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.
Zurich Insurance is preparing to roll out Augmented Reality-based learning system across 10,000 employees in 170 countries in order to help develop the key skills the managers feel they need to be productive at their jobs in 2016, according to this article on Computer Weekly web site. The $74B insurance giant expects rapid payback on the investment from another use case that will lower IT cost. Using the mobile AR service, employees will have the option to use Augmented Reality to receive support in the place of using the company’s help desk. The full-scale roll out will go live in October 2015.
Defense organizations have been integrating Augmented Reality into their soldier programs for longer than it has been available for commercial deployment, however, people continue to test and prove new use cases. In this expert opinion piece published by DCNS Group, the author examines the use of AR for mission planning, training and support. The NextGen Combat Bridge will integrate more Augmented Reality into military ships for faster decision making and more efficient operations.
Results of a recent workplace technology survey are summarized in this article on Talk Business magazine’s web site. It’s not surprising that if the study was sponsored by Epson, the findings highlight technologies that it offers. It’s helpful to learn that over 21% of white collar workers feel that their productivity is currently hampered by poorly designed technology but it would have been valuable to know how many of the 600 surveyed feel that smart glasses are going to simplify their technology interfaces.
Sorting and getting products to the right place without detours or delays is an increasingly competitive business. According to an article in Fierce Wireless, the US Postal Service has announced in a report that it is exploring the possibility of using Augmented Reality in a variety of use cases including but no limited to assisting carriers with their deliveries. Cost and time savings are among the goals of the project.
AREA member Atheer Labs is following up the recent announcement of new hardware and developer kit with updates to its software and the introduction of a cloud service. In this press release, the company describes the Operations and Communication Console for collaboration between the central office and mobile workers, including two-way text and video conferencing features. An integration with Unity is another upgrade for the kit’s AiR Operating System.
The lack of integration between professional software for computer-aided design with Augmented Reality viewing platforms is a substantial impediment to having 3D Augmented Reality in enterprise use cases. In this press release Strata, publisher of engineering software Strata 3D, has announced that users will be able to save models as AR experiences. The new feature is made possible through collaboration with Augment, a provider of software and cloud-hosted services for Augmented Reality experience delivery.
Cortona3D is a software publisher widely recognized for automatic production of 3D maintenance procedures. Its software generates 3D animations based on CAD data but until this announcement it has not been ready for Augmented Reality experiences. By partnering with DigiNext, a French technology provider and Metaio developer that publishes Inscape, the two companies have released Inscape3D with support for AR: Inscape AR. Professionals using Cortona 3D are able to view their models and projects in AR view.
Pristine, a developer and provider of video conferencing tools for use with wearable displays, is collaborating with Epson America to offer its EyeSight platform on Epson Moverio smart glasses for field service use cases. Given the engineering know-how of the partners, and the deep customer base of Epson, this partnership has terrific potential to bring value to companies with large workforces in need of Augmented Reality as well as “over the shoulder” experts to address undocumented and rare incidents in the field.
Preparing data to make it useful in Augmented Reality view can present challenges to some enterprise data managers. Workflows need to be modified in order to ensure that there’s always a physical world “target” or “anchor” that will trigger the AR experience. In this short blog post on Sourceable, the author highlights how architects can be preparing for the future by adding real world geospatial reference to their projects.