Whiteboard was our internal R&D project — another jab at Magic Leap’s capabilities in the business setting. The result is a promising proof of concept that redefined the idea of whiteboard brainstorming.
In our internal research and development (R&D) department, we often experiment with immersive technologies. The idea for an XR Whiteboard came up during discussions on cross-reality collaboration.
At nomtek, we see remote collaboration becoming increasingly commonplace among industries and companies across the globe.
When brainstorming on solutions that could facilitate remote collaboration, we came up with the idea of creating a mixed reality whiteboard. We decided to work with Magic Leap’s ecosystem to build a POC and gauge this tech’s possibilities.
A mixed reality whiteboard could improve collaboration in projects that ordinarily rely on in-person communication. The free-form sketching of ideas in an immersive setting lets users tap into their creativity.
To provide the familiar feeling users associate with using whiteboards, we had to focus to make the input method resemble how a user would normally use a whiteboard, with markers and erasers to manipulate the whiteboard’s content.
The project started with intense brainstorming sessions where we tried to uncover the nuances of translating a whiteboard into its mixed reality version.
Exploring the usability and accessibility of the mixed reality whiteboard was a key part of the project. We had to consider which form of interaction to choose, i.e., hand gestures or controller-based manipulation.
Since it’s only a POC, there’s a lot more work to be done to make the project viable for enterprise production. The result is still a fun and immersive experience that redefines how we think about using and seeing whiteboards.
The project can be further expanded to include a remote cast with multi-user collaboration capability. Developing these features would give the whiteboard more interaction, immersion, and usability.
