The author of this post on EBN OnLine describes how distribution center or manufacturing floor supervisors and employee jobs will be changing with the use of Augmented Reality. The article has many use cases including training, packing and machinery maintenance. It is valuable for this type of article to appear in a vertical market publication so that those new to Augmented Reality can learn of the practical applications in their field.
NBC News has published an opportunity analysis about enterprise Augmented Reality featuring some of the new models of smart glasses and the DAQRI Smart Helmet in which the Gartner Group analyst, Tuong Nguyen states that many companies are evaluating Augmented Reality for field service and other use cases. Nguyen predicts that the prototypes could be in widespread use in three years or less.
In this research paper recently accepted for publication in the proceedings of the Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education conference (ITiCSE 2015), the results of an Augmented Reality-assisted learning study indicate the difficulty with implementing AR for real time improvements in robot programming. The study participants performed significantly fewer actions between the runs and took significantly less time to complete the tasks. Using Augmented Reality students identified possible errors in their programs more quickly and more precisely, so they had a better understanding of the necessary steps and were addressing smaller problems at a time.
SOF S.p.A., a subsidiary of Inso Sistemi per le Infrastrutture sociali, focusing on facilities management, plant management energy and the design and installation of new heating, air conditioning and electrical systems in Italian construction projects, has been testing the use of Augmented Reality in its plant maintenance systems as part of an integrated reference model. In these slides the director of engineering, Alexandr Vannas, sheds light on the vision, the results to date and their future plans.
An event in London created an opportunity for Augmented Reality to meet with customers and media. CNBC covered the event with a short video and article. During a panel dedicated to the topic of enterprise Augmented Reality, Jay Kim, CTO of AREA member APX Labs, describes how some of the obstacles to enterprise AR integration are being studied and that progress is being made to address techincal barriers. As described in the article on ITPro web site, the panelists feel that enterprise AR is beginning to show impacts in trials conducted in large organizations to which Accenture is providing services and support. Non-technical obstacles such as employees’s resistance to change and corporate policies are also going to need to be addressed in order for AR to fulfill its potential.
Those who visit the AREA portal are discovering the benefits of Augmented Reality in the workplace on a daily basis. They aren’t the only ones. This article on PCR on-line describes how attendees of this year’s Wearable Technology Show could also learn how Augmented Reality will take hold in enterprise. Panelists including Jim Kay, CTO of AREA member APX Labs, and Charlie Issacs, CTO of Salesforce, described the impacts that Augmented Reality can deliver through improved efficiencies of workers.
This feature article on EE Times is an excellent analysis prepared by TechInsights and eSoftThings, beginning with the results of their benchmarking of power and thermal performance of three sets of smart glasses, including Google Glass, Vuzix M100 and AR Glasses by Optinvent. Some data are provided in the article’s illustrations. It’s clear why the systems run hot and that efficiency gains are considerably difficult to achieve given the power consumption of today’s technologies. These power demands need to be brought under control before developers can build vertical solutions that will run for more than a few hours.
The authors then go on to explore the remaining obstacles and possible industry partnerships that could deliver lightweight and high performing smart glasses that will run for hours.
According to announcement published on PlasticSurgery.org, results of a study involving surgeons use of Google Glass in breast surgery appear will soon appear in March 2015 issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
In this piece in InformationWeek, NGRAIN’s Barry Po summarizes his assessment of enterprise AR at CES 2015. Po contends we’re in the “second generation of glasses,” and that business use-cases are moving at a much faster pace than consumer interest.
AREA member Brian Ballard, CEO of APX Labs, is quoted in US News and World Report on the subject of Augmented Reality using smart phones or smart glasses. The predominant difference Ballard highlights is that when using smart glasses, the user has hands free. To learn more about the comparisons read the article.