Is Augmented Reality for Industrial Workers About to Take Off?
In an article this week by biz tech magazine, AR technology is increasingly being targeted at the energy and utilities market, as well as manufacturing and other industrial use cases. The article believes that new AR hardware is being introduced specifically for the industrial market.
Market research firm ABI Research said previously this year that they expect AR in enterprise applications to “hit an inflection point in 2018, with smart glass shipments growing to 28 million in 2021,” with a 227% CAGR.ABI expects total AR market revenues —across devices, platforms and licensing — to reach $96 billion in 2021.
“2016 was a year of discovery for AR, with the industry focusing on initial [return on investment] metrics,” Eric Abbruzzese, a senior analyst at ABI, said in a statement.
We (AREA) and UI Labs also announced the release of AR hardware and software functional requirements guidelines last week which will help AR technology companies develop products for industrial users.
These AR functional requirements documents will lead to technology that improves the performance and efficiency for manufacturers in a number of areas, including employee training and safety; factory floor and field services operations; machine assembly, inspection and repair; manufacturing space and product design; and much more.These guidelines address hardware features such as battery life, connectivity, field of view, onboard storage, onboard operating systems, environmental aspects, inputs/outputs and safety. They also cover software functions such as authoring, AR content, creating 3D content, deployment of AR content and Internet of Things.
Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar and Procter & Gamble initiated the guidelines development process as part of a project through the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute, a UI Labs collaboration. However, many other tech companies and AREA members contributed to the requirements at a workshop in March, including Microsoft, General Electric, Rolls-Royce, Dow Chemical, Intel, the U.S. Air Force, Stanley Black & Decker, Johnson & Johnson, Newport News Shipbuilding, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Daqri, Upskill, Optech4D, Scope AR, iQagent, Six15, RealWear and others.
“For the first time, industry — both suppliers and users in the AR space — will have access to a benchmark set of requirements that will help them develop a roadmap and source, select, evaluate and deploy augmented reality solutions,” Mark Sage, executive director of AREA, said in a statement. “These functional requirements will be used to help continue the development of the AR ecosystem, and AREA is looking forward to communicating and driving future changes.”