Since its release on July 6th, Pokémon Go has become a global phenomenon—with downloads of the mobile app exceeding 75 million within the first three weeks. Many reviewers credit the game’s meteoric success to its innovative use of “Augmented Reality.”

To those of us in the enterprise AR community, of course, Pokémon Go is no more augmented reality than Atari’s 1972 “Pong” arcade game was table tennis. In Pokémon Go, the merging of the virtual and real worlds is confined to the projection of 2D monsters on real-life backgrounds. While it’s a novel effect for a mobile game, it barely scratches the surface of what Augmented Reality can do—or its tremendous potential for enterprises to achieve greater operational efficiencies.

Still, we at the AREA have to view the success of Pokémon Go as an important milestone in the development and adoption of AR for the following reasons:

• Pokémon Go is familiarizing the world with the basic concept of Augmented Rreality. Hopefully our members can spend less time having to explain what Augmented Reality is—or how it differs from Virtual Reality. Potential customers will already understand the basic concepts and be ready to learn more.
• Pokémon Go is proving that AR is no longer a futuristic concept. If an AR game is already a commercial success, can widespread enterprise AR solutions be far behind? Companies that had previously taken a wait-and-see approach to AR may now be more motivated to explore the possibilities for their businesses.
• Pokémon Go is proving that people are engaged and excited by the technology. The game makes it vividly clear that AR is a powerful and compelling tool people enjoy using. That enthusiasm can only help fuel the growth and development of the AR market.

Many media outlets and bloggers agree and are driving the conversation in our direction. Just look at some of these recent headlines:

• “Is Pokémon Go Really Augmented Reality?”
• “How Pokémon Go Took Augmented Reality Mainstream”
• “Why Pokémon Go is a Game Changer for Augmented Reality and Marketers”
• “Pokémon Go is Nice, But Here’s What *Real* Augmented Reality Will Look Like”

Our challenge now is to leverage the Pokémon Go phenomenon to accelerate the adoption of AR in the enterprise. That means taking the opportunity—as the AREA members Gaia Dempsey of DAQRI and Scott Montgomerie of Scope AR have done recently—to make sure inquiring media outlets understand that the impact of enterprise AR will be even more significant and lasting than the current Pokémon Go craze.

To find out more about the AREA contact Mark Sage, Executive Director.

Further to my last post about the AWE ’16 conference, I want to share some thoughts and areas for future focus from my first two months as the Executive Director of the AREA.

It’s exciting to be involved in such a vibrant and dynamic ecosystem of AR providers, customers and research institutions. I’m amazed at the sheer breadth of the kinds of member organizations, their offerings, skills, achievements and desire to work with the AREA to help achieve our shared mission of enabling greater operational efficiencies through smooth introduction and widespread adoption of interoperable AR-enabled enterprise systems.

Success and Challenges

Through my initial conversations with the members, I’ve learned of many success stories and also the challenges of working in a relatively young and rapidly changing industry.

For example, AREA members talk about the prototypes they’re delivering with the support of software, hardware and service providers. However, I would like to see more examples of wider rollouts, beyond the prototype stage, which will encourage more buying organizations to investigate AR and understand its massive potential.

The AWE conference in Santa Clara in June, and the subsequent AREA Members Meeting added emphasis to my initial thoughts. The AR in Enterprise track of AWE, sponsored by the AREA, highlighted a number of organizations who are already using AR to create real benefits, ranging from the enabling of real time compliance, better use of resources, applying the most relevant data and the reduction of time, errors and costs. It was great to see that many member companies understand the benefit of working together to enable the whole AR ecosystem to become successful.

Carrying on the Momentum

My continued focus over the coming weeks will be to carry on the great momentum that has been started. I’m briefing more organizations from all over the world about the benefits of becoming an AREA member. I’ll continue the focus on developing and curating thought leadership content including case studies, frameworks and uses cases, and deliver them via the AREA website, webinars and social media. We’re enhancing our value proposition through our development of research committees that increase the capabilities of the industry.

This is an exciting time for the enterprise AR industry and the AREA; I’m very interested in any feedback or comments you may have so please contact me at [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you and working with our growing membership to meet our goals of realizing the potential of Augmented Reality in the workplace.

AREA member JoinPad provides cloud-based and contextually aware software that simplifies processes in a number of industries. The company’s BrainPad product integrates enterprise resource systems and sensor networks to add Augmented Reality visualization and contextual computing to existing business processes.

This month we interview Nicolas Pezzarossa, Global Sales and Business Development Director of JoinPad, about the enterprise use cases his company is encountering for its products and services.

In which industries are you finding the greatest interest for your products and services?

We see strong interest from providers of energy supplies and infrastructure. Oil and gas has the largest proportion of such companies. Besides this, we’re finding companies in other industries getting involved with Augmented Reality:

• Energy
• Automotive
• Manufacturing
• IT hardware, infrastructure and services
• Retail
• Tourism

We’ve also provided solutions for use cases in these industries.

What are the reasons for AR’s popularity in these companies?

We believe it’s due to growing awareness of the value that Augmented Reality brings in conjunction with digital transformation. The ROI of individual AR use cases is becoming evident, and there’s an increasing maturity of hardware platforms for this environment.

We’ve also received much interest in our smart glasses SDK, and as well in our Smart Assistance solution that offers guided assistance as an “augmented operator’s manual” and expert collaboration in real time.

With whom do you partner most often?

We partner with well-consolidated players active in the field of consulting to large industrial companies in IT infrastructure for manufacturing processes, where we can supply the AR-related components in an OEM-type of integration.

Has employee performance in the workplace prior to AR introduction been studied by your customers?

Most of our customers have detailed statistics about performance or time taken to complete specific tasks, and to which we can correlate our solution. In other cases we’ve performed a detailed analysis of their work processes. Our product also contains a module for work order management that enables generation of KPIs for specifically measuring this type of work performance for comparison purposes.

What are common metrics, and do you recommend customers choose their own?

We find that in most cases the most important factor is time to complete a task (for increasing efficiency). But others include the ratio of possible to actual mistakes and the value of avoided damage, as well as the level of fatigue or satisfaction of operators.

As we are discussing the consequences of a disruptive technology, another important factor is the possibility of enabling new work processes. Although this is more difficult to measure, it offers large potential for increasing efficiency.

We always emphasize the importance of evidence for a return on investment in all phases of a project. This is also essential for advocating internally to stakeholders and management for the adoption of AR.

What is your company’s recommended approach to introducing AR in an organization? Are there steps or a model or method you follow?

We take a phased approach and in a preparatory phase offer a workshop for defining possible use cases and analyzing current work processes. We then propose a proof-of-concept phase in which we offer a basic solution with limited functionality. This allows the customer to experience the new solution and see its potential. We subsequently initiate a pilot phase with actual data exchange, followed by a roll-out phase where the application is introduced into actual work processes.

How is data prepared for your customer projects?

All data must be processed to efficiently support the use case. In particular, when connecting to an ERP system it’s important to choose the data sets specifically supporting the use cases.

Do you get involved in the design of the content that will be used in pilot projects?

Normally the customer asks us to provide the content as well as the design of the user interface. In the case of smart glasses this can involve an innovative interaction design. Key to project success is to propose visualizations that help solve the specific problem at hand and improves visual perception.

Our experiences working with customers have allowed us to develop specific templates for smart glasses applications that ensure efficient intake of the relevant information.

What is the profile of the typical person who performs the selected tasks prior to AR, and what are their attitudes?

Augmented Reality, particularly when used with smart glasses, has the major benefit that even untrained operators can perform complex tasks. But also highly trained operators benefit from availability of real time data where it matters.

In most cases operators are satisfied about working with innovative tools that they appreciate as supporting their work tasks. But the impact of new technologies on human resources and work safety must nonetheless be carefully monitored.

Do you study project risks, and do customers perform user studies?

Risk analysis is always part of our use case analysis, just like recommended fallback scenarios.

Although most customers don’t plan user studies themselves, we offer a questionnaire process both before and after a pilot for evaluating improvements for purposes of the roll-out phase.

What are the system components the customer must provide for a successful project?

This is highly dependent on the use case but there is in fact no requirement that customers provide us with system components. However at various times they do provide us with components ranging from full packages of 3D files to databases and API access.

What type of recognition and tracking technologies do you support, and what are the effects of lighting?

We work with all recognition and tracking principles (e.g., image, bar code, natural features, SLAM, depth sensing, etc.), but based on our proprietary core algorithms.

Lighting represents a challenge that in many cases can be overcome, yet it influences tracking stability. It’s always possible to correct this influence using other types of sensors, or to reduce its impact with fallback scenarios.

Do you use IoT, and is AR content locally archived or accessed over a network?

We have specifically developed and deployed an IoT module in our AR platform BrainPad that is used today by one of our customers in the energy industry to retrieve data from sensors on industrial equipment in the field in real time. We thus fully support IoT data integration.

For AR content, there are different scenarios involving both kinds of access and integration, depending on the workflow.

What are the greatest challenges you face in current projects?

One of the largest challenges is in the need to prove ROI on every single use case, which is often complex as many industrial and manufacturing processes are highly intertwined with other processes.

What are the future plans or next steps for JoinPad?

The next steps are to further grow our activity and supply more publishable customer use cases to further support the adoption of the technology in industry. In particular, Joinpad will intensify its education effort to spread knowledge about the value and design of AR applications by conducting workshops offered to technology experts and managers, as well as in academic initiative.

Our team at 3D Studio Blomberg, along with key partners, travelled to Santa Clara, California, to attend the Augmented World Expo. The event is the largest annual conference and exhibition about Augmented Reality worldwide, with over 4000 attendees and 250 exhibitor booths. During the two days, I had the opportunity to make interesting new contacts, meet other AREA members, see and try a variety of innovative AR and VR solutions and attend the enterprise AR tracks hosted by the AREA.

Larger Players Entering the Market

Judging by the offerings on display at AWE, the ecosystem for enterprise AR products and services is expanding. Players like PTC (Vuforia), Osterhout Design Group (ODG) and Microsoft through HoloLens had observably increased their footprint at the event, and even the presence of VR products at an AR show confirmed the overall trend of a growing ecosystem. Microsoft presented its HoloLens product hosted by Vuforia and its technical capabilities are impressive. We view all this as a positive development as it will bring increased competition and more innovative market offerings.

AR in Enterprise Sessions

The AREA-hosted AR in enterprise track featured speakers and AREA members on a diverse range of topics from IoT to security. The sessions were interesting but they highlighted the array of challenges still facing companies seeking to implement Augmented Realty in the workplace. One fundamental takeaway was that widespread adoption of AR in industry isn’t solely a technological issue of AR, but rather is the result of steady improvements in the surrounding mix of technologies such as IoT, Big Data, etc. As these enabling features and technologies improve, they make the value proposition of AR even more compelling.

Another insight from the sessions was the idea of mental models and how we imagine innovations should work—but that actually turn out to be quite different in reality. We need to avoid this pitfall when thinking about AR and the problems it solves.

Lastly, partnerships are essential for expanding the ecosystem and assuring its success. For example, ODG makes great smart glasses but they need partners that create virtual content in order to get the most out of their products. All of these key ingredients will produce the necessary lifting power to make AR a killer app.

Conclusion

AWE was a rich, rewarding experience that we and our partners in attendance enjoyed immensely. As content providers for AR-enabled enterprise systems, we appreciated the opportunity to meet a variety of potential partners to which we add value. We’re looking forward to turning the ideas gained from the conference into reality, and to contributing to the exciting and growing marketplace for Augmented Reality.

As the incoming executive director of the AR for Enterprise Alliance, I was very excited to attend my first Augmented World Expo and to meet some of the 34 members of the AREA.

AWE is one of the largest and best-attended events worldwide about Augmented Reality, and typically hosts thousands of attendees and hundreds of companies. This year’s event was no exception and did not disappoint. I was pleased to meet a high number of innovative AR companies from the AREA provider segment and attend demos of their groundbreaking solutions. It’s clear to me that AR in enterprise is here to stay and the AREA occupies a strategic position in growing the entire ecosystem to the benefit of everyone.

Benefits of AR in Enterprise

The event gave me the opportunity to speak with a range of attendees from many companies and markets. It was exciting to be asked so many different and interesting questions on many topics and one conclusion that came up time and again was the importance of AR in enterprise. The potential benefits and savings of AR is getting the attention of C-suite rather than just the innovation and technology teams. The trajectory towards a real reduction in time, costs and errors is a critical for companies as they look to streamline their business and increase the return on investment.

Enterprise AR Track at AWE ‘16

The focus on enterprise was supported by an impressive number of customers and providers presenting their experiences during the Enterprise AR track—sponsored by the AREA. I learned a lot from all the presentations but it was also instructive to listen to the members of the AREA’s customer segment. They were insightful and provided a unique perspective on the benefits and issues they experienced when implementing AR solutions within their companies. It’s clear that there are many lessons to learn and the AREA is well placed to help the AR ecosystem make effective and informed decisions based on shared knowledge and experience.

The AREA at AWE

At AWE we experienced a constant stream of people visiting our stand and asking questions. Many expressed appreciation of the AREA’s work and benefits achieved for the ecosystem. A number of them even mentioned regularly visiting the AREA website when trying to find information about AR, and that the AREA’s content was insightful and informative.

For those who hadn’t heard of us, it was useful to discuss our mission, benefits, membership options and growth. Much interest was expressed and I hope new members will join based on these discussions.

AWE was my first real experience meeting the enterprise AR community and it was a very useful and insightful experience. I look forward to following up with the many attendees I met and help drive the AREA’s development and its role in supporting this nascent ecosystem.

AREA Members Meeting

After AWE, we held an AREA Members Meeting in Palo Alto, California, on June 3. It was an honor to chair my first such meeting. AREA in-person meetings occur around three times a year and they’re a great opportunity to meet with members, discuss progress made, define future strategic plans to further develop the ecosystem and have some fun.

Thanks to Atheer for hosting the event at the beautiful Palo Alto Art Center.

The morning agenda items included:

• Progress updates from the various AREA committees
• Upcoming events in which the AREA can support its members

The afternoon included various brainstorming sessions around the content and the way the AREA positions itself to potential new members.

The day was full of insightful and interesting discussions, and from a personal perspective it was great to interact with many leaders and understand how we can work together as an alliance to support and grow the ecosystem and provide thought leadership to possible new customers and providers of AR.

If you are interested in joining the AREA, please complete this form.

AREA member NGRAIN started in the enterprise training market and today is an AR solutions provider for a range of companies and industries.

We recently interviewed Barry Po, NGRAIN’s Senior Director of Product and Business Development, to discover the latest developments about NGRAIN’s offerings for industrial Augmented Reality.

What is your company’s mission and focus in the market?

NGRAIN has been working with customers to prepare and publish training programs and other types of information in rich and engaging ways for over 15 years. We develop solutions using both Augmented Reality and VR to meet the needs of our customers in aerospace and defense, energy and utilities, oil and gas and manufacturing and healthcare.

In each of these industries there are specialists who work with physical objects—whether to deploy, operate or to maintain and service these machines—and who need the right information in the right place at the right time. That’s what Augmented Reality brings: the ability to access information that would otherwise not be readily available or easy to understand, and equipping these people with knowledge they need to make better decisions. As a result, training time is shortened and they can perform tasks quickly and correctly every time it’s required.

A field technician’s work is often more complex than outsiders understand. When preparing and executing some tasks, there is a staggering number of details. Many human errors happen when working with heavy assets, such as maintaining or operating heavy equipment like a vehicle or a complex assembly. The value of Augmented Reality in those situations is to reduce errors, as well as cut down on missteps and omissions of technicians in the field. The technology makes it more practical for someone to do a complex job and ensures that they don’t forget anything along the way.

Another major benefit is that a comparatively less experienced person can use the information without having to spend time in the classroom before becoming productive.

What products and technologies does NGRAIN offer?

We offer a full suite of solutions so that the customer can reach the results they seek quickly. Our AR software development kit allows customers to build custom applications with AR. NGRAIN Producer Pro is what people who want to author their own AR applications with a GUI use. It doesn’t require programming experience. It allows authors to create or import their 3D content and to link it to metadata, as well as display it on Windows, iOS and Android mobile devices. Lastly, NGRAIN also provides customized Augmented Reality solutions tailored to customers’ specific needs.

Are there some use cases that, in your experience, are particularly well-suited for AR?

One major use case that NGRAIN addresses is maintenance training. Our AR-enabled solutions help someone in the field learn on the job rather than just in the classroom. It helps them figure out what they need to do, as well as what’s needed for their work and to get feedback. Having it all on a mobile device such as smart glasses makes it easily accessible.

Another major use case is visual inspection and damage assessment. Our solutions for battle damage assessment and repair are deployed in the field by Lockheed Martin, which has been an NGRAIN customer for eight years. US Air Force technicians use our technology to assess and organize repairs for F-22 and F-35 aircraft. This maximizes the amount of time the aircraft spend in flight and reduces maintenance costs and time spent in the hangar.

Which measurements or metrics for assessing AR’s impact do you prefer?

From an AR perspective, our customers are in the process of defining business cases and metrics, so measurements such as ROI have yet to be defined in a standardized way.

If we take a broader perspective that includes Mixed and Virtual Reality however, we can make a few generalizations about KPIs. Based on NGRAIN’s experience deploying 3D applications for maintenance training, we find the technology can double knowledge retention, which, in turn, brings a variety of benefits. For example, technicians become less prone to missing steps or mixing up the sequence. This increased efficiency also enables them to focus more on the job as a whole and ensure it’s well executed.

A third interesting metric is a statistic measuring how often a job is completed correctly the first time it’s performed. When we deploy the technology, we find customers are able to execute the job correctly nine times out of ten. In the oil and gas industry, for example, correct first-time job execution only occurs 30-40% of the time, so the technology’s impact can be significant.

What is your approach to introducing customers to AR?

We look at the customer’s problems first, focusing on their business environment and organization. It’s important to understand a customer’s pain points in achieving their goals, and one way we do this is by spending time at their sites and observing their operations firsthand.

Recently we spent time with an oil and gas customer’s technicians in the field that was maintaining drilling equipment. We learned that much of the knowledge needed to correctly do jobs isn’t actually documented, but nevertheless is subsequently required by less-experienced people. Our aim, with our 3D guidance solutions, is to provide this kind of tribal knowledge as a virtual mentor might.

What are the typical customer organization’s approaches with respect to new technology introduction?

Everyone agrees that technology is a valuable part of any organization, but we often find differences of opinion in the degree of intensity that new technologies should be introduced. For example, many people who would benefit from AR really don’t care about the technology itself but are looking for the efficiency gains it provides.

In our view, introducing new technologies is less about imposing an approach on the customer or the end user. We make them a part of the process of discovering what works best for them. This ensures that everyone’s perspective is taken into account in the process, rather than the process being solely about the vision of a person or small group of people at the top.

A successful deployment of AR technology takes effort and is unique to each customer and group. Discovering the right approach for a particular customer is greatly helped by working with stakeholders at all levels.

Wearables are leading the next industrial revolution as enterprises leverage their data and systems and employees work with the physical world in new ways. From sensors in clothing to smart watches and glasses, wearables will connect the modern workforce with data and with one another. Wearables are also becoming a component in the emerging constellation of tools for accessing the Industrial Internet of Things.

One class of wearable devices—namely smart glasses—are also essential to delivering Augmented Reality experiences that promise efficient, hands-free work, without having to switch attention to a paper manual or hold a mobile device. Smart glasses are evolving rapidly so business cases and implementation practices must advance as well.

New forums are offering answers that help executives and representatives of companies put wearables to use and to grasp their full potential. AREA member BrainXchange will organize and present the Enterprise Wearable Technology Summit East, a conference on wearables in enterprise and industrial settings, in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 16 and 17.

Putting Enterprise Wearable Practitioners First

Many events provide vendors the opportunity to present their wares to customers. There’s a lot of value in this, but it’s not the complete picture.

Enterprise Wearable Technology Summit East focuses on real world case studies. By sharing the experiences of pilot projects and production implementations, participants have the opportunity to compare experiences about this new wave of technology and formulate best practices.

This isn’t to say that vendors of wearable products and technologies are not welcome. On the contrary, they need to understand customer frustrations as well as achievements. Indeed, the team at BrainXchange relies, in part, on the vendors of wearable technologies to open the doors to customers who may not feel comfortable in the limelight.

Diversity Fuels Investments

With only pockets of successful wearable deployments in any one industry, any industry-specific solutions can’t be justified. The many industry-specific conditions and opportunities will influence the pace of adoption of wearables within one vertical. However, a healthy multi-industry dialog can create a larger market pull that could be sufficiently big to fuel new investments.

Attendees from diverse industries such as oil and gas, healthcare, utilities, shipping and others will attend EWTS East to discuss and gain insights on the data and lessons learned on the ground and in the trenches.

From the presentations and panels on the stage and the private sidebar conversations that begin in the context of networking functions, patterns will emerge. AREA members will be sharing their insights and opinions.

AREA-Moderated Group Discussion

AREA Executive Director Christine Perey will moderate the second-day group discussion on “Cultural and Organizational Considerations” of wearables, which will discuss business challenges of wearables faced by enterprises, including:

• Privacy and ethics
• Workplace culture and behavioral changes
• Costs and ROI
• Prospects of standardization and regulation
• Safety concerns of wearables by industry

The panelists and audience will gain new perspectives about the rise of wearable computing and how it will promote new human-world interactions and connect us more intimately with the surrounding environment.

Are you going to attend the EWTS East event in mid-June? Join the AREA and promote your participation in this special event in Atlanta.

If you only have a few days to get up to speed about the use of Augmented Reality to improve workplace productivity or safety, then you’ve come to the right website. You’ll quickly pick up the concepts and a working vocabulary of AR by browsing our site and watching our webinars. You’ll also learn about our members, leaders dedicated to providing AR-enabling technologies and solutions who offer a wealth of knowledge and experience.

But, for most people immersing themselves in this exciting new discipline, surfing the web isn’t sufficient. Let’s face it: enterprise AR experiences always involve a physical world component.

Putting hands on the technologies while they’re in use, to see different options and meet people in person, are critical to tapping the potential that enterprise AR offers.

AWE Brings the AR Industry Together

The upcoming Augmented World Expo (AWE) on June 1 and 2, 2016, in Santa Clara, California, is an important event for AREA members. Over four thousand AR practitioners and enthusiasts will experience the latest technologies when gathering important data for decisions on behalf of their companies and projects.

Organized annually since 2010 by industry mover-and-shaker Ori Inbar and his team, the event has both a conference and a trade show. These bring together customers, vendors, researchers, investors and many others who are important to the continued expansion of this industry in a variety of formats. 

Whether you’re looking for something specific or just exploring, AWE provides an opportunity to get to know the experts, such as AREA members, and to try out the latest Augmented Reality technologies and products first hand.

AREA Members at AWE

The AREA and its members will be leading and speaking during the AWE 2016 enterprise AR track of sessions, as well as demonstrating solutions on the exhibition floor.  

In order to provide the greatest impact to our diverse audiences, we’ve divided the enterprise AR sessions into vendor-neutral insights and recommendations from a range of technology providers on June 1, followed by customer case studies and testimonials on June 2.

Chaired by Paul Davies, Technical Fellow at Boeing, an AREA founding sponsor member, our June 1 speakers will provide a lot of practical advice based on their experience across many industries. Since it is frequently the first major barrier to success, the day will begin with speakers sharing recommendations about how to select and prioritize enterprise AR use cases.

Then AREA members will offer their suggestions for how to prepare and deliver digital content for enterprise AR experiences. In this session, I will provide the results of a research project on different AR authoring platforms. David Marimon of Catchoom will describe the results of recent studies with 3D sensing platforms for real world object recognition and Alex Hill, CTO of CN2 Technologies will offer guidance on how to optimize 3D assets for use in AR experiences.

The rest of the day promises great talks on enterprise AR wearable technology strategies and the use of AR as a human interface to Industrial Internet of Things.

On June 2, Bob Meads, CEO of iQagent, another AREA founding sponsor member, will chair three hours of sessions during which customers will share their experiences working in pilot and proof-of-concept projects. These sessions will feature case studies and testimonial presentations. The afternoon will offer round tables and panel discussions with customers, and we’ll hear the results of recent projects and lessons learned throughout the day.

AREA members will also be exhibiting in record numbers and many will have their booths in the AR for Enterprise Pavilion.

Will you be there? Stop by AREA member booths to introduce yourself to us and let us know how we can help you to get the greatest value from attending AWE 2016 and your enterprise AR investments.

For decades, telephones have been a mission-critical business tool for reducing the need for close proximity of experts and those they support. Internet- and web-based videoconferencing is known to contribute to lower travel-related costs and delays in delivering training and technical support.

As the quality of connectivity, cameras and other components have improved in recent years, the use of personal or company-issued mobile devices by employees for technical support has flourished. In some industrial and enterprise settings, mobile devices are required for rapid access to work orders and instructions, as well as capturing issues and documenting conditions. In many situations, capturing one or more high-resolution photographs when documenting an issue is faster and more complete than composing a written description. When a question or problem is quickly grasped by an expert who is not physically nearby, the expert can avoid travel but not delay the rapid resolution of the issue by proposing the most appropriate steps.

While photos of issues in the field can be beneficial, they aren’t always sufficient to describe a problem fully. And experts reviewing the photos are unable to clearly communicate their findings in a visual manner.

Researchers in academia and industry have studied these problems for over a decade and developed a variety of prototypes to enable clearer communication. Some commercial solutions were proposed prior to 2015 but they were not successful for a variety of reasons.

Needs and Technologies Align in 2016

Customers’ needs and a maturing array of enabling technologies are creating the conditions for AR-enhanced remote assistance to take off in 2016. In the past 12 months alone, dramatic improvements in AR-enriched annotation capabilities in real time for mobile devices and even wearables are visible.

Customers who have implemented pilots in 2014 and 2015 are beginning to share positive results and rapid return on investment with few significant obstacles. They also have increased their abilities to capture tribal knowledge and to train new operators in best practices without sacrificing productivity.

In response to this trend, investments have also markedly increased. Today there are dozens of suppliers in this segment, with solutions ranging from prototypes to battle-tested commercial packages. Matching options to needs will be more challenging in the future without a clear understanding of trade-offs and benefits.

A Vendor-Neutral Technical Report

The AREA’s new technical report is designed to support the dialog between customers and suppliers, and for suppliers to better understand where they can offer the most value to partners.

The AREA report begins with a snapshot of a typical AR-enhanced remote assistance system architecture and describes four generic use cases that apply to hundreds of specific scenarios across dozens of industries. It offers a simple landscape of companies in this area, separating those currently providing technologies for possible integration into a complete AR-enhanced remote assistance system, to those providing complete solutions for remote assistance. In addition, the report’s appendix summarizes the literature published in engineering journals on the topic of remote assistance with Augmented Reality.

Although some of our members provide solutions for AR-enhanced remote assistance, the study is impartial and neutral. AREA members have exclusive access to the full report. On this date, it will be available publicly for use by anyone seeking further insight and understanding of the opportunities and providers.

A Rapidly Changing Market

The AREA’s technical report aims to be an introductory tool for those who are getting familiar with the segment rather than an exhaustive and detailed buyer’s guide. As the level of investment and attention to this segment continues to rise in coming months, the technologies and suppliers are rapidly evolving. New features are emerging with each release. And, although the report does not examine this aspect, new and different business models are being proposed and tested.

Have you implemented projects that introduce AR-enhanced remote assistance to improve collaboration between experts and field technicians? Are you performing research to compile all up-to-the minute details about precise solutions for remote assistance? What unique requirements do you have?

AREA member 3D Studio Blomberg (3DS) excels at visualization of data and especially at enterprise solutions for Augmented Reality. The AREA asked Pontus Blomberg, founder and CEO of 3DS, about his company’s history and projects in the space.

Q. Where do you have the greatest number of projects or customers?

Our customers are mainly in heavy industry, and include both large and mid-sized companies. We are also targeting the educational and consumer sectors for our AR solutions.

Q. How did 3DS become popular as a supplier to the industries you just identified?

Since the company’s founding we’ve led the way to digital transformation through advanced content delivery systems to promote process efficiency, expert knowledge and overall quality.

In 2006 we recognized the potential of AR to boost productivity in industrial workplaces and introduced the technology to Wartsila, a major Finnish power equipment supplier in 2008. At that time we evaluated ALVAR, Vuforia, and Metaio to survey their functionality from a visualization standpoint and assess their capabilities in handling 3D scenes and animations. In 2012 we delivered a proof of concept to Wartsila, and in 2013 we joined a Finnish national R&D program to study the potential of AR in knowledge sharing solutions for field service personnel.

This study showed that research and practical industry applications were not in sync, and many players were concerned with achieving efficiency through dynamic AR content and data integration. We entered an AR solutions provider partnership with Metaio in 2014 but realized the platform focused on technology functionality rather than on system utilization and process implementation, which is our focus today. We are currently studying the potential of Osterhaut Design Group’s R-7 smart glasses and continue to perform proof of concept projects with emphasis on process analysis, system development and AR in production use.

Q. What are the most common metrics used to assess task performance or project success?

We recommend that customer metrics be in line with their quality management system for effective reference and comparison. Broadly speaking, examples of common metrics include:

• Improvements in product and service quality
• Effectiveness
• Safety and risk reduction

Taking simple definitions of effectiveness (“doing the right thing”) and efficiency (“doing the thing right”), we believe it’s possible to work efficiently but it doesn’t contribute to productivity until we’re able to efficiently do the right things at the right time.

Q. What is your approach to AR introduction at customer sites?

As AR is new to most organizations, we recommend detailed analysis of the customer’s business strategy. In order to achieve digital transformation in line with the AR solution, the project needs to be aligned with the business strategy all the way to the board room. We also recommend demos and proof of concept projects to help organizations gain knowledge and understanding.

Q. How is data prepared for your customer projects?

It’s all a question of knowledge and experience gained through project implementation. Initially data has to be prepared manually, but at later stages of the project we’re better able to develop ways of handling new types of content in existing enterprise content systems.

Q. Do you get involved in the design of content that goes into pilot projects?

Yes, this is where our long experience and advantage really shines. Our expertise in visualization, combined with the customer’s industrial product and process expertise, play a significant role in achieving digital transformation through AR solutions. But no large-scale transformations can occur before new knowledge and tools are in place that allow for productivity and dynamic content.

Q. Do you study project risks with the customer or project leader?

There have been no major studies until now but naturally new technologies bring risks with them. Imagine driving your car with GPS assistance in heavy traffic and suddenly you can’t get a signal.

Q. Do you know if your customers perform user studies prior to and following use of the proposed system?

Yes, the fact that we start to see significant achievements in implementing AR solutions drives these kinds of studies. We’ve also had the chance to work together with partners in bigger collaborative research projects.

Q. What are the attitudes of those in the workplace where AR projects are successfully introduced?

Employees at the customer site are very positive and even surprised. We often encounter statements similar to, “Wow! I’ve seen this on YouTube and the Internet. It’s incredible to see that it really works.”

Q. Describe the technologies at play. What types of components do you offer?

Through our key partner network we offer the entire pipeline of smart glasses, mobile solutions, UIs, server-client databases and content development.

We use worldclass tracking technologies today but expect that Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) technologies will gain ground. We realize this type of technology isn’t applicable in unique or dynamic situations at larger scales, although we’ve performed several demos and proof of concept projects with SLAM and the results are promising.

At the moment we see marker-based (or with code/ID) and geo-tracking as the most stable and flexible ways to acquire user context. We’ve built upon these technologies in our products and platforms.

At the same time we realize significant investment is needed in the modification of existing customer processes and new competences. To be successful, we aim to help our customers drive this change through systematic long-term cooperation.

Q. What must customers provide in terms of system components?

For rapid familiarization with the technology we recommend providing data to achieve a real look and feel. We recommend not overdoing it with complex UIs and information flows. Developing proof of concept projects with small, incremental steps for easy evaluation and quick changes is important to identify precisely the drivers of an AR introduction.

Q. With whom do you partner most often?

We partner with technology providers (hardware, software and tracking technologies), and we also see content providers as strategic because of their long-term customer relationships. To get all these complex systems to work together with business process changes is a team effort. It will take a few years. We aim to use what’s already been applied in an enterprise because we want to leverage the significant investments that have already been made in IT and visualization.

Q. What are the environmental conditions where customer projects are being conducted?

We’ve experienced both laboratory and real environmental conditions, especially in terms of lighting, vibrations and sound. Many of our customers use ruggedized solutions for their projects, which means unique and custom solutions for harsh, dynamic environments.

Q. What are your other offerings?

In terms of training, 3DS also provides competence development in combination with process development. For data, we use the customer’s cloud and offer commercial cloud solutions.

Q. What are the greatest challenges you currently face in AR introduction projects?

Customers often don’t have sufficient insight into the possibilities that emerging visualization technologies and content can provide. Therefore a clear understanding of customer expectations, goals and their business is needed. Customers also need a certain amount of trust that their expectations will be met.

Many times the only way forward is to agree on a proof of concept or demo that shows the technology, content, functionality, added value and supplier capabilities.

From the customer point of view, there are also uncertainties about the new types of content that will be needed to enrich the current PLM process to allow for visualization on a large scale. How will this information be connected and utilized together with the new visual content? We offer expertise in these questions and they need to be processed in very close cooperation with the customer as they touch the very core of their business.

Q. What are the future plans or next steps for your company?

We’ll continue to systematically monitor and build our international client base and partner network and develop state-of-the-art products and services.