Technology advancements make your location negligible. You can now visit any destination, interact with its locals, and even do some work there, for instance, build and fix a house or vehicle without being there physically. As if that’s not enough, you can also buy a virtual replica of any item from the comfort of your own space. Then own it for a lifetime as its value appreciates making you exorbitantly rich when you sell it. This knowledge is what the X-Reality (XR) Lab is on a mission to disseminate, one exhibition at a time.

In 2022, the X-Reality Lab attended several public events to exhibit their VR-based software for training on the maintenance of a vehicle dubbed “Virtual Motor Mechanics (VMM)”. Professionals and students from various industries, primary, secondary, and tertiary schools all had the opportunity to experience the first version of VMM. Wherein they were familiarized with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) worn in a workshop, the basic hand tools used and the components of a combustion engine. Their feedback was gathered to inform development of upcoming versions.

Given the intention to sensitize the public to the metaverse, virtual experiences about fitness games, tours and other entertaining content were also offered. This kept the audience engaged and fostered a relaxed environment for the team to interact with potential stakeholders including buyers, investors, users, contributors and partners. One pivoting insight from visitors was that there is a market of individuals willing to purchase VR to learn in their own private space away from learning institutions. This caused the X-Reality Lab to introduce a Business-to-Customer (B2C) model which incorporates gaming principles into VMM to make it both fun and educational to cater for gamers without a background or interest in motor mechanics. The events exhibited at were namely:

• Gibela Youth Squared Daring to be Different in Duduza, Nigel.
• 2022 South African Institute of Industrial Engineering (SAIIE) Conference in Zimbali Resort, Durban.
• Institute of the Future of Work (IFOW) Dialogue in Sub Bet Arena, Pretoria.
• TUT Faculty Research Day in TUT Pretoria Campus.
• NAAMSA Autoweek in Kyalami.
• Launch of the South African Institute of Artificial Intelligence (SAIAI) at the Johannesburg Business School
• The World Science Forum (WSF) in ICC, Cape Town.

For more information on where the XR Lab will be exhibiting, complete the Contact Us form on our website to book a virtual experience.