The AREA has a vision and, at the same time, we must remain pragmatic. Let me explain.

We’re all familiar with the myths about the industrial revolution: it happened overnight, right? Coal leapt out of the ground and formed coke. Iron became steel and the rest is history. Then, 100 years later, in the late-20^th century, computers profoundly changed what people could do with their knowledge and, using networked computers, silicon-driven industries revolutionized how people communicate and how just about everything—human and machine—works.

In the future, businesses will experience another transformation that will have a big impact on workers who have spent far less time behind computer screens than knowledge workers. Largely without the assistance of silicon-based computational devices, they move themselves and materials around; they build, transform, maintain, use, repair and even take apart objects in the physical world.  They are pragmatic when it comes to the introduction of new technologies.

Soon, the procedures these workers need to follow will leap into their line of sight and at their fingertips, endowing them with the knowledge of those who benefited from the previous cyber revolution.

Improving Workplace Performance

Augmented Reality-assisted enterprise systems will drive significant improvements in many operations, as measured by lower costs and higher productivity. Those whose work requires guidance, decision support or collaboration concerning objects and places in the physical world will, through contextually relevant visualization of information: 

• Be more productive
• Operate more safely
• Consistently comply with all policies and procedures
• Perform tasks with the lowest possible number of errors

But first, some innovative leaders have to take risks and make investments that may, as when Matthew Boulton continued to finance the research of James Watt, appear imprudent.

Who Are We Talking About?

The steam engine and industrial revolution did not happen overnight. It was only many years after entering into partnership with entrepreneur Matthew Boulton that the concepts and hard work of James Watt produced significant efficiency improvements by comparison with the earliest model steam engines.

The AREA recognizes that many investors will take risks before Augmented Reality is mature. There will also be many engineers whose brilliance of conception and practical know-how will be needed to improve the productivity of workers.

Who Are We Talking To?

We’re talking to you: the developer, the business manager, the IT group, the learning department manager, the innovation group, and the executive office.

You each need different arguments to persuade you of the value of investing in enterprise Augmented Reality.  Our content and informational programs are being designed to match the needs of these diverse groups of stakeholders.

Our target audiences are not limited to those in enterprises that are implementing Augmented Reality for their internal operational needs. We also recognize target audiences in organizations that provide goods and services to enterprise customers. These include the providers of core enabling technologies and vendors of enterprise IT hardware and software, as well as systems integrators of many kinds.

Pragmatic, Like Our Members

Everyone wants to quickly achieve goals towards AR introduction. But hype builds up unrealistic expectations. Disappointed decision makers may not shoulder the risks again.

In order to help all these different groups present their offers and, on the other hand, understand what they are acquiring or introducing into their businesses, the AREA is pragmatic.

The AREA’s programs are designed to simply and consistently:

• Reduce the myths and mysteries associated with Augmented Reality
• Help customers to establish reasonable expectations (where they can be met with existing technologies)

Pragmatism with practical information—not  hype—is as important as vision.

The AREA offers unique content about enterprise Augmented Reality that you won’t find elsewhere. This post shows you how to find and take advantage of all that the website provides.

When you know what you’re looking for, we suggest entering a few keywords in the search box.

Learning about Augmented Reality and Staying up to Date

We offer different types of engaging content yet navigation is easy. There are only six items on the menu.

If you are new to enterprise Augmented Reality, browse the pages under the “Why AR for Enterprise” menu. They are packed with articles on technologies, use cases, getting started and more basic information about this exciting field.

Visiting the AREA website is a great way to stay informed about trends and happenings in enterprise Augmented Reality. AREA blog posts, news and events are easy to find using these menus along the top of the screen.

AREA members are industry leaders in Augmented Reality and regularly contribute their opinions, ideas and insights to the AREA blog. We make sure you know about relevant industry news on enterprise Augmented Reality topics from around the web through our curated news pages. Finally, we keep you looking ahead by sharing highlights of upcoming member and industry gatherings through postings to our events calendar.

Member Portal

Some parts of the site are only accessible by members in good standing. Here all classes of members will find targeted content that helps them to get ahead in the Augmented Reality space. Examples include case studies, research, time-sensitive information under development by AREA committees and other upcoming features.

Currently member-exclusive content is found in the “Resources” menu. Join the AREA today to help drive changes in your organization and reserve exclusive access to our member network, content portal and more.

About the AREA

Finally, under “The AREA” menu at the far right, there’s a wealth of information about our organization. This includes in-depth profiles of our members and their achievements, our board, information on being a member, AREA committees for marketing and defining upcoming technical frameworks, the newsroom and our FAQ.

Our board members invest their time and financial resources towards the successful achievement of the AREA’s goals by serving on the board of directors and as committee chairs.

Our committees are listed on a dedicated page and members will use this page to access committee deliverables.

To learn more about membership plans and the process for joining, visit the membership information page and FAQ.

We Want to Hear from You

We welcome your feedback and comments. Do you have questions about the AREA or enterprise Augmented Reality? Can we help clarify any mysteries or myths you’ve heard about Augmented Reality?

Please register to leave a comment on this page or send us a message using our contact page.

In contrast to companies that are responding and reacting to changing conditions without a plan, strategic enterprises systematically apply the best planning and management processes.

A strategic enterprise successfully integrates emerging and mature systems to improve processes and outcomes. Managers in strategic enterprises factor in their existing information systems development and maintenance efforts, as well as any new technology introduction when guiding their businesses towards the achievement of goals.

The AREA and AR in Strategic Enterprises

AREA members met with strategic enterprise managers in Sheffield on July 1. The focus of the event was on how to introduce and integrate AR into strategic enterprises.

Over the course of the day, AREA members shared their experiences and recommendations for choosing use cases, preparing data for use in AR experiences, choosing and training users for AR pilots and introduction activities, measuring impacts and managing risks associated with AR introduction.

The AREA’s Value Added

The sessions are a perfect example of AREA members demonstrating their thought leadership and collaborating to share knowledge with others. In addition to the valuable discussions made possible during the networking and panel sessions, the recordings of the presentations are now available for viewing on YouTube.

Through the ARise event and its sessions, the AREA and its members are accelerating AR adoption in the corporate environment. As Executive Director of the AREA, I am proud to present the 11-session series and hope you will gain additional insights into the ways Augmented Reality can benefit your enterprise.

Technological and cultural shifts that result in enhancements in manufacturing tend to increase complexity in products and processes. In turn, this complexity increases requirements in manufacturing and puts added pressure on organizations to squeeze out inefficiencies and lower costs where and when feasible.

This trend is acute in aerospace, where complexity, quality and safety require a large portion of final assembly to be done by humans. Corporations like AREA member Boeing are finding ways to improve assembly workflows by making tasks easier and faster to perform with less errors.

At ARise ’15, Paul Davies of Boeing presented a wing assembly study in collaboration with Iowa State University, showing dramatic differences in performance when complex tasks are performed following 2D work instructions versus Augmented Reality.

A Study in Efficiency

In the study, three control groups were asked to assemble parts of a wing, which required over 50 steps to assemble nearly 30 different parts. Each group performed the task using three different modes of work instruction:

• A desktop computer screen displaying a work instruction PDF file. The computer was immobile and sat in the corner of the room away from the assembly area.
• A mobile tablet displaying a work instruction PDF file, which participants could carry with them.
• A mobile tablet displaying Augmented Reality software showing the work instructions as guided steps with graphical overlays. A four-camera infrared tracking system provided high-precision motion tracking for accurate alignment of the AR models with the real world.

Subjects assembled the wing twice; during the first attempt, observers measured first time quality (see below) before disassembling the wing and having participants reassemble it to measure the effectiveness of instructions on the learning curve.

Participants’ movements and activities were recorded using four webcams positioned around the work cell. In addition, they wore a plastic helmet with reflective tracker balls that allowed optical tracking of head position and orientation in order for researchers to visualize data about how tasks were fulfilled. Tracker balls were also attached to the tablet (in both AR and non-AR modes).

First Time Quality

To evaluate the ability of a novice trainee with little or no experience to perform an operation the first time (“first time quality”), errors are counted and categorized. The study revealed that tablet mode yielded significantly less errors (on average) than desktop mode.

In the diagram above, the blue bar represents the first assembly attempt and the green bar is the second. The diagram also shows that subjects using Augmented Reality mode made zero errors on average per person, indicating the potential of AR to improve first time quality for assembly tasks.

Rapid assembly

This diagram measures time taken to complete tasks by mode, both the first and second time. AR-assisted participants completed tasks faster the first time than with other modes

Conclusions

Overall the study witnessed an almost 90% improvement in first time quality between desktop and Augmented Reality modes, with AR reducing time to build the wing by around 30%. Researchers also found that when instructions are presented with Augmented Reality, people gain a faster understanding and need less convincing of the correctness of tasks.

Bottom line is that this study shows and quantifies how complex tasks performed for the first time can benefit from Augmented Reality work instructions. If the task is done with fewer errors and faster, the impact on productivity is highly significant.

Where can Augmented Reality make an impact in your organization?

This article originally appeared in the AERTEC Solutions blog.

Contrary to what many people believe, the aeronautical industry is today heavily reliant on the human factor. Craftsmanship prevails in a process that produces large machines—namely aircraft—containing thousands of parts and involving disparate tasks that converge on the manufacturing of a few dozen units a month in the best of cases.

In reality, this figure is minuscule if we compare it to the automobile industry, where we can see manufacturing plants churning out an average of 50 vehicles per hour. This production volume and the larger number of parts and repetitive tasks it involves allow for significant cost savings as a result of the inclusion of automation processes.

The aeronautical industry is making great strides in incorporating the best knowledge and experience gained in these manufacturing sectors and including them for its own benefit, along with other more innovative technologies, procedures and concepts.

This infographic shows some of these concepts, along with others that have already been in use for some time, illustrating what some call Industry 4.0 or the Factory of the Future. We also refer to this as the Augmented Factory due to upcoming human-machine interfaces that integrate human activities into the industrial internet of things.

This post by Dace Campbell previously appeared on the AEC Industry website Beyond Design 

AR: An Extension of Lean

For decades, pundits, prophets, prognosticators, and purveyors of technology have been forecasting the fit of Augmented Reality (AR) for the AEC industry (I know, I’m one of them!) In recent years, as hardware evolves, and BIM matures, we find ourselves on the threshold of AR solutions being truly capable of extending capabilities for architects, contractors, and owners.

Autodesk is no stranger to AR, and we continue to keep an eye on the technology, looking for the right solutions for our customers. We’ve defined (refined?) AR as the real-time display of spatially contextual information, where context is the physical environment. In today’s world of “big data,” we are seeking out ways to support the industry’s efforts to offer the right information and the right materials to the right people, in the right place, at the right time. In manufacturing and construction, we talk about just-in-time (JIT) delivery to support Lean operations and production control. With AR, we extend that conversation beyond Just-in-Time, to Just-in-Place delivery of information. That is, information is served up to the end user in an appropriate, localized, specific spatial context.

Is AR Ready for You?

I recently attended both the Augmented Worlds Expo in Santa Clara, and Autodesk’s NAC3 (North American Construction Customer Council) hosted by DAQRI in Los Angeles. At both events, you could all but taste the anticipation of AR solutions made ready for the AEC industry. The evolution of hardware sensors and processors, wearable form factors, and software development toolkits has bred a diverse range of AR solutions for businesses and consumers alike. DAQRI, in particular, is now offering their Smart Helmet, with a world of potential to disrupt the way we consume and process information on the construction site. On the low end, 3D-printed lenses can be clipped to your smart-phone to support immersive viewing of spatially contextual information for as little as $20!

No AR solution on the market today is without its flaws, and there is plenty of room for improvement when applying AR in AEC, such as: support for collaborative decision-making, hands-free tasks, balancing task-focus and safety, and application in harsh environmental conditions. But there are a lot of things to like about what solutions are here and on their way as technology continues to get better.

AEC Use Cases for AR

At Autodesk, we’ve identified over a dozen use cases for AR in design, construction, and facilities operations and maintenance. We’ve analyzed these according to the business pain points they address, the scope or value of that pain, the potential for integration with our solutions, phase of a project, and level of effort to implement (including user’s motion area, indoor/outdoor mix, scene preparation, tracking accuracy required, display latency allowed, see-through requirements, and data-serving burden).

We’ve also asked ourselves: in which of these uses cases is AR a truly unique solution, as opposed to alternative ways to solve the problem? That is: where is AR desirable, and perhaps even necessary, to eliminate specific industry pains by applying its unique characteristics?

Overlay and Compare

A skeptic can reasonably argue that, while beneficial, AR isn’t a unique or necessary solution in almost all AEC use cases. However, one condition keeps coming up over and over again, where AR can truly and uniquely solve a problem, save valuable time, and improve confidence in decision-making: real-time overlay of information onto the real world to support comparison (and contrast).

To illustrate this, think of these cartoon sketches, in which you are tasked to identify the subtle differences between them, and think of how dramatically the process could be improved simply by overlaying one image over the other in a single display:

Can you spot the 8 differences?

Overlay the images into a single display to easily identify the differences!

Sweet Spots for AR in AEC

We perform this comparison exercise again and again in design, construction, and operations – except in AEC it’s much harder than the challenge shown in the cartoon example above. In some cases, the question isn’t simply: “can you spot the 8 differences?” Rather, it’s: “Are there any differences? If so, where? And, how many are there (and how do you correct them)?”

With this condition applied as a filter to the long list of potential AEC uses cases, just a few rise to the top: the ones in which we need to perform compare and contrast tasks in quickly and accurately. In gross terms, they exist where the real world (as-is conditions), the Building Information Model (intended conditions), and the newly constructed world (as-built conditions) each intersect with the other, as shown here:

There are three intersections between these realms. Architects deal with the intersection between “as-is” and “intended” when visualizing their designs in/at the project site. Think of AR here as a real-time, interactive, “photo-match” for studying and communicating a design in context. Next, contractors face the comparison between the “intended” design and the “as-built” project, both when performing layout on the site and again when performing quality control to confirm that their work was installed or assembled correctly (see also: Capture Reality, Recapture Time). Finally, owners contend with the overlap between the “as-built” documentation and the true “as-is” world of the facility in operations. Here, they seek to supplement their experience of the living project with meta-data and systems hidden or enclosed by architectural finishes.

In all of these cases, the key project stakeholders look for a solution in which they can view virtual data overlaid on the physical world, intuitively and in real time, to compare and contrast new and old, desired and actual, recorded and reality.

Serving up the proper information in context is key, both just-in-time and just-in-place. After all, there is a time – and a place – for everything.

EPRI is proud to collaborate with the AREA on the first ever Augmented Reality in Leading-Edge Utilities (ARLU) this July, where we will lead the industry to discern a disruptive technology and anticipate and solve issues through collaborative effort. In fact, ours is the only industry we know of where Augmented Reality as a disruptive innovation is being openly discussed. This isn’t going unnoticed.  Other industries are pointing at utilities and saying “Hey, look what they’re doing.”  Utilities are rarely perceived as having an active role in exciting new trends.

Three in One

The ARLU event is, in fact, three events in one.  First, it’s a meeting where EPRI and utilities industry representatives will present their Augmented Reality research and projects to vendors developing applications for the utility industry.  Vendors will see where utilities are placing emphasis in their development efforts and learn about the issues they‘re encountering.  Requirements such as size, weight and battery life of wearable technologies will be explored through the presentations, and will impart to participants a deeper understanding of the issues facing introduction of Augmented Reality in utilities.

Next, vendors will present their latest technologies for immediate feedback from industry experts. Not all technologies fit every utility situation and discussions around fit for purpose of presented technologies will be lively and informative. Finally, a workshop on gaps in existing standards will bring multiple perspectives to the problems of creating safe, comfortable and interoperable AR experiences in the utility space. 

Thought Leaders

Having subject matter experts together in one room is the one of the key objectives of this meeting. As we’ve been preparing the ARLU event, we’ve invited some of the brightest people in the utilities and utilities software industry to mix with thought leaders in Augmented Reality. We expect that the impact will last much longer than the two days in July because new ideas will emerge in the weeks and months that follow as the participants who meet in Charlotte continue to develop relationships.

We expect to capture some of the ideas these thought leaders generate and to share the outcomes of discussions with the broader community so that many others can also benefit.

Time is Right

We feel this is the right time for such a conference. Today, judging a technology for what it can do right now is the wrong way to look at it.  Advances occur almost daily and it’s better to first define what’s needed to build a future state of the technology. That’s where Augmented Reality is today. Practical applications are just now being introduced but an explosion of functionality is coming. By the time the average person notices the ubiquity of Augmented Reality, many of the issues we are going to discuss in Charlotte will already have been settled.

Wearable technologies with Augmented Reality are at a stage where real utility applications are possible. At the same time, shifting demographics at utilities are bringing in younger, less experienced workers—as older, more practiced workers are leaving. There needs to be an orchestrated “changing of the guard” where institutional knowledge, gained by years of hard work and experience, is transferred to a younger, more tech-savvy generation. The technologies presented at ARLU will deliver remote expertise and put information at the fingertips of crews composed of less seasoned individuals.

The wise man says it’s better to act on a lightning flash than wait to hear the thunder. That’s why we planned this event in 2015 and look forward to seeing many of the readers of this blog at the first ARLU event.

Today Christine Perey, Executive Director of the AREA, interviews Bob Meads, CEO of iQagent and member of the AREA board. Bob is pioneering the use of mobile Augmented Reality on the plant floor to increase worker efficiency and safety.

Q. What is the level of interest in enterprise AR among people in your company?

The level of interest in this technology is high; however, we don’t like to put technology first. As I have written about previously, AR is a great fit for plant floor challenges. But using AR (or any technology) for its own sake is a flawed approach if you want to sell a product. We identify the problems we want to solve, and fit the best technology to solve them elegantly. The litmus test of a great AR solution is at first you don’t notice it’s an AR solution. Your attention is captured by the system’s usefulness and applicability to the problem it addresses. The realization that it uses AR comes as an afterthought.

Q. How does your company, group or team plan to make an impact in enterprise Augmented Reality?

We plan to bring to the enterprise market mobile apps that solve real problems, in keeping with our “practical” approach to Augmented Reality.

Q. In your opinion, what are the greatest obstacles to the introduction of AR in enterprise?

The three barriers we encounter most frequently are in adequate infrastructure, security issues and resistance to new technology. Using AR technology as part of a plant solution will overwhelmingly be issued on mobile devices. So the barriers to using mobile devices become barriers to using AR on the plant floor. It can be a big investment for a plant to create a wireless infrastructure that covers the plant floor well. Many plants also haven’t fully embraced the use of electronic documents versus paper ones, despite the obvious benefits. Mobile devices also tend to raise alarm bells with IT for many reasons. Then there is concern over ROI, that once the infrastructure is added, these new mobile devices and software will not actually be used or won’t provide a return on investment.

Q. Are you focused on a particular industry? If so please describe it, as well as the customers with whom you work.

While we serve most industries, automotive, chemical/pharmaceutical and food & beverage are where we focus. This is because these plants have lots of automation, and, therefore, lots of data and resources that the plant staff access on a daily basis. The ROI of our product, iQagent, is very dramatic for these kinds of plants.

Q. How do you characterize the current stage in enterprise AR adoption? What will it take to go to the next stage or to accelerate adoption?

In my opinion, AR technologies are still in the trough of the Gartner Hype Cycle, but slowly coming. The potential for enterprise AR concept to help workers visualize data and resources as they relate to real world equipment or processes in enormous. It limits the skillsets needed to perform adjustments or repairs, reduces human error, and lessens the need for training. It’s a giant win-win. So why isn’t it already in widespread use? Because AR solutions tend to be highly customized and developed for specific customers. This approach is expensive, introduces risk and extends the ROI for the customer. This is due, in part, to the lack of standards. The breakthrough for AR in the enterprise will come when there are more off-the-shelf AR solutions that are easy to integrate and deploy and provide obvious benefits and immediate ROI. Right now most AR products are toolkits because there are no AR standards out there. If standards were created and adopted, it would be easier for AR providers to create off-the-shelf solutions. This in turn reduces risk, lowers cost and provides a well-defined ROI for the customer.

Q. We’d like some historical context for your current role. How did you get interested in or develop your role in enterprise Augmented Reality?

I have been in industrial automation software and integration for 20 years, and have always loved technology. iQuest, my automation company, specializes in using different technologies to solve plant floor problems. When the iPad was released, we began looking for ways to leverage it on the plant floor. We started with identifying common problems we could solve with a mobile app, and then developed iQagent and the concept of “practical” augmented reality, or, in the words of Ars Technica, “Just Enough AR.”

Image courtesy of IQagent

This post was previously published on the DAQRI blog and posted here with permission.

As we head into Augmented World Expo 2015, we have seen this event grow and evolve alongside the industry. Within this last year, we’ve seen more mainstream conversations about Augmented Reality than ever before.  As a result of this increased focus, there is now more than ever, a need to support and encourage innovation in Augmented Reality and computer vision technologies.

This year, we are excited to be showcasing our products and to spotlight our recent acquisition of ARToolKit, the world’s most widely used augmented reality SDK.  By releasing ARToolKit professional SDKs under LGPL v3.0 for free use, DAQRI is committing its resources to the open source community in the hopes that (in the words of our founder, Brian Mullins), “we can kick off the next AR revolution and inspire a whole new generation to pick it up and make things that haven’t been imagined yet.”

On the exhibition floor, Ben Vaughan and Philip Lamb from ARToolworks will be available to discuss ARToolKit and DAQRI’s newly-created open source division that they are heading up. In addition, representatives from DAQRI will be demoing DAQRI 4D Studio and showcasing exciting technologies from Melon, our brain computer interface division.

DAQRI executives will also be presenting throughout the conference:

Monday, June 8:

• 10:45 am – 11:30 am—DAQRI 4D Studio Tutorial
  Katherine Wiemelt, Sr. Product Director, DAQRI
• 2:15pm – 3:00 pm—How to Measure Enterprise AR Impacts
  Andy Lowery, President, DAQRI

Tuesday, June 9:

• 11:30 am – 1:00pm—Smart Glasses Introductions
  Matt Kammerait, VP Product, DAQRI
• 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm—Entertainment, Games, and Play
  Brian Selzer, VP Business and Product Development, DAQRI
• 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm—Auggie Awards
  Brian Mullins, Founder and CEO, DAQRI

Wednesday, June 10:

• 2:45 pm-3:00 pm—From Evolution to Revolution: How AR will Transform Work, in the Future
  Brian Mullins, Founder and CEO, DAQRI

This article was originally published by AREA member NGRAIN on their company blog.

Augmented World Expo 2015 is just a week away, and with the recent news that Metaio may have just been bought out by Apple, it’s shaping up to be the most interesting AWE event yet.

Skeptics have been saying for years (or decades, for those really keeping count) that Augmented Reality applications, much like their VR siblings, are variously destined to be “niche” technologies, pipe dreams or simply impossible. The VR community is doing a great job of proving these skeptics wrong: Oculus, HTC and Valve are on the cusp of releasing VR headsets in the $300-400 range that will enable anyone to bring VR home. There is a critical mass of indie developers who are passionate about bringing VR experiences for the whole world to see, share and experience, and there are real VR apps, games and other experiences that people can download and use today, even if the hardware comes in the form of developer kits or roll-your-own cardboard.

You could say the AR community has been less successful. AR is more difficult to explain to the uninitiated (“it’s kind of like VR, but not”). The technologies needed to make compelling Augmented Reality experiences are arguably more challenging (real-time 3D object tracking, anyone?). And there’s an argument to be made that we, as an AR community, tend to over-promise and under-deliver—a quick browse through YouTube are AR marketing videos that present sci-fi’ed visions of the future with fantastic, magical wearable displays and free-hand gestural interactions that would have a place in any Hollywood summer blockbuster.

The skeptics can be forgiven if that’s what they think augmented reality is all about — as an AR community, there tends to be the default refrain that the future is going to be awesome, when it finally gets here.

If there is one thing that we can take away from this recent transaction between Apple and Metaio, it’s this: the future is now. And as a community, we owe it to ourselves to start thinking that way. It is true that key parts of the AR tech stack aren’t 100% robust. Wearable smart glasses present themselves as Atari-era in capability in a world with PS4/Xbox One-level expectations and there are very few tools out there to help AR content creators (shameless plug: here at NGRAIN, we do offer an AR content creation tool called NGRAIN Vergence that lets you create industrial AR content without having to write a single line of code). But as it is with any emerging technology, the goal can’t be to have a perfect technology, but rather one that suspends disbelief and serves its intended audience well.

In fact, there are enough parts of the AR tech stack that are available today to create compelling industrial applications or entertaining experiences. What we do at NGRAIN is a case in point: we already have customers who are bringing augmented reality to their businesses, from assessing vehicle damage in the maintenance yard to making crucial operational decisions in sub-zero temperatures. I will own up to the fact that the technology isn’t always where I wish it were, or that it doesn’t do everything I wish it did but it does plenty to deliver value to our customers, which is really the name of the game. And it all comes from focusing on the real problems—the ones our customers have—rather than the challenges we sometimes invent as a community (e.g. the “need” for high res optics, zero latency experiences or magically perfect object tracking and registration).

Coming back to that parallel in the VR world, it’s a certainty that the first generation of commercially available VR gear will not be everything to everyone, but the good news is that it doesn’t have to be: it will be good enough for people to give it a try, get hooked, and look forward to the future with the confidence that the experiences will keep getting even better than they are today. This has every reason to hold true for those of us developing applications in the AR world as well.

Let’s get people excited about what’s possible today, rather than getting them to wait until tomorrow!