What’s the value of a comprehensive, vertical industry-focused AR solution? For AREA member Apprentice.io, it’s worth at least $8 million. That’s what a group of investors led by Pritzker Group Venture Capital has invested in Series A funding for the pharma- and biotech-focused AR solution provider.

The Apprentice platform is an all-day workflow solution that the entire pharma and biotech organization can use, from the scientist doing drug discovery to the manufacturing operator. Apprentice calls it “the first conversational AR and AI platform.”

“We like to say that we don’t just augment reality; we augment human ability,” said Angelo Stracquatanio, co-founder and CEO of Apprentice.io. “AR and AI are changing the way workforces across all industries solve problems and share information, ushering in the next wave of human potential.”

Learn more here.

The AREA Publishes Exclusive Free Report on Improving Acceptance and Adoption of AR through Communication

We tend to think of AR adoption as being primarily a technical exercise, but the fact is that any new technology will only succeed in the workplace if its users accept it. Without their buy-in, even the most revolutionary technology could founder.

That’s why the AREA is pleased to offer for download the latest value-added content from its Research Committee, a report entitled Six Steps to Improving Acceptance and Adoption of AR Technology in the Workplace Through Communication.

Written by Carly Kroll, the 18-page report provides readers with a step-by-step method to help workers become increasingly comfortable with AR as a tool to perform their work tasks. Kroll provides helpful instructions for each step along the way: Inform, Simplify, Visualize, Influence, Demonstrate, and Encourage.

If you want to ensure that your AR initiative is successful from the start, you have to have the users on your side. Download the report today and get everyone on board.

The AREA is issuing a request for proposals for a funded research project that will develop a methodology for identification of, and strategies for, overcoming barriers to AR adoption in manufacturing environments.

Organizations with relevant expertise in the research topic may respond to the invitation on or before 12 PM Eastern Daylight Time on August 21st.

The goals of the AREA-directed research project are:

• To document all potential barriers to AR adoption in manufacturing and develop a step-by-step methodology for their identification and subsequent implementation of strategies (proven and proposed) that can be used to overcome barriers. The AREA members will then be able to follow the methodology when working with their internal and external manufacturing management and/or operator stakeholders, or to assist their customers and partners in the deployment of AR in production environments.
• To increase understanding of barriers and resolution strategies that can reduce the time, cost and risks for AR adoption in manufacturing.

The research project will produce:

• An AREA-member exclusive report that describes a methodology for identification of and strategies for overcoming barriers to AR adoption in manufacturing environments.
• A tool or framework implemented in the form of an annotated spreadsheet with instructions on how to fill in fields and with which the user organization will identify common AR adoption barriers.  Based on identified barriers, the tool will suggest strategies for AR introduction managers and stakeholders to follow for the reduction or management of AR adoption barriers.
• A case study (suitable for public release) illustrating the use of the methodology by AR introduction managers in a fictional (or anonymized) manufacturing organization.

The research methodology should include primary research (i.e., interviews with the owners/managers of AR proof of concept projects in manufacturing industry, surveys, etc.), secondary research (i.e. review of peer-reviewed literature and web-based information) and a broad, system-level view of AR in manufacturing in order to capture organizational and environmental factors as well as suitability of AR for specific manufacturing use cases, and technology acceptance by operators.

All proposals will be evaluated by the AREA research committee chair and research manager on the following criteria:

• Demonstrated knowledge of manufacturing environments and organizations managing manufacturing, and the use of AR for the purpose of improving operational performance of manufacturing systems and organizations.
• Clear qualifications of the proposing research organization and any partners in the domains of AR, manufacturing management and/or adjacent technologies.
• Review of prior research reports and process management tools.
• Feedback of references.

The AREA will provide detailed replies to submitters on or before August 27th. Unless otherwise negotiated in advance, the research project is expected to be completed and finished deliverables produced by October 31st. 

Any questions concerning this project and the AREA Research Committee, please send an email to the Research Committee.

The AREA Research Committee budget for this project is $15,000. Organizations interested in conducting this research for the fixed fee are invited to submit proposals. Full information on the project needs and desired outcomes, including a submission form, can be found here.

Act quickly to take advantage of a great money-saving offer from AWE Europe 2018 and the AREA – €100 off the cost of access passes to the two-day must-attend event. Coming to the MOC Exhibition Centre in Munich on October 18 and 19, AWE is the world’s #1 AR and VR conference and expo and is expected to attract 100 exhibitors and 2000 attendees, including many enterprise AR leaders.

It’s a great offer, but it’s only good through Sunday, July 22, so act now. Click here to register and save €100!

Founded in 2017, Wunschsicht GmbH is a Swiss-based AR solutions provider led by Lukas Zimmerli. Wunschsicht is taking a novel approach that Zimmerli hopes will open the AR market to more small companies. We spoke with Lukas Zimmerli recently to learn more.

AREA: Tell us how you became involved in Augmented Reality.

Zimmerli: After earning my diploma from ETH Zurich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, I went to Barcelona to work on my first Mixed Reality project. In 2007, I came back to ETH Zurich for my PhD, exploring how Virtual Reality can be used to motivate stroke and spinal cord injured patients during motor rehabilitation. In 2015, I then went to Swisscom, the biggest telecommunication company in Switzerland. As team lead for mobile apps and Augmented Reality, my team and I developed AR experiences for the larger enterprise customers of Swisscom. After two years, I decided to start my own AR company in November of 2017.

AREA: Are you focusing on particular vertical industries or niches in the business?

Zimmerli: We’re exploring all opportunities to start, especially concentrating on the German-speaking market (Switzerland, Germany, and potentially Austria). We recently released our first product called insight, which allows companies to easily create AR-enabled digital instruction manuals, enabling their employees with skills they might not have. It’s a device-independent solution that allows companies to quickly get a first impression on how AR might help them.

AREA: So the idea is to show people what the capabilities are, then work with them to tailor it to their specific needs.

Zimmerli: Right, because we believe that this approach allows small companies to quickly get a first experience of what AR could do to help them without having to invest a huge amount of money for a tailored proof of concept.

AREA: What’s the market for AR solutions like in Switzerland?

Zimmerli: There is a push in the country to get Swiss companies to adopt digital strategies and AR is definitely one part of it, although AI and IoT at the moment have a bigger audience. Many companies I have approached are however saying they are looking into AR and are open to learning about the advantages.

AREA: What do you hope to get from your membership in the AREA?

Zimmerli: As a startup, we are hoping to talk to and learn from companies that have already been in the field for a long time and vice versa to inspire them. We’re also interested in actively participating in shaping how AR is deployed in enterprises. Certainly, we also hope to find opportunities to collaborate with other companies.

AREA: Are you planning to participate in any of the AREA committees?

Zimmerli: We’d like to begin by participating in the research and marketing committees.

What is the AREA doing to foster the adoption of Augmented Reality in the enterprise? What kinds of benefits are AREA member organizations beginning to realize from their AR deployments? AREA Executive Director Mark Sage provided the answers to these and other questions in a video interview by TechTV at the AR & VR World conference at the TechXLR8 event in London in mid-June. Watch the interview here.

The first half of 2018 was full of AR conferences – and the AREA was a big part of it all. It all kicked off in March with the workshop the AREA co-hosted with DMDII in Chicago. From there, the AR event season was off and running – and with many shows offering discounts for AREA members, it was no surprise to see many AREA members at the AR events held around the world.

As Executive Director of the AREA I’m honored to present at these events, showing the progress made by the industry and the importance of the AREA and its members. Here are my reflections on the events I’ve attended in recent months, including the initiatives the AREA trialed in early 2018.

First, my overall impression. There is a strong and growing interest in enterprise AR. Attendance and enthusiasm are on the rise and enterprises are now discussing real implementations and real benefits. That momentum was reflected at all of the following conferences I attended:

Wearable Technology Show (March, London)

This conference focused on the AR wearable space marked a first for the AREA: our first dedicated workshop focused on enterprise AR. AREA members XMReality, RealWear, and MTC, supported by AREA Researcher Michael Rygol and Welsh Water created an excellent set of experts! The workshop targeted enterprises interested in finding out more about the benefits of AR and seeking to engage with experts to get answers to their questions. The session was well received by all and served as an effective model for our participation at future events.

AR VR Innovate (May, Dublin)

The AREA has supported this event for the past three years. It brings together Ireland’s leading companies, as well as a number of innovative AR and VR companies, government agencies and investors. This year, the AREA sponsored a panel session where Amina Naqvi of AREA member MTC and Gary Smith of Welsh Water provided expert insight into the benefits of AR and how to overcome the challenges of AR implementation.

VRX Europe (May, Amsterdam)

Again the AREA sponsored a panel session delivered with AREA members. This was the first time the AREA had supported this event and it proved to be a good format with plenty of opportunities for discussion. The audience appreciated the panel session and we generated lots of interest in the AREA’s work.

AWE US 2018 (May, Santa Clara)

It’s the biggest AR event of the year and the AREA continues to support it in numerous ways. We helped to develop the work (enterprise) speaker track and provided chairs for the three days (thank you, Christine Perey and Carl Byers, for joining me).

Many AREA members spoke at the event and provided considerable insight to the attendees. It was great to hear Boeing and Lockheed Martin talk about real savings realized from their AR projects. Another common theme was that more and more AR projects are becoming “industrialized” (i.e., moving from trials and pilots to becoming part of an organization’s day-to-day tools).

As per our tradition, the AREA had the honor of kicking off the three days of enterprise speaker tracks with my presentation, “Fulfilling the Potential of AR for Enterprise.”

The AREA also hosted a breakfast briefing for members, interested enterprises and partners. It was great to hear from various board members (Beth Scicchitano, (Newport News Shipbuilding), Christine Perey, (PEREY Research & Consulting) and Marc Schuetz (PTC) about how they are benefiting from the work of the AREA.

IATA Aviation Virtual and Augmented Reality Summit (June, Geneva)

A quick turnaround (less than one day at home) saw me back on a plane to Geneva for the inaugural International Air Transport Association (IATA) VR and AR Summit. Focused on the aviation industry, this event’s attendees included many of the world’s leading airlines. I was pleased to present the work of the AREA to an engaged and enthusiastic audience.

AR & VR World (June, London)

AR & VR World is part of an event called TechXLR8, which includes other technologies (this year they included IoT, 5G, and AI). The AREA also tested a new concept called the AREA Pavilion. Six AREA members – 3D Studio Blomberg, AMRC, Crunchfish, Mira Labs, Theorem Solutions, and XMReality – shared a dedicated AREA space. This helped to reduce costs but also enabled me and other attendees to speak to multiple members and attendees. Angela Lang, who drives AREA Events and Media Partnerships, and I, will continue to develop the Pavilion concept, both for AR events and industry events.

All in all, it was a busy and vibrant AR event season that clearly demonstrated growing enterprise interest in AR. Thanks to all our members who participated and helped to bring the work of the AREA to an eager world!

Many enterprises are experimenting with AR pilot projects – and learning a great deal from the effort. But that’s only the first step in the learning process. A whole new set of questions and challenges emerge when you take an AR project from stand-alone pilot to real-life enterprise implementation.

What common obstacles arise? What new opportunities present themselves? How does an AR solution integrate with other enterprise systems? We’ll be exploring these and other questions on July 11^th (10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern/6 pm UK/7 pm CET) when we host our next free AREA webinar, Overcoming the Challenges of Implementing AR.

The session will feature three AREA members and top experts in Enterprise AR: Geof Wheelwright, Director of Marketing Communications at Atheer; Peter Orban, Chief Commercial Officer at Augmate; and David Shackleton, Sales Director at Theorem Solutions.

You’ll learn about:

• The business and technical challenges of implementing new interaction paradigms
• How AR solutions can interact with collaboration systems and mobile device management solutions
• Security best practices for AR solutions
• And more!

If you’re looking ahead to an Enterprise AR implementation, you won’t want to miss this one. Join us on Tuesday, July 11^th at 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern/6 pm UK/7 pm CET. Click here to register now

You’ve heard about the “promise” of Enterprise Augmented Reality. You’ve read about exciting pilot deployments. Perhaps you’ve seen reports of significant ROI. As you contemplate your AR future, it’s time to go from “what if?” to “what now?”

Our free webinar on July 18^th is designed to help you do just that. Entitled How You Can Benefit from Enterprise Augmented Reality, the session will be led by two experts with real-world Enterprise AR experience: Michael Campbell, PTC’s EVP of Augmented Reality Products; and Beth Scicchitano, the AR lead at Newport News Shipbuilding.

You’ll learn:

• The real benefits to be gained from Enterprise AR
• What industries and problems are best suited for AR solutions
• How AR creates value
• How to overcome typical challenges
• How to get your AR strategy off on the right foot

If you’re ready to get real about Enterprise AR, our webinar is ready to show you the way. It’s all happening Tuesday, July 18^th at 9 am EDT (6 am PDT/2 pm UK/3 pm CEST). Click here to sign up now!

In the near future, light, unobtrusive smart glasses will reliably support deskless work and make technicians more efficient in their tasks. The last few years have seen increased investment in smart glasses technology, with a number of high-profile acquisitions and direct investments by large companies in manufacturers and start-ups, but some challenges still remain.

As seen in this this article by Jay Kim of AREA member APX Labs, form factors, capabilities and price are all continually evolving for the better. This post highlights the five challenges that providers face before their smart glasses are widespread in enterprise. Various providers are solving these problems on their own as industry-wide best practices for how to address these challenges have yet to be developed.

Components Are Pushing the Boundaries

Processors for Augmented Reality-enabling tasks are steadily improving, but matching required capabilities for enterprise with optimal form factors is still a challenge. For example, graphics processors must be small, lightweight and highly power efficient in order to be placed within eyewear frames that remain comfortable to wear. Accelerating real world tracking and fluid rendering of virtual objects requires chips like NVIDIA Tegra X1 or Intel m7, which are just now showing up in the latest high-end smart glasses from companies like Atheer and DAQRI. Combined with eye-tracking capabilities, reliable voice and gesture recognition, these computational requirements add up, both in terms of battery consumption and heat production, which need to be properly and efficiently managed.

A high-resolution front-facing camera is necessary for creating Augmented Reality experiences but not all smart glasses have that functionality. Tilting and shaking also present challenges for both AR experience delivery and video conferencing.

Other areas of improvement remain to be made in battery life, similar to what is happening in the smartphone space. New models specifically designed to industrial specifications are coming to market this year but have yet to be extensively tested in real world settings.

Network Security and Bandwidth

Continuously providing Augmented Reality experiences based on cloud-hosted services and content requires uninterrupted bandwidth and coverage wherever employees with AR devices work. Ensuring reliable WiFi availability in cramped areas of a ship’s steel-plated hull, for example, is a daunting challenge, and we are starting to see more and more solutions adopting robust offline functionality and local storage to fill in the gap.

Both devices and networks may require high security standards in sensitive environments to ensure proprietary information is not misplaced. The shortcomings in security are the same as those faced by existing wearables and smart devices in the market today.

Content for Augmented Reality Experiences

As when content was being produced 25 years ago for the brand new World Wide Web, commonly accepted paradigms for the design of AR experiences to be delivered to smart glasses are non-existent. Authors of AR experiences must experiment and develop their own techniques for ensuring usability of user interfaces and safety.

As with the World Wide Web, standards for user interface design and content first require a greater proliferation of Augmented Reality usage on smart glasses, producing a chicken and egg phenomenon: with poor user experiences, usage remains low. With low demand, experimentation with new designs is slow.

Content for use in Augmented Reality experiences for smart glasses, such as images and 3D models, tends to be authored from scratch. Those companies that have made prior investments in CAD authoring tools have an advantage when they can access and convert existing, industrial CAD models into lightweight, polygonised versions for display in smart glasses. Successful authoring of AR content also requires heavily customized authoring toolchains and workflows and a uniform look and feel for displayed content that is emotive, highly relevant and takes into account safety requirements. 2015 saw a proliferation of providers creating smart-glasses-first content and applications to fully leverage the smart glasses platforms.

Some initiatives such as the OASIS Augmented Reality in Information Products technical committee and the IEEE AR Learning Experience Model (ARLEM) have been formed to address such challenges.

Overall User Experience

In addition to user experience for the human-machine interface, other UX factors for smart glasses are still improving. Cables are frequently required to connect a hands-free display to the networking or content processing hub, or to the battery pack. While these form factors solve many problems such as battery life and device weight, they still leave many yearning for an all-in-one device.

How to best interact naturally with the displayed content is something all manufacturers are trying to solve. The most sophisticated smart glasses are doing away with physical controls altogether in favor of voice, head motion, and gesture interaction. Bulkiness and limited field of view are other complaints that were prominent in the early days of smart glasses, but competition in this space has driven manufacturers to improve vastly on both of those. Narrow Field of View (FOV) limits the amount of information that can be displayed to the user, and the best smart glasses models are now delivering immersive display experiences that address those concerns.

Safety, Privacy and Regulations

Smart glasses present a number of new and unresolved safety challenges. Their sheer novelty also means that few regulations specifically targeting them have been developed.

As seen from this presentation by attorney Brian Wassom, although new regulatory regimes for smart glasses are required, none currently exist. Future conversations about the safety of head-mounted displays in environments such as the enterprise and industrial settings still need to take place.

Some challenges such as obstructed peripheral vision, for example, can pose a safety hazard when the wearer is in motion or in an industrial workspace. Adapting the amount and relevance of information displayed to the user is key to making the wearer safer on the job.

Conclusion

As with other types of wearables, smart glasses represent a novel technology whose development and usage are still evolving. Both business and technological challenges are in the process of being addressed so that smart glasses are generally accepted as routine work tools and become more recognized for their productivity-enhancing features.

Despite these challenges, several smart glasses deployments for enterprise use were announced in 2015 and some predict that 2016 will bring many more deployments as companies look to gain an edge on the competition.

What are your key challenges with smart glasses? Is your organization or smart glasses provider addressing any of these challenges already? Share with us your views in comments below.