Augmented Reality Glasses are About to Change Everything
AR glasses are about to become a mainstream gadget, just like the smartphone. It’s only a matter of time. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to find all the big visions around AR out there and was somewhat disappointed by the result.
Most of the openly communicated ideas for future AR applications are rather uncreative.
I believe that augmented reality has the power to change everything: the world we experience, the devices we use on a daily basis and the internet as we know it today. This might be the end of your smartphone, the end of your TV and maybe the end of bullshit ads and fake news.
In this article I’d like to share my most innovative, promising and eye-opening ideas around AR applications. But before that, let me briefly explain why I think AR can have such a huge impact.
What’s so Special about AR?
Augmented reality basically describes the way we experience the world with our human senses but enhanced and augmented by technology. In my opinion, the killer app is AR glasses, enabling you to see and hear an augmented world. Simply put: You can see things, which are placed into the real world and you can interact with them, but they aren’t physically there and you’re the only one seeing them. You’ll be walking through an augmented world.
Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Magic Leap and lots of other companies are currently working hard on AR. There is a lot of money involved and everybody tries to create the “new iPhone” — the hardware and operating system of the future. But up to now, it still hasn’t lifted off and reached the broad masses. This is probably because the technology (the hardware and software) isn’t yet on a level that can hit the market with full power. Too bulky, bad screen quality, only little sight coverage, computation intensive environment detection, etc.
What are the challenges in making AR glasses suitable for everyday use? There are some key factors, such as: environment detection and motion tracking; rendering images from 3D models for both eyes in parallel on a translucent display in the highest resolution possible; spatial sound; rethinking of our interaction with software through gestures. If you take that further, it’s also about adjusting the 3D objects according to the current lightning conditions; adjusting the sound according to your surroundings; detecting objects being visually in front of rendered 3D models and hiding parts of them. And putting this technology in a rather small device on your nose (or at least a part of it).
„Ok, sounds cool, but what do I need AR for? Maybe it‘s useful for navigation or for some industrial applications like in plane assembly lines, or for a doctor but not for me.“ Meeep, wrong! You will be surprised. Let’s check some my ideas, maybe they’ll change your mind.
My Top 10 Ideas for AR Applications
Take these ideas as inspirations and to get a feeling for the power of AR. Feel free to grab one of the ideas to start and grow a billion-dollar company (you’ll owe me a beer at my favorite bar in Hamburg).
1. The End of the Smartphone
Where is the sense in carrying around a rather small display device in your pocket when you can have 3D displays everywhere you look, as big as you want, optimized for whatever you’re currently doing?
How about an iPhone triple Max in your hand and as soon as you close your hand it‘s gone. Or a piano keyboard when you want to play the piano? There is no sense in carrying around a (smartphone-)display anymore. The device nowadays being known as smartphone will be overtaken as soon as AR glasses become mainstream. Sure, the displays won’t have such a high resolution in the beginning as a smartphone and probably gesture control and sight coverage won’t be perfect right away, but like every disruptive technology, it’ll outperform the smartphone by its benefits very soon.
Just imagine checking the time by just raising your wrist and a super cool virtual watch shows you the time as well as your next appointments. Or you can stick notes to real-life objects like your front door, or your car’s door handle. Or something like this:
And 3D displays and UIs are so much cooler than the flat ones we know today, anyway.
2. The End of the TV
Just like the smartphone, a TV is basically just a display. With AR glasses you wouldn’t need a TV at home anymore, because you are carrying it on your nose. You can position the TV in every size and shape in every part of your apartment or wherever you go. Bathtub? Bed? Kitchen? You can basically turn a whole wall in your living room into a big 3D movie which also changes perspective when you move in the room. Which brings me right to my next point.
3. The New Living-Experience
Decorative items, furniture styles, lighting, ambient atmosphere, this could all be virtually enhanced and could change automatically for example depending on your mood or if it’s your birthday. You will be able to put insta filters on just about everything.
Turn a whole wall of your apartment into a live 3D view of earth from the ISS, or a beautiful view on a Norwegian fjord on a foggy autumn morning. I personally also like the idea of looking out of a huge window of a skyscraper of Coruscant (the planet-covering city in the Star Wars movies).
There might be virtual light switches whenever you enter a room and the lights are off, or you leave the room and the light is still on. Touching the switches toggles your Philips Hue lights in the room.
Just image to have animated decoration elements. There will be huge virtual market around these kinds of delighting home and world accessories. And with some mood detection, really amazing experiences might be possible.
4. Use a Virtual Product Before Buying the Real One
Imagine you could try the new camera you want to buy without leaving your couch. Grab it, turn it around, change some lenses, attach some add-ons, check the color or size you want, flip through the menus — sweet! The manufacturer gives you a virtual device to help you make your decision.
Maybe they even add some more atmosphere and a virtual onboarding with some nice arrows and animations showing you how to use the product.
I bet most of the hardware manufacturers in a couple of years will feel the need to add AR content to their products because it becomes common — especially in the toy industry. Also purely virtual „physical“ products might be a thing, like the mentioned virtual piano keyboard.
Just creating something like a platform for AR product onboardings is probably a huge business case on its own.
5. Unfaking News & Adding Informative Layers
With the power of artificial intelligence, we can already tell a lot about a certain object, just by a picture. How about showing the calories of a dish by looking at it. Or the ripeness of the avocado you have in your hand, or the authenticity of an image you are seeing in the news, or an aggregated, independent opinion about the validity of a statement you are reading on the bus.
We could see more than we do right now and use common sense to not be cheated as easily.
6. Customizing and Targeting Ads or Removing Them
When moving through modern cities, you are surrounded by ads. They are everywhere, trying to grab your attention and incept an idea of a product or brand into your mind. There are ad blockers for your browser, and you can mute your TV or YouTube spots. But in the real world, only looking away helps. With AR glasses and some AI ad detection, these could be easily grayed out — or replaced by something more valuable.
Static ads on billboards and busses etc. are only weakly targeted. We could al-so move to an age, where these billboards aren‘t around but everybody sees a targeted ad in their augmented world, suitable to their needs and buying behavior.
7. Virtual Food
You probably know the situation in a restaurant when you cannot decide on a dish, right? Or maybe you‘re asking yourself how big it is? With AR your restaurant might offer you a preview of the dish, right on your plate. You could basically flip through the dishes in front of you and pinch them to the right size (with some AI scaling the content not the 3D model, this could look really natural).
When receiving the dish, you could even enhance it with some nice decoration and virtual sauces or other visually appealing ingredients. Or you get a virtual explanation on how to creak that lobster correctly.
8. Virtual Pets
How about a virtual pet, maybe a small dragon or the never growing puppy from your dreams? It interacts with you. It‘s running around the house, does lots of funny stuff without destroying anything. It grabs you attention, it‘s there when you feel alone and it‘s not a problem at all if you don’t have time for it. This might be a whole new pet experience with lots of benefits and only very little downsides of owning a pet.
With AI technology, the pet could definitely learn from its environment, its experiences and could be a totally unique part of your family.
9. Gamification of the Boring Things
Why not play a jump & run game while you walk to the bus. Having Mario right on the sidewalk in front of you. Small Mario jumping around, collecting some coins, fully dynamic depending on your speed and your environment.
Even more augmented: collecting household points when you clean up, do the laundry, carry down the waste bag. A gamification of the everyday boring things might be fun and motivate you to be more caring.
10. Personal Assistants Interacting with the Real World
How about a small virtual assistant in the form of a 3D robot, or fable animal that assists you with your everyday chores. It helps you find what you’re looking for in the supermarket; shows you the way in the train station; shows you where you left your car keys; knocks on the door politely and reminds you when you need to leave to pick up your daughter from school. This would be so much more humane than Alexa or a smartphone reminder.
An idea going into that direction was published in 2018 by Google when they introduced the fox as a virtual assistant for their AR maps.
When will this Arrive?
They are already there! You can buy different kinds of AR glasses. But, as mentioned above, I think the technology is not yet on a superior level compared to smartphones. Technology s-curves describe this phenomenon very well. One technology is not yet strong enough to replace the older one, but there will be a time when it disrupts the existing status quo and the older technology dies out.
If you check e.g. Apple’s, Microsoft’s and Facebook’s recent developments in the field of AR technology, it feels like we are getting much closer to that disruptive moment. I definitely want one pair of glasses desperately.
If you haven’t experienced the cool feeling of interacting with virtual 3D objects, yet, go to the next tech store and try on some VR glasses like the Oculus Quest — it’s completely virtual reality but the first-time experience is really mind blowing.
Let me know what nice applications for AR you have on your mind!
If you become a billionaire with one of these ideas or just had a good read and feel well prepared for the next AR small talk: Leave a clap! 👏
