Do you let your customers visit your augmented reality?
There are still only a few companies doing a good job blending digital imagery with the real world, among them many companies from Europe and the US. Global brands are trying to find different ways to integrate technology into their retail experience. The growth of augmented reality applications in recent years can be attributed to technologies that allow users or customers to visualize products and imagine what it might feel like to own this product. The technology also allows experiencing the service or product before actually purchasing it. As the technology becomes more sophisticated and the cost savings can be measured, the demand and investment in AR (augmented reality) is increasing. According to statistics, there will be one billion AR users by 2020 in the world. From showcasing simple wireframe drawings in the 70s to Microsoft Hololens and now to mobile phones and smartwatches humans have come a long way. The first headset was invented in 1968, then in the 1990s Tom Caudell, a researcher at Boeing, used the term “augmented reality” as the first. Instead of reconfiguring each time boarding instructions in aircraft, Boeing designed wiring instructions with a head mounted apparatus that displayed a plane’s specific information through high tech eyewear and projected it on multipurpose, reusable boards.
Many people can be surprised and a little bit confused but there is a difference between augmented reality and virtual reality. Both, of course, are earning a lot of media and people attention and are promising enormous growth. Virtual reality is an artificial, computer-generated simulation of a real-life environment or situation. It immerses a user into a virtual world by making him or she feel like a person is experiencing the simulated reality by stimulating physical senses such as hearing for instance. The companies usually deliver headsets or glasses which have to be worn to create and enhance an imaginary reality. The most simple example of a virtual reality device is the glasses needed for watching a 3D movie in a cinema.
Augmented reality may not be as exciting as virtual reality but the technology is proving itself as a very useful tool in the everyday lives of humans. However, using this technology for industrial use can be more complicated and will be explained soon. Augmented reality is a technology that is based on computer-generated enhancements in order to make it more meaningful through the ability to interact with it. The tech industry is using AR to do revolutionary things with holograms and motion.
Augmented reality and virtual reality are inverse reflections of one another with what each technology seeks to deliver for an end user. AR and VR do not always operate independently of one another but in fact, they are often blended together creating an even more impressive experience for users. To cut a long story short, the mixed reality is a new term describing the technology which has a mixture of advantages of both AR and VR solutions. In this case, virtual objects are not just overlaid on the real world but also can interact with it. A user remains in the real world while virtual content is added to it. What is more, a user can interact with digital objects. Currently, a few apps have already hit the consumer market offering some solutions which are based on virtual and augmented reality.
History
To make this story short, let’s start from the year 1968 as it was mentioned in the previous section. In that year, a Harvard University professor and computer scientist by the name of Ivan Sutherland invented a device called “the sword of Damocles”. The solution displays computer graphics on the ceiling letting a user experience being in an alternative reality.
Six years later, Myron Krueger invented one of the following big developments in augmented reality. The name of the project was Videoplace and combined a projection system and video cameras that produced shadows on a computer screen (instead of taking the virtual reality track of a head-mounted display and technical gloves). From 1974 to 1978 Mr. Krueger — American researcher — performed computer graphics research at the Space Science and Engineering Center of the University Wisconsin — Madison in exchange for institutional support for his project (Videoplace). Later, the scientist used the hardware staff from Videoplace for another project called Small Planet. In the work, researchers were working on a small computer–generated 3D planets. The success of those projects became sources for new innovative technologies used widely in the following years. For instance, in 1994 for the first time, a theater used AR to create a new cinema movie named “Dancing in Cyberspace”, presenting acrobats dancing in and around virtual objects projected on the stage as a work of art.
Although the years of the previous century brought numerous inventions, a breakthrough was made in the year 2000. In this year, Hirokazu Kato from one of the best and most prestigious Japanese research institutes called Nara Institute of Science and Technology (located in Ikoma, Nara of Kansai Science City and founded in 1991), created and released a software application called ARToolKit. ARToolKit is an open–source computer tracking library for creating strong augmented reality applications that overlay virtual objects and imagery in the real world. So far it has been downloaded over 160,000 times around the world as the app is available through the platform GitHub. In order to create an augmented-reality-based application, the system uses video tracking capabilities that calculate the real camera positions and orientations relative to the physical environment in real time. Once the real camera position is known, a virtual camera can be positioned at the same point and 3D computer graphics models are being drawn exactly over the real environment. The tool — ARToolKit — solved the main problems in augmented reality: viewpoint tracking and virtual object interaction.
The results of the mentioned technology could be found easily in smartphones soon. New apps which are based on AR can show you how to use a machine or indicate what each button is for — just point your smartphone camera at a machine and the app shows you on screen what all the buttons do. Another solution will guide you to your destination based on the neighborhood scanned — just point your telephone camera at the different views and based on them, the application will recognize where you are. Then the application will show you the directions. Apart from the IT sector, furniture producer IKEA created a new type of app which let users see what furniture would look like in their own home with plans for virtual warehouses and AI assistants in the near future.
Augmented reality is set to go mainstream in 2019. Thanks to new ideas and top — quality software technologies from IT giants, it will take off quickly and affect many industries. According to Ben Grossman, an Oscar-winning visual effects designer, everything that humans do on smartphones, augmented reality will do even better. AR will lead the way due to three things: hardware that a human already owns and uses, an almost infinite number of potential applications and transforming the way a human uses his or her smartphone. In 2019, most AR will be mediated by smartphones and tablets but it will also be coming to car dashboards and smart glasses. More and more people are buying electric or hybrid cars where are installed even more augmented reality devices, mainly because of new design styles.
Examples
The most popular and famous device based on virtual reality is a Microsoft HoloLens which has already hit the consumer market offering a futuristic headset. The device permits a user to engage with digital content and interact with 3D holograms surrounding a person who is wearing a headset. The first completely wireless, self — contained holographic computer device made a revolution on the market. It’s taken a long time for the technology to become small and portable enough to be contained within a single simple unit. The headset has two holographic lenses that display images projected from the software application. Basically, the combination of four environment cameras, light sensors and a depth camera, a user has images that react and respond to the surroundings around him or her. So what can Microsoft HoloLens do? A lot — it was designed to be used in the workplace first and foremost so it would be easier to see it in a factory than in a living room next to a TV set. Of course, outside of the strong business use cases, people have also seen HoloLens, however, the biggest barrier for end users is the price tag of Microsoft HoloLens which starts at a hefty $3,500 per unit. Microsoft HoloLens is now available in a few countries including the UK and US.
Another interesting solution which has some features of virtual reality is a smart home. It might still be in relative infancy, but it’s really starting to take hold in the smart house industry. Though VR was originally envisioned mostly as a solution for entertainment, its applications are expanding and becoming more diverse. Smart thermostats, remote-controlled locks or lights are great but they are not quite perfect yet. A smart house can guarantee safety, comfort and simplicity however it’s possible that virtual reality and augmented reality could be the perfect complement to smart home technology. ABB has recently opened up one of the most impressive smart homes to date at the ABB Warsaw Center, offering new smart solutions in an open environment that allows for the most impressive experience a person can have. The perception of smart buildings often gets stuck on small — scale thinking. However smart home technologies can deliver potential benefits that a fully integrated system can provide in terms of security, convenience, cost savings, and energy efficiency. The company can tailor a complete building automation solution which takes into account the unique characteristics and building functions.
According to research and statistics, the global smart home market is worth more than $12 billion in 2018 and the revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate of 22% by the year 2023 ($35 billion). Not only ABB but also a lot of other companies including its main competitors are working on new innovative solutions. The current household penetration rate is around 9.3% and is expected to hit 25% in 5 years — meaning the market potential is really strong for smart applications and augmented reality as well.
Many customers buy smart products for the ability to monitor the parameters of other products. Each industry has to work on its own version of smart devices which include VR or a mixture of both VR and AR. The main problem is a customer has to see significant additional value which a product can offer. The company Google understood one of many people’s problems and in 2018 it released a new application called Google Sky Map. Any space-lovers could have a truly amazing opportunity to use the app as a sky viewfinder. The application transforms a smartphone into an optical telescope that can identify stars, constellations, and planets just by aiming the phone at the sky. A new virtual reality app lets users explore the solar system up close, from our well-known moon to the faraway dwarf planet Pluto and beyond. The app is billed as a virtual reality planetarium. The smartphone lets viewers experience a virtual 3D solar system that is visible from Earth.
Another application which should be mentioned here is a gaming app. The game was downloaded more than 100 million times and lets people go out from their homes. Pokemon Go is a new phenomenon spreading around the world and has exploded in popularity since it realizes. According to US Forbes’s research, people spend more time playing Pokemon Go than on Facebook, Snapchat or Twitter. The game producer — Niantic — is getting a little closer to the glamorous vision of a complete augmented reality application. The realism of the app relies on location tracking to fuse virtual reality with the physical world. Part of the game’s popularity and charm is that it combines augmented reality with conventional gameplay. For those who have never experienced AR and VR, the game might seem like a revolutionary idea.
Summary
Currently, virtual reality technology is close to a mass adoption even though it has been around for more than 30 years on the market. In the beginning, the technology was mainly used by the military with flight simulations for junior aircraft pilots and then in entertainment and gaming. Some of the most exciting augmented reality projects began taking place in research laboratories at universities around the world around the year 2009. As a result, it has changed how people communicate, work, travel, shop and more.
The possibilities of AR tech are limitless. The only question is how smoothly and quickly the solutions will be adopted by developers who will integrate these capabilities into smart devices that humans use on a daily basis. Due to extremely high development costs and the complexities of AR devices, the technology is not very common in the commercial world yet. Most of the AR demo devices today apply advanced objects, filters or other effects to the world. They do this via drawing information or things onto a smartphone camera feed, or a headset (HoloLens for instance). Augmented reality still has some challenges to overcome however contact lenses or glasses will provide users with more convenient and expansive views of the world around them. At the most basic level, apps can already figure out what book, car or clothes you are looking at. What is more, it can recognize that a human is looking at his or her phone turning on a screen. According to research forecasts, cameras and smart devices will keep getting better at recognizing things, behaviors, and situations.
There are also privacy concerns. VR/AR systems can collect far more personal information than traditional systems. This can considerably impact user privacy law and create extremely important downsides of the systems. While the entire field of technology is rapidly growing, little thought has been given to how these systems should protect the security, privacy, and safety of users. Currently, many international companies including corporations are working on improving the basic security protocols against hacker penetrations.
Over the next few years, humans will likely see jumps in the evolution of the augmented reality concept, in terms of both software, hardware and new applications. Typically, AR architecture includes browsers, channels, and servers which together build solutions that allow clients to virtualize products and imagine the virtual feelings via the Internet. According to consulting company forecasts, any and all kinds of goods and services will be bought on the Internet in the future. It makes the potential possibilities for a business to create alternative ways of getting more customers and improving general customer satisfaction.
Despite many possibilities and disadvantages of using augmented reality, it’s really difficult to estimate what might be next and how AR will influence the market. Augmented reality is less mature than virtual reality due to technology limitations, lack of standardization and a higher price tag. Nevertheless, it can be utilized in industries much easier than in recent years.
Written by Lukasz Kudlak
