An article in Eureka Magazine has many interesting points about AR’s prevalence amongst workforces and enterprise customers.  The main points from the article are:

• AR will enable increased collaboration between AR/VR and IoT developers
• Industry is already one of the strongest adopters of AR, leading to some reconsidering product plans.
• Many businesses are expected to soon place smart glasses at the core of their IoT systems, as they look to make workers more productive and to streamline their backend operations.
• Valerie Riffaud-Cangelosi, new markets development manager at Epson, says: “Deploying AR will enable more efficient processes by enhancing the reality of the user, so they’ll be able, for example, to maintain an engine or a complex electrical board in an intuitive and easy way. They’ll be able to see inside the device and act on the information there and then.”
• AR headsets are expected to evolve from the current type of eyewear to much sleeker devices like contact lenses and, in the distant future, it could be possible to make AR implantable with apps having direct access to the nervous system.
• One key technological challenge, especially for mobile AR, is packaging the components into a compact, sleek and lightweight format that people can wear comfortably all day.
• AR headsets must remain cool, which brings additional power and thermal constraints.
• “For a true mobile AR system, there is still not enough computing power to create stereo 3D augmented reality graphics,” argues Radhika Arora, ON Semiconductor’s IoT product line manager. “Laptops are just about starting to be equipped with the necessary graphics processing units and both sensors and haptics will play a critical role in future adoption.
• “For image sensors, getting the form factor more compact will be key as well as improving their performance in varying light conditions.”
• But while the future may witness fashionable eyewear, AR developers need to focus on a common interface that integrates with wearables in use today, whether that’s a pair of glasses or even a smartphone.
• “AR is still very new, with limited market penetration,” says Adam Kerin, Qualcomm’s senior manager of marketing. “But as the technology advances and the form factor decreases, we can expect to see it evolving into a seamless experience that users will interact with daily.

The full article appears here. Many of the challenges of adopting augmented reality in the enterprise are being addressed directly by AREA funded research such as security challenges and being able to calculate ROI.

An article on TechCrunch explains how one of the issues to AR solutions is optics and display. This is the view of Lumus CEO Ari Grobman and the reason why they are highlighting a new form factor at CES 2018 that they hope to have ready for Q2 2018, bringing a complicated display technology smaller than it has ever been before.

As the article states, Apple, Microsoft, Google and Facebook are all look towards getting augmented reality glasses out into the market to push their vision of the world directly into viewers’ eyeballs, however, they’re running into a common challenge in terms of displays.

Lumus builds reflective waveguides. The interesting, rather sleek pieces of display technology rely on microscopic etchings in transparent glass lenses that catch light being projected into their edges.

While these systems are limited in how much of a viewer’s field-of-view they can fill, they are unparalleled in the small form factors they can reach and will likely be what powers your first pair of smart glasses.

For further information see the full TechCrunch article.

The University of Washington is launching a new augmented and virtual reality research center — funded by Facebook, Google, and Huawei — to accelerate innovation in the field and educate the next generation of researchers and practitioners.

The $6 million UW Reality Lab, funded with equal contributions from the three initial sponsors, creates one of the world’s first academic centers dedicated to virtual and augmented reality. The new center in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering and located in Seattle — a national hub of VR activity — will support research and education initiatives with potential to deliver game-changing breakthroughs in the field.

Read more in the full article.

AREA member Nvidia featured multiple times in an article on the AFR.com Financial Review website.  CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is currently on in Las Vegas.  Here’s a look at what analysts say investors will be looking for at the CES related to Nvidia and others:

• Automotive – stocks most likely to respond to CES-related events should be Ambarella and Nvidia, Morgan Stanley analysts led by Joseph Moore and Craig Hettenbach said.
• Nvidia is “at the centre” of many of the key innovations in consumer electronics.
• While Nvidia will probably remain at the top of investors’ minds when thinking about AI, Intel will probably feature recent advances in the field at the event;
• Look for updates from Nvidia regarding progress of Drive PX Pegasus platform, clarity on how the company plans to cut operating temperature and power consumption, and new partnerships and potential end-customers, KeyBanc analysts said.
• Updates on Intel’s long-term approach to the the AR/VR ecosystem are of interest given the company’s recent move to wind down its headset reference design, MKM’s Roy said.
• Nvidia is also expected to highlight its emerging AR/VR technologies.
• Companies will probably showcase mobile-based augmented-reality applications, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Jitendra Waral and Sean Handrahan said.
• AR hardware prototypes are bound to be shown by larger companies and start-ups, but the hardware may still be years away as a supply chain and standards are still missing; until then, mobile AR will be at the forefront and CES may preview some of the ways that companies leverage AR to differentiate their products;

Here’s what Gartner has to say about it:

Augmented Reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality are changing the way that people perceive and interact with the digital world. Combined with conversational platforms, a fundamental shift in the user experience to an invisible and immersive experience will emerge. Application vendors, system software vendors and development platform vendors will all compete to deliver this model.

Over the next five years the focus will be on mixed reality, which is emerging as the immersive experience of choice, where the user interacts with digital and real-world objects while maintaining a presence in the physical world. Mixed reality exists along a spectrum and includes head-mounted displays (HMD) for AR or VR, as well as smartphone- and tablet-based AR. Given the ubiquity of mobile devices, Apple’s release of ARkit and iPhone X, Google’s Tango and ARCore, and the availability of cross-platform AR software development kits such as Wikitude, we expect the battles for smartphone-based AR and MR to heat up in 2018.

Other technologies predicted to be trending in 2018 are: AI foundation, intelligent apps and analytics, intelligent things, digital twins, cloud to the edge, conversational platforms, blockchain, event-driven and continuous adaptive risk and trust.

Their full report can be read here.

Nasdaq First North-listed Crunchfish and Vuzix Corporation enter into collaboration to pre-integrate Crunchfish’s software for gesture control in Vuzix’s smart glasses and thereby make the software available for customers and partners.

Vuzix is a leading supplier of smart glasses and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies and products for the consumer and enterprise markets. Crunchfish’s gesture control in combination with Vuzix’s glasses creates opportunities for efficient and user-friendly interaction, where the user becomes less dependent on touchscreens and buttons.

For industrial use, gesture control can for instance be used to browse through instructions, manage phone calls, check video streaming, and zoom in/out drawings and documents. Nasdaq-listed Vuzix focuses on design, manufacturing and sales of smart glasses and is represented in USA, Great Britain and Japan. Since 2015, Intel is one of the shareholders, who together with Vuzix’s management owns nearly 40 percent of the company.

“As a leading supplier of AR smart glasses for both the consumer and enterprise markets, it is vital for us to secure suppliers with tools that can be easily used by our partners and solution developers on our platform. Crunchfish is an important partner that provides new and effective ways to interact with our devices.” says Paul Travers, CEO of Vuzix. “The market for AR glasses grows and we are very pleased to work with an influential player like Vuzix.

Their market focus is in line with Crunchfish’s and they see an increasing demand for gesture control from customers and partners, which provides a foundation for a successful cooperation, “says Joakim Nydemark, CEO of Crunchfish.

For further information, please contact: Joakim Nydemark, CEO Crunchfish [email protected] +46 706 35 16 09

To read Vusix’s AREA member profile please see here.

A balanced and detailed report on use of augmented reality in surgery can be found on ZNet today.

The article draws on the work on Heart Surgeon Dr Maksymilian Opolski of the Waraw Insittue of Cardiology, who first tested glasses for a heart operation in 2015 when he navigated inside the patient’s heart sing pictures projected onto the heads-up display (HUD).

The article describes the operation that was carried out and how Opolski used Google Glass’ augmented reality glasses to guide the catheter through the veins to the heart.

He has now led a 15-patient pilot of the technology that could pave the way for the use of such wearables more widely in future wwhich he referred to as being a “natural consequence” of the procedure in 2015.

The article states that “the difference in preparing for augmented reality and traditional surgery is only a matter of a few minutes of training, thanks to the “simple and intuitive” nature of the app, says Opolski. Cardiologists could navigate through the images of the patient’s heart using voice commands — not just making the software easy to use, but also ideal for maintaining the sterile conditions of the operating theatre

After 15 operations with the Google Glass and accompanying app, Opolski and his team’s research has shown the technology is “not only feasible and safe, but also does not interfere with the routine activities performed in the catheterization laboratory by operators”. The chances of having an ‘adverse event’ — such as a heart attack — was found to be the same for with-Glass operations and without Glass.

While the study was too small to provide a definitive answer to whether the Glass-assisted operations were better for patients than those conducted without the tech, there are hints that AR can bring some benefits. Operations where surgeons wore Glass tended to use less contrast to visualise the course of the vessels, which can be beneficial to patients that react to the dye. It also helped surgeons better choose which types of guidewire to use during the operation.

Positively, the surgeons who used the Glass during the PCI operations reported high levels of satisfaction with the technology, and indicated they would be amenable to using the kit in their regular surgical work, meaning that it may not be too long before we see more use of AR headsets in the operating theatre.

The full article can be read here.

A 6-minute read piece that appeared on Medium.com this week by Ajay Sharma is a great run through how augmented reality is transforming the aviation industry. Not only that, but the sources of all this fantastic information are: The AREA, Upskill (an AREA member), and Airbus.

For the visual amongst you, there’s a superb infographic that represents all the productivity and efficiency benefits to the aviation industry that AR is making possible.  What’s more, these are based on real life case studies, not pie in the sky dreaming.  Plenty of examples are discussed in this highly readable piece.

A run down on some of the key benefits of AR in the aviation industry are:

• Error reduction
• Improvement in quality and speed when assembling mock aircraft
• Higher quality maintenance work
• Step by step visual guidance
• Faster repairs
• Improved comms between airfield workers and central offices
• Better, more effective training

Readers will have no doubt noticed that there are many industry reports on a variety of augmented reality markets, making it difficult to know which ones are relevant.

The key findings from the latest industry reports on augmented reality and smart glasses.

Global Market Insights AR Market to hit $50 billion by 2024

Details of the report can be found here.

This is according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. The shipments are expected to witness more than 75% growth from 2017 to 2024.  Predominantly owing to the rising popularity of smart-glasses.

Global AR Smart Glasses Market Intelligence Report 2017

Details of the report can be found here.

Manufacturers mentioned in the report include: Sony, Google, Microsoft, Epson, Toshiba, Qualcomm, Recon, Vuzix, APX amongst others.

AR Smart Glasses Market analysis report offers the analytical read of the business by learning various factors like market growth, consumption volume, market trends and business price structures throughout the forecast amount from 2017 to 2022.

AR and VR in Healthcare Market Analysis

The global Augmented Reality (AR) & Virtual Reality (VR) in healthcare market size was valued at USD 568.7 million in 2016 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 29.1% during the forecast period. The growing integration of technology & digitalization in healthcare, increasing healthcare expenditure & focus on delivery of efficient health services, and its significance in training healthcare professionals are some of the key factors driving the increasing adoption of AR and VR technologies.

An article on OffshoreTechnology.com discusses how wearables are making safety simpler and asks whether offshore oil and gas industry will get on board with the trend for wearable devices?

Offshore oil and gas platforms are affected by a number of hazards, from gas leaks to extreme weather, and operators have been working for decades to ensure every safety precaution is taken. Now the internet of things (IoT) is offering a new option in the form of wearable safety technologies.

“The direction many companies are following points towards a digitalisation of the workplace, in order to reduce human errors, increase safety and simplify work processes,” explains MIT Design Lab senior design lead Sara Colombo. “Definitely there is much space for the adoption of IoT and connected solutions, and companies need to fully embrace this revolution and to train workers to make them ready to adopt these solutions even further.”

IoT wearables have already begun to play an important role in the digitalisation push across a number of industries. But the unique challenges involved in working offshore mean adoption has been slow in the oil and gas sector.  Can lessons learned in other industries be applied here?

Smart glasses

Making the case for offshore wearables: BP has already begun using IoT wearables in some areas of its operations, such as onshore gas sites. The company’s smart glasses use augmented reality to overlay data and instructions over the worker’s field of vision. They are also able to present sensor information on the lens and communicate this information with a central communication hub.

In 2016, BP’s Digital Innovation Organisation technology principal Blaine Tookey spoke at the Wearables Technology Show about the potential for IoT wearables in the offshore oil and gas sector.

“This is the revolution we’re looking for: the new paradigm that wearables will bring to people working in oil and gas,” said Tookey. “This technology will drive automatic situational awareness, so our field workers will have the right knowledge at the point of work. Enabling a ‘man down’ to be automatically recognised by colleagues and the control room and location sensing will be really valuable.”

Tookey highlighted a range of products he would like to see developed further for the offshore oil and gas industry. These included smart sensors, displays and communication devices that could all be integrated into wearables.

With the current success of the smart glasses in other areas of BP, it is likely that they will make an appearance in the offshore industry where up-to-date information could be invaluable. However, the glasses would need to be modified to work in the wet and windy offshore environment.