
Taylor’s University invests RM1 million, develop the VORTEX XR Laboratory
KUALA LUMPUR: Taylor’s University invested more than RM1 million to develop the VORTEX XR Laboratory to create a more interactive teaching, learning and research environment in line with the growth of the extended reality technology industry ( Extended Reality ) or better known as XR in this country.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer, Prof Dr Pradeep Nair said, VORTEX XR known as ‘ Virtual Online Future Technology and Extended Reality’ is able to bring the community, students and teachers closer to the latest technology thus meeting the demand of the XR job market.
The lab, he said, is equipped with augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and advanced software and hardware that will drive the use of XR.
“This is part of Taylor’s University’s journey to transform the curriculum and pedagogy to incorporate technology skills and modules into the undergraduate degree program in preparation to prepare graduates for future employment.
“One of the reasons we invested in the VORTEX XR Laboratory is because we can see a large number of company organizations around the world that are starting to accept this technology, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. They began to see that technologies in the form of Metaverse components such as Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality, (MR) and Virtual Reality (VR) were in high demand in the industrial market and the business world.
“In addition, with the VORTEX XR Lab, all students in universities and colleges will be exposed to a form of interactive technology. In addition, it is also suitable for use in training, manufacturing, retail, and health sectors. Therefore, we want graduates from Taylor’s to be proficient in the use of this technology.
“At the same time, we are also aware that the business language of immersive technology in this industry is expected to grow from about 27 billion to about 393 billion in the next 4 years. Next, we think that this industry will have more than half a million new jobs in Malaysia and these are job opportunities that we want students to explore,” he said at the recent VORTEX XR Lab Launch Ceremony.
At the same time, Pradeep said, Taylor’s also intends to produce XR products and content that will be commercialized for the industry, apart from just for the use of its academics and students.
“Among other important things taken into account are the thousands of small enterprises that do not have access to this service, and on that basis Taylor’s University wants to give the opportunity by opening this facility to small and medium enterprises and all business owners to work with us in order to produce new products and businesses related to XR,” he said.
Meanwhile, Director of the VORTEX XR Laboratory and Senior Lecturer at Taylor’s University’s Design Studies Centre, Dr Charles Sharma Naidu said, the laboratory will also function as an XR Incubation Center which will be divided into three components namely service, action, and XR support and research.
In addition, Charles said XR services refer to the provision of technical support and training for academics, XR actions facilitate projects, find funding and commercialization, while XR support and research is for the purpose of research and awareness related to the technology.
“To support this vision, VORTEX XR Laboratory collaborates with several industry partners such as Ministry XR for the use of interactive techniques and Broadcast Elements which are assigned for ready-to-use integration, training and production of XR-related products,” he said.
The lab is an experimental space aligned with the Taylor’sphere ecosystem that equips graduates with the necessary skills and experience to tackle real-world and future problems.
The VORTEX XR Lab has facilities such as a Green Screen Studio, XR applications and a Zero Density powered LED stage , an interactive mixed reality room, a VR exhibit powered by Meta Quest and HTC and two HoloLens Stations , which will support all Faculties, from hospitality to architecture, to medicine and culinary arts.
source – Eton Khir