Augmented Reality: The future of industries
Augmented reality is projected to find its utility in industrial sectors and also in the life of end users. Many applications of AR are touted to change the user experience and to bring gains in productivity and efficiency for industry. Lets talk about few examples to explain AR utilitiy.
Augmented Reality in Manufacturing, Warehousing, and Logistics
In industry, you will soon find AR glasses helping manufacturing workers with info that is overlaid in the form of text, videos (instructional or step-by-step guides) helping workers. Such utilities of wearable AR glasses can help bringing the untrained professional to a proficiency level — leading to a marked decrease in training and supervision costs.
AR will not only bring productivity to manufacturing, but also help other associated fields like warehousing and logistics.
In case of logistics and warehousing, you will see companies benefiting with overlay info against each item with the instructions to delivery, storing and protection. In case there is a change in end-user order, such changes can be relayed to workers instantly with instruction against each item and its handling. Does that not save any logistics or warehousing players a massive loss and pain in terms of value lost?
AR Mirrors and Try-On
Consider the case of Virtual Try-On, with this technology you can try on an augmented makeup or a new dress without the hassles of changing. You can get a tattoo augmented before getting it on the body for good.
For retail this means ease and connivence. This technology will help you to put on new makeups and try new new colours without the actual products.
AR for Branding and Retail
If you have a brand, its crucial that you have content ready for AR adoption. With the adoption of new AR technologies by retail, end-user interaction with brands is expected to go through a major change.
Experiments by UCL interaction Centre found out that people felt good with the usage of such AR enabled try on and makeups. It definitely enhances the end user experience and such technology is supposed to enhance the shopping convenience.
Consider the case of watches and jewellery. AR gives the end retailer and brand a convenient tool to interact with their product without the hassle of equipment handling and care and user can feel at ease trying on augmented products.
Augmented Reality Gaming
AR Gaming has made it big with the success of Pokemon GO. Not only did the game proved the adoption of AR gaming, but also proved that AR can be a major part of entertainment.
Most of the popular AR games belong to categories of education, entertainment, geolocation, fashion and puzzle.
Many game studios are already working on building AR enabled games. Few examples of AR gaming include, Ingress, an AR game by Niantic Studio, was developed and released back in 2012. Parallel Mafia is a good example of AR based strategy game, which focuses on becoming the leader of your clan and take over your neighbourhood. Likewise Temple Treasure Hunt is a game of myth lovers and mystery solvers.
Augmented Reality for tourism
Other examples of AR technology usage can be seen in case of Tourism. Museum of London has an app that lets you see London streets in the past.
Consider that you visiting a new city, how fun will it be to have an AR glass labelling all the landmarks around. Or the same glass can guide you to the places you want to view.
Google Translate is already a proven utility app to translate languages. But once you add AR to the maps then it adds tremendous utility for travellers to navigate and enjoy. AR definitely offers the promise of resolving the issue of finding directions.
Print Ads coming to life
Consider the case where you open a magazine and with the help an AR device, you can see the entire product being displayed in 3D with an exciting offer for you. Brands and retail outlets are already testing out such venues to enhance end-user experience.
For the dying industry of print, this could be a game changer, where technology can help it in becoming relevant again.
AR enabled Restaurants
Ever wondered while in a restaurant if you could see the dish in 3D before ordering. Such an experience can be a much better option than viewing an image posted on the menu. With AR it can be done.
Resultant owners, with AR, can add, modify or edit the items with much ease. Consider a use case where a restaurant wants to offer or highlight a special item for a small duration. With augmented reality this can be done with ease while enhancing user experience
Summing Up
A lot more is about to be innovated in the field of Augmented Reality. It’s an exciting avenue for investors and entrepreneurs to start building applications. In the later articles to come, I will dive deep in each category of applications.
Originally published on app2dev.com blog.
