Orlando Tech News

STORY AND PHOTOS BY GIOVAN SANTIAGO

A downtown nightclub had some unexpected spooky patrons this week.

An Orlando tech company installed a virtual haunted house at The Corner, a bar at, well, the corner of North Orange Avenue and West Washington Street.

As you walk into the experience, you can hear the screams, shrieks and excitement from the spooked guests. As Halloween approaches, cinematic artist Mitchell Sanchez felt it was the perfect time to unveil a passion project years in the making.

“The OtherVRse,” a collaboration between Mitchell and local tech firm 302 Interactive, outfitted a dance floor with VR technology. Combined with ambient and grotesque sound design from the dance floor’s speakers, it creates a simulation set in a futuristic facility.

Sanchez wants The OtherVRse to become something a child would experience at their first visit to a theme park.

“Imagine having to build out a physical structure with all the corridors, lights, screens, and effects,” he said. “Let alone the animatronics for the monster and tour guides. Compare that to carrying around four headsets and a laptop. It’s like having an amusement park in your backpack.

The OtherVRse finishes its public test on Sunday.

Some business owners say that working at their company can be vastly different from one day to the next.

But, for Andrew Palmer, tasks can vary from hour to hour at his product development company Design Launchers.

He could be working on 3D modeling for a client in the morning but then turning wrenches on a physical product in the afternoon.

Sometimes, it’s a matter of working on an implantable medical device before then working on a different client’s kitchen gadget idea.

“Every day is a different animal,” said Palmer, whose background is in mechanical engineering. “You get to touch a bunch of different industries. That’s what your engineering degree does: it prepares you for the ability to make stuff.”

The company has been working with others trying to help them build their dreams into reality since 2013.

“It’s our job to say, ‘I see what you’re trying doing here and here is what we have to do to actually make it manufacturable,’” Palmer said. “We help with the game plan.”

Design Launchers has continued to have success ever since it connected with UCF’s Business Incubation Program.

On the surface, the process could appear to be as simple as building a new product.

However, when you dig deeper, it’s a matter of saving clients thousands of dollars from false starts or flawed prototypes.

Sometimes, it’s the inclusion of a safety feature the client hadn’t considered or simplifying assembly.

Each of those hypotheticals can add up to big bucks over the course of development.

“Just spending a little bit of time thinking about the features correctly can have a huge impact on your customer,” Palmer said.

The company has two natural customer profiles.

On one side, you have businesses looking to prototype their next big product.

On the other, small-time inventors with big ideas.

“When you create something and hand it them and they say, ‘I’ve been thinking about this for so many years,’ that’s a cool feeling,” he said. “You made their idea come alive.”

Being a part of an entrepreneurial community helps Palmer and his team find businesses in various stages of their lives, who may need some assistance as they build.

That said, it’s a mutually beneficial relationship.

For instance, Palmer once had a question about human resources, something he had no experience in. So he turned to the incubator for answers.

“Having that resource that you know has a Rolodex that’s a mile deep is valuable,” he said. “You can be a really good engineer. You can be a really good cook. But that does not make you a good businessperson.”