When Sports Go Virtual: How AR Is Transforming the Stadium Experience

19

September

2025

5/5 (1)

The Jumbotron. One of the most memorable features of American stadiums is slowly becoming a staple for the future of fan experience. But the giant screen that once defined game day is no longer the only centerpiece. With the grand opening of the LA Rams new stadium, SoFi, we got a glimpse of what live sports viewing could become through the use of targeted AR. 

To bring this to life, the Rams partnered with ARound, a next-gen fan engagement platform, and Genius Sports, a firm tasked with the delivery of data-driven implementation (TheRams.com, 2023; Genius Sports, 2022). Together,  they introduced a stadium-wide AR experience that allows fans to use their phone to see synchronized 3D effects layered directly over the field. Furthermore, interactive audience activities like “It’s Raining Miles” and “Money Grab!” featuring virtual piggy banks and blimps that reinforce game downtime with something engaging (SOFI Stadium: AR Fan Engagement, 2023). 

But that’s not all. When a touchdown happens, the visuals don’t just appear on phone, they expand onto SoFi’s Infinity Screen, a massive oval videoboard hanging over the field. 3D animations erupt in sync with the game, blending AR entertainment with the real-time drama of American Football. 

Although measuring the success of this has been inconclusive thus far, it falls without doubt that both managerial and audience parties have experienced great benefits. Outside brands have been shown to jump on board. In one Princess Cruises activation, the field was transformed into a rolling ocean, immersing fans in a scene that went far beyond a standard jumbotron ad (TheRams.com, 2023b). Further campaigns have included Uber Eats contests and engaging Snapchat AR effects like snowball fights or virtual uniforms that fans can wear in their selfies.

Nevertheless, I believe that there are some challenged that come with this. If such tools are overimplemented, a disconnect may start forming between the actual sport and the live experience. Additionally, it is unclear whether such technological approached can be replicated in sports with less downtime like traditional. Thus, the real test will be whether AR can enhance the magic of live sports without overshadowing the game itself.

Genius Sports. (n.d.). LA Rams deliver immersive experience for fans inside SoFi Stadium | Customer Story | Genius Sports. https://www.geniussports.com/customer-stories/la-rams-deliver-immersive-experience/

SOFI Stadium: AR fan engagement. (n.d.). Pretty Big Monster. https://prettybigmonster.com/projects/sofi-stadium/

TheRams.com. (2023a, February 28). Rams and ARound introduce the next generation of stadium augmented reality sponsored by SoFi. LA Rams. https://www.therams.com/news/rams-around-stadium-augmented-reality-sponsored-by-sofi

TheRams.com. (2023b, August 3). Princess Cruises, Los Angeles’ hometown cruise line, named official cruise vacation partner of Los Angeles Rams. LA Rams. https://www.therams.com/news/princess-cruises-los-angeles-hometown-cruise-line-official-cruise-vacation

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Lost at Schiphol? How AR Wayfinding Could Transform the Passenger Journey

19

September

2025

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Large international airports like Schiphol can be stressful environments for passengers. Travelers often face challenges such as confusing layouts, long walking distances, and time pressure to reach their gates. Research shows that wayfinding difficulties in airports increase stress, reduce satisfaction, and may even cause passengers to miss flights (Young et al., 2014). Improving navigation is therefore not only a matter of convenience but also of efficiency and customer experience.

One promising solution is augmented reality (AR) wayfinding. With AR, digital arrows and instructions are projected onto the real-world environment through a smartphone, helping passengers navigate more intuitively. Gatwick Airport became the first airport in the world to deploy such a system by installing 2,000 navigation beacons to enable AR wayfinding (Airport Suppliers, 2017). Schiphol, despite its leading role as a global hub, has not yet introduced this technology.

Passengers could benefit in multiple ways from AR wayfinding. Research shows that AR can improve spatial orientation and reduce navigation errors in complex environments (Azuma, 2017). For airports, this translates into less stress, fewer missed flights, and a smoother journey. AR can also increase passenger engagement by turning navigation into an interactive service (Pantano & Servidio, 2012). At Schiphol, this could mean guiding travelers not only to their gate but also to shops, lounges, or restaurants along the way—helping the airport both improve customer satisfaction and unlock new commercial opportunities.

At the same time, challenges cannot be ignored. Privacy concerns are often raised when location-based technologies are used (Javornik, 2016). Passengers need to trust that their data will be collected and handled responsibly. There is also the issue of reliability: AR wayfinding depends on accurate indoor positioning, which can be difficult to maintain consistently in large terminals.

In my view, Schiphol should embrace AR wayfinding as part of its long-term digital strategy. By doing so, the airport could reduce stress, improve passenger flow, and set a new standard in aviation innovation. The question is whether Schiphol will act now, or wait until competitors redefine the passenger experience first.

References

Airport Suppliers. (2017, May 25). Gatwick installs 2000 indoor navigation beacons enabling augmented reality wayfinding – a world first for an airport.

Azuma, R. T. (2017). Making augmented reality a reality. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 37(4), 6–9.

Javornik, A. (2016). ‘It’s an illusion, but it looks real!’ Consumer affective, cognitive and behavioural responses to augmented reality applications. Journal of Marketing Management, 32(9–10), 987–1011.

Pantano, E., & Servidio, R. (2012). Modeling innovative points of sales through virtual and immersive technologies. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 19(3), 279–286.

Young, M. S., Brookhuis, K. A., Wickens, C. D., & Hancock, P. A. (2014). State of science: Mental workload in ergonomics. Ergonomics, 58(1), 1–17.

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How AR can enhance last-mile logistics processes

9

October

2022

5/5 (1)

Augmented Reality (AR) is defined as the expansion of physical reality by overlaying digital or computer-generated information into the user’s field of view (Wang et al., 2020). In recent years, AR technologies gained importance and notoriety. Its market was valued at $3.5 billion in 2018 and it is expected to reach $200 billion by 2025 (Rejeb et al., 2020). Mainly, its presence is more pronounced in the gaming and entertainment industry, healthcare, tourism, and educational industry. Commonly, AR applications are utilized through a smartphone: for instance, barcode scanning and virtual modeling are two common utilizations of AR technologies. The latter can be utilized to visualize items such as clothing, houses, jewelry, cars, and many more.

Above, you can see a picture of the mobile application PokemonGo. This AR-based game allowed users to walk around the real world and chase pokemon, through location tracking and mapping technology. Launched in 2016, this game conquered the hearts of the people. While in 2016 PokemonGo got 232 million users to play, in 2021 they still managed to hold 71 million active users (Iqbal, 2022).


In recent years, AR has been considered a valuable option to increase efficiency and decrease costs in supply chains. Specifically, in last mile logistics processes, which consist of the last leg of the supply chain, concerning the delivery of the product from the warehouse to the customer (Bányai, 2018), it appears that AR could decrease its costs. It is important to note that last-mile logistics processes contribute to 50%-75% of the total distribution costs, thus it is important to find a suitable solution.

Simple graphic of last-mile logistics processes.


Currently, AR has the potential to decrease downtime. One way is from increasing efficiency in the loading and unloading phases. For instance, Head-Mounted-Displays (HMD) can project in the user’s field of view the optimal loading of the truck, visualizing where to place each package in the vehicle, thus maximizing usage of the space available and reducing the number of trips (Wang et al., 2020). Once the deliverer arrived at the customer’s destination, HMDs can project which package must be picked for that address (Wang et al., 2020).



Moreover, AR has the potential to decrease the time of delivery and improve workers’ conditions thanks to HMDs. For instance, it has been tried out a windshield HMD display, which projects to the driver the route to take, speed, location of package delivery, package, and customer information (Lim et al., 2018). The benefits of such practice are increased efficiency, decreased mistakes and accidents, and better working conditions (Blümel, 2013).

Furthermore, in many industries, AR demonstrated to be beneficial for training procedures. Hence, new employees in the last mile logistics can be trained via HMDs, ensuring fewer mistakes and a faster training process (Ferrati et al., 2019). This benefit is of particular importance for last-mile logistics processes as employees in this sector are leaving their jobs frequently, thus increasing employee turnover rates. As a consequence, many costs are involved with turnover, such as downtime, looking for replacement, and training of new employees. AR could be the solution: by giving better working conditions, simplifying tasks, minimizing errors, and increasing efficiency. Also, training could be quicker and more efficient.

References

Bányai, T. (2018). Real-Time Decision Making in First Mile and Last Mile Logistics: How Smart Scheduling Affects Energy Efficiency of Hyperconnected Supply Chain Solutions. Energies, 11(7), 1833. https://doi.org/10.3390/en11071833

Blümel, E. (2013). Global Challenges and Innovative Technologies Geared Toward New Markets: Prospects for Virtual and Augmented Reality. Procedia Computer Science, 25, 4–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2013.11.002

Ferrati, F., Erkoyuncu, J. A., & Court, S. (2019). Developing an Augmented Reality Based Training Demonstrator for Manufacturing Cherry Pickers. Procedia CIRP, 81, 803– 808. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2019.03.203

Iqbal, M. (2022, June 30). Pokémon Go Revenue and Usage Statistics (2022). Retrieved October 4, 2022, from https://www.businessofapps.com/data/pokemon-go-statistics/

Lim, S. F. W., Jin, X., & Srai, J. S. (2018). Consumer-driven e-commerce. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 48(3), 308–332. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijpdlm-02-2017-0081

Rejeb, A., Keogh, J. G., Wamba, S. F., & Treiblmaier, H. (2020). The potentials of augmented reality in supply chain management: a state-of-the-art review. Management Review Quarterly, 71(4), 819–856. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-020- 00201-w

Wang, W., Wang, F., Song, W., & Su, S. (2020). Application of Augmented Reality (AR) Technologies in inhouse Logistics. E3S Web of Conferences, 145, 02018. https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202014502018


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How AR and VR Are Revolutionising the Healthcare Sector

24

September

2022

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Augmented Reality (AR) is a set of technologies that complements the physical (real) world with digital data and media and allows for an unprecedented human-virtual experience. This combination of technology and the physical aspect of the world allows its user to fully benefit from data, which is often said to be two-dimensional. Virtual Reality (VR) on the other hand replaces physical reality with a computer-generated environment in which the user is fully immersed thanks to hardware such as VR headsets (Porter and Heppelmann, 2017).

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the healthcare sector has undergone tremendous changes. Efforts to constantly improve the industry in terms of how patients can be cured, rising costs, and the expanding use of connected devices make medicine favourable to the implementation of AR and VR now more than ever. As a matter of fact, the use of AR and VR in the healthcare industry is expected to reach $5.1 billion by 2025 according to Goldman Sachs (2016).

Even though these technologies are still under development, they are already widely used in the healthcare sector. At George Washington University, advanced VR tools are utilised by neurosurgeons to explore patients’ brains prior to performing the medical procedure. By using these technologies, neurosurgeons can better prepare for operations and avoid accidents, thus improving their surgical efficiency (Li, 2022). In addition to VR, surgeons make use of AR through connected glasses to monitor the patient’s vital signs while remaining fully concentrated on the actual procedure.

VR can also be used for patient care and education. In an article about VR and AR in the healthcare industry, vStream (2018) discusses a program set up by the NHS that allows young patients to be taken through every step of an MRI scan thanks to a VR headset prior to the real procedure. This program aims to lessen the fear and anxiety of patients, thus allowing for a smoother execution of the medical procedure.

Although AR and VR are still under development, it is clear that they are capable of truly disrupting the healthcare industry and that current applications of these technologies are already drastically improving medical services and patient experience.

References:

GOLDMAN SACHS 2016. Virtual and augmented reality. Understanding the race for the next computing platform.

LI, D. 2022. How Virtual Reality Is Transforming Healthcare [Online]. Available: https://www.uschamber.com/technology/how-virtual-reality-is-transforming-healthcare#:~:text=VR%20has%20proven%20to%20be,and%20chronic%20pain%2C%20and%20more. [Accessed 21/09/2022].

PORTER, M. E. & HEPPELMANN, J. E. 2017. Why every organization needs an augmented reality strategy. HBR’S 10 MUST, 85.

VSTREAM. 2018. VR & AR FOR HEALTHCARE & MEDICINE [Online]. Available: https://vstream.ie/vr-ar-for-healthcare-medicine/ [Accessed 23/09/2022].

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From eCommerce to vCommerce

7

October

2021

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Whoever has been faced with buying a desk for their newly (involuntary) home office during the global COVID-19 pandemic might have encountered IKEA’s Augmented Reality solution – the IKEA Place App. It allows “people to virtually place true-to-scale models of IKEA furniture in their own homes” (IKEA, 2019). The application has already been around for four years, but its relevance increased significantly for many customers when stores were forced to close during the pandemic.

As traditional ways of exploring and testing products physically were or still are not possible anymore, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) solutions provide an immersive opportunity of discovering them virtually. Thus, the COVID-19 crisis did not only accelerate the shift from offline to online shopping but also boosted the relevance of AR and VR in the retail industry.  In the highly competitive retail landscape, companies should explore this powerful tool enabling them to differentiate themselves and connect with their customers.

The possibilities of applications are vast, for on- as well as offline shopping. Mostly AR and VR solutions are used to create a unique customer experience. With the help of AR, companies can for example facilitate in-store navigation to easily direct customers to the product they are searching for. In addition, virtual try-on solutions are particularly suitable for the fashion and beauty industry and have been put into practice by several firms such as Sephora and Gucci. Next to offering an immersive customer experience, both technologies have the potential to provide substantial revenue impact. According to Shopify, interactions with products having AR content showed a 94% higher conversion rate compared to products without such content. Furthermore, lower return rates can be expected from products that have been previously tried on or tested virtually.

The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of AR and VR by companies as well as customers but will their applications become really an inherent part of our shopping strolls? Or is the increased use of AR and VR for retail business rather temporary? Feel free to comment on your experience with AR and VR while shopping and whether you believe it will become an essential part of retailers’ strategy.

References:

https://about.ikea.com/en/newsroom/2019/09/24/ikea-sparks-home-furnishing-ideas-and-inspiration-through-artificial-intelligence

https://hbr.org/2020/10/how-ar-is-redefining-retail-in-the-pandemic?registration=success

https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/opinion/how-augmented-reality-is-set-to-transform-retail/3967

https://www.xcubelabs.com/blog/10-applications-of-ar-vr-that-can-transform-your-retail-sales-completely-find-out-how/

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Seeing is believing, but feeling’s the truth?

10

September

2021

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September 2021 marks an exciting time for the high fashion world as Runways, the industry’s centrepiece, seem to be returning to normality. Kicking off with New York Fashion Week, the event is hosting its first physical shows since February 2020. While the shows have not yet returned to their pre-pandemic attendance levels, this still is good news for an industry that on an intuitive level is seemingly ill-suited to the digital sphere which it was restricted to over the past 18 months. However, the high fashion industry may not only be using technology to successfully navigate our Covid-19 altered world, but the industry may also see technology completely change the way we try on, purchase, and even wear our clothes.

Augmented reality is an enhanced version of the real physical world that is achieved through the use of digital visual elements, sound, or other sensory stimuli delivered via technology, the foremost of which is what the high fashion industry is focusing on to change the way we interact with our wardrobe. The primary application of this technology is allowing customers to try on clothes, accessories, or even cosmetic products with the use of a medium such as the consumers’ smartphone, glasses, or even a mirror. This service is already in use today with “Dior Try-On” allowing you or I to try on the French luxury House’s sunglasses and other accessories by simply using our smartphones. L’Oréal also offers a similar application for the testing of the brand’s lipstick, also with the use of a smartphone. In 2018, 10% of luxury goods were sold through e-commerce channels, with this proportion expected to hit 25% by 2025. While this growth has been inflated by e-commerce trends during the Covid-19 pandemic, even before this, younger consumers started to demonstrate an increased willingness to purchase expensive luxury goods online. Those operating in the luxury goods industry believe these augmented reality services may be a way to capture this trend of purchasing high ticket items online, as well as even attracting more customers to do so through creating a more pleasurable and comprehensive virtual shopping experience.

Dior Launches a New Augmented Reality Filter on Instagram
Dior Try-On allows consumers to try on the luxury brand’s accessories.

While being able to try on all of Dior’s latest pieces (virtually) from the comfort of your home may seem, exciting, farfetched, or even gimmicky? It does give us insight into what the ultimate destination may be for this technology. As we become more and more connected to a virtual ecosystem, is it inconceivable to think our eyes will one day become intertwined with a digital reality? Facebook has recently unveiled their partnership with popular eyewear manufacturer Ray-Ban to produce a pair of glasses capable of recording video and receiving phone calls. While this first product includes no mention of augmented reality, looking deeper into Facebook’s operations, a larger vision starts to develop. Currently, approximately 20% of 60,500 employees are working exclusively on virtual and augmented reality, the company has also acquired serval AR & VR firms such as BigBox VR and Unit 2 Games. While it is currently just speculation that we will see Facebook integrate AR into their new smart glasses, it is very apparent that Silicon Valley thinks AR is here to stay.

How will the possible integration of VR into our daily lives affect our relationship with the way we wear clothes? Well, the Italian luxury House Gucci may have already given us a hint. Released in March 2021, the Gucci Virtual 25 is a digital sneaker that can only be worn with the use of augmented reality. Similar to the idea of Dior’s Try-On, except this time the consumer was not using their phone to virtually experience wearing a digital version of a product they may then purchase, this was the product. Costing $12, the shoes could be purchased through Gucci’s mobile app, the app could then be used to project the shoes on the consumers’ feet allowing them to take pictures “wearing” the shoes. With the rise of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), allowing certificate of ownership for digital art, large investment in AR & VR as well as the possible wide-scale adoption of smart eyewear, in the future could we experience a reality in which clothes could be worn either physically and digitally?  

Gucci releases first Virtual 25 sneaker that can only be worn in AR
The Gucci Virtual 25 are the brand’s only exclusively digital footwear.

Sources:

https://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/8777/is-there-any-future-for-vr-in-fashion-checking-the-latest-vr-apps-virtual-shopping-and-more

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/augmented-reality.asp#:~:text=Augmented%20reality%20(AR)%20is%20an,and%20business%20applications%20in%20particular.

https://blog.clear.sale/luxury-industry-statistics-and-insights-in-2020

https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/9/22662809/facebook-ray-ban-stories-camera-smart-glasses-hands-on

dezeen.com/2021/03/19/virtual-25-gucci-wanna-digital-sneaker/

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How far are we from ‘Ready Player One’?

8

October

2020

No ratings yet. Have you seen the movie ‘Ready Player One’ directed by Steven Spielberg? You might still remember the suit Wade bought that enables him to feel his virtual girlfriend’s temperature when he holds Samantha’s hands. This is exactly what Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and ‘human-computer-human’ interaction should look like in the future. HCI is what can happen when the computer system as well as the human user get together to achieve a task, in an efficient and learnable way (section 1.3.1, Hartson R. and Pyla P., 2012). Clear and realistic vision/hearing can no longer meet people’s needs. The trend for HCI is now after the simulation in touch and taste, etc. that make people feel more immersive.

ready_player_one_banner

A master graduate designer at Cologne International School of Design, Dorothee Clasen invented a wearable devide TONG. The principle is to interact with the computer through the operation of tongue on the controller. According to Dorothee (Dezeen, 2020), the inspiration comes from her riding experience since riders often pulls the reins to communicate with the horse’s mouth. People can use the reins to influence the horse’s posture, and the horse will adjust its movements accordingly. This design seems a little ‘improvisation’ however it can be applied to practical cases. For those with a lack of arms or patients with progressive freezing syndrome, TONG can be very useful, by helping them control the wheelchair, direct the mouse and so on. Of course, for designers or professional gamers who are often very busy with their hands that they want to need a third hand to operate some simple functions, Tong can definitely be a new idea.

Just as VR goggle and wearable skin, it’s not unimaginable to extend devices like tactile fingers/gloves that can get real touch feeling. A design studio in Tokyo developed a tactile device called ‘Fulu’ to be used on the finger. Users can experience the touch of similar materials by wearing it, when the phone screen virtually touches objects of different materials (Fulu, 2020). For those users who raise pets on the cloud, this device let them experience the real touch of puppies and kitties.

The commercial value comes with the VR game with full immersion experience, which helps game players to obtain the super audio-visual and real touch experience provided by the full-body device. This type of Full body haptic suits plus tactile feedback gloves can get a complete tactile feedback experience, which can replicate soft touch feelings and strong shocks, simulating intimate contact in the virtual world. As far as I’m concerned, in the next few years, wearable devices that simulate human bodies in all aspects of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching, will become popular, in the upcoming immersive virtual world.

Of course, we can also get a very different life experience. In February 2020, a South Korean mother saw her daughter who passed away a few years ago through the use of tactile gloves. In the future, many people will turn themselves or their parents, lovers, and children into such virtual images to complete the digital “immortality” reshaping.

 

 

References:

Dezeen, Tong allows users to control a computer with their tongue, 2020, viewed at 8 Oct 2020, <https://www.dezeen.com/2020/08/26/inbrace-dorothee-clasen-graduate-design-technology-tongue-computer/>

FuLu, Haptic Finger Nail for Augmented Reality Design, 2019, viewed at 7 2020 <https://www.ryotada.com/fulu>

Hartson R. and Pyla P., 2012, The UX Book, viewed at 7 Oct 2020, <https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780123852410/the-ux-book>

Ready Player One, Wikipedia, viewed at 8 Oct 2020, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ready_Player_One_(film)>

 

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NIke’s SNKRS App: Driving Sales via Digital Community

18

October

2019

No ratings yet. After the recent decline in sales of Nike, the company decided to change its strategy by focussing its distribution on direct-to-consumer channels (Karwatka, 2018). This has proven to be a successful strategy as digital commerce sales went up 35% for 2019 fiscal year (Nike News, 2019). By establishing a direct relationship with the customers, and building emotional consumer experiences, Nike creates a loyal customer base that drives up the sales.  

At the moment, Nike owns several distribution channels: physical stores, its website, and apps – Nike+ and SNKRS. SNKRS app represents a digital platform centered around sneakers community. It is not just another digital store, but a platform that offers insider access and content about the latest sneakers. According to Ron Faris, CEO of s23nyc, the studio behind the SNKRS app, the digital community consists of 20% of Hyperbeasts, people that are extremely knowledgeable and fanatical about the community, and 80% of Styleseekers who are interested to learn more (The Next Web, 2018). And the key to driving a digital community and creating a powerful social network is to make those that have the most knowledge to share with those who have the least. 

In the case of SNKRS,  it offers consumers a platform to share their enthusiasm for Nike shoes, and creates immersive experiences for a chance to access limited edition styles. It creates a digital community of people that are crazy about sneakers, and uses this community to share and drive sales and engagement better than any advertising campaign as it allows to scale up without much investment. 

In order to energize such a community and create virality, the app is based upon three components: product, story and experience (The Next Web, 2018). By providing its key product, high-end shoes that are surrounded by a folklore story through a special and unique experience, it can make customers very emotional, enticing them to share and grow the community by means of which the product sells through. 

For sneaker community, the experience of buying sneakers as is important as sneakers themselves (The Next Web, 2018). Thus, another component of SNKRS’ strategy is gamification of the purchasing process. The company uses technology, in particular augmented reality, to revolutionize the buying experience by creating a sense of competitiveness fuelled by the adrenaline. For example, SNKRS Stash is campaign that allows users to purchase limited edition sneakers only from a certain location in their city (Karwatka, 2019). With this feature, online shopping can reach another level as virtually everyone and everything can become a Nike store: a poster in a metro, a menu in a restaurant or a concert of a celebrity. 

Thus, Nike is redefining online shopping by engaging with customers directly and creating emotional experiences through the use of technology. 

 

References:

Karwatka, T. (2018). Nike just shaped the future of retail with mobile-first commerce. [online] Divante.com. Available at: https://divante.com/blog/nike-just-shaped-future-retail-mobile-first-commerce/ [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].

Nike News. (2019). NIKE, Inc. Reports Fiscal 2019 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results. [online] Available at: https://news.nike.com/news/nike-inc-reports-fiscal-2019-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-results [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].

The Next Web. (2018). Ron Faris (Nike) on The future of retail and digital community | TNW Conference 2018. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXLwzm2292U [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019]

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AR in the US army: are they ready?

23

September

2018

No ratings yet. Augmented reality (AR) is a disruptive innovation that is entering many, if not all, industries globally. Many apps as well as AR glasses and headsets are already marketed commercially and thus available to the individual customer. For individuals, this is mostly just for fun, such as the famous Pokémon Go app. On top of that, AR can sometimes already be useful in professional industries. It is, for example, increasingly being applied in the healthcare industry and it is expected to continuously transform this industry in the future.

Now, AR has touched a new industry: the army. Multiple companies, amongst which Microsoft and Magic Leap, are said to be willing to give AR-headsets to the United States army. By using these AR-headsets in the US army, they can be used for combat training, which will aid in optimizing the trainings. With the program, the US army says it is intending to become more effective: enemies should more quickly be recognized, and the army’s readiness to act should be increased as well. They are intending to gain an edge on the battlefield by incorporating these AR headsets in their trainings. The collaboration may eventually lead to providing over 100,000 headsets to the US army and the agreement would be part of a program worth over 500 million US dollars. (Brustein, 2018)

If this collaboration indeed continues, a whole new area of technology should be developed: the headsets should be made compatible with new sorts of environments, which may vary from the jungle, to the arctic, or the desert. Currently, the AR headsets that are marketed commercially to individuals, still have their bugs and are far from optimized yet. Therefore, one may wonder whether technology is ready to take on such a challenge. What do you think? Should they wait until technology is more ready for this challenge, or should they take the risk?

Reference:

Brustein, J. (2018). Magic Leap is Bidding on an Army Combat Contract. Retrieved September 23, 2018, from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-21/magic-leap-is-bidding-on-an-army-combat-contract?srnd=technology-vp

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Why Retailers Are Investing In Augmented Reality

29

September

2017

4.67/5 (3) AR ikea2

Recently, IKEA has released a mobile application that lets you experience and experiment Ikea products into your living room, giving the user the opportunity to get inspired to try different products and styles in real-life settings, without leaving the house (Johnston, 2017). Everything is 3D and true to scale so you can see if it’ll fit by using Augmented Reality technology. It works by obtaining a representation of a scene of a local environment by using a sensor of the mobile device. The Ikea application automatically scales products based on room dimensions, with more than two thousand different products available at launch of the application. The graphical object data that enables a three-dimensional representation of the object (e.g. an office chair), is obtained via the database of IKEA (Arrasvuori, 2006).
 
The main disadvantage of online shopping has always been the lack of feel of a product, to see how it works, or in the case of furniture, the way it looks. It is obvious why retailers of furniture such as IKEA are interested in such a technology, but why do other industries such as clothing or electronics, care about augmented reality (Alvarez, 2017), when they can easily send their customers the product with free returns?
 
It turns out that free returning for a customer does absolutely not mean free for the online stores. Think of costs for shipping, handling and controlling the returning orders, but also paying for recycling the parcel and repacking the goods. According to research conducted by the National Retail Federation, merchandise returns in the U.S. represent nearly $16 billion of the retail market (Augment, 2016). If online retailers manage to even drop the returns by 10% with augmented reality functionalities, this could save the overall retail market more than $1.6 billion per year.

 

As the field of AR will grow in the next few years, it will probably centralize into a few dominator players. Today, a few retailers are at the starting phase of applying AR to the shopping experience. Companies are experimenting and trying to understand how AR can enhance their value proposition to customers. Other companies will need to figure out how they can use AR in their own offerings and strategies in the near future. Of course, the chances of AR taking over the e-commerce world are slim. But, with the technological advancement of today it is important to realize that once it’s here, the first adapters will be able to have a huge advantage over other competitors. Just as most retailers started too late with e-commerce or a social media presence, they might regret not investing in AR sooner.

Sources:

Alvarez, E. (2017, January 31). Gap envisions a future with augmented-reality ‘dressing rooms’. Retrieved September 28, 2017, from https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/30/gap-augmented-reality-dressing-rooms/

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