Decentralized XR across the company

The situation

When I started there were 2 VR labs and 2 work cells. Most commercial XR software expects an internet connection, but anything touching Blue Origin data had to run inside AWS GovCloud under ITAR, which ruled out most off-the-shelf options.

What I did

• Standardized a stack that works inside that boundary: an offline SteamVR build with enterprise installers; Unity, Visionary Render and ScopeAR; Vive for VR; HoloLens 2 and iPads for AR. Enforced the required security standards in CI/CD.
• Grew the footprint to 12+ VR labs in Seattle, Phoenix, Colorado, Los Angeles, Huntsville, Florida and Texas, plus AR-enabled work cells in Florida and Seattle.
• Made large CAD assemblies usable in VR by exposing the properties that trade fidelity against performance, so users could tune them without an engineer.
• Rebuilt the digital-human manikins (poses, anthropometric percentiles) used by human-factors and EHS staff in studies across New Glenn and Blue Moon.
• Built a facility-scan portal for 360° tours and point clouds, with shared viewpoints and annotations, replacing a high-friction SaaS workflow and tuned on Datadog telemetry.
• Wrote the end-to-end documentation, from company CAD to a working VR/AR session, that teams used without me and that outlived my tenure.

What changed

• Hundreds of sessions across New Glenn, Blue Moon (MK1 and MK2), New Shepard and Blue Ring.
• New Glenn 1's integration plan didn't close until many hours of VR/AR sessions that our XR team facilitated for many stakeholder groups.
• Supported the human-factors and EHS specialists whose manufacturing-safety work delivered seven-figure cost avoidance across multiple vehicle programs.
• Two Blue Origin Liftoff Awards (2022, 2023).