A NEW REALITY - EN-issue-7

A NEW REALITY – OUR VR CENTERS WORLDWIDE

Pioneering in technology has always been at the forefront of our company's focus. In recent years, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) have taken the world by storm.

With nearly two decades of work in Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) since the Burr Ridge VR Center opened in 2005, CNH has taken great pride in its growing team of experts dedicated to state-of-the-art technology. With a team of employees working across VR Centers in the US, Italy, Belgium, and India – we’re taking innovation, sustainability, and productivity to the next level.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Augmented and Virtual Reality have helped us improve the way we get work done at CNH. But how? And what are the differences between Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality?

VR includes a closed vision setup (for example, VR goggles, like Oculus Quest). Fully immersed in a virtual environment, you can navigate a completely new scenery involving a product. AR, on the other hand, involves the use of a mobile device.

An Augmented Reality setup to simulate a tractor in the room

A Virtual Reality setup to simulate driving a tractor

Semi-immersed in the virtual environment, you can navigate a new product or image while maintaining your physical environment. You can see where you are, but with added ‘augmented’ information and models interacting with your real-world surroundings. And so, Augmented and Virtual Reality are commonly utilized for prototyping, engineering and training purposes.

Through our Human Machine Interface (HMI) and Ergonomics Team, our technology is tailored for customer use. The Ergonomics Team works to simulate human behavior inside a virtual experience, hence making it feel like ‘reality’ - as the data and content reacts to your movements and virtual selections.

Andrew Brokaw, a Virtual and Augmented Reality Technical Leader at CNH, is based at Burr Ridge, where he sees the benefits of this technology in action:

“By using AR/VR, we don’t have to wait for a physical mockup or a physical prototype which is very expensive and time consuming. We don’t have to wait until we have a physical machine built to get feedback from customers – we can get feedback early in the concept stage." Thanks to AR/VR, CNH can more readily put the CUSTOMER FIRST and involve them early in the process of production without time-consuming physical redesigning.

“With this technology, engineers and employees not only save time, but money. At the stage where we do most of our virtual work, changing a part may cost a dollar, whereas once you build a physical prototype changing that same part in the same way may cost a thousand dollars, per part, per machine," says Andrew.

Claudia Campanella, Head of Ergonomics and Human Machine Interface (HMI) at the VR Center in Modena, Italy, says:

“At CNH, we always strive to Be The Best. My team gave a strong contribution to this purpose. For example, we participated in the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas, where we helped our brand, New Holland, to launch a new tractor in the Metaverse. This was a great success.”

Giuseppe Scotto di Vetta, a Virtual and Augmented Reality Specialist at Modena worked to fine tune the technology in launching a meeting in the 'Metaverse'.

“We have the opportunity to connect with different people in different countries in different time zones. There were people from the office, from home, and from everywhere around the world. This is good – otherwise we would not have this opportunity to be all together."

Giuseppe Scotto di Vetta, who heads the meeting as seen on the screen, interacts with his fellow avatars in the Metaverse.

THE FUTURE AHEAD

With technological innovation taking strides at CNH and around the world, what’s next for AR/VR?

In recent years, the integration of Artificial Intelligence into AR/VR allows greater functioning efficiency. As AI advances at an exponential rate, the possibilities are endless for CNH, and the world at large.

This technology is not only changing the way that we engineer and sell our products, but also the way that our employees work.

This summer, a meeting in the ‘Metaverse’ was held amongst team members of the Modena VR Center and other offices across the CNH globe.

"With this immersive virtual experience, the Metaverse has changed what it means to be virtually ‘together’ with new, unexplored opportunities. Looking forward, we are excited to see how this technology develops and advances even further. Always pioneering, CNH is proud to have such a talented team ushering us into the future,” says Giuseppe.