A post on straight.com by Kate Wilson, takes a look at the VR/AR Association in Vancouver and the significance of AR in the marketplace.  In this upbeat piece, AR is introduced to the reader by inviting them to imagine a world where screens have become completely obsolete because individuals can conjure computer displays through contact lenses or glasses.

Dan Burgar, President of the Vancouver chapter of the VR/AR Association, thinks that day may be quite close.  Burgar finds it difficult to think of an industry where the hardware would not generate a huge leap forward.

The article focusses on the practical everyday applications of AR technology, both in everyday life and in industry and nods to building development, where AR gives architects the tools to manipulate their creations in 3D.  Real estate is using it to allow customers to visualize unbuilt spaces, and to view properties without actually having to visit them.  AR’s importance in learning and development in industry is mentioned with the example quoted being in oil and gas extraction where training is conducted via headset, allowing the employee (trainee) to get as close as possible to a real-life experience before entering a dangerous situation.

The article suggests that Vancouver is fast becoming a hub for VR and AR, stating that the state has invested $100 million in venture capital for British Columbian tech companies and recently started offering a tax credit specifically for virtual and augmented reality. This forward-thinking approach inspired Burgar to create a VR/AR Association chapter in the city.

The Vancouver chapter has about 30 members,” he continues, “but there are more than 50 companies here that are dabbling in virtual reality or working on augmented reality development, and that number increases every day. We are continually connecting local businesses with Vancouver developers, and figuring out how to use this technology creatively.

In a press release (PRNewswire) this week, the University of California Berkeley announced Immerex will build a new lab for Berkeley’s, accelerating work in AR/VR.

The article states that this new lab can provide space for students to develop projects using state-of-the-art equipment. This funding, according to the article will also help fellowships support students and renovate a classroom designated for AR/VR education in Berkeley’s professional Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) program.

“Thanks to Immerex, we will be able to host advanced student projects and offer new innovative curriculum in virtual reality,” said S. Shankar Sastry, Dean of the College of Engineering, as well as Co-Director of the Center for Augmented Cognition. He expects that the new lab will make a positive impact in strengthening Berkeley’s leading role in Silicon Valley and globally on the innovation of disruptive technologies that connect information, people and society.

Kirin Lee, CEO of Immerex, stated that Immerex is thrilled to partner with UC Berkeley and support the future of VR research at the world’s leading AR/VR lab.  Lee is quoted as saying, “While Immerex is solving many of the VR limitations our industry sees today, we understand it is partnerships like this that will continue to push the industry forward to new and exciting places, and we are happy to collectively work towards the same goal of seamlessly merging the virtual world with the real world.”

Augmented Reality is going to be one of the themes discussed at Techweek in New Zealand which has more than 100 events throughout the country.  Sessions will include the Future of Farming, starting your own business, VR, AR, game development, women technology and many more. One main focus from this event is the diverse elements within the tech sector.

Farming 2020 is set to showcase the Agricultural Industry’s digital future and New Zealand’s role in the Agtech environment.

Herd improvement, software, pasture mapping and a variety of other data mining tools are being integrated into in farm practices to maximise productivity and profitability. Other key segments on display include blockchain – the building block technology behind the next wave of digital currency and could disrupt global commerce itself.

Virtual and Augmented Reality are two of the fastest growing trends within the tech sector today, and one of the main events within Techweek will be the AR/VR Garage gaming weekend. John McDermott runs the IoT Auckland meet-up group, and has worked with Rob Hanks, founder of AR development company Curiat and Jessica Manins, who represents the NZ VR/AR Association, to develop the Future Realities stream – a programme of events introducing New Zealand to AR/VR and IoT technologies, applications and businesses.

Katie Mulligan of UI Labs has posted a blog entry that offers the organization’s perspective on the recent Global AR Requirements Workshop convened by DMDII and the AREA: –

Sometimes in the Wild West of rapidly evolving technology, we’re stronger working together than alone.  A recent workshop proved that’s the mindset of Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar, and Procter and Gamble, which teamed up to lead a discussion of augmented reality (AR) functional requirements in hopes of moving this new technology forward and training the workforce of the future.

AR has essential applications for today’s manufacturing landscape, filling the gaps in expertise emerging as an older generation retires.

“Young people aren’t going to school to be mechanics,” said Lonny Johnson, an AR subject matter expert formerly with Caterpillar who helped facilitate the workshop. “We need to give them tools to help them learn quicker and easier.”

Unlike its cousin, virtual reality, AR is used when a machine or tool is present—to project work instructions onto an assembly line or to highlight steps to fix a machine under repair, for example. The technology’s uses run the gamut, but AR providers have struggled to understand the needs of industry, slowing wide-scale adoption by manufacturers.

To help form a consensus about the necessary functional requirements for AR, Lockheed, Caterpillar, and P&G hosted the Augmented Reality Workshop on March 1-2 in conjunction with UI LABS and the Augmented Realty for Enterprise Alliance (AREA), a global membership organization focused on reducing barriers and accelerating adoption of AR technologies.

“The AR Workshop was a truly groundbreaking event as it was the first time that enterprises, AR providers, and non-commercial organizations worked together and drafted a set of global AR requirements,” said Mark Sage, Executive Director of AREA. “These requirements will be used to help develop the AR ecosystem, and AREA is looking forward to communicating and driving future changes.”

The three corporate leaders worked collaboratively in advance to develop functional requirements; they then solicited feedback from DMDII members and other attendees during the workshop, held at the UI LABS Innovation Center on Chicago’s Goose Island. The effort originated as a Partner Innovation Project, or PIP, in which DMDII partners come together to engage in R&D outside of the traditional project call process and fund their project without government dollars.

Representatives from the three industry hosts led the discussion, addressing aspects across both software and hardware, including wearable technology, Skype, voice controls, and remote support. The moderators took feedback from an audience of nearly 100 participants from more than 50 organizations—including industry, AR providers, universities, and government agencies—who shared their needs and hopes for the future of AR, and described challenges they face using the technology today.

The output of the discussion—which will form the basis for a forthcoming report—will help educate enterprises and AR providers, serve as a tool to aid product planning, and give AR service providers insight into what enterprises want.

As with any new technology, one of the greatest challenges surrounding augmented reality is persuading users—in this case, manufacturers—to adopt it. If an individual has a bad experience, “it will die on the vine,” said Johnson. But as people discover its usefulness and it begins to infiltrate the workplace, we’ll likely see wider adoption.

“One success builds on another success, which builds on another. It’s all about culture,” he added.

Ensuring the technology is ready for widespread use requires cooperation. Lockheed, Caterpillar, P&G, and the other organizations at the workshop recognize the value of face-to-face collaboration, and the importance of working through these issues together in the name of innovation.

In an article by Augmented Reality News, AREA Member Bosch Automotive Service has created a new interface known as the Common Augmented Reality Platform (CAP). This interface allows automakers to write, edit and publish AR content on iOS, Android and Windows.

Rob Butz, Director of Business Development for technical information services segment at Bosch has said, “CAP is a production ready platform that provides the tools to enable a technical author, not a programmer, to develop and manage AR content efficiently. It also provides for an effective management and delivery of large and variable data sets, and includes a highly-optimized GUI and runtime client for delivery to the end user.”

He also says “As with any new technology, the introduction of AR will take some time to gain full acceptance. There are also more improvements yet to come in the tracking technologies and the hardware.”

Augmented Reality is introducing improvements for the auto industry. Visualizing the complex internals of modern vehicles can help technicians diagnose repairs more quickly and efficiently. AR can help in maintenance, the auto industry including operators’ manuals and product information for customers, and sales and marketing collateral for dealerships.

The focus of Day 2 was Software Requirements which was brilliantly managed by Roland Joseph from Proctor and Gamble.  The day started with a real buzz of anticipation. The evening networking and demo event created new partnerships and friendships, and conversations continued over breakfast. As each requirement was explained, there were detailed questions, insights and clarification both from the audience and the Requirements Team.

With over 22 sections and many “sub requirements” within each, there were a lot of requirements to review, however, the great interaction and insight provided meant the time flew and very soon all the requirements had been covered.

The final part of the day was a “next steps” section where Mark Sage, Executive Director of The AREA, thanked the team for their work before outlining his thoughts on the next steps and asking for feedback from the audience.

The proposed next steps include:

1. Creating an AREA Requirements Committee to own, manage and update the Enterprise benchmark requirements
2. Committing to communicate the requirements to the wider AR ecosystem
3. Creating ways for the wider ecosystem to provide feedback
4. Creating processes and tools to ensure feedback is reviewed and that the Committee update them
5. Creating further analysis and benchmarking activities

In summary, the event was a great success, as proven by the amazing feedback we received from the closing survey:

• 100% of respondents said they would recommend the event to others
• Anonymous feedback comments included:

• “You’ll have double the attendees next time because people will realize that they should have been at this meeting”
• “A Homerun”
•  “Event was the first of its kind and it was impressive”.
• “Wow! What a great event!”

If you are interested in joining the AREA, please contact [email protected] and keep an eye on theAREA.org for future updates

The first market report this week by Long Short Report, speaks of the Augmented Reality Devices Market growth in the next 3 years. This market report provides an executive level blueprint on the market, focusing on evaluating the market trends emerging in the regional markets with the report also representing historical data and statistics about the market and evaluates how the demand and supply trends have impacted the global Augmented Reality Devices Market Dynamics.

A report on the Smart Glasses Market covers different types of Smart Augmented Reality Glasses. The market report is split into sections including consumer, enterprise, industrial, public safety, and healthcare with a competitive analysis of various hardware and software vendors and a strategic recommendation for various players in the chain already.

Another report analyses the Smart Augmented Reality Glasses Market and makes forecasts. The thrust of this report is that shipments are to reach 22.8 million units annually by 2022. This large mass of volume is said to drive device revenue growth from $138.9 million in 2016 to $19.7 billion by 2022.

The market report includes Microsoft HoloLens’ introduction of Mixed Reality to the market, the failure of Google Glass as well as covering many other smart glass producers in the market.

The following is a summary of a report by DecisionDatabases.com, titled: “The Global Smart Glass Market Research Report – Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast”.  This provides the value chain analysis, market attractiveness analysis, and company share analysis along with key player’s complete profiles.

Information about Smartglass:

Also known as switchable glass, is a glass which can alter its light transmission properties on application of voltage, light or heat. These glasses are used in windows, skylights, doors, partitions and have extended their range in automotive industry, aircrafts and in marine applications.

The Smart Glasses Market is segmented on the basis of types as architectural, electronics, solar power generation and transportation, architectural segment being the major market segment.

According to this report the marketed is estimated to grow at a significant rate in the next few years. The major players that are driving this increase are to be in architectural and transportation sectors however the article states that energy efficient building technologies will also contribute to the growth.

Some key facts about this Market Report:

• Electronics segment is expected to be a prospective market owing to its innovations and research to produce highly advanced devices such as digital eyeglasses and screens.
• Certain aspects are preventing the growth of the global smart glass market
• Comparable cost with its substitutes and lack of awareness about its benefits are inhibiting the market growth.
• North America accounts the major share in the global smart glass.
•  European market is expected to overtake the North American smart glass market in the forecast period. This will be resultant to the increasing demand for large size advanced windows in residential and commercial architectural structures. 
• Further, market is distributed in regions of Latin America, Asia-Pacific Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Middle East & Africa.

In London, this week the Wearable Technology Show 2017 took place. This event is the largest event for wearables, AR, VR and IoT in Europe and RealWear were awarded the “Best Enterprise Solution.” These awards spot the “best innovators in the market” and “seek to recognize the excellence in wearables, smart device and IoT innovation.”

RealWear are the makers of the HMT-1. The HMT-1 is the first industrial head-mounted tablet and showcased this at the event introducing the new wearable. This new technology allows you to free your hands designed for skilled workers like technicians, engineers in field service, maintenance, equipment inspection and complex manufacturing assembly. Featuring voice control allowing you to work your Android tablets and smartphone apps handsfree.

The company spoke about how their hands-free head mounted tablets can help empower heavy industry workers and how enterprise wearables will play a major role in the evolution of the Internet of Voice. There HMT-1 is intended for remote video collaboration, technical documentation, industrial IoT data visualization, assembly and maintenance instructions. They believe this device is a safe, faster an smarter way for workers to get their jobs done in harsh, loud field and manufacturing environments.

European scientists are developing a new Augmented Reality surgical visor in a bid to improve accuracy of interventions, by employing new photonics technology.  The visor will show anaesthetic and medical data while superimposing a patient’s x-ray in perfect unison with their body, meaning surgeons never having to look away during operations, significantly reducing surgery times.

The VOSTARS (‘Video Optical See-Through Augmented Reality surgical System’) medical visor is a head-mounted display (HMD) system that is capable of superimposing the patient’s x-ray images in perfect 3D unison with their anatomy.

The visor presents other patient data such as anaesthetic data, heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, and breathing rates, projecting them conveniently into the surgeon’s field of vision.  This is intended to increase the surgeon’s accuracy by focusing on the operation and reduce time by never having to look away.

The project forecasts a significant improvement of the intervention accuracy coupled with a reduction in time spent in an operation and under anaesthetic by at least 11%.  Technology features include the use of photonics components, with the small, high-luminous micro display, the LED optical waveguide, and the array of microns to project a 2D x-ray image in front of the user.

Project coordinator Dr Vincenzo Ferrari, biomedical engineering researcher at the Department of Information Engineering, at the University of Pisa, said: “With this state-of-the-art, highly ergonomic visor, we intend to provide all the information required to improve surgery. The primary goal is to reduce not just surgery times, but also the time spent under anaesthetic and the cost involved in any operation.”

Quicker surgery coupled with a higher degree of accuracy provides clear implications for the benefits, to patients, surgeons and healthcare management institutions.

In the same way that a facing camera on a smartphone films moving images, the VOSTARS system works by capturing what the surgeon sees from a head-mounted camera. The system then ‘merges’ this footage of reality with the patient’s medical images, from CT, MRI, or 3DUS scans.

The central processor, using the most advanced registration techniques available for surgical navigation, then presents a real-time hybrid image on the visor ‘dashboard’ to the surgeon.  The clinician can move freely around the patient.