Jobs of the Future – Pilot Testing Activity in Cyprus

On 19 April 2022, the VR Challenge pilot test activity was conducted in Cyprus by CIP Citizens in Power, where young people created their own virtual reality tour from scratch using free tools from mobile phones and computers.

VR tours are widely used and are becoming an industry standard for online visits to textiles and industrial processes. VR is also increasingly being used for industrial training, as it has been shown that workers can learn things up to 4 times faster using VR than they would through classroom or e-learning. VR trainings can be as complex as a video game, but most industrial uses rely on virtual tours for safety training and induction training, as they are explained as videos where the worker can move from one point to another just like in a normal virtual tour. For this reason, the JOTF consortium developed the VR Challenge manual to help young people gain important skills for their future professional steps and motivate them to pursue a career in the VR industry.

During the pilot test that took place at Makerspace in Larnaca, participants followed a step-by-step manual developed by the JOTF consortium to develop from scratch their first virtual reality tour. The manual is divided into 2 main activities: key activity number 1 focused on helping users to take 360 photos, also called spherical photos, with their own mobile phone, while key activity number 2, focused on helping participants to create a virtual tour using a video game development software called Unity.

The participants were really excited after the training and gave us positive feedback about the whole experience.