Sify Featured in IndustryWeek and American Machinist
Back in mid-September 2018, Sify Technologies attended IMTS 2018 (the International Manufacturing Technology Show) in Chicago. It was an incredible time, and we were able to introduce CEOs, IT directors, and many others to the power and engagement of eLearning through AR and VR.
While we were there, we invited journalist John Hitch of IndustryWeek to come visit our booth. Mr. Hitch is the Senior Technology writer for IndustryWeek, and we thought our eLearning products were a great fit, as well as a point of difference with the heavy equipment and machining technology on display throughout the show. To our delight, he made the trek out to the North Building, the farthest point on the compass for IMTS 2018.
The result of that visit was a feature in John Hitch’s article published in IndustryWeek. The article itself, titled “The Best Thing at IMTS 2018? You Probably Already Have It”, highlights some of the main events at the show, but manages to adroitly address the thing that we all felt while there – an air of excitement, a sense of expectation. There was a feeling that a sleeping giant was about to reawaken once more, as the American manufacturing sector regained at least some of its former clout. In other words, as John Hitch put it, there was hope.
Mr. Hitch featured his experience at Sify Technologies within his impressive slideshow of events, experiences, and features at the show, right between the NASA booth and OnRobot’s Gecko Griper (a NASA development). We’re honored to be in such august company, and we appreciate Mr. Hitch’s words about our eLearning technology.
From his piece for IndustryWeek, Mr. Hitch had this to say about his experience with Sify Technologies’ eLearning products. “A company called Sify invited me to the outer rim of the IMTS galaxy (the very farthest point in North Building) to check out their training solution, and I’m glad I spent the four years in hypersleep to see it. Using the HoloLens, I could assemble or disassemble a motorcycle. Meanwhile, a man with an HTC Vive was holding and manipulating objects in the virtual world. It took a bit getting used to, but I could tell instantly that this is the crude ancestor of the device that will change how people access the digital world.”
It should be noted that John Hitch also writes for American Machinist, and the same story was published there. We’re proud to feature within those virtual pages, as well – a slightly different order this time. We’re on slide 19, just after the Gecko Gripper, but before Ecoclean.
About IMTS 2018
Every even year, Chicago is home to a massive agglomeration of manufacturing related businesses, vendors, and events. Dubbed the International Manufacturing Technology Show, this is one of the single largest such events on the planet.
The 2018 edition of the show took place at McCormick Place, and featured almost 1.5 million square feet of booths and exhibits, all of which were dedicated to manufacturing technology in some shape or form. There were CNC machines on offer, as well as robots and robotic systems. There were additive manufacturing (3D printing) systems available, as well as advanced systems designed to work with manufacturing technologies, such as portable measuring tools and the like.
What Did Sify Technologies Feature?
Sify Technologies was present showing off the power and capabilities of AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) in terms of training and education. Our eLearning products are second to none, and offer businesses significant benefits over traditional classroom-based learning, including incredible engagement with learners and vastly better information retention.
We brought a few of our favorite toys – the Microsoft HoloLens, and a pair of Vusix glasses, and an HTC Vive system to name just a few. We also brought our best eLearning technology so that we could show attendees firsthand just how powerful and promising these new platforms are for their businesses. One of the biggest hits of the show was our turbine video, but everyone who tried it also loved our motorcycle assembly software, too.
Why Does eLearning Matter?
In a world where all the information you might ever need is at your fingertips on the World Wide Web, and where businesses invest in group training within classroom scenarios, why would eLearning be necessary? What benefits can it bring to the table that you cannot find through other options?
Perhaps the single most important consideration is that eLearning platforms are able to offer immense engagement with learners. Whether we’re talking about AR or full VR, learners are immersed in a world that they can interact with and manipulate, and that responds to their movements and actions.
That’s not something you’ll find with a YouTube video, a written report, or even a lecture. That immediate engagement fosters additional benefits. One of those is better information retention. This is directly due to the learner’s ability to interact with the subject material in a close to real-world scenario. Take Sify’s motorcycle assembly/disassembly demo for instance. While completing the demo might not make someone a master mechanic, it provides immense familiarity with motorcycle components and systems without the learner having to turn a single bolt.
Our Vive demo let learners hold, manipulate, and control objects in the virtual world. To those learners, it was almost as if they were actually able to physically interact with the objects. AR and VR eLearning technology has immense implications for every industry on the planet, not just the manufacturing sector.
In Conclusion
Ultimately, IMTS 2018 was a huge success, and we are incredibly proud to have been featured in both IndustryWeek and American Machinist. We’re glad that Mr. Hitch enjoyed his time at the show, and our booth in particular, and we will continue to forge ahead into the future of eLearning to provide our business clients with innovative solutions to training and certification that exceed their expectations.
Source:
https://www.industryweek.com/author/John-Hitch
https://www.americanmachinist.com/news/best-imts-2018-pictures/gallery
