The third anniversary of the VR/AR Association (VRARA) New York chapter was a positive snapshot on the growth of the immersive/XR industry in the greater New York area in the past few years. The event was hosted on Tuesday evening, May 21st, at RLAB (https://www.rlab.nyc), the massive space that NYU and its academic and City of New York partners opened in late-November, 2018. RLAB hosts several companies, including members of its XR Beta program, and is being built out as a larger facility for immersive innovation, including volumetric capture space.
Dex Yee (left), from VRARA, watches as Jason T. Jaslow signs in the VRARA NY 3rd anniversary
Chris Pfaff, VRARA NY Chaper advisor, welcomes the crowd at RLAB
As VRARA has grown globally, so too has its New York chapter, and this mirrors the broader focus on the XR industry in New York, which embraces enterprise and consumer firms alike.
Banu Ozden in discussion with Janice Brown, manager, education and outreach at RLAB
Robin White Owen and Michael Owen, the first XR couple of Brooklyn, at Rlab
Unseen Media demos its soon-to-be-released narrative AR game
Gur Arie Bittan, from Mantis Vision, demos for Banu Ozden and Jeffrey Ginsberg
More than 50 guests attended the mixer event, which featured demos from XR Beta companies, as well as Mantis Vision (http://mantis-vision.com), and remarks by RLAB’s Alexis Seeley and VRARA New York chapter advisor Chris Pfaff. And, of course, numerous demos of mobile AR experiences were shown by VRARA members as well.
Robin White Owen and Michael Owen listen to Tim Meyer, from IBM’s IoT group
Alexis Seeley, director of education and opportunity programs at Rlab, welcomes the crowd
Mantis Vision’s mo-cap installation, and some of its forthcoming collaboration tools, were a major hit at the event. Unseen Media ((https://www.unseenmedia.io), a narrative AR game developer, demonstrated its soon-to-be-released game, while echoAR (https://www.echoar.xyz), and AR-focused CMS and CDN provider, and SIY (Speak it Yourself – https://www.siyvr.com), a VR-based language instruction firm, demonstrated their solutions as well.
Chris Pfaff and Gordon Meyer, one of the Top 5 AR influencers in the industry
Chris Pfaff and Kate Specter, from Toonpack, at Rlab
Alexis Seeley and Janice Brown, with Rlab, prior to the VRARA event
