INTERACT 2026.1: Making immersive simulation more natural, more accessible, and easier to deploy

With INTERACT 2026.1, we focused on a simple but ambitious objective: making immersive simulation not only powerful, but truly usable in everyday industrial workflows.

Over the past months, feedback from our users has been consistent. VR is a powerful tool for validation, training, and collaboration, but it still comes with friction: navigation can be uncomfortable, interactions fragmented, and deployment sometimes complex in real IT environments.

This new release directly addresses these challenges.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZavenW0HQ2Q

Rethinking navigation in VR

Navigation is at the core of any immersive experience. If moving in a virtual environment is not intuitive and comfortable, everything else becomes secondary.

In INTERACT 2026.1, the entire locomotion system has been redesigned. Users can now move naturally using three complementary modes: walking for precision, flying for large-scale navigation, and teleportation for instant repositioning.

But beyond these modes, the real change comes from how users navigate within a workflow.

We introduced teleport anchors, which allow users to define key viewpoints directly in the scene. Instead of manually navigating every time, they can jump instantly between meaningful locations (an assembly station, a control panel, or a critical inspection point). This fundamentally changes how users approach simulations. 

At the same time, we worked extensively on comfort. Fast movements now automatically adapt the field of view to reduce motion sickness. Visual indicators provide constant feedback on direction and speed, while haptic feedback reinforces spatial awareness.

The result is simple but critical: users can stay longer in VR, with less fatigue, and better focus on their task.

One interaction model: controllers and hand tracking finally unified

Another major limitation in VR today is the fragmentation of interaction modes.

Most systems force users to choose between controllers (precise but less natural) or hand tracking (intuitive but sometimes limited). Switching between the two in INTERACT required changing configurations or workflows.

With INTERACT 2026.1, we decided to remove that constraint entirely.

Users can now seamlessly switch between controllers and hand tracking within the same session, without any setup change. A single user profile can handle both interaction modes dynamically.

This required more than just adding compatibility. We redesigned the entire interaction layer.

The new hand-based VR menu is at the center of this experience. It gives direct access to VR tools and navigation modes, without leaving immersion. More importantly, it behaves consistently regardless of how you interact with it.

With controllers, users can point and trigger actions with precision. With hand tracking, they can directly touch and manipulate interface elements.

The tools themselves have been adapted to support both interaction styles. Whether grabbing, measuring, or interacting with objects, the behavior remains coherent and predictable.

Simplifying deployment: removing barriers to adoption

Beyond user experience, one of the most important challenges in industrial environments is deployment.

INTERACT relies on high-fidelity physics simulation powered by the XDE engine. Until now, running simulations often required launching a separate physics server, which could introduce complexity in certain IT environments.

With version 2026.1, the XDE physics engine can now run directly inside Unity (embedded mode).

This evolution may seem technical, but its impact is very concrete as many common issues related to firewalls, permissions, or network configurations disappear.

For IT teams, it means fewer constraints. For end users, it means faster access to simulation.

At the same time, advanced configurations (such as distributed simulations or multi-user setups) remain fully supported when needed.

Continuous improvements across the platform

Alongside these major evolutions, INTERACT 2026.1 includes a wide range of improvements that contribute to a smoother overall experience.

Human simulation has been enhanced, with more accurate joint behavior for embedded ergonomics or puppet manikin.

Navigation can now be fine-tuned with adjustable speed and acceleration, while haptic feedback intensity can be adapted to user preferences.

On the usability side, the interface has been refined with clearer tooltips and more informative feedback. Measurement tools now display results directly in the scene, making analysis more immediate and intuitive.

Finally, this release includes many stability improvements and bug fixes across VR, editor workflows, and simulation features, ensuring a more robust experience in production environments. (full list accessible here : https://documentation.ls-group.fr/interact/changelog/#interact-20261 )

Upgrade Now

https://www.ls-vmanufacturing.com/download-history-interact We can’t wait for you to try out this new release! Stay tuned and don’t hesitate to reach out to our team if you have any questions or feedback.