When the “augmented reality” term was first used by Boeing’s researcher Tom Caudell in ‘90s, it was perceived as another artificial concept. Now, when the technology has become much more mature, it has potential to shift the way we cooperate with each other by enhancing employee training, business processes and workflow.
Augmented reality, unlike its close cousin, virtual reality, which creates fully artificial world, integrates digital information with the real environment. It allows us not only to see virtual objects but also to interact with them. Imagine working on a project where you need to have a quick access to specifications, have an open programming application and want to follow a screen of your colleague sharing with you his ideas via skype at the same time. To really solve this problem you either need multiple screens or the augmented reality glasses. You can wear these glasses at work, at the airport or at your favourite cafeteria, having an immediate access to all relevant information and leaving both hands free. This amazing technology offers endless opportunities to improve your work-life whenever and wherever you want as if it was a Hermione’s bottomless bag.
GE, with its healthcare team in Waukesha, is an example of the company who has recently started experimenting with the use of AR. In this case, technology is used during the manufacturing process to project work instructions as well as to monitor and give immediate feedback to operators. If an error occurs, given augmented guidelines on following procedures, operators can quickly react to an issue. The technology has been created by the Light Guide System and its main goal is not only to improve efficiency but also to prevent from critical mistakes during an assembly process. First results at GE healthcare are inspiring – a warehouse worker supported with the AR technology completed a task, with no harm on accuracy, 46% faster than when following standard procedures and using standard technology. Other similar cases show an average improvement in productivity of 32%. This success has encouraged GE to further develop the programme as well as to expand it to other areas.
GE’s example is not isolated and we can observe other companies equipping workforces with the AR technology (e.g. Volkswagen, Ford, DHL or McKinsey). There are also numerous other cases where AR could have a significant impact. First of all, training platforms with dynamically changing animations. Imagine hiring a new employee to manage complex machine and able to fix it when a problem arises. Instead of sending the employee for a long training, you can equip him with the AR glasses, which will serve as a guide through any process, step by step, assessing his performance in real-time. It is both much faster and cost-efficient solution. Similarly, remote collaboration could be meaningfully enhanced thanks to an ability to visualize work and test solutions in safe augmented environment (e.g. Ford engineers are using Oculus to collaborate on virtual models of cars).
I believe that AR, especially in the form of headsets, could potentially replace computers. There are still, however, some obstacles to overcome. The first major issue is hardware. While there are already some solutions available on the market, similarly to virtual reality, there is still a room for improvement in terms of usability. Another big proble is the AR content, which requires lots of programming effort as well as personalisation in most of the use cases. Finally, people are still not educated about the potential use of AR, which by some is mostly considered to be a gaming solution. Nevertheless, I am excited about the future of this technology and its implications on our work-life.
Sources:
- www.forbes.com/sites/maribellopez/2016/11/11/augmented-and-virtual-reality-fuel-the-future-workplace/#64cb6322185d
- hbr.org/2017/03/augmented-reality-is-already-improving-worker-performance
- www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/07/18/how-augmented-reality-will-reinvent-product-design/#2164ab282940
- www.ge.com/reports/game-augmented-reality-helping-factory-workers-become-productive/
- www.tonyrobbins.com/career-business/augmented-reality-at-work/
