IIT Madras' XTIC leads India's XR Revolution For Global South Nations

ETVBHARAT

The XTIC aimed to champion frugal XR innovation, support Indian-made XR hardware and software, and nurture large XR talent pool for public and social impact.

Transcript

00:00We are going through AI wave, AIML wave. Almost everybody is, you know, using AIML in one way

00:24or other. But this AIML wave is going to get over in the next one or two years. There is a much bigger

00:33wave coming. That is the XR wave, we call it as AR, VR, MR together. So we wanted to prepare our

00:41youngsters, Indian youngsters, particularly for facing this XR wave, which is going to be much

00:47bigger, which is going to be, you know, in all walks of life. Along with AIML, this XR combined

00:54together, it is going to impact many walks of life actually. If someone is not aware of AR, VR,

01:02they are going to be left behind. That much impact it is going to bring in. So in that case,

01:08how do we, you know, bring these technologies to the common man? That is a big, big challenge

01:15that we are discussing in today's symposium, XTC symposium, one day symposium with all the

01:21industries. So the other countries, advanced countries, they have a, you know, very costly

01:27headset, a very, you know, high-end headset. So for example, Apple has, you know, Samsung

01:35has, Meta has. But the common man in India cannot afford such costly headset. So we are looking

01:43at, now, how do we design and develop a frugal VR, affordable VR, so that everybody, you know,

01:50whoever has a smartphone can, now, use this, you know, XR, not only use but also, you know,

01:58start developing. All our engineering graduates, we want them to, now, understand the foundations

02:03of AR, VR and then start, you know, developing, you know, contributing to the AR, VR using only

02:10their, you know, smartphone. That is a whole challenge we are working on in today's conference

02:16along with the industries. Industries such as Meta, Qualcomm, you know, Samsung, you know,

02:21Dolby and, you know, a lot of other industries. So in the future, I think, you know, as I mentioned,

02:29there will be a lot of applications right from the, you know, media and the end of the end.

02:34You'll be able to, you know, see a, you know, big screen, you know, movies or watch your next

02:40sports in the big screen and or watch, you know, ISRO's launch in a big screen as if you

02:47are, you know, there in ISRO's launch pad, right? All those things is possible with, you know,

02:53with your cell phone alone as a, you know, experiential technology. That is possible.

02:58And then, you know, if you want to play, you should be able to play with, you know, being

03:05at your home. You don't have to go to, you know, playground if you cannot go to the playground

03:10and or, you know, you can, you know, practice a lot of other things, you know, sitting at

03:16home or sitting in your office, you know, if it needs a lot of office, a lot of space to

03:21practice, you don't need it. Now, using the virtual reality, you can do the skills training.

03:26You can do a lot of things that is not possible in real life, right? You can change your avatar

03:32and then see how people, other people react to, you know, the change in the gender or

03:37some kind of social, social, what do you call, you know, challenges that, you know, many people

03:44are facing. So, how education is going to be transformed, now, using this XR technologies.

03:51So, all the NPTEL courses, if you look at it, now, they will be in a, you know, immersive

03:57world, right? So, how do we make it, you know, useful in the education space as well?

04:05Maybe, you know, all the advanced laboratories, you can do it in the VR in the future. Now, many

04:11number of times before you go to the actual lab so that, you know, you learn much better

04:16skills, you know, you learn a lot of things from, you know, single lab or advanced lab

04:24at IIT Metas. Anybody from, now, anywhere in India, they can, you know, start using the

04:30laboratories in IIT Metas virtually. That's the whole idea of this particular applications

04:36we are looking at. How common man can use, you know, this technologies? So, main thing is

04:42the entertainment, but also, you know, skill training, but also, you know, tourism. For

04:49example, you know, you don't have, probably, you know, I am not saying you should not, there

04:55are very difficult places for elderly people or, you know, challenged, physically challenged

05:01people go to the, some of the tourist spots. They can enjoy using the, you know, these technologies,

05:07going there. Some of these, you know, laboratories, now, the school children, now, all, whatever

05:14they learn, they can experience it. Not just, you know, teacher telling, but also experiences

05:20in the, you know, using that, using these technologies. Now, sitting at their home itself, using the mobile

05:27phone, right? So, and tourism is one thing, heritage is another thing, right? They can visit lot

05:36of places, in a very short time, or they can, now, visit this virtually first, before even

05:42physically go there. That is possible. And, they can watch, you know, the sports, or, you

05:49know, very important, now, events, particularly, say, marriage. Now, you can, you can have a

05:58telepresence without being there, using these technologies. If you are not able to attend it,

06:04now, you can, you know, physically be there, but, you know, sorry, you can, you know, you

06:13can feel the telepresence, now, using these technologies. For example, attending the marriages,

06:19right? So, that is possible, or other important functions. Now, all these technologies are slowly

06:25evolving it. We have to, we hope in one or two years, we will be able to, you know, reach out to,

06:34you know, most of the students. In XJIC, we are trying to set up an XR corridor, just like IT corridor,

06:41XR corridor, India's XR corridor. I hope, you know, it's a, you know, 20 year dream. It will take

06:50about 20 years, but, you know, slowly, we will start creating applications that will reach out to the,

06:55you know, common public, not only in India, but also the global south, and also the advanced countries.

07:01As of now, there is no public usage. With the government support and other ecosystem stakeholders,

07:08we love to find out, you know, what could be the, you know, the killer app or the public use.

07:14We are still, you know, working towards it. So, right now, we are all, you know, watching the,

07:20while we are travelling in the train or bus, you are all watching the, you know, entire thing on a cell phone.

07:26In the future, now, everybody, you should be able to put the cell phone in a, you know,

07:31a frugal VR headset, and then, you know, start watching it.

07:35Now, that kind of applications will be, you know, slowly coming. One or two years, it must be.

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