Underground Infrastructure - September 2023 - 29

DIRECTIONALDRILLING
Underground Construction Enters
the Virtual Reality Universe
Corinna Hunt
As I zoomed down the zipline, I let go
over open space - and felt like I dropped,
even though my feet had never even left
the ground. That's the magic of virtual reality,
and of the Ditch Witch Metaverse.
" There's no business need for the
zipline, no reason to have it, " Ditch
Witch Marketing Communications
Manager Sean Hubbard said. " We put it
in for the trade show. "
That trade show was CONEXPO in
March, where Ditch Witch debuted its
new Metaverse augmented reality experience.
" We
wanted something new, "
Hubbard said. " Something cool and
unique that nobody else in our industry
is doing. There are several manufacturers
that have virtual reality training, but nobody's
in the Metaverse yet. "
Ditch Witch is among the first, but it's
still in the beginning stages, he said.
" This is Phase One, and it's interesting
because we're still learning what Phase
Two could potentially be, " Hubbard
said. " We're testing this out with some
customers and talking to our dealers
about how they can see this fitting into
their business and what their customers
want - so it's really, truly going to be a
customer-driven feature. "
While there's no practical reason to
have put the zipline in, there's also no
practical reason to take it out, so it may
or may not remain when the Ditch Witch
Metaverse does transition into the next
phase, he said.
" We're taking it to a trade show,
right? " he said. " Nobody's heard of the
Ditch Witch Metaverse, nobody knows
what this is, so we didn't know what
the reaction would be - let's make sure
there's something fun to do. "
Popular feature
Another fun feature was a chance to virtually
drive the company's Super Witch.
Inside the Metaverse's VR showroom,
the " tricked-out, souped-up Ditch Witch
RT95, " according to the company's website,
has been virtually rendered to scale.
" I describe it as a monster truck with a
chainsaw on the back of it, " Hubbard said
of the Super Witch, which was designed
to be a marketing tool and is not for sale.
" It does wheelies, and that trencher on
the back - it will trench 100 feet a minute.
A trencher of this size with this frame, but
not the engine, typically trenches about
15 to 20 feet per minute. "
The Super Witch is incredibly popular,
and at CONEXPO, the Metaverse
offered a chance for people to put on the
VR headset, pick up the corresponding
hand controllers, and find themselves
inside the cab.
" It would drop them in this big stadium
and there's a crowd cheering, fireA
guest " drives " the Super Witch through an
augmented reality feature Ditch Witch debuted
at the March trade show. (Photo courtesy of
Sean Hubbard.)
works are going off; it's like a hype video, "
Hubbard said. " And you go around
and race it, using your left hand to steer
and your right hand to control the throttle,
and you have a minute to go around
and collect as many coins as you can. "
That virtual reality competition was
a huge success, with more than 1,000
people " driving " the Super Witch at
CONEXPO, Hubbard said.
Along with that success, feedback so
far for the Ditch Witch Metaverse, even
in this early phase, has been positive,
he said. While Hubbard thinks work on
Phase Two might begin in the next few
months, he hesitated to give a timeline
because it's still early and they're still
gathering feedback.
UndergroundInfrastructure.com | SEPTEMBER 2023 29
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Underground Infrastructure - September 2023

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