Steelcase and Logitech Introduce Extended Reality Experience for Hybrid Work
In a groundbreaking collaboration, Steelcase and Logitech have unveiled Ocular View, an innovative extended reality experience that redefines virtual conversations in today’s connected, hybrid offices. This smart technology creates an immersive environment where participants feel as if they are sitting face-to-face, despite being miles apart.
By merging Steelcase's expertise in hybrid collaboration design with Logitech's advanced video collaboration technology, Ocular View integrates seamlessly with platforms like Microsoft Teams and Zoom. This combination enhances individual connections, offering a more personal and engaging virtual meeting experience. According to recent global research by Steelcase, the focus on personal wellbeing, social connection, and privacy is crucial for employees, and Ocular View addresses these needs through its blend of digital and physical elements.
Ocular View was first unveiled as a prototype at Integrated Systems Europe in 2023, as Project Ghost, with the intent to understand workers’ needs for better hybrid collaboration experiences. Throughout Project Ghost’s iterations, the Steelcase and Logitech teams gathered invaluable feedback for its enhancement, leading to the final creation of Ocular View, a unique experience unavailable anywhere else.
Christina Vernon, general manager of distributed collaboration and tech partners for Steelcase, commented:
“People need better hybrid collaboration options—especially in a time where we are spending so much of our day on video— so we wanted to create a more realistic experience that would help combat digital fatigue. Project Ghost was an experiment to see if people could connect virtually in the same way they might over a cup of coffee. What we found through all of our conversations and in-person demonstrations was that people were craving this kind of immersive and distraction-free experience to really improve their connections with their colleagues.”
A Complete Hybrid Collaboration Experience
Enclosed in Steelcase Everwall (or Orangebox Campers & Dens in Europe) to provide acoustic and visual privacy, Ocular View seats one to two people. A complete hybrid collaboration experience, it includes a comfortable lounge, small table and soft lighting to help participants look and feel their best. The space was intentionally designed to eliminate distractions, placing the technology secondary to the physical environment. Participants simply tap to join to start the realistic conversation.
“Working with our tech partners early on in the process gives our designers an advantage to create spaces that integrate technology seamlessly so people can focus on what’s important – the actual conversation,” said Vernon. “We’ve been working with Logitech for several years and this project was the clear next step in building better hybrid solutions.”
Steelcase's knowledge of textiles and materiality combined with Logitech’s proven technology helps create an effect that removes the remote participant from their background and displays a life-size rendering. The camera also creates eye-to-eye contact by connecting sight lines to create a natural gaze, so people feel as though they are engaging in-person.
“When starting on this project, we asked ourselves how we could create a more human connection where technology fades into the background and people are front-and-center,” said Alex Mooney, alliances and go-to-market manager for Logitech. “By working with Steelcase so closely, we’re able to let everyone now experience Ocular View which removes the obvious presence of technology to focus on the engagement between two people. It’s an experience that’s unlike anything available until now.”
Ocular View joins the Steelcase Ocular Collection, which includes a range of organically shaped tables designed to accommodate the increasing need for video conferences in meeting rooms that improve sightlines for better and more equitable hybrid collaboration experiences.
