The Hidden Revolution: Augmented Reality and HMDs in Industry

Yashvardhan Mulki
Aug 22, 2017 · 3 min read

Over the past two or three years, Augmented reality has received an extraordinary amount of hype, spurred by events like Microsoft’s announcement of the Hololens, a head mounted ‘mixed reality’ device that facilitates interacting with digital content in the real world.

Hololens Demo (Credit: Microsoft Inc.)

Furthermore, Apple announced an new Augmented Reality platform, ARKit this June at the World Wide Developers Conference, which will bring Augmented Reality to hundreds of millions of iOS devices this fall. This represents the beginning of an AR revolution.

Apple’s Craig Federigi showing off ARKit in a demo (Credit: The Verge)

But a lot of the attention that Augmented reality has received so far has almost exclusively been on the consumer side. However, the industrial uses of Augmented Reality could present an opportunity for significant productivity increases. Take, for example, ThyssenKrupp, a German conglomerate that produces elevators, among other things.

ThyssenKrupp has began using Hololens devices to assist 24000 of their elevator service technicians to visualize elevator problems in mixed reality to allow them to be more effective and productive. According to Microsoft’s Blog, ThyssenKrupp uses Skype on Hololens, so that technicians could contact experts and share issues in Augmented Reality. The article also mentioned that ThyssenKrupp cut their service call durations by 4x.

Credit: Windows Blogs

The video below, produced by ThyssenKrupp demonstrates how they use Hololens with theur elevator service technicians.

Video by ThyssenKrupp

Once ARKit has been released, we could see further industrial applications for which devices like the Hololens would be cost prohibitive. AR is set to have a significant impact on the way industry operates. They could be use for design, simulation and other things.

But what about HMDs? By the way, what are HMDs?

HMDs are head mounted displays. These are devices like Google Glass, which present information to users on a screen mounted over glasses.

Google Glass (Credit: Wikimedia)

By the way, let’s talk about Google Glass. First sold to ‘Glass Explorers’ in 2013 as a prototype, it aimed to create a wearable computer that you could use for anything. While it certainly was an ambitious idea, consumer reaction was mild, with the device being seen as rather expensive ($1500), slightly awkward to wear and caused some privacy concerns due to the camera. So, Google decided to shutter production. So that’s it, right?

Well, as it turns out, no. Earlier this year, Google revealed that Google Glass had transitioned to an enterprise device, dubbed Glass Enterprise edition. Accoirding to Wired, the new Google Glass is compatible with prescription eyewear, some custom or safety glasses, has improved networking, battery life, security, speed, an improved camera that displays a green light while recording. It turns out that a head mounted display is exactly what many industries need. It also turns out that looking slightly awkward isn’t much of an issue in industrial uses.

The advantages are obvious. Workers, especially those performing complex manufacturing tasks can easily access information or instructions to aid them and improve productivity.

Overall, both AR and HMDs will have a significant impact on how many industries develop and operate in the near future.

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