The Ricoh Virtual Workplace Team appears to be a spontaneously generated team attracted by the attraction of VR. I want to use this technology to start a business like this. Using this system can solve social problems. It’s a little different from that idea. VR is not just a technology. It is a new interface in the next world and becomes the operating system for living. Based on this belief, the VR is working on “what will we do now?” Because of its axis, it does not shake even if the branch and leaf ends change. And because it’s a world without new fingernails, it’s sparkling and beautiful and fun. In November 2020, even in the midst of the corona outbreak, the company started a VR demonstration test with Tokyu Construction, and there is a wide gap in the business potential. Where is the Ricoh Virtual Workplace Team going?
Tomoko Senju
Ricoh IT Solutions. After devoting itself to VR and implementing a 3D reconstruction project using an all-astronomical camera, Ricoh is the Ricoh Virtual Workplace team. Along with development, they are also in charge of providing guidance to clients within the VR.
Kyoko Fujita
The team meets VR and front nose while exploring technologies and developing markets, and joins Ricoh Virtual Workplace Team.
Hashio Hotta
Ricoh IT Solutions Tottori Business Center. TechLead develops from server to client. Full-scale participation in VR from 3D restoration project using all-astronomical cameras.
Tsuyoshi Maehana
The ringleader of Ricoh Virtual Workplace Team. As a leader, he/she is involved in all aspects from development to sales, coordination, and planning.
To the team in the VR process
Maehana Collaboration with Tokyu Construction Co., Ltd. has been released, and we are moving toward demonstration experiments. Tokyu Construction has been involved in VR for a long time, so it is moving quickly. We’ve seen the problem, and we’ve been trying to go ahead with it for the moment, and we’ve been adding more and more functions for construction.
In addition, we have received inquiries from several companies in the construction industry, but we cannot provide detailed information. There is a growing need not only in the construction industry, but also in the training, healthcare, entertainment, and manufacturing industries.
–How did the team start up?
Senju This was achieved by combining the flow of the 3D reconstruction project using all-heaven cameras at Ricoh IT Solutions (RITS) in Seiko and the unique VR development flow.
Since 2017, I have been voluntarily developing VRs within the company, and while I have been planning hands-on events and presenting my VRs at lighting sessions, my boss has recognized me as being fond of VRs and has joined in the development of the 3D reconstruction project using all-heaven cameras.
Hotta I’m involved in the development of the RICOH THETA web and apps, and as I look at everything from server to client, I’ve become a leader in the development of the 3D reconstruction theme, and I’m doing VR from there.
Maehana I’ve been working on a golden (laughing) backbone system at the Sapporo Office, but when RITS was established in 2009, I left the backbone system and began to be involved in applications development. Since it was immediately after the launch of RICOH THETA in December 2013, we encountered the HMD (Head Mount Display) of Oculus DK1, and we were stuck with the idea of the future. So I studied by myself and started up a community outside the company and held events for VRs, so I started to work for VRs at the company.
The first one was presented outside the company at the February 2017 print business exhibition “page 2017.” Ricoh developed and exhibited a system that enables visitors to view Ricoh’s large industrial printers on a VR. We also began to undertake VR tours at the Environmental Business Development Center in Gotenba, and we gradually began to receive requests for VR-related activities both inside and outside the company. Bridgestone’s VR contents for factory tours, the traffic safety experience simulator in Shibuya Ward, and in-house the contents for introducing customer engineers to the workplace and the AR manual for next-generation MFPs are being studied.
In 2018, as part of the VR-related development team, I was still in Hokkaido at that time and I was scattered across the country, so I was told that I would try to create a system that would allow meetings to be held at the VR. Originally, there were prototypes of VR communication called “Himikitsu” within the company, but since we started activities in April 2019, we have now begun to create them again.
Fujita It’s just when we started recruiting TRIBUS, but we didn’t intend to apply at first because there was rumor that we were going to be so rigorous,” Fujita says. “But because we didn’t have much money to earn, the VR team was going to be dissolved, so we tried to apply.
Maehana Well, when I applied, I didn’t think I would go through the examination until the last time. I thought it would be more difficult to make a business proposal than if the developers were accustomed to planning and other activities.
Senju I was pretty close to doubting whether I could continue to develop VRs as a job. RITS was once assigned to another project by the VR in October, and I was finally returned to the VR team a month after the review was completed.
–What is the attractiveness of VR?
Maehana I would like to ask you about the attraction of the VR, and what is the attraction of the VR?
“You can do whatever you like in the world. You can do whatever you imagine. So at first, there was a lot of entertainment-oriented content, and then there was a lot of enterprise-oriented content. I think that the current situation is that this trend accelerated at a rapid pace due to the corona disaster.
Hotta VR is the next display interface,” Hotta said. One dimension is text and two dimensions is monitor display. Now, three dimensions have finally become popular, and the interface VR represents that. It’s a world that can only be enjoyed through experience, but it’s a wonderful thing.
In addition, from the development perspective, the sense of achievement is a little different from other development projects. The implementation of the function and realization in the VR will make the client very happy, but I feel that it is very strong.
Maehana I think the feeling that the products developed are connected to the space in which you are located is very different from that of other developments. Every Wednesday, I regularly implement them in my VR, but I feel that the world I use is evolving with my own hands. I think that is the feeling that the functions of Mincraft themselves are being expanded in Mincraft (*).
*Minkraft is a trademark of Mojang Synergies AB.
Senju You have that sensation, he said. I implemented the function to show the miniature section of the building in the VR, but I was happy to have a strange experience of taking out the miniature of the building and looking at the section when I was in the modeled building and holding a meeting.
The attraction of VR is immersion. I was surprised to find that I had met someone familiar with VR on a regular basis for the first time in real life the other day, but I had no feeling of discomfort at all. I don’t feel as if I’m doing something with you in the VR.
Fujita It’s a world you can do anything else,” Fujita says. “The sky can fly, and it’s hidden in the ground. There’s a 3D model for the VR space, and we have a team that can develop it. I feel that there are great possibilities. team members are confident that the world of VR will come in the future.
Maehana The word ‘VR’ is thought to mean ‘virtual,’ but it really means ‘real,’ which means ‘real,’ which means ‘reality.’ In that sense, videoconferencing is already a VR, and in the future, VR may not be called VR as a matter of course. The VR market is only measured by the sales of headmount displays (HMD) and so on, but I think it will be formed as a more diversified market in the future.”
TRIBUS is good because it is coarse.
What about TRIBUS as an environment for software development and business emergence?
Maehana Compared with others, there’s an image of “coarse” and “coarser.” For example, compared to the development of conventional software, which places more emphasis on documents and tests, it’s more common to try and find things that are coarser. It’s like running a dart on a buggy, but going ahead rather than running with cleanliness. That’s the right way. I think that’s what we can do because we’ve got people together.
Fujita Don’t you have to do it freely? Within the conventional framework of Ricoh, I think it would have been difficult to make a profit or achieve results quickly. But I think it has become much easier to do it because of the long-term view of TRIBUS and the project team directly under the president. Of course, I think we have to get results quickly in order to meet expectations.
–Have you had any difficulties?
Senju I joined the team late, so I had a hard time at first, but I’ve never struggled anything else. I don’t think it’s hard, though it’s hard.
Fujita I was not the only member of the team to develop the technology. I met a member who had VR development technology while I was working on a mission at RITS to discover and deliver wasteful technologies that were not available in the world. I’m in charge of contractual relationships with NDAs, etc., sales management, equipment procurement, etc., but another difficult task is demonstrating to customers. Since most of your companies do not have VR equipment, they pack the equipment into the carry bag, and the equipment goes… It’s hard to carry the stairs up, too, and the crowded train.
However, I have a strong desire to be seen by customers, so I am not afraid to do so. I think that TRIBUS is the only way to continue these activities.
VR Changes the World Significantly
–What are the challenges for the future?
Maehana In the short term, the equipment is a hurdle. In other words, the problem is that it is not yet widely used. There is also an impression that it is expensive, troublesome, and drunk. Although it is still expensive, the equipment is steadily evolving, and we are looking ahead to its penetration. At this point in time, we will continue to use the equipment where it is beneficial to customers. We believe that the best balance between cost and quality of VR is HMD. By reproducing vision and hearing, we can express part of the touch. We are already able to experience a very different world, and we want to promote the use of HMD in a way that is actually useful.
Hotta Hardware is a big problem. It’s difficult to reproduce a business PC as an ordinary PC. You don’t want to reproduce it as an ordinary PC. You don’t want to show it in 2D, but there are still many problems in terms of the representation in the VR. What’s worrying about is how to enter characters in the VR. Is it possible to enter characters in the VR? There’s also a voice input, but there’s still a lot to do. The smartphones have the best way to enter characters in the VR, like flick input, but we are still searching for it.
–What is the outlook for the future?
Senju For developers, develop functions and content that customers need in their work, including UX (User Experience).”
Maehana Since the concept of the team is ‘working for convenience’, it is now centered on the construction industry, but eventually we want to create an environment in which all Ricoh Group employees and customers can work with VRs.”
Hotta Well, first of all, in the construction industry, we need to eliminate problems one by one and become indispensable. We want to create something that can be used beyond the barrier of hardware. From that point on, we want to aim for a world that realizes “working for convenience.
Maehana First of all, I would like to proceed with the goal of realizing this as an independent business. I want to build a world where people can work at VRs as a matter of course. I want to be the best in the world. I have not yet drawn up a path to that point, but I want to keep that in mind. I am surprised to see how many people are doing this, but no major business begins with one or two people at first. I think we will go forward while building a path. I also believe that TRIBUS should aim to generate innovation and rapidly expand the market as we start up, and change the world. So I think we can’t raise funds to start up a small business. I want to go ahead like a two-stage rocket with a boost, and I think VR is a technology and a world with that potential.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY Yuka IKENOYA (YUKAI)
TEXT BY Toshiyuki TSUCHIYA
