As the dust settles on the latest conference season, I wanted to share my reflections and excitement as we resume conducting face-to-face AR events across the world.

As an evangelist for enterprise Augmented Reality, I know that one of the best ways for people to understand what AR is, what business problems it solves, and how will it benefit their work is to experience the solution in person. That’s what made the recent Immerse Technology Conference on September 28 and 29 such a successful event.

The AREA hosted the conference with partners Innovate UK KTN, Made Smarter Innovation Network, Immerse UK and the High-Value Manufacturing Catapult (HVMC). It was held in Factory 2050, located in the Advanced Manufacturing Resource Centre (AMRC), University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, a longstanding AREA member.

Many thanks to Gold sponsors Magic Leap, Rockwell Automation, Augmental, and Team Viewer, as well as our Bronze sponsors Assured Cyber Protection, Realwear, ESI Group, and support from Microsoft.

More than 100 attendees were on hand, providing many opportunities for demonstrations and hands-on workshops defining the benefits and challenges of deploying AR technology.

Day 1 started with an introduction from the host companies followed by excellent thought leadership presentations from companies who have successfully deployed AR. Boeing, Siemens, and Rolls Royce highlighted the work and benefits they have gained from the successful and wide deployment of AR.

Magic Leap then presented and launched the Magic Leap 2 in the UK with a presentation on its new features and go-to-market strategy. Rockwell Automation also provided an insightful presentation titled “Extended Reality and its Role in Digital Manufacturing”.

The rest of Day 1 focused on workshops, led by Augmental and Magic Leap, in which attendees learned about the AREA tool “Enterprise AR Use Case Development Framework” to help understand AR/VR Uses Cases and Requirements. This interactive session was enjoyed by all the participants and offered a great opportunity to learn from experts and discuss key use cases.

Finally, there was more time to experience the excellent demos from the sponsors and engage in some informal networking. We’d packed a great deal of content into Day 1 – but there was much more to come.

We began Day 2 with a thought leadership presentation from ESI Group, “Industry 4.0 Drivers for VR Democratization,” followed by one on the key challenges for implementation, building an AR workforce. A panel of experts from Realwear, Boeing, and Rockwell Automation discussed tactics and tools to convince stakeholders in a company to invest in AR solutions and how to overcome end user concerns.

Augmental followed with an excellent presentation on a process to help companies deploy AR and a case study from technology partner holo|one.

Creating a Return on Investment (RoI) model is often a challenge, but in the next session, the AREA showed how to overcome it using the free AREA RoI Calculator. The session covered the background of the calculator, how to use it, and an introduction of AR cases studies that demonstrated a clear RoI. The presentation from Strategy Analytics helped the attendees understand and plan future RoI analysis.

Two more thought leadership presentations from Team Viewer and Realwear led the way before interactive sessions on Human Factors and Related Safety Challenges, and “Security is Key: Overcoming the Challenges of AR Security”. The event concluded with a set of three-minute pitches from immersive tech providers on their solutions and “Understanding Virtual Reality Use Cases, Requirements & Research”.

Feedback from attendees was excellent, with many of them appreciating having the ability to experience, interact with, and learn from the AREA members, giving them a clearer understanding of how to deploy AR.

When it was all over, participants had learned:

• How to overcome barriers to the adoption of AR within an organization
• Use cases and requirements for enterprise AR
• Commonly encountered safety risks and how to manage them
• Security risks associated with AR-enabling technologies
• Techniques for managing change, stakeholders, and staff challenges when introducing AR
• UX design and development for VR and AR apps

Based on that success, we are now in the midst of planning future similar events in Europe (Q1 ’23), the US (Q2), and the UK (Q3). If you have any questions regarding the event – or would like to participate in our future conferences – please contact me ([email protected]).

One of the great obstacles to helping people of all ages develop an interest in science, technology, and invention, according to Jessica Cobb, founder and CEO of Mission Control Lab, is that so much about technology is hidden from view.

“At Mission Control Lab, we want to reveal embedded cyber-physical systems,” said Jessica in an interview from her base in the Netherlands. “Because you can’t see the workings behind technology, it’s frustrating and limiting and decreases connectivity.”

Jessica, who describes herself as an “emerging technologist, founder, maker, inventor, digital unicorn, and serial entrepreneur,” has devoted her professional life to revealing what’s hidden, bringing forth the fascinating connections between electronic components to engage learners in pursuing what she calls “inventure™” (“invention plus adventure”). She has turned to Augmented Reality (AR) to assist in that process.

“We’re using AR in our products to reveal the webbing between networks in our systems design exercises,” Jessica explained. “One of our products is kind of like electronic Legos with light, movement, and sound. With AR, you can see those electronic Lego parts being appliquéd onto different surfaces and link those connections back to a particular application.”

The products Jessica refers to are sold in MakeON® kits. Go here or here to see them in action.

For the AR ecosystem, the work of Mission Control Lab is not only a clever way to use AR to bring concepts to life; it’s also a way to build a diverse and inclusive global community of innovators who appreciate the value of AR. That can only benefit the adoption of AR as more AR-experienced people enter the workplace.

“At Mission Control Lab, we make this connection between individuals, industry, and education,” she explained. “This gives us a better sense of what’s going on in terms of needs for the workforce, as well as what’s meaningful for people, enabling us to create a relationship with the future of work now. That’s why the AR piece of it is so important; it’s engaging interest, meaning, and intrigue.”

For Jessica, the goal isn’t simply to show people how to build stuff.

“It’s not the end invention where the real social impact and change occurs,” she said. “It’s in the space between adventure and invention. If we are cultivating that space cooperatively, a lot of the challenges we’re facing in education and workforce development just dissolve. That’s what Mission Control Lab is about. Our products MakeON® and Inventure embody the storytelling around identity, the individual, and emerging technology.”

With the newly-launched Inventure initiative (discover more here), Mission Control Lab is seeking to engage directly with enterprise partners to build what Jessica calls “future fitness pathways.” Jessica’s vision is to create an online space where people and organizations can collaborate and access cutting-edge media content.

“With Inventure, an 11-year-old in France is going to be able to talk about some new tech and apply it in the Inventure space with an 11-year-old in Indonesia. It’s kind of a mixture of LinkedIn, Instagram, and Hunger Games,” she laughed.

Jessica is also actively planning to use AR technology in a way similar to Ikea Kreativ, the iOS-based AR tool that enables customers of the Swedish furniture company to capture their spaces in 3D and decorate them.

“We want you to be able to make wearables, walls, and objects come alive with AR, and then replicate that in real life,” said Jessica. That experience will likely hit the market within the next quarter.

AREA members and the greater AR ecosystem can support the work of Mission Control Lab by exploring partnerships and sponsoring opportunities. For more information, please contact Jessica Cobb.

The future success of enterprise AR depends on vendors and enterprises having a shared understanding of the hardware, software, and use case requirements for each type of AR solution. Establishing those requirements is the work of the AREA Requirements Committee – and on August 11^th, the group convened in Boston for two days of face-to-face meetings to advance their work.

Requirements are essential because they enable enterprises to evaluate what they need to implement an AR solution. At the same time, requirements provide AR hardware and software developers with the input they need to build products that fulfil enterprise needs.

Over the past three months, the Requirements Working Group has been meeting on a regular basis to develop and agree on a set of Global Enterprise AR Requirements. The face-to-face meeting in Boston was tasked with finalizing the first phase of the Global Enterprise AR Requirements.

The Working Group included the following AREA members:

• Brian Kononchik – Boston Engineering
• Jeff Coon – PTC
• Matthew Cooney – PTC
• Dan McPeters – Newport News Shipbuilding
• Malcolm Spencer – Magic Leap
• Jeremy Marvel – NIST
• Barry Cavanaugh – MIT Lincoln Lab
• Doyin Adewodu – Infrasi
• Mark Sage – Executive Director of the AREA

The two-day workshop was a great success – and highly productive! Bringing together AREA members from all parts of the AR ecosystem (end users, hardware providers, software providers, standards organizations and academics) created a rich, diverse, focused and expert view of the Requirements needed to successfully deploy an enterprise AR solution.

The team focused on three key areas:

• Hardware Requirements
• Generic Software Requirements
• AR Use Case Requirements (based on the defined AREA Use Cases)

The first order of business was to conduct a detailed review and update of the Hardware and Generic Software Requirements that the Working Group had previously drafted. The Working Group then turned to defining the individual Use Case Requirements. Over the two days, the team succeeded in prioritizing the Use Cases and identifying a common set of requirements.

There was also an opportunity to review the updated AREA Statement of Needs (ASoN) tool, a purpose-built online capture, store, update and publish AR Requirements tool. A review of the functionality and reporting was made, and suggested improvements captured.

At the end of the event, all the participants agreed it was a very useful and informative workshop that needs to be run on a regular basis. My thanks to the attendees and the amazing team at PTC who provided the space and amazing facilities for the workshop.

Watch this space for more information about next steps and the upcoming launch of the AREA Global Enterprise AR Requirements.

Manifest, AR Remote Guidance

The AR technology firm provided direct onboarding during a trial with British Airways, which introduced Taqtile’s products to onsite workers.

Dirck Schou, the CEO of Taqtile, added,

“This unique accelerator program has been a great way to introduce airlines to cutting-edge technologies like Manifest which can help them improve the performance of technicians and engineers immediately”

Additionally, the 10-week programme taught staff how to utilize the Manifest platform. Taqtile’s service operates on spatial devices such as Magic Leap and Microsft’s Hololens 2; the product also works across multiple devices, including tablets and smartphones.

An onsite worker can access guidance resources such as digital manuals, video guides, holograms, and 3D models, all presented as detailed AR visualizations. Manifest displays digital resources in the field of view (FoV) of a worker’s headset, and the wearer can navigate a spatial interface hands-free.

Schou continued, stating,

“Through demonstrations of our AR-enabled work instruction platform over the 10-week program, airline industry leaders have gained a better understanding of the tangible benefits Manifest is capable of delivering”

For frontline airport staff, Taqtile’s solution helps workers learn invaluable company-centric knowledge and enhance their efficiency when performing maintenance tasks.

Taqtile explained how airports could leverage its Manifest solution by dispersed teams providing live guidance from an operations centre to frontline employees.

Manifest supports several file types, including photos, videos, real-time 3D (RT3D) content, computer-aided designs, and PDFs. Taqtile recently teamed up with Microsoft this month to integrate the Azure Remote Rendering platform into Manifest.

The move enables firms to perform large-scale onboarding, training, and operational duties with increased efficiency and engagement. Taqtile and Microsoft achieve this by integrating Azure-powered streaming to enhance RT3D content distribution across Manifest-ready devices.

Usability is an essential prerequisite for any successful AR application. If any aspect of the application – from the cognitive impact on the user to the comfort of the AR device – has a significant negative impact on usability, it could discourage user acceptance and limit projected productivity gains and return-on-investment.

But how can organizations pursuing an AR application evaluate a solution’s usability? To answer that question, the AREA Human Factors Committee has undertaken the development of an AR and MR Usability Heuristic Checklist. Driven by Jessyca Derby and Barbara S. Chaparro of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Jon Kies of Qualcomm, the Checklist is intended to be used as a tool for practitioners to evaluate the usability and experience of an AR or MR application.

The AR & MR Usability Heuristic Checklist currently includes the following heuristics:

• Unboxing & Set-Up
• Help & Documentation
• Cognitive Overload
• Integration of Physical and Virtual Worlds
• Consistency & Standards
• Collaboration
• Comfort
• Feedback
• User Interaction
• Recognition Rather than Recall
• Device Maintainability

The team is in the process of validating these heuristics across a range of devices and applications. So far, they have conducted evaluations with head-mounted display devices (such as Magic Leap and HoloLens), mobile phones, educational applications, and AR/MR games; see their recent journal article for more information.

To further ensure that the breadth of the AR and MR Usability Heuristic Checklist remains valuable across domains and devices, they are in the process of conducting further validation that will consider:

• Privacy
• Safety
• Inclusion, Diversity, and Accessibility
• Technical aspects of designing for AR and MR (e.g., standards for 3D rendering)
• Standards for sensory output (e.g., tactile feedback, spatial audio, etc.)
• Applications that involve multiple users to collaborate in a shared space
• A range of devices (e.g., AR and MR glasses such as Lenovo’s Think Reality A3)

In the coming months, the team will move on to identifying and obtaining applications and/or hardware that touch on the areas outlined above. They will then conduct heuristic evaluations and usability testing with the applications and/or hardware to further refine and validate the Checklist. The final step will be to establish an Excel-based toolkit that will house the Checklist. This will enable practitioners to easily complete an evaluation and immediately obtain results.

Upon completion of the project, the AR and MR Usability Heuristic Checklist will become a vital resource for any organization considering the adoption of AR. If you would like to learn more or have an idea for an application that could be included in this validation process, please contact Dr. Barbara Chaparro or Jessyca Derby.

Key updates in this release:

• Advanced Model Target Improvements: Training times for Advanced Model Targets have been optimized and now depend on the number and size of views. Recognition performance for advanced, close-up views has also been improved.
• Area Target Improvements:
  • The target’s occlusion mesh is now exposed in the C API which allows native apps to render occluded virtual content in combination with Area Targets as you move through the space.
  • Textured authoring models are now created by the Area Target Creator app and the Area Target Capture API providing an improved authoring experience in Unity. These scans can be loaded into the Area Target Generator for clean-up and post-processing.
  • Area Target tracking data is now compressed and takes up to 60% less space.

• Unity Area Target Clipping: Area Target previews in the Unity Editor can be clipped based on height, for faster previewing and better visibility of the scanned space during app development.
• Engine Developer Portal (EDP) Self-Service OAuth UI: OAuth Engine credentials can now be managed from the EDP, eliminating the need for the command line.
• Notices
  • High Sensor-Rate Permission: Due to new Android permission requirements, developers should add the “high sensor rate” permission to all native Vuforia Engine apps running on Android 12+ for all releases, otherwise VISLAM may not work. Read more about VISLAM tracking here.
  • Permission Handling: The Vuforia Engine behavior of triggering OS-specific user permission requests at runtime is deprecated in 10.8 and will be removed in an upcoming release.  All native apps should be updated to manage permissions themselves. The 10.8 sample apps share best practices for this.

Combining Magic Leap’s advanced spatial computing platform with NavVis’s mobile mapping systems and spatial data platform, the two companies aim to enhance the use of AR applications across key industries, including automotive, manufacturing, retail and the public sector.

As part of this strategic partnership, NavVis will bring its NavVis VLX mobile mapping system and NavVis IVION Enterprise spatial data platform to Magic Leap’s new and existing enterprise customers with an initial focus on manufacturing. Magic Leap customers will be able to leverage NavVis’s expansive visualization capabilities to generate photorealistic, accurate digital twins of their facilities at unprecedented speed and scale.

The market opportunity for digital twins and other forms of advanced visualization is significant – with demonstrated potential to transform the world of work as we know it. While attention around the potential of the metaverse has put a greater focus on all types of mixed reality technology, AR represents an immediate opportunity for businesses to enhance productivity and improve operational efficiency. Magic Leap’s open, interoperable platform will also enable the metaverse to scale for enterprise applications.

While the Magic Leap 2 platform offers cutting-edge scanning and localization capabilities in real-time on the device itself, NavVis’s technology will allow Magic Leap customers to pre-map and deploy digital twins in large, complex settings that can cover up to millions of square feet – including but not limited to warehouses, retail stores, offices and factories – for a variety of use cases, such as remote training, assistance and collaboration. Such applications will enable companies to reduce operational costs, enhance overall efficiency and democratize the manufacturing workforce of tomorrow.

“We are seeing significant demand for digital twin solutions from our enterprise customer base and are thrilled to partner with NavVis to make our shared vision for large-scale AR applications a reality,” said Peggy Johnson, CEO of Magic Leap. “Coupled with our Magic Leap 2 platform, NavVis’s advanced visualization capabilities will enable high-quality, large-scale and novel AR experiences that business users demand.”

The NavVis partnership is an essential component of Magic Leap’s strategy to cultivate an ecosystem of best-in-class technology partners that will deliver on the promise of enterprise AR, leveraging Magic Leap 2’s powerful, open platform. With a global customer base of more than 400 companies, including the likes of BMW, Volkswagen, Siemens and Audi, NavVis has a proven track record of delivering immediate and long-term value to enterprises looking to modernize their operations.

“Enterprise AR solutions for larger-scale activations will open the door for greater innovation in the workplace,” said Dr. Felix Reinshagen, CEO and co-founder of NavVis. “Our own experience shows that 3D mapping and digital twins are a fundamental foundation for large-scale persistent AR applications. We’re experiencing strong demand across many verticals with industrial manufacturing as a clear front runner. Magic Leap is a world leader in delivering impactful, innovative experiences in these verticals, and we are excited to collaborate with the company to advance this mission and further enable the future of work.”

About Magic Leap

Magic Leap, Inc.’s technology is designed to amplify human potential by delivering the most immersive Augmented Reality (AR) platform, so people can intuitively see, hear, and touch digital content in the physical world. Through the use of our advanced, enterprise-grade AR technologies, products, platforms, and services, we deliver innovative businesses a powerful tool for transformation.

Magic Leap, Inc. was founded in 2010, is proudly headquartered in South Florida, with eight additional offices across the globe.

About NavVis

Bridging the gap between the physical and digital world, NavVis enables service providers and enterprises to capture and share the built environment as photorealistic digital twins. Their SLAM-based mobile mapping systems generate high-quality data with survey-grade accuracy at speed and scale. And with their digital factory solutions, users are equipped to make better operational decisions, boost productivity, streamline business processes, and improve profitability. Based in Munich, Germany, with offices in the United States and China, NavVis has customers worldwide in the surveying, AEC, and manufacturing industries.