By Peter Jobes – Tech, crypto & blockchain writer having worked with the Press Association and clients like Tesco, RAC and HelpUCover.co.uk. CMO at Solvid
Augmented reality might well be the most exciting emerging technology on the planet today. The industry surrounding AR and its sci-fi enthused sibling, virtual reality, is forecast to gain a value of over $25 billion by 2025.
Entering the public consciousness through gaming apps like Pokemon Go and retail tools like IKEA Place, AR may have had somewhat humble beginnings but developers now have their sights firmly fixed on infiltrating a number of markets surrounding healthcare, entertainment, education and property.
But what is augmented reality? And how is it different to virtual reality? While virtual reality submerges a user into a ‘different’ reality with absolutely no resemblance to the space he or she was in before, augmented reality typically embeds a digital layer on top of what the user is visualising in real-life – more like Terminator than Tron.
Given that augmented reality has the potential to seamlessly interact with reality, its possible applications are virtually limitless. Rich levels of information can be embedded on top of what the user is witnessing in a way that can greatly enhance their education or safety, while other uses can bring benefits to customer experience in retail outlets and internet shopping.
Adding fresh levels of enrichment to industry excitement is the arrival of Remote AR – a development that enables users to interact and engage with each other as if they’re in the same room when in actual fact they’re thousands of miles apart. Remote AR comes in many forms but typically involves sharing the same embedded layer of augmentation over the top of each user’s varying real-life backdrops. The excitement surrounding Remote AR is palpable and its various applications from aiding team meetings to intuitive gaming are seen as a significant evolutionary step in our practical relationship with technology.
In the next five years, we can expect to see exponential advancements in the world of AR as the industry expands, and below is a short list of some highly notable developments to watch out for by 2025:
Healthcare
Imagine how much more control surgeons would have during operations if they possessed augmented reality glasses that were capable of displaying information in real-time that helps to guide them through actions that require flawless accuracy.
While healthcare is becoming increasingly stretched, AR could not only pave the way for faster surgeries by bringing precision that’s free from human hesitation or error but also provide doctors with a rich insight into their patients’ anatomy, bringing swift and accurate diagnoses.
Here, Remote AR brings prospects of seamless tutilege during both patient diagnoses and operations. Doctors and surgeons can not only use augmented reality to call on visual aids to improve accuracy but also broadcast their view to specialists and senior doctors, who will be capable of not only gaining a direct visual but can also be supplied vital information in forming a corroborating opinion or alternative view.
Comprehensive collaboration
In an interconnected world, we’re capable of communicating instantly with professionals and colleagues across continents and borders. The beauty of the world wide web is that we gain insight from and work with clients and mentors from just about anywhere, and while this has enabled unprecedented levels of information and industry practices to be shared, we’re yet to establish an effective means of collaboration over complex physical subject matter.
Imagine that you’re working on location for a project that involves operating new or imported machinery, or need to confer with both colleagues and clients over the construction plans for a fresh project. Both tasks are extremely difficult to complete using traditional forms of long-distance communication.
However, Scope AR have taken it upon themselves to address this matter with their collaboration and delegation tool. Scope AR works by providing industry experts with a direct view of what the remote worker is seeing. They can then add visual directions and aids to illustrate how to operate complicated machinery or adapt blueprints or approach just about any physical task with accuracy and confidence.
Scope AR enables users to greatly broaden their knowledge base while shortening the time it takes to make vital decisions, thanks to its revolutionary insight into augmented collaboration.
(A visual interpretation of the level of remote augmented reality that Scope AR is capable of providing. Image: Scope AR)
Next generation of entertainment
Technological advancements in entertainment have traditionally been hit or miss. People failed to embrace the exciting new era of 3D television, and have been slow in their adoption of virtual reality headsets.
The initial hysteria over augmented reality app, Pokemon Go by Niantic, however, proved that AR certainly has a stake in the future of entertainment and gaming. By summer 2018, Pokemon Go had amassed over 800 million downloads worldwide, with users captivated by the ability to interact with everyday life in a bid to catch as many monsters as they could find.
Today, AR gaming specialists WATTY, are set to take augmented entertainment to the next level through remote AR.
WATTY REMOTE aims to bring users from across the world together through embedding digital layers on real-life canvases. Users can play games via mobile devices and share other experiences and information through WATTY’s remote AR framework.
(A glance into WATTY’s remote AR system where users can battle each other from across the world. Image: Gleb Braverman)
Gleb Braverman, founder of WATTY explains the potential of remote AR and its uses for connecting users around the world: “Imagine if you could share AR with your friend on the other side of the world with just a mobile phone. We’ll actually be able to deliver it with WATTY REMOTE. Our vision is that AR multiplayer will be as easy as online shopping.”
If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at [email protected] or on Twitter: @SimonCocking