Infosys and The FT Unveil the ‘FT Money Machine’ for Apple Vision Pro Headset

• A digital twin of the landmark economic simulator ‘The Moniac’
• The FT Money Machine leverages Apple Vision Pro to deliver an immersive and interactive experience making economics education more effective and accessible

Infosys and The Financial Times have launched the ‘FT Money Machine’, an immersive extended reality experience that revives the historic Monetary National Income Analogue Computer (MONIAC). This innovative project uses Apple Vision Pro to create an interactive and educational tool for learning about economics.

The FT Money Machine allows users to explore and manipulate economic scenarios using intuitive gestures like eye tracking, hand movements, and voice commands. This experience bridges the gap between historical analog computing and modern digital learning, making economics education more engaging and accessible.

It leverages the creative design and build expertise from WongDoody, Infosys’ human experience agency, where WongDoody helped ensure that the FT Money Machine app exceeds user expectations in a seamless blend of historical significance and cutting-edge technology.

Infosys and The Financial Times have taken economist Bill Phillips’ original invention, a hydraulic analog computer created in 1949 that used water to model and study economic systems, as the foundation for a unique Extended Reality (XR) project which revolutionizes how we learn about economics and ensures education at scale.

 

Bill Phillips' Hydraulic Analog Computer Created in 1949

Emphasizing on 'learning by doing', the new XR app, accessible through Apple Vision Pro and available in the Apps Store, faithfully recreates the Moniac’s functionality while adding new, interactive features. This approach bridges the gap between historical analogue computing and modern digital learning, offering an unparalleled educational experience to the global student community.

Users of The FT Money Machine will not only experience the full operation of The Moniac but also can explore and create their own economic scenarios in free play mode. They will be able to interact with the machine using intuitive gestures such as eye tracking, hand movements, and voice commands, allowing them to adjust variables like consumption, taxation, and investment to see real-time impacts on the economy, as well as understand complex economic interactions, predict outcomes of various policy decisions, and enhance economic modelling techniques.

To try out the FT Money Machine, you'll need access to an Apple Vision Pro headset, as the experience is designed specifically for this device. Here are the steps you can follow:

1. Acquire an Apple Vision Pro: Ensure you have the Apple Vision Pro headset, which is required for the immersive experience.

2. Download the Experience: If available, download the FT Money Machine application or experience from the App Store or the respective website.

3. Set Up the Experience: Follow the instructions provided to set up the FT Money Machine on your Apple Vision Pro.

4. Engage with the Experience: Use the intuitive gestures like eye tracking, hand movements, and voice commands to explore and manipulate economic scenarios.

Keep an eye on any updates or announcements from Infosys and The Financial Times for more detailed instructions and availability.

MetaStudios and AjnaLens Join Hands to Reinvent Learning with Extended Reality

AjnaLens, India’s premier Extended Reality Hardware manufacturing company and MetaStudios, one of the leading Metaverse and Gaming Studio today announced their partnership for building immersive experiences and training programs targeted at upskilling the global youth and adult fraternity, making them competent, capable and self-sustainable.

AjnaLens aims to solve the problem of unemployment at grassroot level in India through the world of AR & VR Technologies. With their new AjnaXR Glasses and immersive learning platform AjnaVidya, users can learn all kinds of skills inside the virtual space. They also allow every user to interact seamlessly with each other and provide leaderboards that measure learning performances and outcomes.

MetaStudios is a pioneer in building immersive experiences that delivers deeper engagement, and higher retention rates with the end users. By harnessing the principles of humanising virtual experiences, MetaStudios curates content that foster active participation, and enhances knowledge and learning. It is a part of the MetaEngine group - the team behind building the infrastructure layer for over 500+ games for the last 20 years (hosting over 30+ Million MMO users till now).

Together we make differences!

Currently, the world is plagued with high unemployment among the youth with an estimated 73 million people facing this obstacle. The new innovations in the digital age, including these immersive training programs produced from the MetaStudio and AjnaLens partnership will provide new avenues for development of a skilled and employed pool of individuals , irrespective of their economic situation

Pankaj Raut, CEO of AjnaLens commented, “Our vision is to make India a nation of creators instead of just consumers when it comes to immersive technologies. We are empowering India’s XR developers and creators to build immersive experiences from India, for the world. MetaStudios has a strong team with deep expertise and a focus on ROI for their customers. By combining their superior quality training experiences and our Made-in-India XR headsets, we are aiming to revolutionise learning and human development across industries.”

Kapil Dhiman, CEO of MetaStudios added, “Our Partnership with AjnaLens is a big step towards reshaping the way we imagine education and training. The world is changing faster than ever, and there is a strong need to upgrade the content and platform for providing skill based training to our youth - make them future ready. With the combined strength of AjnaLens’ hardware and MetaStudios’ immersive content, we are stepping on an ambition to build a skilled workforce from India, for the world.”

About MetaStudios:

MetaStudios is a cutting-edge Metaverse and game development studio focused on building innovative immersive experiences. With a team of experts in Art, design, programming, and AI, MetaStudios is on a journey to push the boundaries of what's possible in the industry to define the future of the Metaverse. Our state of the art Metaverse Studio is specialised in strategising, designing and developing immersive digital environments that aims to humanise the experience and create seamless integration between physical and virtual realities, allowing users to interact with each other real-time.

For more visit: https://www.metastudios.gg/

About AjnaLens:

Founded in 2014, AjnaLens is a pioneer of XR in India and a Human-First Organization, building AI-powered wearable technologies to upgrade the skill development ecosystem. The impact-driven startup is on a mission to create a skill-first world with equal economic opportunities by redefining learning and human development.

Over the years, AjnaLens has built state-of-the-art immersive learning solutions to help governments, education institutes and fortune 500 companies in their digital transformation journey. They have deployed the world’s largest Metaverse for Vocational Training across 300+ industrial training institutes in India, transforming the lives of 18000+ students every year.