XenoHolographic’s AR platform provides sports teams, venues, and brands with the capability to create AR fan engagement in addition to leveraging AI for analysis of consumer behaviour in real time. The organisation was recently named the exclusive AR and AI mobile app platform for Aurora Games, a multi-esports, all-women’s international competition created by Jerry Solomon, sports management icon. The Aurora Games Mobile App features 3D content managed in the XenoCloud with real-time event score tracking, livestreaming capability, and gives fans ability to collect AR holographic content, available to trade as ‘Trading AR Collectibles’ implemented with XenoHolographic’s proprietary Blockchain platform.

Kevin Patrick, Senior Vice President of XenoHolographic, is quoted to have said that the company’s AR tech platform provides ‘one of the most advanced content management and distribution solutions of holographic mobile experiences for real time measured engagement’, and that their partnership with SportTechie will enable introduction of fan engagement solutions to well-known sports teams, brands, and venues.

Jim Capuano, Global Head of Partnerships at SportTechie, is also quoted to have said that the organisation is proud to partner with XenoHolographic and is excited to implement their AR and AI solutions this year.

As part of the collaboration, SportTechie will deliver consulting, referral, and marketing services to their partner. XenoHolographic will also sponsor a large variety of SportTechie’s content subscription platforms.

Working with Fortune 1000 organisations to deploy HoloLens and Windows MR solutions in the enterprise in a range of use cases is necessary; e.g. internal workforce utilization, customer or marketing initiatives, or media and entertainment. Raven Zachary, co-founder of Object Theory, is quoted to have said that there are a lot of strong use case verticals, and a great deal of traction in the following sectors:

• Medical
• Automotive
• Aerospace
• Public sector
• Defense
• Manufacturing
• Architecture
• Engineering
• Construction

All these verticals work with 3D content, therefore using a 2D monitor limits their use. HoloLens and Windows MR-powered devices enable users to move 3D content off a 2D monitor and into the physical world.

Object Theory is a small, three year old HoloLens software and design firm that was among Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Program’s first wave of partners in 2015. Zachary has 27 years’ worth experience within the technology industry, including mobile app design. In his Virtual Reality research, he discovered the software wasn’t compatible with the enterprise; after watching the livestream media event for the HoloLens, he realised this was the tech he wanted to focus on.

Zachary partnered with Michael Hoffman from the HoloLens team and together they founded Object Theory. They have created Prism, a technology for the HoloLens that enables remote collaboration between workers via a shared experience, which is powered by the Object Theory Mixed Reality Collaboration Service. Each member in a session is represented by an avatar, and 3D spacial sound and content sharing allows users to have a shared experience. Zachary is quoted to have said that a large auto manufacturer is currently piloting the tech to bring designers across multiple locations together which is more inclusive and immersive than a regular call.

As well as vertical markets, Zachary has a top five horizontal use cases for AR:

• Collaboration
• Remote expert
• Training
• Sales
• Product and space design (in alignment with Microsoft’s Modern Workplace)

Vertical industries dominated by 2D content, such as financial services, shouldn’t be dismissed, as some of their companies have shown interest in visualising 3D data. Zachary encourages partners to apply to Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Program. Its partner program recently expanded and is open to ISVs and digital agencies worldwide.

The leading distributor of medical supplies, Medtree, has listed tech trends in medicine, and what they could lead to in future:

• Drones – their delivery of medical supplies is saving lives in countries with lack of roads, medicine, and poor access to hospitals. Zipline, pioneer of the first national drone delivery network in Rwanda, has made almost 1000 drops of blood in life-or-death situations.
• Augmented Reality – Touch Surgery, one of the latest pioneers of the AR trend, are developing Go Surgery, which provides medical experts with step-by-step guides to certain surgery procedures, projected holographically onto a screen. It can be used to train medics on detailed aspects of surgery.
• Clinical Skills App – designed by Medtree, this free programme allows clinicians to record skills and clinical interventions. The app enables easy documentation of airway interventions, wound management, drug administration, etc.
• MelaFind – this is a non-invasive device that uses light to evaluate skin lesions up to 2.55m below the skin, and was a pioneer for this type of research. The QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute conducted the world’s largest skin cancer study in order to create a highly accurate online test to predict your likelihood of developing the disease, made available earlier this month.
• Partnerships – Google partnered with Calico (a unit made to tackle the challenge of ageing and disease associated with this) in 2013. Two years later, the organisations merged to try ‘stop’ the ageing process; an experimental drug compound, P7C3, has been developed as a result, with the potential to be used to treat Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.
• 3D Printing – this market is expected to expand by 17.5% between 2017 and 2025, being mainly driven by industry including healthcare. The technology can be used for implants, instrumentation, and external prostheses. Tissue engineering is currently under development, therefore is the newest practice for 3D printing.
• Virtual Reality Games – the first platform for healthcare is AppliedVR, which offers patients an escape from chronic pain stress and surgical recovery. Guided Relaxation, the first product created by Cedars-Sini Medical Centre’s partnership with medical academics and psychologists, allows patients to relax with mindfulness exercises.
• Healthcare Robots – P&S Market Research have predicted that the global personal robot market will reach $34.1 billion by 2022. An in-home healthcare robot has been developed by Pillo Health and Orbita, which combines AI and voice technology, for hope of release in Q4 of this year to reduce inefficiencies in healthcare.
• Digital Stethoscopes – these offer features such as audio recording and sound amplification to improve accuracy of diagnosis. Eko Devices have produces the DUO, a combined electronic stethoscope and EKG that allows insights into cardiac function by working in conjunction with the mobile app.

The dynaEdge AR Smart Glasses, using AiR Enterprise, provide a solution for industrial applications, such as:

• Field service
• Dealer service
• Manufacturing and repair operations
• Assembly line management
• Technician and expert training
• Warehouse picking
• Asset inspection and repair
• Remote visualization and support

The AiR Enterprise AR solution will be available on Toshiba dynaEdge AR Smart Glasses in Q2 of 2018. The integrated suite of capabilities includes:

• User point of view photo and video capture using embedded camera
• Configurable step-by-step task guidance with gesture-based interactions
• See-What-I-See video conferencing via remote communications
• Detailed task and workflow process analytics
• Enterprise grade security (on-device, in-transit, at-rest)
• Easy integration with other enterprise systems
• Barcode scanning and info display

Soulaiman Itani, co-founder and CEO of Atheer, is quoted to have said that the company believes their partnership with Toshiba will be beneficial for enterprises that require a Windows 10-based enterprise AR solution. Carl Pinto, vice president of marketing and engineering at Client Solutions Division, Toshiba, is also quoted to have said that their partnership with Atheer enables them to provide an enterprise-ready, AR solution, and that Atheer have proved their experience and tech leadership within the sector.

The dynaEdge AR Smart Glasses integrates Toshiba’s dynaEdge AR100 Head Mounted Display with its dynaEdge DE-100 Mobile Mini PC to make way for a wearable system that optimises productivity, security, and mobility. Its implementation with AiR Enterprise is the first time it has been offered on Windows 10.

The article claims that successful designs must incorporate a sense of fashion in addition to ergonomic understanding. Ari Grobman, CEO of Israeli see-through smart glasses display developer Lumus, is quoted to have said that major tech companies working on AR glasses should focus on reducing resistance to adoption. The difficulty lies with getting the balance right between functionality and “cool” design.

The “best” AR headsets need to consist of bulky hardware in order to provide a wide field of view and optimise resolution, according to the article. Slimmer displays (e.g. Google Glass) are more comfortable to wear but are less functional due to their position not being parallel to the user’s field of vision. Additional features, such as a decent camera and microphone, make it all the more difficult to increase comfort and style.

Nima Shams, VP of Headworn at Osterhout Design Group, is quoted to have said that their company aims to “design the next mobile computing platform”, and that smart glasses need to have every feature that smartphones do in order to become as essential. ODG have designed smart glasses for industrial use previously; Shams has said that customers working in the industry are more apathetic about the design of the product. Shams is also quoted to have said that advanced, high-tech smart glasses need to blend into fashionable devices to achieve mass adoption.

Intel launched their Vaunt Glasses in February this year; in creating these, Intel sacrificed a microphone, speaker, and camera in addition to other hardware to make way for a sleeker, more lightweight design. Francois Nguyen, industrial designer and creative director at design firm Frog, is quoted to have said that people are inclined to compromise better functionality for a more attractive-looking product.

The glasses are equipped with built-in cameras and paired with a handheld device to match facial biometrics of suspects to wanted criminals and persons of interest in police databases.

Currently, the smart glasses are being used outside of Beijing at a highway checkpoint to identify license plate numbers as well as individuals within vehicles. Again, the system is designed to flag cars within police databases, allowing the technology to be used as a criminal dragnet.

Biometric technology is becoming more prominent in China, particularly facial recognition systems. Many applications are for surveillance purposes, which is controversial amongst civil rights advocates due to increased government power, also evident in the recent abolition of term limits for President. However, the biometric smart glasses are undoubtedly a powerful new law enforcement tool for police authorities.

Member news from XMReality!

At the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018 XMReality signed two new customers; an American Defense group and Electrolux, a multinational home appliance manufacturer.

This is great news for our member and we are very pleased for them that increasingly more enterprises are taking up the use of Augmented Reality within their business.

“XMReality clearly appeared to us as the best solution in the area, especially the hand overlay feature which makes the support extremely intuitive and easy”, says Jean-Noel Thibault, Digital Transformation Director, Electrolux Major Appliances, EMEA.

XMReality says: “We are very happy to include them into our XMReality family!”

XMReality’s AREA member profile can be viewed here.

An article on Catalonia Trade & Investment recently reported on the Remote Eye startup which displayed its technology for technical assistance via video using Augmented Reality.

The startup offers innovative technology allowing video tech support via smart glasses and AR. Using the tech, experts can assist people anywhere across the globe to offer a quick and effective diagnosis.

The AR glasses essentially become the eyes and hands of the expert, advising the technician remotely via text or voice messages. The proposed tool additionally feeds a knowledge base for the organisation that can then store solutions to common tech issues in a shared environment.

Since starting a year ago, Remote Eye has a dozen global clients and is one of the startups forming part of the Catalan Government stand at the digital entrepreneurship fair 4YFN 2018 celebrated within the Mobile World Congress. As part of the Horizon 2020 programme, Remote Eye has also been accepted for a SME Instrument Phase 1.

An article on CXO Today recently discussed the digital-heavy economy developing in India. The drive of this transformation is the reduced cost of transacting via online banking and the fact that this costs even less when the channel is mobile.

Efficiency and competitiveness are the main components of digital transformation; it requires deep understanding of present and emerging business process models as well as disruptive digital technology.

Technologies that enable transformation, for example Augmented Reality can improve education and learning, and automated reasoning can improve transaction processing. Key practises allow digital transformation to be optimised, and the correct soft skills allow it to be sustained.

In response to the increasing digital environment, many organisations are including or changing roles to have a digital focus. This synchronicity increases efficiency as well as allowing companies to become something completely different. Being able to drive transformation is one of the key values of technology.

Leaders and disruptors are moving towards delivering new value to customers to improve customer experience. Companies believe they are innovative due to changing tactics, investing in new tech, and employing tech experts.

The article concludes by stating that businesses must proactively innovate in order to stay ahead in an evolving marketplace.

Mozenix, based in the Vision Building in Dundee, was established last summer to test the commercial validity of AR technology.  Information sourced from an article that appeared on EnergyVoice.com.

Led by Michael Brown and Michael Romilly, who is a co-founder of Dundee mobile agency Waracle, they teamed up with Aberdeen software company Return to Scene to develop the mobile app for the energy sector.

The software uses the camera on a smartphone or tablet to recognise oil and gas structures and then bring up identification tags and information about them on screen.

Return To Scene’s head of product development and support Martin Macrae, explained: “Offshore oil and gas assets are complex, adaptive structures with a constant flow of actions being undertaken by international teams.

“The systems which enable these actions are underpinned by asset registers which are represented by physical tags attached to equipment.

“The location of these tags and the ability to visualise data in a certain way, is crucially important.

“This is where AR technology, and specifically Mozenix unique software delivery capability, can solve a myriad of challenges.”

Since Mozenix launched the company has secured a number of contracts with blue-chip clients throughout the UK.

Mr Romilly, the company’s CEO, said: “We’re delighted to be working with R2S on such a highly innovative AR initiative.

“What we’re seeing with new mobile AR apps is very similar to what we witnessed over a decade ago when Apple launched the first iPhone.

“AR technology leverages untapped value by using the smartphone’s camera to create new immersive experiences and solve complex process efficiency challenges.

“It’s a great time for innovative companies such as R2S to be investing in these types of projects, as the rewards for early adopters in certain sectors can be significant.”

Return To Scene counts global giants such as BP and ConocoPhillips as among the clients for its visual asset management and data solutions.