This is excellent news for the company and demonstrates enterprise commitment to augmented reality.

XMReality has signed a third order to improve the service operations for an US defense company.

The order includes XMReality Remote Guidance™ software, XMReality PointPad™ and AR glasses with a value of approx. 0,5 MSEK and revenues will be recognized during 2018 and 2019. Including this order, the total order intake from this customer for the previous 12 months amounts to approx. 1,7 MSEK.

The initial order from the company was signed December 2017 and included XMReality Remote Guidance software, XMReality PointPad and AR glasses to a value of approx. 0,6 MSEK. This was followed up in July 2018 with additional software of a value of approx. 0,6 MSEK.

Further info: see XMReality’s AREA member profile and their company website.

Some of the key concepts from the article include:

Training and certification through AR pays for the creation of content in a new way but delivers savings straight to the bottom line.

There are a broad number of use cases here, but it boils down to saving money, saving time and improving safety:

• Knowledge transfer
• Empowering new works
• Save on travel costs
• Mitigate risk

The value of AR is directly tied to its ability to impact human workforce experience and performance and the three critical questions to ask before adopting AR pilots.

A good example of a real-world recent application of AR in supply chain is in warehouse picking and packing. A number of major companies have seen significant improvement in order fulfilment by as much 30% to 40%, providing warehouse workers with optimized vision picking directions and locations in line of sight.

The International Journal of Virtual Reality (IJVR) created on 1995, is open-source and directly indexed in HAL, Google Scholar, CNKI http://www.ijvr.org

VRIC’19 Laval-Virtual (21th edition) is the premier European conference & exhibition on Immersive (AR-VR-MR) Technologies since 1999. We welcomed 18.500 attendees during 2018 edition https://www.laval-virtual.com

VRIC’2019 gather specialists on Immersive (AR-VR-MR) Technologies from research institutions & industry, to work together and imagine the evolution of immersive technologies and their future usage scenarios within different sectors. During 3 days, the program will include invited keynotes, master classes, papers’ presentations and unforgettable social events.

Click here for further information https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=vric2019

The extension to the main agreement signed in 2017, gives LLVision the right to pre-install the gesture software in the AR-platform ARISE, making gesture control an integrated part of the LLVision AR-offering. By becoming a standard feature in the platform, Crunchfish further extends the market reach. The agreement with LLVision has a royalty business model based on the number of ARglasses sold by LLVision.

At this point LLVision has not provided any volume predictions of the two orders. LLVision expects the first commercial delivery of the joint solution to go live in Q1 2019. “After extensive field tests we are convinced that touchless gesture control is a necessity for an efficient operation. We are excited to continue and to deepen our cooperation with Crunchfish to ensure user-friendly interaction with the highest reliability.” says Wu Fei, CEO of LLVision.

“Our extended collaboration with LLVision is very exciting and includes customer projects as well as pre-integration of our software in LLVision’s new AR platform. LLVision is an important partner for us and with commercial projects with crucial applications including touchless gesture control, we get confirmation both of the market’s maturity and the strength of our product.” says Joakim Nydemark, CEO of Crunchfish.

Find out more about Crunchfish on their AREA member profile here.

Whilst this is not directly related to AR in the enterprise, this surely represents a huge step forward in widespread understanding and availability about AR wearables in general.

The article claims the North are aiming to beat competition by introducing the technology slowly and keep devices as unobtrusive as possible.

A 3D model of the customer’s head is made via cameras in a booth; there is also an optometrist consultation.

Early adopters will need to visit one of the retail stores.

Functions of the new smartglasses are similar to those on a smartphone and can be viewed on the original article here.

Services in the hub for immersive tech companies include: access to desk space, mentorship programs, VR/AR equipment rentals, investor relations connected to Silicon Valley, advisory services, and community events and workshops.

A device lab currently being built will have the latest immersive tech, including HTC Vive, Oculus Quest, Oculus Go, Oculus Rift, Magic Leap, Occipital’s Bridge Headset, Structure Sensors, and HoloLens.

A few key facts from the article on DailyHive:

• Within the Vancouver tech industry, the immersive sector has grown from 15 companies working in VR and AR in 2015 to 220 organizations today.
• In just a few short years, 3D development enterprises have already created 17,000 jobs and generated over $2.3 billion in revenue for the region.
• Globally, the VR and AR market is expected to hit a value of $108 billion by 2021
• Launch Academy says it has incubated over 600 companies that have collectively raised over $150 million and created more than 1,000 jobs since 2012.

The largest category of respondents in the survey group came from the technology (30 percent) and manufacturing (20 percent) industries.

A couple of highlights they shared with us include:

* Enterprises were asked “when do you believe AR will reach widespread adoption in your organization” – and 70 percent said that they expect it will happen in their organization within the next three years.

* When asked which devices their organization would use to deliver AR solutions – more than half of those surveyed did not just pick a single platform.In fact, 57.69 percent of all respondents said they expect to deliver enterprise AR solutions on mobile devices (ie. tablets and smartphones) first and then offer them on smartglasses.

Read the full details on the research results here.

The technology projects 2D, 3D and 4D images of patients interactively by overlaying them onto the patient’s body, according to a Novarad press release published Oct. 24.

OpenSight specifically utilizes the Microsoft HoloLens headset that allows simultaneous visualization of the 3D patient images in AR and the actual patient and their real-world surroundings. The technique may decrease operative times and improve surgical planning and the understanding of anatomic relationships.

“This is transformative technology that will unite preoperative imaging with augmented reality to improve the precision, speed and safety of medical procedures,” Wendell Gibby, MD, Novarad CEO and co-creator of OpenSight, said in the release. “This internal visualization can now be achieved without the surgeon ever making an incision, improving outcomes in a world of more precise medicine.”

The technology also allows for a multi-user experience, as multiple HoloLens headsets can be worn among users for training or clinical purposes. A teaching version of the software is also available for medical students to perform virtual dissections on cadavers, according to the press release.

AIRe Lens has been developed specifically for industrial applications. The smart glasses deliver technical information and step-by-step guidance to wearers while maintaining mobility and hands-free production. The technology is designed to guide industry operators step-by-step through work processes, such as assembly, maintenance or quality assurance tasks. It is an optical, head-mounted AR device with a transparent display that can be controlled via simple gestures or the push of a button. Powered by a hot swappable seven-hour battery, AIRe Lens supports a full working shift. The technology is claimed to offer the durability, comfort and high optical quality required for all day use in manufacturing contexts, where precision and safety are paramount.

AIRe Lens is a unique Konica Minolta development. It is a collaborative creation of the company’s own Industrial Optical System Business Headquarters (IOH) in Japan and Konica Minolta’s European Business Innovation Centre (BIC). AIRe Lens has been initially introduced in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic.

Zdeněk Vrbka, smart glasses program manager within the Konica Minolta BIC, explained: ‘While digitalization is shaping and improving many processes in the industry, it often still stops with the workers at the assembly line. Their work processes are frequently paper-based and therefore inefficient. This has had practical reasons in the past: Workers need their hands free, particularly when assembling complex and bulky machinery.’

Key points of the article:

• Previous suggestions for schools: modernize training technology; reinforce partnerships with industry; propose new alternative curricula; and ensure recurrent training for instructors
• Advice is given for in-person training conferences for maintenance training personnel and the types of content covered on these courses
• VR has been spoken about for over a decade in terms of training but now it’s live and real I selected maintenance training applications – case studies are given from various aviation training organizations
• Exmaples of how Augmented Reality is used in aviation training are given including widnshielfs with heads up digital messages, smart glasses for maintenance training, and simple handheld devices to obtain maintenance instructions as well as telephone based AR.
• The author discusses the influencing factors on training technology and its impact

The author concludes by stating:

“As I participated in the Asia Pacific Aviation Training Symposium, it dawned on me that the justifications for advanced technology training have been consistent and true for decades. Training technology evolves as an enhanced substitute for the real equipment and the real world. Compared to live equipment simulation and computer-based training, including VR and AR, VR is the better alternative. It wins on comparisons of cost, speed, effectiveness, availability, reliability, learner safety, and more. I feel confident in that positive trend.”