IBM iX
“Reinventing the Wheel”
Roles
Genres
We created this 360º video and virtual reality experience to introduce “Watson” to the Automobile industry. The project mission was to help introduce emerging and future technologies to strengthen the bond; relationship between humans and their vehicles.
The IBM iX team partnered with us to create an experience that identify the concepts of bringing the Internet of Things (IoT), Renewable Energy, Data and Cognitive Computing along with Experience Design to the automotive industry.
To help drive these concepts home, we designed and developed a 3D environment that put the user in the driver’s seat. The design concept focused on a faceted polygonal treatment that some in the gaming world might liken to a cel-shaded technique. This treatment was very deliberate, as it reduced the chance of the outside world (to the user in the experience) distractions and allowed for the user to feel the controls, listen and interact with the audio, and focus on cockpit (or cabin).
On the tech side, we choose to deliver the project in 2 methods: a VR experience and a 360º video. The latter enabled those who either didn’t have access to VR headsets or have a hard time wearing them in due to motion sickness. To complement the VR experience, our sound design included spatial audio. This technique allows wins out over other recording techniques such as normal stereo or binaural as it truly allows to target the user and the distance to each environmental sound. It takes into account just how close the user is to a sound, rather than splitting each channel 50/50.
Featured
The final product was first presented at the International Auto Show in Detroit, then went on to be showcased around the world. Automobile and technology leaders were able to get a glimpse on what the future could feel like with Watson (and its many features) at the heart of the vehicle operations.
This was one of those projects that was special to me as the cross-section of my own personal background definitely shined through to the finished product.