Combining Augmented Reality-assisted training with other forms of traditional and workplace-based training will be an important way for people to get familiar with the technology before deploying it in the field. In the learning environment, many factors can be constrained and the systems are more reliable than in the field where conditions are more variable.

This feature story on the InfinityLeap.com web site presents the use of Augmented Reality for workplace training and emphasizes the benefits while maintaining a realistic set of impacts.

General Electric’s Research Center in Brazil is developing and testing a tablet-based (iOS and Android) Augmented Reality maintenance manual for workers on offshore oil rigs. Using the tablet’s camera, the Augmented Reality-assisted manual recognizes assemblies of pipes and valves and superimposes graphics and procedures for efficiently installing and maintaining infrastructure, effectively replacing printed work instructions and checklists.

This system is also helping to train well operators, displaying virtual procedures for workers to learn while collaborating with remote instructors. In the future, GE plans to support other devices, such as hands-free head-mounted personal displays.

Most people have admired the work of John Underkoffler in movies. He developed the user interface for Minority Report. In an interview posted on the Re/code blog, Underkoffler suggests that before people will be successful with AR, there needs to be a new unified grammar and vocabulary for describing how users navigate these experiences that are being created at the intersection of virtual and physical worlds.

This, he suggests, will also help employees to feel comfortable using AR on the job without revealing private details to their employers.

Augmented Reality is an important concept to introduce to managers of IT departments anywhere in the world. In this post on the IT News Africa web site, the author explains Augmented Reality in a clear and concise manner, without even using any graphics, and goes on to suggest that it is part of the digital future of all companies.

It’s good to see that in only a short post the author doesn’t narrow the possibilities to smart glasses or tablets. He suggests that there could be projection AR or even new displays we have yet to invent or see. The business cases cited for Augmented Reality in this post are also broad, including logistics and service. And he goes on to caution that there remain big challenges before AR technology meets all the expectations of users.

The AREA needs to support those who share our vision with local audiences anywhere in the world.

Insights of management consulting firm McKinsey & Company are highly regarded in most board rooms so it’s an affirmation of the AREA’s vision to have a new report published on the topic of Industry 4.0 predict that Augmented Reality will be one of the human-machine interfaces of choice in the manufacturing environment.

Beyond the human-machine interface, this short article on the McKinsey blog provides a digital “compass” that matches technologies to value drivers. Isn’t it time that Augmented Reality have such a compass?

Stay tuned to the AREA’s web site for useful tools to help guide your company to higher operational efficiencies with Augmented Reality

This announcement about a new market research report published by Frost and Sullivan suggests that by 2025 the automotive industry will have mastered the technology components and have gained the confidence of regulators and the mass market sufficiently to provide heads up displays (HUD) for drivers.

In addition, the report defines three segments of offers being introduced by manufacturers: windshield HUD, combiner HUD, and Augmented Reality HUD, and compares their features, parts and pricing.

A forecast of sales in North America and Europe suggests that by 2025 as many as 10% of the cars sold will include Augmented Reality HUD capabilities.

Here’s a challenge: list the ten features warehouse workers need in their smart glasses to do their job more efficiently. Who would know better than e-commerce giant, Amazon? According to this article on VentureBeat web site, preferentially sensing package markings (like mailing addresses, bar codes, or QR codes) makes the patent granted to Amazon different than that granted for other smart glasses.

The secret to providing the greatest reliability in a warehouse environment (VentureBeat calls “error-free identification”) is most likely in the implementation of the complete end-to-end system, not in the patent for the wearable display.

On the opening day of Augmented World Expo, the AREA members and invited speakers presented seven sessions about Augmented Reality in enterprise and industrial environments, the “AWARE sessions.” IoT Journal writer, Mary Catherine O’Connor, covered the show and wrote a review of what she took away from attending AWE.

O’Connor was impressed by the potential for Augmented Reality to reduce workplace errors and improve operational efficiency, as described by Paul Davies of Boeing, but she also recognizes that the impact will not be achieved without addressing some difficult challenges such as wireless connectivity for AR-assisted devices and policies, such as those described by AREA member Bob Meads, that prevent the use of cameras in manufacturing shop floors.

Based on past experience of AR entertainment and marketing applications, the analyst for IT Business Edge portal who covered AWE, Rob Enderle, didn’t have high expectations for Augmented Reality. He shares in his review of AWE 2015 how he came away with a different and much higher opinion of the technology as a whole and of its utility, in particular.

Enderle reports that he found the applications for Augmented Reality in business described on the stage and in the exhibition hall are closer and more practical than he had imagined. In particular, Enderle recommends that his readers begin thinking of the benefits of having a remote expert assisting users with a variety of unfamiliar tasks. Remote assistance with the help of a local set of eyes and hands on tools could reduce costs and time by getting a task completed correctly more quickly by an inexperienced worker.

Augmented Reality has long been proposed as a way to reduce costs and improve the quality of care and patient outcomes in healthcare. Some companies are introducing services and solutions that support medical training and education and even to deliver care differently. In this article on the Tech Republic web site, the author summarizes six talks that were presented as part of the Augmented World Expo (AWE) 2015. Speakers included physicians, academic researchers and providers of commercial solutions.

By showing the range of possibilities this article helps practitioners and those new to Augmented Reality better appreciate the potential benefits.