For special education students, new environments can be overwhelming — something that North Shore-based XYCOM is using immersive technology to help out with.
The Watson Institute, a special education school, will be the first school in the United States to install a full sensory immersive reality system. The system was developed by aptly named U.K. company Immersive Reality, and also features technology from Denmark company Active Floor.
"We have a strong foothold with school districts and found that it's exciting to offer schools new and exciting technology," Chad Hill, XYCOM founder, said. "Both of [the technologies] here that we're introducing, for the first, is really about the innovation. It's about showing what's next and what's new, and we're excited about it because there's no one else doing it yet."
The system utilizes a series of projectors, lasers and speakers to display interactive 360 video and activities.
"If you want to take a walk down Smallman, or you want to go hang out at Point State Park, for example, and you want to video that experience and bring that into your classroom, we can do that," Hill said.
Hill gave the example of simulating a grocery store with reduced volume to ease special needs students into the experience of grocery shopping.
"If you want to walk to Giant Eagle and you're trying to train a younger kid or adult with a disability what it's like to actually go shopping, that's an overwhelming experience," Hill said. "This will walk you through that process. If you go a step beyond that, we can get into kids getting out into the workplace and career training or job shadowing. [If a kid asks] what's it like to be a veterinarian, well, we can take you through a day in the life."
This is what Hill called a full-circle moment for him — his career in technology infrastructure began as a sophomore in high school after hacking into the school's computer network.
"I got hauled out of class at one point and taken to the principal's office and the superintendent was sitting there and the tech people were there and they actually offered me a job," Hill said. "That turned into some pretty exciting work, learning a lot and helping develop what was next, because they said 'well, you broke it, you should fix it for us and tell us how to make it better.'"
Hill started XYCOM as an IT business in 1999 and expanded over the years to install other technologies. For example, in the education sector, the company has installed SMART boards and vapor detectors in high school bathrooms.
Beyond the Watson Institute, Hill said that "we want to make this obtainable for every school." The company is "flirting with the idea" of installing the tech into a trailer to travel it to schools that do not have the budget for a permanent installation. The company will hold a public demonstration of the technology with the Watson Institute on July 16.
