Makers of The Metaverse: Adam Anfiteatro Of The Edge VR On The Future Of The VR, AR & Mixed Reality Industries

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Perseverance. It will take many attempts to reach what you’ve set out to achieve. There are technological obstacles, but you have to keep pushing forward and make it happen.

The Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality & Mixed Reality Industries are so exciting. What is coming around the corner? How will these improve our lives? What are the concerns we should keep an eye out for? Aside from entertainment, how can VR or AR help work or other parts of life? To address this, we had the pleasure of interviewing Adam Anfiteatro.

Adam Anfiteatro is the CEO and Founder of The Edge VR. Adam and his team have created the world’s first magnetically tracked, full body, room-scale multiplayer VR system. They received a patent on the ability to calibrate magnetic distortion within this system. With 6 years of experience in the VR space and multiple patents, Adam is leveraging his expertise as a successful business founder and leader to pursue his passion for the entertainment and VR space.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory and how you grew up?

I grew up in Westchester County, New York, the son of a prominent businessman who owned two local repair shops. At an early age I learned the art of business, the finesse of customer relations and the ability to work with my hands. Building and creating have always been an intricate part of my life. Enthusiasm for electronics and mechanical engineering inspired me to attend Northeastern University. Being the owner of multiple businesses in my community has provided me the opportunity to pursue my passion of creating something truly unique and inspiring to others.

Is there a particular book, film, or podcast that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

As a child I remember watching episodes of Star Trek, the original series. I was fascinated by the progressive storytelling that was paired with the technology overtones. The technological concepts that were presented paved the way for my interest in science and to create a real life Holodeck.

A later and significant moment in my youth was during a visit to Disney World. The attraction “The Hall of Presidents” would forever be etched in my memory. The visual appeal and elegance of the introduction was only overshadowed by the incredibly lifelike and technologically advanced animatronic President Lincoln. I often reference the moment he stood up as a defining moment in my life. This immediately began my dream of providing immersive entertainment to others.

Is there a particular story that inspired you to pursue a career in the Virtual Reality industry? We’d love to hear it.

In 2016, I had my first personal experience with a Samsung Gear headset, and I was inspired by the possibilities of what VR and new immersive technologies could offer. I wanted to push the limits of what’s possible to achieve the highest level of immersion.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this fascinating career?

The pursuit of a non-occlusive, cost effective solution to camera based tracking technology has been riddled with moments of disappointment and jubilation. Many attempts were made to overcome the myriad of obstacles that held us from our goals. It wasn’t until the solution was effected that I realized the even greater potential for what could be. So, what is most interesting is that each time we created a new design or feature in the virtual world it spawned new ideas. The insatiable desire to create ever increasing forms of immersion were spurred by the formation of the previous idea.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

There was someone walking by our studio, who was apparently coming from one of the local drinking establishments up the street. We made the mistake of inviting him in to visit our studio to view our VR experience. After putting a headset on, he cursed us out for “stealing his dreams”. This was a comment he made in reference to our ability to recreate scenes in such a lifelike fashion. This is an extreme example, but there are people who are genuinely afraid that their memories will be stolen by entering a VR experience. It struck us as unusual because we are really only trying to provide entertainment.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I had an early employee, Michael K. who brought great technical skills as a Mechanical Engineer. He really believed in what we were doing and helped me take this from a concept to a viable business. With little funding and just an idea he worked on sheer devotion to the project.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Yes — we are building our next experience. It is entertainment, but it’s more than that. After two years of the pandemic, it’s even more important to give people socially interactive experiences that enable them to step out of their usual environment and feel like they’ve entered another world for a while. We need to heighten our sense of wonder, even as adults, and I’d like to believe that we’re crafting the next generation of storytelling.

Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. The VR, AR and MR industries seem so exciting right now. What are the 3 things in particular that most excite you about the industry? Can you explain or give an example?

First, I would say that the advances in VR technology and the quantum leap that has been made in the quality of VR headsets. That really opened up the doors to consumer at home use, with the Oculus being a major driver.

That in turn, fueled the demand for immersive content. Which excited me, because I saw the potential for people’s desire to be immersed at greater and greater levels of immersion.

The third thing that excited me was the next step in that process, which was the endeavor to create the world’s first magnetically tracked, full-body, physically interactive social experience. Which is essentially, a real-life Sci-Fi holodeck.

What are the 3 things that concern you about the VR, AR and MR industries? Can you explain? What can be done to address those concerns?

VR is a term that is currently being used to describe many different types of systems across a wide spectrum. From arcade games to simulators to basic home consoles. There is a big difference between immersive, full body, multiplayer VR and these other types of systems. Once people experience truly immersive VR, they are blown away by the differences of how it makes them feel.

As the VR, AR and MR industries grow as a whole, we need to continue to educate the public on the distinct attributes and new terminology. It seems that the terms VR, AR and MR are often put in the same basket in basic vernacular, which is a simplistic view of these technologies.

There is also a common misconception that VR experiences produce motion sickness. This can happen, but mainly in an experience that contains quick, jolting movements or causes your vision to readjust frequently. It’s not a consistent outcome of all VR experiences across the board and we thoughtfully design our experiences at The Edge VR to avoid those types of movements. Again, through exposure and education the public can truly understand the true virtual reality experience.

I think the entertainment aspects of VR, AR and MR are apparent. Can you share with our readers how these industries can help us at work?

Training is an area where VR is already being used extensively. Companies are using VR to train employees on equipment and manufacturing processes. HR diversity training is another important use case.

Are there other ways that VR, AR and MR can improve our lives? Can you explain?

The use cases for VR, AR and MR increase almost daily. Everything from helping hospitalized patients cope with trauma, therapy for the elderly, treating depression and anxiety to training and education. Of course when we talk about improving one’s life with VR the word Metaverse comes into play. Whatever that may look like is still far off. For now VR has its roots in entertainment and an immersive experience can be extremely enjoyable and that itself is therapeutic.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about working in your industry? Can you explain what you mean?

One of the myths is that VR will alter your consciousness on some level. There are people who don’t believe in putting on a VR headset because there is a fundamental fear of using a technology that they don’t fully understand. As a result, they are hesitant to experience it.

This was also the case many years ago when electricity or the telephone were first invented. There are still people who have a fear of new technology, even today.

Another myth is that VR is just for tweens and teen gamers. There are many VR games that focus on the FPS (First-Person Shooter) component, which can be fun, but there is so much more that can be achieved in virtual reality. Also, if you are manipulating your environment using a controller, it pulls you out of the immersion, which is OK for a gamer who is accustomed to that functionality. Our system tracks the participant without a controller, giving them the ability to exist in and control the virtual world, using finger tracking and gesture recognition.

It’s also important to focus on creating content that provides a more realistic environment, producing a broader level of interest and comfort for people of various ages and interests.

What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The VR, AR or MR Industries?”

I cannot speak for all of these industries as a whole, but in general for the LBE sector, what is required is:

• Perseverance. It will take many attempts to reach what you’ve set out to achieve. There are technological obstacles, but you have to keep pushing forward and make it happen.
• Dedication. There are countless hours needed to bring something from concept to reality. You need to be ready to give up a lot of personal time and dedicate yourself to your mission.
• Leadership. The passion and drive to always do your best and have your team on board. They need to understand where the company is headed and believe in what you are doing.
• The Ability to Adapt. You need to be nimble and be able to change course without much lead time. Everyone has their core knowledge base, but you also have to educate yourself and take on new challenges. Being receptive to continually learning new concepts is important.
• Funding. It seems obvious, but even if you have all of the other needs covered, the funding has to be there. It can be impossible to complete what you’ve set out to achieve without it.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Because the medium of VR is so powerful in its ability to influence the viewer it is extremely important to convey the proper messaging through content. It becomes even more apparent of the importance when immersion is performed at a higher level. By providing a platform that can deliver the highest level of immersion coupled with powerful uplifting and inspirational storytelling inherently could create a movement within the young and old to inspire them in ways that could benefit others. Think of it as paying it forward. Maybe, if just one person sees their President Lincoln I’ve done my job.

We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)

That would of course be William Shatner. His role as Captain Kirk has been inspirational to millions of people including myself. Shatner’s role has molded my view of people, my ability to lead, my dedication to my job, my passion for exploring new things, my vision of the future and an ability to go where no one has gone before. Thank you Captain Kirk!

Thank you so much for these excellent stories and insights. We wish you continued success on your great work!