of yourbiggest clients.
Because you've been around solong, you have established a pretty
darn good reputation in the industry.
Yeah, thanks, I appreciate that.
I mean, I can't speak to everysingle client that we have today,
but I can speak to a few thatare kind of interesting and also

(09:50):
been made public in the lastyear or so.
You know, one of the companiesthat we support today is Walmart.
You know, Walmart's reallyinteresting in that they collect,
that they deliver training toa large, large audience kind of across
the United States.
And it really gives them anopportunity to understand and quantify,

(10:14):
like, you know, the processesand the ways that they're supposed
to be delivered to a very,very large audience.
And, you know, our role inthat is just to measure the employee
compliance, you know, did thework get completed correctly and,
you know, put it into the LMand make sure that those things get
done correctly as well.
Yeah.
So, I mean, basically withthose types of environments, you

(10:37):
have a lot of opportunity tomeasure at scale and on a completely
unattended basis, which Ithink is also important.
It's pretty cool that, I mean,Walmart is not a tiny customer at
all.
And obviously they see theimpact of using VR for training purposes.
But can you also share asuccess story where cognitive 3D
analytics made a significantimpact on a business or a project?

(11:01):
Significant impact?
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, every single day.
Right.
So, you know, we work in a fewprimary categories, so I'll cover
that real quick.
We work in training andsimulation, which is really our bread
and butter, where we've helpedmeasure and scale programs.
We work in two different waysin training and simulation.
We work on early roi, soreturn on investment and helping

(11:23):
people build, construct anddemonstrate value from their programs.
A lot of what I find in the XRindustry is that folks are, are struggling
to demonstrate that earlyvalue proposition on how do we acquire
content, how do we buyheadsets and roll this stuff out?
It's not cheap, right?
But when you start looking atthe actual value proposition that

(11:44):
you can present to yourworkers and some of the tangible
inputs and outputs of theseprograms, you can build a really
great business case on howthis is going to solve major problems
for your business.
So when we talk about trainingand simulation, we really often work
on the ROI side first, helpingour program manager figure out how
to build and scale Their program.

(12:06):
And then we work on kind ofthe later stage program, which is
like, how do we deliver theprogram at scale and solve that problem
of how do we authenticate theuser to the headset, how do we deliver
the content, right.
And then how do we measurethose outcomes and put them in places
that our employees and ourworkforce expect them to be?
So we kind of have thatmultifaceted element of the early

(12:29):
program and then the laterstage growth and scaling part of
the program as well.
So spatial analytics.
We talked a lot about training today.
I mean, are you using it foranything else?
For, for instance, being ableto walk through a, a digital twin
or a potential build out andyou know, look at design layouts
of the venue, of the, we'llsay hotels or conference centers

(12:52):
or resorts, things like that.
Oh, you got it, absolutely.
You know, second category herewould be really what we call consumer
research, right.
Consumer research for us istypically Archite engineering and
construction.
So taking a digital twin,being able to put it in the headset
and measuring your audience, right?
What do they look at, whatcaptures and keeps their attention,

(13:14):
how do they move through space?
And being able to use thoseinsights to potentially inform decision
making that you might have onthe physical elements of how you
construct a space or how yourenovate an environment.
We also work with companiesaround, like planograms, product
placement, product design, right?
So when you think aboutproduct design, you might think about

(13:35):
like vehicle management,manufacturing, right.
And testing, like what vehicledesigns work best, you know, what
can your ideal customer figureout about your new design and what
can we learn about that toinform the design moving forward?
On the planogram side, beingable to test end caps, product placement
and product design, packaging,to be able to kind of figure out

(13:58):
what works and what doesn't,both on the alignment of your product
on the shelf, but also againstyour competitors on that shelf as
well.
So there's lots of differentways that you can use data to kind
of inform some decision makingthat you need to make in the real
world.
Because you can get reallygreat specificity when you think
about consumer research.
You get into things like eyetracking, right?

(14:19):
Being able to see like whatpeople look at, what captures and
keeps their attention.
Maybe even more importantly,like, what did they not look at?
Like, what are the things thatthey kind of ignored or didn't pay
attention to?
You know, put a large waterfeature in the middle of your hotel.
Like, is that, is that the showcase?
Is that what captures andkeeps people's attention?
You might be surprised, youknow, on some of the insights that

(14:41):
you find when you startrunning an audience through a simulation
of a space that you plan on building.
Love that concept.
A lot of restaurants arecurrently concentrating on like the
restaurant of the future andreally coming up with ways of, you
know, streamlining technology,look, feel, design, et cetera.
And this would be a great wayto be able to get real time analytics

(15:03):
of, you know, what isimportant to the guest.
Obviously there's nothing likeactually being there, but this is
the next best thing.
Anybody who's had a VR headseton and is experienced walking through
a digital twin certainly knowsthat's the case.
Sorry.
I would just point out thatit's also kind of a multifaceted
investment as well.
Right.
Like if you build a digitaltwin in the early phases of your

(15:23):
program and then go out andbuild the store, you really have
the foundation for thetraining and simulation kind of use
cases in the future.
Right.
And we've seen a lot of thatwhere a program begins on the construction
of a new facility.
The digital twin informsdesign, the layout of the line, you
know, maybe some of the, youknow, food service elements.
And then, you know, from thereyou've got the perfect foundation

(15:45):
to deliver your training in avery digital way as well.
Can you actually go back andrepeat and kind of, you know, obviously
there's, there's dataanalytics behind, you know, what
people are looking at.
But can you repeat a playbackof a user experience in your platform?
Yeah, for sure.
I mean, so cognitive 3D, wekind of rethought what analytics

(16:05):
should look like for these 3Ddriven environments.
A lot of analytics are chartsand graphs.
And so cognitive 3D reallyfocuses on 3D based representations
of what's going on inside the headset.
And so one of our kind offlagship products is called Scene
Explorer.
And Scene Explorer allows youto do a one to one replay of exactly

(16:28):
what the user did, how theybehaved and how they moved through
that environment, what toolsthey used, what they picked up and
engaged with, what they didwith their head, their eyes.
And you can use all of thoseinputs for assessment.
Right.
So the after action reviewkind of acts as what we call a proof

(16:49):
of work, right, that the userput the headset on and did some things.
Right.
Once you've got that proof ofwork, you can then assess that behavior
to be able to see like, wasthe user compliant with safety protocols
that we might have?
Did they demonstrate good food safety?
Did they maintain eye contactwith our customer when they were

(17:12):
having a difficult interaction?
There's lots of different waysthat you can use these different
inputs to ask specificquestions that are representative
of skills or qualities ofservice that you expect within your
business.
Okay, so I'm pretty sure thatevery single one of my Californian
clients are sitting andlistening to this, going, okay, with

(17:34):
all these emergingtechnologies and all this data that's
coming out, how are youensuring user privacy and data security
and mixing that with theanalytics you need to spit out?
Yeah, I'll talk about privacy first.
I think informed consent isincredibly important and some states
are more aggressive aboutinformed consent than others.

(17:56):
California comes to mind.
Mind.
Massachusetts comes to mind.
As folks that kind of havebleeding edge privacy frameworks
and legislation.
Cognitive 3D, we have someinternal tools to be able to assess
and get that informed consent.
We have something called theXR Privacy Framework, which is actually
an open source framework whichallows you to acquire the rights

(18:20):
to record the session andcollect the data.
Most businesses, though, weoften see that they work it into
the employment agreement or dosome sort of written or in headset
consent for the collection ofdata as part of the training experience.
So it really kind of dependson what your corporate policies are.
But, you know, ultimately, youknow, privacy is important and we

(18:41):
should, we should collect it.
And Cognitive3D provides sometools to be able to make sure that
we do it properly.
Security is a totally separatebut very similar topic.
It's probably one of ournumber one jobs outside of providing
the insights, is keeping thedata secure for our customers.

(19:02):
So we do SOC 2 type 2 compliance.
That means that we'reexternally audited on a very regular
basis.
Our data is stored and keyedproperly, and we also offer advanced
deployment techniques as well.
We can do things likededicated installs on premises installs,
those types, things to kind ofmeet whatever your company policies

(19:25):
might be for external IT security.
Tony, we're going to take ashort break, but when we come back,
we're going to talk more aboutreally the industry perspective from
the cognitive 3D side, wherethe industry is headed, the trends
that you see coming out, andhow cognitive 3D is really going
to accomplish some of theseunique challenges that we're about

(19:46):
to face.
So everybody hold on one second.
We'll be right back.
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(20:08):
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Your future in XR starts there.
Tony, we're back.
And you know, I want to getinto, you know, some of the industry
challenges and you know, someof the trends that we're seeing come

(20:29):
about.
You are not new to this industry.
You've seen a lot oftechnologies come and go with the
rise of VR and AR and just notjust in hospitality, but in, just
in General.
How does cognitive3D helpbrands adopt and measure the success
of these technologies?
Things have really changed inthis industry.

(20:50):
It's getting a lot easier toadopt these programs.
I think it's still reallydifficult to measure the success
of these programs.
And so, you know, we find thata lot of innovation teams have no
problem going out, buying someheadsets, maybe getting some initial
content.
But the part that typically isthe challenge, the part that we can

(21:11):
step in and provide some realearly value in a program is making
sure that there's a future.
Right, right.
Being able to collect theright data, demonstrate the right,
you know, maybe internal studyabout how this technology could be
used, how it could be scaled,and how it could apply to some sort

(21:34):
of cost savings, efficiency,improvements in process, improvements
in satisfaction, whatever yourAPIs are ultimately going to be.
Cognitive 3D provides thetools to be able to answer a large
majority of those questions,but we also provide the data science
capability to actually analyzeand answer those questions on the

(21:54):
part of our clients.
We've recently been doing whatwe call the ROI program.
And so these are six or 12month programs where we actually
take your existing content,your headsets, whatever you're trying
to deploy and market and buildan actionable study around your data
collection strategy.

(22:15):
The outcomes that we can get,we can collect from these environments.
And to kind of give you a bitof a weapon internally, right?
Of like, this is the data,these are the results we see.
If we apply it to big problem,big business, problem X, we're going
to see the following results, right?
And we think we should growthe program by this particular size.
That's really where we've beenstepping into programs at the early,

(22:37):
earliest stages.
And that's like pre Walmart,Walmart's obviously doing something
that's like huge, right?
That's a later stage, youknow, let's help you scale type of
thing, right?
Like how are, you know, tensof thousands, hundreds of thousands
of employees interpreting thisprogram out in the wild?
And the earlier stages is moreabout like, how do we grow this into
something that impacts theentire, entire business.

(23:01):
So you've been in the industryLike I said for a while, you know,
and the XR industry has aevolved just drastically.
And this is probably a veryunfair question given the era of
rapid development, but wheredo you see it headed in the next
five to 10 years?
That's a really tough question.
It is.

(23:23):
I knew you could handle it, though.
Yeah.
I mean, I started the companynine years ago and a lot has happened.
Like, there's been a lot ofevolution in technology.
You know, I thought whenOculus bought, or Facebook bought
Oculus, that the rocket shipwas taken off.

(23:43):
Right.
The reality was there's somuch technology work needed to get
done to create something thatwas actually adoptable at scale.
Just in the last, like two tothree years, things have really changed.
Right.
With the adoption of all inone headsets, six degrees of freedom,
super high quality.

(24:03):
You know, the comfort andsickness issues are starting to get
mitigated.
We're seeing a lot of like,really positive movement in the right
direction for overall adoption.
But when I think about thefuture, said 5 to 10 years.
Glasses, glasses all the way.
You know, the idea thatvirtual augmented mixed reality today,

(24:28):
these are different devices.
In a lot of cases, you'restarting to see that merge together
with Quest three, where youstarted to see kind of a mixed reality
mode into a fully encompassing headset.
I think the future is kind ofthese all in one glasses like Orion,
that can be able to deliverthe full spectrum of immersion or

(24:51):
giving you information orinsights when you need it in your
work.
That's where I see thehardware side of the equation going.
But my overall perspective onthe whole space is that this is about
giving superpowers to the people.
I think that's ultimately whatimmersive technology does.
It gives us data at our fingerprints.
It's one of these perfectmodalities for this artificial intelligence

(25:15):
future as well.
Empower us through.
Through vision, through hearing.
Well, you brought up a goodpoint there.
We talk VR all day long, butwe have not talked ar.
Your platform is not specific.
I mean, it can adapt toanything, correct?
Yeah, absolutely.
We support Unity, we support Unreal.
We're building out a new SDKright now for Apple Vision Pro.
So I think it's interestingthat most people don't understand

(25:37):
that they're gaming engines,but they ended up really being the
core of how this technology isbeing developed and released to the
marketplace.
It doesn't matter if it'sgaming or not.
We were just at its act.
And goodness gracious.
I mean, the military is usingall of this stuff for simulation.
So they're Using gaming engines.

(25:58):
And that's really those twoplatforms, Unity and Unreal, are
the two biggest ones out therethat are really having a pretty heavy
marketplace as far asdevelopment process.
Are there certain barriers toadoption of spatial analytics in
industries like healthcare,retail, education, hospitality?
And what kind of barrierswould those look like?

(26:21):
Yeah, I think the barriers arereally around content less about
us.
I mean our product can beintegrated in anything if there's
a will and there's a way.
Today we typically supportcustom content creation, right?
So people that are outgoingand building custom scenarios that
are for specific business problems.
That's our typical use case ofcustomers that come to us and they've

(26:43):
built either a360 video or, orfully 3D immersive environment that
is specific to their business.
We come in, we can measure that.
Where we're spending a lotmore of our time now is the repeatable
content.
The more generic modules we'repartnering with people, we're spending
time on what we call partnerenablement, which means that for
the content providers that areout there building repeatable solutions,

(27:08):
things that you can just buyoff the shelf.
Cognitive 3D has a new programthat we've been rolling out called
Cognitive 3D Ready.
The idea is that it's a Preintegration with cognitive 3D into
your generic content wherewhen a customer wants to buy, they
actually have the opportunityto get that analytics data right
away if they would like it.

(27:29):
So we're trying to reduce allthe barriers to access this stuff,
make the market more efficientand then also support some of these
authoring and environmentsthat we're starting to see really
take off as well.
You have obviously have a backend dashboard for people to look
at and get all this dataanalytics from.
But do you also have an APIthat if I happen to be that CIO that

(27:50):
just wants it presented in adifferent way, can I get that data
out of that and maybe force itinto my LMS system?
Yeah, you got it.
On the LMS side, we actuallytransmit results.
So you can do the assessmentsin the Cognitive 3D dashboard, you
set up all of the behaviorsthat you're looking for.
The reason you do theassessment in cognitive 3D is because
can assess other stuff.
Right.

(28:10):
Most LMSs, they're kind ofdumb, like they don't really know
beyond past complete, youknow, and failure, like they really
don't understand all the gapsin between.
We can assess eye tracking, wecan assess user behavior, what people
are doing, how they movethrough space, the activities they
completed, and assess in amuch more Deep and fundamental, more

(28:32):
human way, honestly.
And then we could transmitthat to the lms.
What we don't want to do iscreate an island, right, where it's
like the VR stuff iscompletely separate from the rest
of the business.
That's where we see POCs andpilots die, right?
Go off and try to do it assomething completely separate from
the business.
When they've got tens orhundreds of millions of dollars invested

(28:53):
in L and D already, we want tocapitalize on that.
We want VR to just be anextension of what we're doing and
learning today.
And so cognitive 3D cantransmit those results into the LMS
and actually mark off modulesjust like any other type of content.
We do provide the APIs as youmentioned as well, though.
So if you're building your owndashboards, your own capabilities,

(29:14):
some of my customers havePower BI dashboards that they like
to have that are separate fromthe cognitive 3D system.
We empower those capabilitiesas well.
Well, I think you hit on twovery, very important things.
First of all, not being anisland, therefore, because there's
not one enterprise client I'vegot out there that would think about
adopting a product where it'sgot its own data set, its own dashboard.

(29:37):
They want it all.
They want.
A single pane of glass is whatthey want.
And you've kind of taken thatto the next level and you've opened
up the architecture in orderto be able to allow that data to
flow back into the LMS system.
But the other big thing thatyou hit on that people are missing
that have not even looked atVR training is the fact that you
are filling those gaps ratherthan a pass fail complete, you know,

(29:59):
you are collecting data thatyou can't collect any other way.
So I think that is a huge advantage.
Obviously, I'm preaching tothe choir here, but, you know, as
I start to talk to businessleaders why VR is so important for
the training aspects and theadvantages it brings to the marketplace,

(30:20):
they start to realize, holycow, we've been missing out on all
these data points.
And then their mind startsthinking, okay, okay, what if, what
if we could take that dataafter somebody goes through training
and then have our AI enginepotentially take that data and figure
out what, what is the bestposition for them?
You know, maybe they've doneall this personality training and

(30:42):
behavioral training with a, anAI customer and realize, you know,
they're not really good with people.
There's two options there.
Either train them up or B,maybe you move them into another
position within the organization.
So I think there is so muchcapability that is possible by collecting
all of this data.

(31:03):
You touched on a reallyimportant point there, which is really
this opportunity aroundgetting very predictive and prescriptive
about the insights that we'recollecting and getting a little bit
more personal about howcontent and training is being delivered.
I think that one of thesuperpowers of this technology is

(31:24):
meeting the employee or theperson in the headset where they
are in terms of skillset andproviding them just enough assist
to be able to get those repsand build those muscles internally
so they can get better at eachof the individual skill sets that
they need to do to succeed intheir role.
And I think that immersivetechnology and the data collection

(31:47):
behind it powers some of themore, you know, kind of sophisticated
insights that you couldpossibly garner from these types
of environments.
I think it's also one of thosethings where, you know, when you
acknowledge this to internalstakeholders, if we're just going
to mark things as pass fail, Ithink, you know, internal stakeholders
also look at that and say,well, this is much more expensive.

(32:09):
Why is it any different, youknow, if you're, if you're not going
to collect any of these otherdata points?
I think it's a superpower whenyou start to talk about the level
of insight you can get fromyour employees and then also drive
higher levels of performance.
As we're talking aboutadvantages and unique advantages.
How can spatial analytics andimmersive technologies address societal

(32:30):
challenges or enhance accessibility?
Well, first off, when you dodata collection through something
like cognitive 3D, there'sreally no bias in our assessment.
Right.
And honestly, there's a lot ofbias in human condition.
And I think that, that, youknow, when you create and deliver
standard ways of deliveringknowledge, I think that there's a

(32:51):
greater opportunity for peopleto succeed.
I think that these headsetsand capabilities kind of open up.
I, you know, I'm a huge fan oflike the Matrix movies and stuff
like that.
And I'm sure you remember thescene when Trinity, Trinity needs
the, the helicopter programand she just goes ahead and downloads
it, you know, and boom, she'sa helicopter pilot.

(33:11):
I wouldn't say it's exactlythe same kid thing because we're
not doing brain computerinterfaces or anything like that.
But the opportunity to haveknowledge at your fingertips on a
wide variety of categories ofthings is a huge superpower for this
technology.
Oh, there's nothing better.
You know, I've got a new setof very high end enterprise AR glasses
and you know, I see a New APKcome down, and I plug that into my

(33:33):
computer, download the APKinto my device, and literally, I
feel like I have thatsuperhuman matrix capability of all
of a sudden, I have all ofthis knowledge at my fingertips I
never had before.
So.
So we're not that far off from it.
I don't know.
Somebody like Elon Musk isgoing to figure it out, if he hasn't
done so already, I'm telling you.
All right, so we're windingthings down here.

(33:54):
Let's break away and have some fun.
So what's your favorite XRapplication or experience that you've
encountered recently?
Okay, so I'm trying to spend alittle bit more time on health recently.
So I play something called LesMills Body Combat App.
It's a bit of an older app,but it'll get you burning real fast,

(34:19):
so definitely check that one out.
Another application that Ilike to spend some time on, it's
kind of underrated, to behonest, is something called Headspace.
Headspace has a mobile app.
This is all about meditation.
Those types of elements.
Really interesting application.

(34:40):
Also, take a look at it.
Graphics are beautiful, and,you know, it's just like a really
cool, you know, kind of spacethat is the complete opposite spectrum
of Body Combat.
All right, so if you share it,I have to share, too.
I think specifically on the.
On the health side of it.
So supernatural.
That's probably the mostpopular out there as far as.
Yeah, for sure.

(35:01):
Fitness app.
And also Tripp.
Tripp is a great meditation.
Oh, my goodness.
You have no idea how manytimes I've actually used this before.
Walking to a meeting, beforeI've given a presentation on stage,
trying to get to sleep atnight when I've got a.
You know, my mind is full of amillion things.
You know, being a businessowner like yourself, I mean, you've
got so much going through yourhead, and you need to be able to

(35:24):
decompress, and VR is a prettyinteresting tool in order to be able
to do that.
And we're seeing that used onthe medical side of it.
We're seeing it used for PTSD treatment.
We're seeing it for a lot of things.
So this is not just us, youknow, geeking out in our Oculus world.
This is really there.
There's proven science andfacts behind some of this stuff.

(35:45):
All right, one more questionfor you.
When you're not working oncognitive 3D projects, what hobbies
or activities help yourecharge and stay inspired?
Okay, well, I.
I work way too much, and Itravel a lot.
But my main kind of outlet isI like doing home renovations.

(36:06):
So I'm working on a bathroomright now.
So putting in a shower, doingthe tile, you know, all the kind
of things that go along with that.
So that's one of them.
And then I just like to takecare of my property as well.
So I mow the lawn and, youknow, garden those types of things.
So those are the things thatkind of keep me grounded.
So the question is, when youwere redoing your bathroom, did you

(36:27):
actually use augmented realityto measure stuff out and figure,
you know what?
That is a huge gap.
Thank you for pointing that out.
I did not do that.
I actually took a Sharpie andjust drew on the floor.
I roughed it in the old school way.
Well, Tony, thank you so muchfor joining the show.
This is fascinating today.
I love talking data and youand I certainly have a very interesting

(36:53):
aspect in regards to theindustry that we're in and, you know,
the data and analytics.
We're looking at things adifferent way and being able to take,
you know, what appears to be arecreational tool or application,
that's kind of some of thefeedback I'm getting.
But then be able to providereal data on top of that with the
ROI and be able to prove outhow effective this technology really

(37:17):
is in a business scenario.
So thank you again for joining us.
I'll tell you what, cognitive3D is very unique in its space.
As your journey progresses tocreating your XR strategy, you're
going to want to make surethat this is one of the tools in
your toolbox.

(37:38):
If you would like to reach outto me or the show, you can do so
via Everything Social,SkipKimple or everything at Magic
8 Tech.
This includes X, Facebook,Instagram and LinkedIn.
You can always go to thewebsite@SkipKimple.com for all of
the archive notes and all thearchive shows.
They're all posted on that website.
You can also hear theseepisodes on the Magic gate website@magicgate.com

(38:02):
and of course you can email meat any point in time.
@SkipAgicate.com we have theholiday season upon us which conflicts
with the release of the next episode.
So I'm going to do somethrowback episodes over the next
couple of weeks.
On January 7th we will returnwith a fresh episode from Mike Blake

(38:23):
to start the year off with a bang.
If you don't know Mike, he hasbeen the global CIO at Hyatt Hotels,
the CEO of HTNG and CTO of the ahla.
Currently he is the VP of ITat Kemper Sports.
If you know Mike, you knowit's going to be very entertaining
and it's going to be hard totell where the conversation will

(38:45):
end up.
This show is going to be a blast.
I'm finishing off the week byheading up to Wisconsin for Christmas.
So this Florida lizard boywill have to suffer through some
pretty cold weather with histhin blood.
A very Merry Christmas, HappyHanukkah, Happy New Year, or any

(39:05):
other holiday you arecelebrating between now and January.
Having said that, meet me backhere on January 7th.
And please, please, pleasestay safe, stay healthy and stay
hungry, my friends.

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