XR2 industry initiative targets European XR headset for Industry 5.0

Looking to provide an alternative to American or Asian companies that currently dominate extended reality (XR) application markets, the XR2 Industry (Tailoring eXtended Reality to Industry’s Needs) project has been launched in Paris with a kick-off EU consortium event intended to promote an industrially relevant European platform that secures ethics and data management to empower the European technological ecosystem.

Working under the European Commission’s Horizon Innovation Actions programme, the XR2 Industry project proposes a Europe-oriented approach to building the fundamental blocks for creating a reference XR European platform with a novel version of Lynx Mixed Reality’s Lynx-R1, the first European data-aware XR headset.

Other members of the consortium include LabLENI of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (ES) as coordinator of the project, SupportSquare (Belgium), Altheria Solutions (Belgium), LabLENI of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Spain), Flux50 (Belgium), FundingBox Accelerator (Poland), FundingBox Communities (Spain), TKorp (France), and LM Law (Germany).

The project is designed to run for 36 months until 2026 and has four core objectives: definiting needs for a user-centric XR platform; implementing a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)-compliant XR platform via a full assessment of data privacy capabilities; integrating the XR platform in industrial contexts; and reinforcing XR in industrial contexts via the proposed platform.

In terms of member activities, SupportSquare and Altheria Solutions will develop solutions to interface with the Lynx headset, while TKorp will be in charge of maximising the scalability of the platform. In addition, Flux50 will provide use cases in Industry 5.0 – the next generation of Industry 4.0 initiatives – to test the platform, while FundingBox Accelerator and FundingBox Communities will coordinate three open calls stemming from XR2 Industry to foster innovation in the areas of hardware, software, and new use cases and exploitation.

LabLENI/UPV will measure the impact of Industry 5.0 on workers and assess acceptance and integration in industrial processes. LM Law will assess GDPR compliance and data privacy best practices.

Founded two years ago, Lynx Mixed Reality has been working with Qualcomm to develop the Lynx-R1. Boasting a team of 15 people with various backgrounds, from designers to electronics engineers and Unity experts to low-level system architects, the company’s stated mission is based on its belief that “virtual reality as a medium is the best storyteller, and augmented reality is basically a superpower”.

The Lynx-R1 headset will target a package as thin and ergonomic as possible to foster adoption in industry settings. The company is confident that the resulting XR2 Industry platform will ensure complete hardware and software integration to deliver an XR human-centric platform that matches users’ needs in Industry 5.0.

The priorities for the XR2 Industry project will be to target industry-proof devices that are versatile, scalable and wireless, supporting Industry 5.0. It will also aim to address data privacy, assessing personal and industrial data. Looking at human-centredness, the XR2 Industry platform will prioritise industry workers’ well-being, efficiency and learning. The XR2 Industry platform also aims to implement open standards to foster competition without fragmenting standards and practices.

“We are thrilled of this achievement as XR2 Industry will be the platform to create a mixed reality European champion,” said Chouki Hadri, general manager at Lynx Mixed Reality. “First, XR2 Industry gives us the opportunity to become the reference for mixed reality in Europe. Second, the project allows us to target more specifically industry 5.0 and address [user] needs.”