XR AI Spotlight

Hosted by Gabriele Romagnoli

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128

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Oct 2026

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About the show

XR AI Spotlight gives the stage to founders and makers at the intersection between XR and AI. You will learn what happens when technology and creativity collide, how AI apps and XR tools are built and brought to market, the personal stories and workflows of leaders and creatives pushing the boundaries of what these 2 technologies can offer and the opportunities they unlock.

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October 28, 202648 min

How to Make Game Characters Feel Alive

Wendelin Reich, founder and CEO of Virtual Beings, has spent more than a decade studying how to make digital characters feel alive. In this episode, he explains the basic principles to make an AI character feel real, what the major problems are with traditional behaviour trees and what it took for Forever Pets to climb the Meta Quest store and become the top-rated pet game on Quest. The conversation also explores multiplayer, mixed reality, Android XR, and the future of an experience and IP with plenty of opportunities to scale. Subscribe to XR AI Spotlight weekly newsletter 👉 https://xraispotlight.substack.com/ *** CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST ⁠💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠🔗 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website⁠⁠⁠ *** CONNECT WITH ME 🐤⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ 💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔗⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Link-in Bio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** PAST EPISODES 🎙️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Show Website⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🟢 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🍎⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple Podcast

October 21, 202638 min

Enterprise XR in 2026: What’s Working

Horacio Torrendell, founder and CEO of enterprise XR studio Treeview, joins today to examine where spatial computing stands after a decade of changing hardware, platforms, and expectations. Horacio explains which enterprise applications are gaining traction, how Treeview survived the industry’s ups and (many) downs, his experience with Gaussian Splatting workflows for Quest, and the future of “”Immersive” after HoloLens, Apple Vision Pro’s enterprise position, and why Treeview is doubling down on smart glasses. Subscribe to XR AI Spotlight weekly newsletter 👉 https://xraispotlight.substack.com/ *** CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST ⁠💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠🔗 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website⁠⁠⁠ *** CONNECT WITH ME 🐤⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ 💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔗⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Link-in Bio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** PAST EPISODES 🎙️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Show Website⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🟢 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🍎⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple Podcast

October 7, 202645 min

The Missing Layer for Physical AI

Shadnam Khan, co-founder and CEO of Multiset AI, explains how visual positioning gives physical spaces a coordinate system that phones, headsets, drones, and robots can understand.Shad breaks down: the real trade-off between each capture format and why most maps fail on the capture plan rather than the scanner, why a better-looking map does not localize better, how one walk produces both a splat a human reads and a map a machine localizes against, and where visual positioning genuinely does not work. Subscribe to XR AI Spotlight weekly newsletter 👉 https://xraispotlight.substack.com/ *** CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST ⁠💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠🔗 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website⁠⁠⁠ *** CONNECT WITH ME 🐤 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ 💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔗⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Link-in Bio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** PAST EPISODES 🎙️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Show Website⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🟢 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🍎⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple Podcast

September 23, 202630 min

The Reality of Building for Vision Pro

Tomas Cupal, creator of Blockworks, joins us to unpack what it takes to move a VR project from Meta Quest to Apple Vision Pro. Tomas explains how Blockworks evolved into a mixed reality sandbox, the technical reality of building in Unity for visionOS, including Apple’s RealityKit rendering pipeline and the limitations developers must work around. Tomas also shares candid lessons on launching into Vision Pro’s small gaming market, finding visibility through creators, and why he has decided to move on to the “next big thing”. Subscribe to XR AI Spotlight weekly newsletter 👉 https://xraispotlight.substack.com/ *** CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST ⁠💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** CONNECT WITH ME 🐤⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ 💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔗⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Link-in Bio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** PAST EPISODES 🎙️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Show Website⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🟢 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🍎⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple Podcast

September 16, 202640 min

Make Free Gaussian Splat Tours for Real Estate

Sonny Cirasuolo, co-founder of Story Splat, explains how Gaussian Splatting can become more than a beautiful 3D capture. Story Splat turns splats into interactive, web-based experiences and is being used by Hyatt Regency Tamaya to create a navigable resort experience and help sales teams visualize event spaces without physically rebuilding them. He also explores emerging applications in journalism, cultural preservation, education, real estate and hospitality, plus the remaining barriers around capture, and VR. A practical look at the tools and business models that could make spatial storytelling usable beyond 3D specialists. Subscribe to XR AI Spotlight weekly newsletter 👉 https://xraispotlight.substack.com/ *** CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST ⁠💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠🔗 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website ⁠⁠⁠ *** CONNECT WITH ME 🐤⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ 💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔗⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Link-in Bio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** PAST EPISODES 🎙️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Show Website⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🟢 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🍎⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple Podcast

August 26, 202631 min

I Asked AI to Build a Lens for SPECS

Join CLAD Summer Hackathon: https://lenslist.co/clad-summer-hackathon What is CLAD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP96O-wRtV4 What happens when an experienced AR developer asks an AI coding agent to build a practical Spectacles Lens, without writing a single line of code? Today we talk with Max Tsymbal, winner of week one of Snap’s CLAD Hackathon, about Packspace, a spatial packing assistant that helps users organise what to bring on a trip through Spectacles. Max explains how he used CLAD for ideation, planning, coding, UI iteration, and simulator-based testing, moving from a prompt to a working prototype in roughly ten hours. They also discuss the limits of simulation, why clear prompting and specification documents still matter, and how AI coding could bring chefs, designers, and other domain experts into Lens creation. Plus, Max previews a tool for recording and publishing spatial step-by-step guides. *** CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST ⁠ 💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ *** CONNECT WITH ME 🐤⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ 💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔗⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Link-in Bio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** PAST EPISODES 🎙️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Show Website⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🟢 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🍎⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple Podcast

August 19, 202646 min

AI Mocap Without a Suit: How It Works

In this episode, Jack Morrow, CEO of Animotive, explores how their immersive platform revolutionizes content creation in XR and AI. Discover how Animotive's real-time collaboration, AI-driven motion capture, and virtual staging are transforming industries from entertainment to education. Subscribe to XR AI Spotlight weekly newsletter 👉 https://xraispotlight.substack.com/ *** CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST ⁠💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠🔗 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website⁠⁠⁠ *** CONNECT WITH ME 🐤⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X (Twitter) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ 💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔗⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Link-in Bio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** PAST EPISODES 🎙️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Show Website⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🟢 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🍎⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠A pple Podcast

August 12, 202645 min

VR Game Marketing Strategy for Indie Devs

Jasmine, known online as Atom Bomb Body, is a VR content creator, educator, and founder of VR Content Lab. She is part of the Meta Quest Creator program and has worked with the Gorilla Tag team on social media strategy and content. In this episode she unpacks the generational split happening in VR gaming right now: why titles like Gorilla Tag are thriving with a younger audience while older players see nothing but studio closures and layoffs. She walks through the full toolkit for VR content capture including Live Creator Kit, OBS Studio, and the real limitations of mixed reality recording on Quest. She shares concrete budget ranges for game marketing, explains why short form content drives exposure but rarely converts directly, and gives developers a clear framework for finding and reaching their audience before launch. She also introduces VR Content Lab, her course covering the technical, marketing, and mental health side of building a sustainable VR content career. Subscribe to XR AI Spotlight weekly newsletter 👉 https://xraispotlight.substack.com/ *** CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST ⁠ 🔗 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Channel⁠⁠⁠ *** CONNECT WITH ME 🐤⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ 💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔗⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Link-in Bio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** PAST EPISODES 🎙️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Show Website⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🟢 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🍎⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple Podcast

August 5, 202642 min

Gaussian Splatting for Commercial Real Estate

Zihao Zhang is a Columbia architecture graduate who turned a passion for reality capture and cultural tourism into Orbitur, an AI-powered virtual tour platform built on Gaussian splatting. In this episode, he walks through the journey from his first MIT Reality Hack to 10 hackathons later, with wins at XRCC and selection for the AWE Builders program shaping what Orbitur is today. Subscribe to XR AI Spotlight weekly newsletter 👉 https://xraispotlight.substack.com/ *** CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST ⁠💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠🔗 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website⁠⁠⁠ *** CONNECT WITH ME 🐤⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ 💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔗⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Link-in Bio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** PAST EPISODES 🎙️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Show Website⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🟢 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🍎⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple Podcast

July 29, 202644 min

Autodesk Is Going All In on XR and AI

Victor Perez is XR Sales Engineer at Autodesk, specializing in spatial computing, immersive experiences, and technical sales. In this episode he breaks down Autodesk's latest moves at the intersection of XR and AI, including Gaussian Splatting support in VRED (PLY and LCC formats), and the new streaming solution that connects high-end RTX workstations to the Apple Vision Pro via NVIDIA CloudXR with foveated streaming. Victor explains how automotive, fashion, and product design companies run weekly VR reviews in VRED, covering real-time lighting simulation, ergonomics testing, and remote persona collaboration. He shares a concrete ROI story from the fashion industry, addresses the real enterprise challenges of deploying Vision Pro at scale, and gives a preview of what's next: VLMs running inside the headset, seeing exactly what you see and taking action on your behalf. Subscribe to XR AI Spotlight weekly newsletter 👉 https://xraispotlight.substack.com/ *** CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST ⁠💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** CONNECT WITH ME 🐤⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ 💼 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔗⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Link-in Bio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** PAST EPISODES 🎙️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Show Website⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🟢 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🍎⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple Podcast