A glimpse into the AR Cloud future
Augmented Reality (AR) has grown rapidly and has continuously received the green light for its adoption in almost every industrial sector. According to SuperData Research, the mobile AR market had officially hit 2 billion+ users. All thanks to ARCore and ARKit, which are the infamous Google and Apple augmented reality frameworks for bringing more AR apps to their respective platforms. Also, the introduction of the ultra-fast 5G connection is likely to play a critical role in this growth and advancement.
What the hell is this ‘Augmented Reality’?
AR, which is the abbreviation for Augmented Reality, is…
“superimposed digital information overlaid on a user’s view of a physical environment.”
-Leon Latour, technical product manager of augmented reality solutions, Epson.
This implies the rendering of digital data onto the real world — basically, our immediate environment.
Augmented Reality uses the existing environment and overlays newly inputted data on top of it. This is adverse to virtual Reality (VR), which creates a totally artificial environment. To my good mentor, Tom Emrich, an AR/VR/wearable technology expert and Product VP at 8th Wall, looks at it as, “a technology that enhances or augments your experience of the world around you.”
Augmented Reality can use your device to blend digital content into the real world. Unlike Virtual Reality (VR), you won’t need any headsets, goggles, or other extra equipment commonly used. Instead, all you need is your device’s camera and an AR app.
However, AR is not limited to JUST smartphones only, as today, AR can be experienced on magic mirrors and smart displays, smart glasses as well as wearable devices. Some of these involve physical controllers, while others may integrate voice or gesture controls.
Where is this ‘AR’ and is it even being used?
AR has been adopted in several industrial sectors to bring about real-time solutions. The manufacturing, telecom, logistics and healthcare sectors are increasingly adopting it in rendering effective services. According to Emrich, AR is giving workers superpowers due to the additional layer of knowledge and insight that AR tools can provide. Below are some of the areas AR has been applied successfully:
1) Healthcare
Our first stepping stone was within the healthcare sector, as we saw the most value-added as an AR navigation app use-case for patients/visitors.
We wanted to ‘go’ where we had the greatest impact. In a past blog (The expensive problem with getting lost), we looked into why navigation in a hospital played such a major role in day-to-day operations and in the bigger picture, how it contributed to the patient/visitor experience.
This is the reason behind why we made it our focus to take this opportunity with HCG Hospital and move forward as the first implementation of our technology and to demonstrate the results we received.
“ARWAY is very useful for our patients and visitors because this makes them independent of any sort of physical signage and reduces the cost of having multiple systems in place. This is what every hospital should ideally have so that the guidance for every patient and visitor is at their fingertips.”
Dr. Vishal Rao,
Oncologist, HealthCare Global (HCG)
The first pilot program was running within South-East Asia’s largest cancer care network (HCG Hospital). Read more about it, Here.
“augmented Reality, supported by 5G technology, allows surgeons to view the patient’s scans through a HoloLens display in real-time as a 3D object in space or as an overlay on the operating area. As a result, surgeons can be more deliberate and confident in their decisions”.
-DR. CHRISTOPHER MORLEY, CO-FOUNDER of MEDIVIS.
This is unlike the familiar 2D monitors and static 3D-printed molds that are the current standard. From the use of MRI equipment to performing complex surgeries, AR tech has the promise of boosting the depth and effectiveness of medical practice.
2) Repair and maintenance
The maintenance and repairs sector is one of the notable areas where AR aids in the repair and maintenance of complex equipment. Whether it’s a car motor or an MRI machine, photo printing machines, repair, and maintenance staff are beginning to use AR headsets and glasses.
At the same time, they perform their jobs to provide them with useful information on the spot, suggest potential fixes, and point out potential trouble areas. Sophisticated car brands such as BMW, Hyundai,etc., have jumped aboard the AR bandwagon, with plans to replace instruction manuals with innovative and immersive AR car maintenance smartphone apps and wearable technology.
This use case will only continue to get stronger as machine-to-machine IoT technology grows and can feed information directly to AR headsets.
3) Retail
With augmented reality, companies like Amazon have integrated AR to optimize the user’s shopping experience. Users can view products they might be interested in buying in the showroom, and customize it using the app to see which colors and features they might like. Beyond this, imagine actively using AR to find out more information around you.
4) Design and modelling
Architects, interior decorators and other professionals in the creative sector can visualize their final product during the creative process with the aid of AR. The use of headsets enables architects, engineers, and design professionals step directly into their buildings and spaces to see how their designs might look, and even make virtual on the spot changes in their design if the need arises.
5) Tourism
Imagine a virtual “Walkabout” in Africa on AR glasses before booking a ticket to Africa to experience the wildlife. AR offers a huge opportunity for travel brands and agents to give potential tourists an even more immersive experience before they travel. Even better, AR can enhance nearly every aspect of the travel experience, even when you’re struggling to find your way to the boarding gate or figure out how much time it takes to get there for location insights.
6) Entertainment
The entertainment industry hasn’t been left out in this transformatuonal race. The social media platform, Snapchat recently introduced new AR features including World Lenses that apply effects to shots captured from the rear camera. Also, Instagram rolled out a new AR feature called face filters. “We are introducing face filters in the camera, an easy way to turn an ordinary selfie into something fun and entertaining.” It went on to make us understand,”Whether you’re sitting on the couch at home or you’re out and about, you can use face filters to express yourself and have playful conversations with friends.”-insta Blogpost 17.
Niantic an American software company best known for developing the augmented reality mobile games Ingress, Harry Potter, Pokémon Go has added reality features to Pokémon Go that should make the blending of animation and the real world seem more realistic. “These updates will create more realistic AR experiences and continue the company’s efforts toward building the 3D map of the world.”-Kjell Bronder, senior product manager at Niantic.
Having had a glimpse of what AR can offer, understanding what the AR cloud is, it would be quite easy and essential at this juncture. If you can imagine the possibilities that could be achieved with AR, then you already have an idea of what the AR cloud is all about. To some, it is AR at its Prime. AR cloud is a digital copy of all the places on Earth, but this is not just outdoors but also indoors. It has an eye on every street and corner of the Earth. It gives us optimized search results without necessarily scrolling through endless pages of Google search.
Essentially, that’s what the AR Cloud is all about. It’s primarily concerned about productivity and facilitating our daily lives. The ease of info visualization is where the AR Cloud’s power lies.
The benefits of using the AR cloud are endless, ranging from being a reliable storage, where info on the AR Cloud can stay for long and can be accessed whenever. Also, when the AR Cloud is established, everyone will be invited. It will be a mega multi-user AR experience where lots of innovative collaboration and intimate relationships can take place. The AR Cloud could go onto transform shopping experiences. This is not limited to shopping alone as it will eventually affect every sphere of life, including Sport. For instance, Harvard business school’s digital initiative gave this insight. “As you settle into your seat to watch the NBA action on the court below, you take a sip of your beverage and gaze through your Augmented Reality (AR) device. Players’ names and box scores appear, and you watch replays on-demand. When your favourite player makes a highlight-reel move, you share the play with other fans, annotating it with visuals and selected stats.”
Whats next?
On an ending note, at ARWAY, developers are empowered with the tools they need to build hyper-accurate location apps through their own AR-Cloud. So we can finally see the fruition of the killer apps we’ve all been waiting for. With ARWAY, we want to power the apps of tomorrow that will guarantee your well-being through location + augmented reality services.
In our next blog we will look through the specific killer AR apps that we are already enabling and what you can already build with the ArwayKit.
Check out our last blog on how we’re making this happen — Here.
