HP takes virtual reality to commercial businesses with world's first VR backpack
HP wants to be the new name of VR technology in the commercial industry and has taken a major step in that direction with the world's first professional wearable VR PC.
The HP Z VR Backpack is designed to bring VR to life in enterprise and business situations, the company says.
Those situations include medical training or heavy equipment operations; architectural building development; product development and in commercial entertainment.
In medical training and heavy equipment scenarios, simulated training can prevent mistakes in dangerous environments. For architectural building developments, clients can engage in walkthroughs at scale.
In product development, concept reviews and signoff can be completed in virtual product showrooms; and in commercial entertainment, location-based entertainment centres can feature VR experiences.
HP's vice president and general manager of Z Workstations, Xavier Garcia, says VR is changing the way people learn, communicate and create. That change is what inspired HP to embrace the technology.
"Making the most of this technology requires a collaborative relationship between customers and partners. As a leader in technology, HP is uniting powerful commercial VR solutions, including new products like the HP Z VR Backpack, with customer needs to empower VR experiences our customers can use today to reinvent the future," Garcia says.
The backpack was designed to be light and ergonomic, with hot swappable batteries. It also features an Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB video memory.
According to HP, it has been investing heavily in VR and AR technologies that not only benefit partners, but partners in commercial VR.
The company will also open 13 immersion centres around the globe this year, including centres in Sydney, Beijing, Tokyo and Singapore.
In addition to the backpack, HP has been working on a number of other VR products. Those include the ZBook 17 Mobile Workstation, Z Desktop Workstation, EliteDesk 800 G3 Tower and the Omen X Compact Desktop.
This year HP and NVIDIA will also be launching Mars Home Planet, a VR project that will create a global cocreation community to reinvent life on mars for more than a million people.
