Fox Business Video recently aired an interview with Index AR Solutions President and CEO Dan Arczynski about the use of Augmented Reality in construction. Although the segment’s host misspoke and referred to Virtual Reality when she meant Augmented reality, the video illustrates to audiences how the use of blueprints can be completely replaced by mobile platforms such as tablets to visualize plans and models in real time on job sites.

Arczynski also spoke of the bigger opportunities to increase efficiency through the use of AR in other industries such as manufacturing, power and energy, oil and gas. The possibility of Augmented Reality threatening jobs was introduced. Arczynski predicted that the technology would rather enhance worker efficiency on the job and make them more valuable to their employers.

Augmented Reality’s integration into future engineering and manufacturing processes is described in a recent report entitled “Engineering and Manufacturing +2025: Building the World” published by DHL’s Trend Research Group. The report begins by describing Industry 4.0 and digital manufacturing trends. It predicts that in the future many work processes will be increasingly supported by information provided via Augmented Reality.

The analysts suggest that Augmented Reality is likely to increase efficiency but tapping the potential may involve a re-design of production chains. One of the motivations for increasingly developing and integrating Augmented Reality, the report states, is that it may enable lower-skilled workers to perform more complex tasks.

To support its assertions and forecast, the report provides evidence published by Boeing, an AREA founding sponsor member. Boeing mechanics have been equipped with AR-enabled tablets on the assembly line to evaluate their suitability for reducing reliance on highly trained professionals for certain tasks.

Putting trained professionals in the field is costly. Sending two to the same site is safer but may double the cost to the customer or service provider. The challenge of insuring lone workers may be reduced using smart glasses and cameras.

In this post on the Field Service News blog, Editor in Chief Kirk Oldland points out that field workers using Augmented Reality could receive urgent notifications or step-by-step instructions without diverting their attention to a tablet or paper manual. Furthermore, using hands-free displays, the worker’s both hands would be free and could prevent errors in high-risk environments such as on an electricity pylon or scaffolding.

The same post also suggests that “smart garments” worn by field service professionals could also play a role. Specially designed garments for field service professionals could be sending sensor data about the worker’s body and whereabouts as well as keeping cables hidden where they will not be caught by objects, and could store extra battery packs or accessories.

Pair3D is publisher of software and platforms for interior design and an application that accompanies the IKEA catalog in the United States. The company recently released a well-written analysis of the Goldman Sachs report on AR and VR on its blog, Insight. The post points out that the GS analysis is weak in its coverage of Augmented Reality and fails to capture many important trends.

The authors agree with the report that cost will be the chief driver of the use cases that dominate AR HMDs and that AR HMD use cases will be primarily focused on enterprise productivity until 2025. However, they point out that the report ignores the opportunities for AR on tablets and projection technologies.

The post suggests that if the report is someone’s first exposure to the VR and AR market, the reader will learn something but will also be misled. The authors conclude that the report “falls short in its assumptions and analyses in a few key areas which will be vital for the VR/AR industry over the next decade.”

On its blog Field Service News published an interview conducted by Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, with Cranfield University School of Management’s Professor Howard Lightfoot. In the interview, Lightfoot expresses his conviction that Augmented Reality could revive field service as a profession worthy of attention by millennials. The problem is that field service is facing a significant aging workforce crisis. A shortage of qualified field service professionals could hamper the growth of businesses and increase downtime in mission critical systems.

Lightfoot says AR in field service operations is potentially a “massive game changer.” The suggestion is that rather than training the number of professionals needed to perform highly specialized tasks, Augmented Reality-assisted remote guidance will permit remote specialists to support anyone in the field. By connecting with skilled technicians, people will be able to more easily perform service and even repairs themselves. When the specialist can see what a local person is doing and immediately overlay information or to “digitally point at things,” travel to remote locations becomes less necessary.

In a previous news item, we noted that SAP, Vuzix and Bechtle have reached the level of confidence and maturity in technologies that the SAP Warehouse Picking app has been moved into production environments. In this video released by Bechtle the use of hands-free displays with information and support for Augmented Reality assistance is shown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCcXwDMu5b4

Bechtle’s head of logistics, Klaus Kratz, speaks to the benefits as well as the vision that the company has for reducing errors, increasing efficiencies in the company’s operations. The spokesperson also shared in a conference call on January 26 that warehouse employees are asked to participate in extensive studies of its effectiveness, including conducting a visual check on all orders to detect if the system is introducing any errors. The employees also complete surveys about their use of the technology, comfort level and to obtain feedback for future features.

In an interview with TechCrunch, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies CEO Dirk Ahlborn described his plans for the future of transportation including, but not limited to, Augmented Reality-assisted windows for passengers. Ahlborn suggested in the TechCrunch interview that the passenger’s experience would permit immersive as well as shared experiences, rather than the isolating ones involving Virtual Reality as proposed for airplanes.

The project mentioned is currently being studied as part of a partnership with RE’FLEKT, a German company in which Bosch has recently invested. RE’FLEKT and Hyperloop Transportation Technologies presented the concept using an Augmented Reality Wall during the Natrans-Arabia 2015 Trade Fair in Abu Dhabi. The interactive display shown in Abu Dhabi illustrates how Augmented Reality can also be integrated into the transportation system’s information management services for use by professionals building or servicing the future system’s components, or to educate investors, partners or passengers.

Optics for hands-free displays are advancing rapidly. Very few companies have been working on and delivering game-changing optics longer than Carl Zeiss. The company makes lenses for everything from microscopes to telescopes.

At CES, Carl Zeiss Smart Optics GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of the German giant, was showing the results of the latest developments for smart glasses. Smart Optics combines a Fresnel structure on a polycarbonate lens and a pico projector in the arm of the glasses to produce a very light weight prototype of future smart glasses.

The technology demonstration and prototype shown at CES has been described in many technology sites. An interview with Dr. Kai Jens Ströder, the company’s spokesperson, on the Wired blog shed light on the company’s strategy while a post on the AnandTech blog got into much greater detail. For example, the post says that the technology supports “an arbitrary focus to either place the displayed image a short distance away from the eye (~2m), or even at infinity to create a true HUD.”

Those who tried the technology felt that the weight and size are nearly indistinguishable from corrective glasses but other characteristics such as brightness and resolution are not ready for prime time. While the company touted the technology as easy to mass produce, Joshua Ho, AnandTech’s Senior Editor for Smartphones & Tablets reports that Zeiss shared with him that the design of the lens was covered with over 250 patents, driving home the difficulty of making this optical system work.

According to a recent blog post written by Doug Bolton on UK news portal Independent.co.uk, Bruce Harris, a Microsoft ‘Technical Evangelist’, revealed new information about features of the Microsoft Hololens at an event in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The highlights of the talk include information on the following features:

– Battery Life: The battery will last about 2.5 hours when the system is “pushed to its absolute limit. During regular use, that battery life increases to around 5.5 hours.”

– Field of View: The device’s total field of view will be around the same size as a 15-inch monitor (typical for laptops) viewed from a distance of 24 inches.

– Content: Harris said that the Hololens will run any universal Windows 10 app. When needed, it will be able to connect to content via almost any WiFi or Bluetooth-equipped device.

– Collaboration: Harris also said that users will “be able to link a number of Hololenses together, potentially making it possible for several people to see and interact with the same hologram.”

While these details are not verified by Microsoft itself, they will be helpful for purposes of planning pilots as soon as possible after the developer units begin shipping.

Wearable technology blogger Tom Emrich released his ten predictions for 2016 in a post on the blog Betakit. As most of the wearables on the market do not use or provide support for Augmented Reality, it’s not surprising that most of the predictions do not pertain to its adoption. However, Emrich’s ninth prediction is that in 2016 enterprises will be seeing “success through the lens of smart glasses.”

More specifically, the post says that while there’s been relatively low discussion of AR for consumers, wearable displays for Augmented Reality did make significant inroads in the enterprise in 2015 with the help of enterprise solution providers like APX Labs, an AREA founding sponsor member.

Emrich writes in the post that “2016 will see success stories surface of wearables as effective tools in the enterprise, especially smart glasses boasting heads-up displays and Augmented Reality features which equip users with a ton of tools right at eye level, leaving them hands-free to perform their job. Along with solutions from the Glass at Work partners, I would expect 2016 will see case studies from Microsoft, Accenture, SAP, Deloitte, and Salesforce using wearable solutions to improve efficiencies and meet business goals in various sectors from oil and mining to healthcare.”

Such case studies and testimonials will support the education of those who are unfamiliar with the potential for Augmented Reality to improve workplace performance.