Companies like Apple and Google are investing huge amounts of capital into Augmented Reality, or AR . The Pokemon Go craze of July 2016 was a taste of how AR can impact our lives. But will AR really change our lives that much? Does AR have the potential to be a transformational technology that totally reorders how we live?
I reached out to 39 experts on AR to share how AR can change our lives. Here are the ideas they shared.
Digital Twins Will Help Companies See Problems — and Opportunities
According to Timo Elliott, Innovation Evangelist at SAP, “Digital twin technology which uses detailed virtual 3D models and AR will revolutionize the way companies understand customer needs, continuously improve their products and services, and identify new business models. For example, when an employee at an energy company with wind farms in Norway detects a problem, she can put on a pair of VR goggles, “visualize” the issue, and fix it using digital twins — no need to send a repair team into the field. Coupled with other technologies such as artificial intelligence for image recognition, companies can optimize the creation, monitoring, and maintenance of complex systems. Digital twins will become a part of daily operations in areas as diverse as building maintenance to monitoring patients with heart disease.”
AR and Mobile Based Contextual Information
“One of the ways AR will challenge the world around us is mobile-based contextual information, leveraging the vast network of Internet-connected mobile devices in the world today. Mobile AR systems are innovative and noteworthy because it transforms the user experience in real-time. It takes any situation, and environment to the next level by incorporating a user’s contextual cues generated from sensors without a manual search.Because of this complexity, there may be challenges to mobile devices being able to process the technology required to power it. We imagine this playing out in the next 5 years or so.” — Vishwa Ranjan, Head of Augmented and Virtual Reality at Infosys.
AR changing the way families play together
It’s nearly impossible to escape the debate of screen time for children. For years, it has been an ongoing concern — adults thinking kids today are onscreen, leaving the “real world” behind. Now, we’re at the early stages of rethinking the split attention between play spaces, to push beyond use of a traditional 2D screen and find new ways to get our digital kids up and active. This is the real challenge today… How can we create immersive experiences that have physical and digital intersect seamlessly? AR is positioning itself to be a daily reality for the mainstream consumer, and, if you watch the patents, there’s a big push towards AR Glasses, arguably the next great leap in wearables. This will change the way we think about mobile as an object in our hand to an action and mindset for both parents and children to play outside together in story-driven, location based games. — Erin Reilly, CEO, Reillyworks | Founding Member of USC Annenberg Innovation Lab
Access to just-in-time information, anytime, anywhere
Michael Martoccia, Immersive Strategist and lead associate for Booz Allen Hamilton, shared these thoughts about how augmented reality (AR) and other immersive technology will change the world:
Augmented reality (AR) technologies will give us access to just-in-time information, anytime, anywhere.
These technologies will empower people to time travel into the past from anywhere using a simple headset or other immersive device, enhancing educational and travel experiences.
AR will enhance a person’s perception of reality, with the ability to alter views to delete or add data, scenarios and other elements of sight and sound.
And, “what you see is what you get” will become the new norm for shopping as consumers can see and demand purchase anything at any time, everywhere.
AR will revolutionize management in every industry
AR will transform how supervisors do their job, in any industry, according to Simon Wright, an AR/VR developer at Genesys. Imagine supervisors walking the floor with a fighter pilot-style display in front of their eyes. Supervisors can read performance data instantly to help employees with difficult issues, or identify employees who are falling behind. This AR pinpoints problem issues in real time and shows a supervisor where to devote time and effort for the best outcomes. This AR will give supervisors observational and analytical “superpowers” at the same time.
Replacing User Manuals with Real-Time Instructions via AR Apps
“Augmented reality is primed to make product manuals obsolete. Paper manuals require interpretation of words and graphic illustrations. AR programs, enabled either through headwear or smartphones, will recognize objects and overlay text and/or video instructions. AR glasses will provide the best experience of this, allowing for hands-free, real-time instruction viewing in line with user action. Early use cases for this will include LEGO-like toys, and IKEA-like build-your-own furniture.” — Dr. Yue Fei, CTO of uSens, a Silicon Valley-based creator of gesture-tracking software and hardware for AR/VR applications.
