Augmented Reality: Ready for Launch

How AR is Primed for Use in Any Industry

It’s becoming more and more difficult to wrap our minds around just how much the world has changed in the past twenty years. Surrounded by tech of all types, inspiring and instantaneous tools feel commonplace—from laser surgery to Pokémon Go. 

Our collective drive for novelty and for efficiency—major factors in the constant invention of new technologies and new applications of existing tools—remain strong. As the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic settle, it’s become clear that many aspects of digital life are here to stay. 

But Augmented Reality (AR) is a body of technology that many industries are just beginning to explore—and it’s a rich arena.

In essence, augmented reality is an interactive combination of a real environment and virtual components, where the objects that reside in the real world can be enhanced by digital information. This might include multiple types of sensory data; currently the most commonly applied is visual information. 

The key aspect of AR is that the combination of real and virtual worlds can happen accurately and in real time. Whether the information is a visual overlay of virtual furniture in a real home,  or a masking of an office to appear as a cockpit of a plane for flight training, the experience is intended to be immersive. Augmented reality is the process of altering a user’s perception by changing aspects of reality (while, comparatively, Virtual Reality (VR) completely replaces reality with a simulation). 

AR is already being used in many industries, with manifold results:

Education: 

In archeology, researchers have been able to reconstruct city walls, and walk through a dig site as if buildings were still standing. In other educational landscapes, AR is being used for digital learning, allowing students to experience augmented classrooms, and experience simulations of historical events and places. 

Entertainment:

Perhaps the most mainstream place consumers are beginning to encounter AR in a normalized way is in their very own smartphones. Apps like Snapchat and Instagram offer customizable bitmojis you can dance with in your video, and games like Pokemon Go allow users to walk around and interact with characters in their local environment. But in the wider sphere, AR gaming devices are becoming more and more available as well. 

Healthcare: 

In the vast world of healthcare, applications for AR are practically limitless. AR glasses can be used to deliver information to surgeons without interrupting an operation; immersive memory-based experiences can be used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and phobias. Procedures can be ‘tested’ before they are actually performed, reducing the risk of mistakes. From the training labs to the operating table, AR is a welcome addition to healthcare tech. 

And perhaps the most encompassing field is commerce.

One of the many knock-on effects of the pandemic has been a marked increase in online shopping of all kinds. With AR, retail companies can provide consumers with a better, more personal experience, without leaving home. Clothing companies can provide virtual try-ons, and homewares stores can let you test out paint colors or furniture placement before you renovate your home. 

The practical ways AR is entering our daily life are numerous and varied, too. AR can be delivered in a public way, where someone is using a smartphone in a public space, or in a more private sense, where the user might be sitting at a computer, or even wearing a headset. 

Some questions remain. 

Why are so many industries primed to include AR? What are the yet-unexplored benefits?

The answer in some ways is straightforward, cross-industry: it’s all about engagement. 

In a crowded and competitive digital marketplace—whether academic or entertainment—getting a user into an immersive, exciting AR experience means you can engage them on multiple levels. Whether you’re teaching someone how to fly a jet or showing them what they look like with a new hair color, bringing them in with AR is highly effective. 

We are just beginning to scratch the surface of the myriad possibilities for AR. If you’re looking for exciting solutions for the problems in your project, get in touch. 

We can help you engineer the future. 

September 26, 2022
7:41 am
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