Apple Vision Pro; TCS New York Marathon Digital Twin

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Description

We partnered with TCS to deliver an innovative showcase of their Future Athlete Project at the TCS New York Marathon 2024, leveraging the advanced capabilities of the Apple Vision Pro. The Future Athlete Project demonstrates TCS’ vision to revolutionize healthcare and sports science by creating highly accurate, individualized digital twins of people. Designed for elite athletes and recreational runners alike, this project aims to help users better understand their bodies, optimize performance, and identify potential health risks.

Challenge

• Communicating the complex science of digital twin technology to a diverse audience, including those without technical or scientific backgrounds.
• Creating a compelling narrative that showcased how digital twin technology could apply not only to healthcare and sports but also to related fields in life sciences and other industries such as manufacturing, automotive, and aerospace.
• Ensuring the experience resonated with both professional athletes and casual runners while driving meaningful conversations about its broader business potential.
• Presenting vast amounts of technical data—spanning medical imaging, heart monitoring, and sports performance metrics—in an engaging, accessible, and visually compelling manner.

Solution

We designed an immersive, user-friendly, and visually stunning experience for TCS’ Future Athlete Project, leveraging the cutting-edge capabilities of the Apple Vision Pro to bring the concept to life:

1. Immersive Digital Twin Exploration: Photorealistic, 3D-rendered digital twins of athletes’ hearts were created, allowing users to explore their intricate structures interactively. Users could visualize their own heart as a digital twin, beating in real-time, and even "step inside" it to examine its inner workings from a first-person perspective.
2. Smart Comparison Feature: A dynamic comparison tool showcased how running metrics such as heart rate, endurance, and recovery varied between amateur and professional athletes. Users could input their own running metrics to see personalized insights and compare their performance against elite runners.
3. AI Assistant for Accessibility: An integrated AI assistant provided on-demand explanations of complex data points and visualizations, making the science accessible to all users regardless of their technical expertise.
4. Gamification and Real-World Applications: We gamified the experience, enabling users to explore how digital twins could improve their training routines, prevent injuries, and enhance overall performance by integrating data from GPS, Strava, and other monitoring tools.
5. Leveraging the Apple Vision Pro: The advanced canvas of the Apple Vision Pro allowed us to deliver a seamless, immersive experience with lifelike visuals, interactive navigation, and kinaesthetic exploration that captivated and engaged users.
6. Contextualizing Cross-Industry Applications: The experience highlighted how the underlying digital twin technology could apply to related fields in life sciences (e.g., clinical diagnostics and drug development) as well as industries like manufacturing and aerospace, sparking meaningful discussions about its broader potential.

Impact

The Future Athlete Project showcase was a resounding success! It created a memorable and impactful experience that not only elevated TCS’ innovation credentials but also opened doors to new opportunities.

1. Empowering Users: By comparing their own performance metrics to those of elite runners, users gained actionable insights into their health and training, fostering engagement and personal connection.
2. Driving Business Conversations: The contextualized presentation of digital twin technology sparked discussions on its potential applications in other industries. Attendees from life sciences, manufacturing, and automotive industries identified parallels and began exploring how this technology could benefit their fields, leading to new business opportunities for TCS.
3. Broader Appeal: The AI assistant and gamified design bridged the gap between complexity and accessibility, ensuring that both technical and non-technical users could fully grasp the innovation.
4. Emotional Resonance: Seeing their own heart as a digital twin created a deeply personal and emotional connection for users, reinforcing the real-world significance of the technology.
5. Potential for scale: By fully utilizing the Apple Vision Pro’s capabilities, and combining advanced technology with compelling storytelling, this showcase not only demonstrated the power of the Future Athlete Project but also positioned TCS as a leader in pioneering digital twin technology across industries.