A lot of tech industry analysts and visionaries believe that augmented reality (AR) will revolutionize business. AR is projected to be an economic driver for the tech industry. According to experts in this industry, the market for AR will reach approximately $100 billion by 2020 (Oldham,2018).
However, what is augmented reality? Let’s first start with virtual reality, which is probably a more well-known form of reality technology and is often confused with AR. Virtual reality is an artificial digital environment that entirely replaces the “real world” usually through special VR headsets.
While augmented reality is the “overlay” of digital content on the real-world environment.
At the moment there are two main ways in which AR can be experienced. One of them is through portable devices such as smartphones or tablets, which makes AR the most accessible reality technologies. Pokemon GO is one of the most well-known application of AR, whereby players of this game go out and try to catch Pokemon with their smartphone/tablet (as shown in the picture)(Gleb,2018).
Augmented Reality does not only serve consumers, but also offers opportunities for business and other organizations:
- Students at the Cleveland Clinic at Case Western Reserve University, for example, can learn anatomy through the use of AR headsets that allow them to delve into human bodies in an interactive 3D format.
- Harley Davidson developed an AR app which allowed shoppers to view motorcycles in-store they are interested in buying and customize them using the app with colours and other features (Paine,2018).
- Leybold, a German vacuum pump manufacturer, is the first company in their industry to test the diverse application possibilities of AR. Service technicians receive partly 3D-additional information and graphical documentation. These instruction are fed into the eyesight range of the technicians to enable a lower error rate (Owen-Jones, 2018).
The previous cases have shown that AR is a technology with huge potential and I’m looking forward what more this technology has to offer.
Reference List:
Gleb, B. (2018). VR vs AR vs MR: Differences and Real-Life Applications. [online] Rubygarage.org. Available at: https://rubygarage.org/blog/difference-between-ar-vr-mr [Accessed 14 Oct. 2018].
Oldham, P. (2018). 5 Ways Businesses Can Use Augmented Reality. [online] business.com. Available at: https://www.business.com/articles/best-augmented-reality-uses/ [Accessed 14 Oct. 2018].
Owen-Jones, J. (2018). Augmented reality simplifies maintenance and repairs. [online] gasworld. Available at: https://www.gasworld.com/augmented-reality-simplifies-maintenance-and-repairs/2012658.article [Accessed 14 Oct. 2018].
Paine, J. (2018). 10 Real Use Cases for Augmented Reality. [online] Inc.com. Available at: https://www.inc.com/james-paine/10-real-use-cases-for-augmented-reality.html [Accessed 14 Oct. 2018].
Hi Mohammad,
I recently read an article about how a certain South Korean company wants to use augmented reality to give people the ability to upload images or photo’s on memorials. The goal of it is to provide more information about the deceased person. It made me think about how augmented reality can be used to give people a new way to make street art or how businesses can use it to advertise their products or services. A company could, for example, release an app that allows people to find words or images related to the company scattered around the city using augmented reality.
I also believe augmented reality has a huge potential to change the way we interact with our environment as our imagination is the limit in what it can do.