NVIDIA Explores the Latest Extended-Reality Developments and Trends

Company experts delve into tech foundations of XR and research into AI

NVIDIA provided an overview of the latest developments and trends in the extended-reality (XR) and spatial-computing ecosystem, including highlights from its own work, during a session Wednesday at this week’s NVIDIA GTC conference and expo in San Jose, CA.

During the session titled “State of XR & Spatial Computing,” experts from the company discussed the technical underpinnings of XR — from augmented reality on handhelds and glasses, to fully immersive virtual and mixed reality in head-mounted displays, to glasses-free holographic and parallax 2D displays. They also explored the software standards and recent algorithms that NVIDIA says are driving the field forward. Additionally, the company explored some of what it called the “most compelling immersive use cases and workflows.”

During the session, NVIDIA took a deep dive into the active research at the intersection of XR and artificial intelligence (AI), shedding light on how AI is being used to accelerate and enhance XR experiences and how spatial computing provides an expansive sandbox for AI exploration.

Greg Jones, director, product management, Maxine AI Developer Platform, NVIDIA, cited CloudXR, the company’s streaming-software–development kit for delivery of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) across 5G and Wi-Fi networks. “These are specialized devices,” he noted. “Not everybody is going to afford these or have these. They’re going to be everywhere. But we have monitors everywhere.”

Therefore, he said, Shalini De Mello, director, research, New Experiences Research, NVIDIA, and his team have been working on the use of “2D models of devices at the scene so that, when you move the scene, adjust your parallax view … you actually see stereo on a regular 2D monitor.” That was released by NVIDIA under the name Maxine 3D, Jones said, noting that it is still at the “early access” stage.

However, Jones added, companies are looking for XR solutions, “so this idea of how we build immersion and engagement on all these different devices is really what we’re searching for.

“People are looking for entertainment,” he continued, predicting, “We’re going to hit this sweet spot where all the devices come together. That’s where we’re going to see XR start to change the way we live.”

Generative AI will also be playing a significant role in the XR systems of the future, according to NVIDIA.

Two days earlier, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang provided an overview of industry’s latest AI advances during a keynote at the annual conference.