There are many companies trying to find their niche within the growing metaverse market. One of these companies is GridRaster, an Indian-based software company looking to stream metaverse technology. The company offers a shared software infrastructure to allow customers to build eXtended Reality (XR), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR) in cloud spaces. Their software even offers to deliver these experiences to mobile and tablet devices, making the metaverse more accessible to any individual.
Co-Founder and GridRaster COO Dijam Panigrahi has had years of experience within the technology industry. “In terms of the background, I have worked on the mobile, wireless network, and cloud infrastructure pieces,” he explained. “A lot of what you’re seeing here actually comes from the work we have done in the past. We actually started the company from some of those insights. For example, when the requirements for 5G infrastructure came in, the AR/VR platforms were one of the key use cases.” Panigrahi was found that using cloud-based technology has been the biggest advantage for his company. “It so happens now, along with the AR/VR, there are other technologies converging, and the cloud has been the biggest enabler,” he said. As CEO, Panigrahi wears many hats. “I mostly take care of the business development, product marketing, and partnership at the company right now.”
As VR and AR technology becomes more mainstream, Panigrahi and his team are hoping to sell this technology in a way that is mobile-friendly. “Most of the AR/VR experience still stays on standalone devices,” added Panigrahi. “So, we’re looking at how to make all these immersive experiences possible on a mobile device, with that broad background and knowing how the devices are evolving, the sensors are evolving, how the entire network infrastructure is evolving with 5G.” With new 5G towers being placed all across the globe, cloud-based software is getting quite a boost. “We know that itis now feasible and possible to actually drive these immersive experiences on a mobile device from the cloud. But there are certainly technical challenges to doing that.”
Panigrahi envisions a future where users can stream AR/VR experiences onto their phones thanks to the cloud. He hopes that GridRaster’s technology can make that happen. “We are trying to be, in terms of the technology, the Netflix of AR/VR, with trying to stream those experiences from the cloud. We’re working to get all the immense benefits from using the power of the cloud, being able to bring in the AI capabilities, which is not feasible to do on the devices, and then deploy these experiences,” he stated. “So, all that stack that goes in at the backend to make this all possible is something we are working on.” The company has already seen big initial success as they’ve partnered with companies in the aerospace & defense, automotive, and telecommunications industries.
In order for this to work, however, Panigrahi believes that there needs to be more coherency between the real and virtual world. “There has to be a very seamless blending of both the virtual and real world,” he said. “And that’s why our work has that aspect as well because we believe that the valve or the experience is still limited if you’re not able to do that.” Using their technology, the team at GridRaster is able to show this blending of the virtual and real world. “So, we have this 3D AI-based spatial mapping, which allows you to add a virtual overlay and basically blend the virtual and the physical world, at almost millimeter accuracy, which will continue to improve as the sensors on the devices improve,” Panigrahi added. “There may be a day when you may not be able to distinguish what is the module and what is physical.” AR overlays can help ease the transition between the real and virtual world for an average user, encouraging more metaverse use.
Being involved in the metaverse industry, Panigrahi has some big predictions for where this technology is headed. He stated that: “AR/VR is not going to stay standing alone anymore, as you are already seeing these convergences with AI and AR/VR and the cloud. We are using these convergences for our own benefit. We are part of that journey.”
Photo Courtesy of GridRaster.com
