Future of Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality has been trending lately and for good reasons. With the breakthroughs made in AR technology in the past 5 years, it has now become possible to rethink many of our personal and professional life experiences in 3D and AR views.
These are some of my favourite usages of Augmented Reality that we can expect coming in future.
AR Contact Lenses
When Drew Perkins was Gainspeed’s CEO, he developed cataracts, a common vision ailment where the cornea becomes clouded. Surgery fixed his far-field and near-field vision but left him with significantly limited midrange vision.
THERE’S GOT TO BE A WAY TO GIVE PEOPLE ADVANCED OR ELEVATED VISION WITHOUT SURGERY.
This question led him to research into making a “Bionic eye” which would give supervision to the people and also correct any reality distorted caused by cataracts or similar eye impairment.
Shopping in a Metaverse Mall
Walmart has shared this video that showcases how they intend to use mixed reality for virtual in-store purchases.
There is so much going on in this video.
- Virtual assistant
- Shopping list anchored to our view on the left
- Information overlaid on the products
- Invoice & total pricing are displayed
- Suggestions provided by the virtual assistant
To what extent this is going to happen is questionable since most people who prefer online shopping may find this a hassle and more effort than just ordering items from a regular website.
Fitness Instructor
While it is good to follow fitness instructors on the TV, laptop, wouldn’t it be better to see them live in your gym room?
Not only indoor, one company is creating your running buddy called The Ghost Pacer which can be used outdoors as well. Check out this great video.
A similar idea can be imagined where a Yoga guru is helping you show the correct poses in your house.
Medical Training Simulations
Mixed Reality has the potential to transform how medical training can be provided in a more immersive and realistic way. It is a low risk alternative to allow medical professionals practice in virtual environment.
Gaming
Remember Pokemon Go? One of the first AR games that became an instant hit all around the globe. Immersive technologies have the potential to take gaming to the next level.
E-commerce
Compared to the above, this one has better chances of mass adoption. Using Augmented Reality solves a lot of problems that customers face today. If you ever tried to buy some clothing or furniture item online, you are familiar with the issue. What if this sofa doesn’t look good in my bedroom? Will the TV fit in my wall space? Will this t-shirt look good on me?
Augmented Reality solves this issue by allowing you to place the products in your space and get their feel. Similarly with body tracking enabled, you can do virtual try-ons of the clothes before buying online.
This is also good for the merchants since this will reduce returns and save delivery and return costs. Amazon, FlipKart and major marketplace vendors have already added support for AR view.
Education
Using Augmented Reality, Education can be taken to the next level. The avatars or objects can come out of the book and provide a learning experience like never before.
Indoor Navigation
Have you ever found yourself lost in a shopping mall or office buildings where you don’t know where some office or shop is located?
When Google Maps was released, it immediately became a huge success because it solved this navigation problem. However, this issue still exists indoors where Google can’t reach.
Using AR with Geolocation tracking, this problem can be solved which was built by MobiDev
Remote Assistance
Remote assistance will benefit a lot from Augmented reality. This will help technicians and experts to provide remote help for machines for quick diagnostics and repairs. Vuforia (owned by PTC) has created Vuforia Chalk to display this use case.
The future of AR is very promising. The possibilities in ways it can change our day to day life is limitless. What’s your favourite Augmented Reality use case that you are looking forward to?
Looking to get started with Augmented Reality? Check out our get started guide
- WebAR – Getting Started with WebAR
- Mobile AR – How to build an AR app in Flutter
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