12 Examples of Augmented Reality in Different Industries
What's the use of new tech if you can't apply it to solving real-world problems? Augmented reality (AR) is finding use in manufacturing, healthcare, education, and a wide range of industries.
The growth of use goes hand-in-hand with the release of new AR hardware. The applications are ranging from entertainment (think about ar filters with Snap Spectacles from Snapchat), e-commerce (mostly mobile AR through your smartphone or tablet) or enterprise solutions (think HoloLens 2!).
Comparing to virtual reality (VR), AR is a lot easier to adapt and in most cases more comfortable to use because the user still sees the physical world around here. The AR superimposes the additional information on top of it. With VR - you are 'stuck' in the virtual world.
Source: medicalfuturist.com
Did you know that according to Deloitte 71% of AR users said that they would shop more often with the help of AR apps. Think about all that purchase power by enabling another medium — especially when the technology make its way into our everyday life.
Let's explore some real-life applications of this technology.
1. Manufacturing
AR has wide applications in manufacturing.
The technology lets workers visualize and use data in real-time, enabling them to make timely data-driven decisions.
It also promotes virtues like:
Cross-team collaboration
Paperless workforce
Simplified manufacturing workflows
For example, Vuzix Smart Glasses prides itself in its ability to:
Cut down production time
Improve productivity
Boost workflow accuracy
Enforce compliance
Support quality control
Also, automobile and aerospace industries implement the extended reality technology in tasks that require the minutest details to bring real-time solutions to the workplace.
As an on-the-go instructor, the Vuzix smart glass delivers real-time training to frontline workers.
Additionally, it supports workforce access to clear illustrations, video instructions, and digital checklists in real-time to reduce errors and improve quality assurance.
Other AR technologies revolutionizing manufacturing include Microsoft’s HoloLens and ThirdEye Gen.
2. Healthcare
Healthcare and medicine also benefit from AR glasses. Some AR glasses allow surgeons to project an X-ray or CAT image over a patient's body to see the inside, enabling more precise surgeries.
Additionally, they can pull patients' records in real-time without interrupting the surgeries.
AR glasses like Google Glass help medical institutions provide AR-assisted healthcare.
Image credit: Google Glass
It helps improve healthcare-delivery accuracy and supports safer healthcare services by allowing health professionals to:
Work hands-free
Access training videos
Use images or annotated instructions
Run quality assurance checklists
These healthcare professionals can also:
Record and share voice communications
Connect with coworkers through live video streams
Collaborate and troubleshoot issues in real-time
Besides smart glasses, several AR apps like MedicAR and MEVIS Surgery provide valuable AR-supported healthcare delivery content for their users.
3. In-Store Shopping Experience
Leading retailer brands like IKEA, Amazon, and Sephora provide e-commerce shopping experiences over augmented reality mobile or wearable glasses interfaces.
These brands’ apps support shoppers in real-time as they make buying decisions.
For example, the IKEA AR mobile app takes pictures of a living room, measures the space, and recommends the furniture that fits the space.
Image credit: Indigo 9 Digital
Check our Sephora's virtual makeup try-on. Users of the app can apply any shade or color of lipsticks before the actual product touches their lips. No more hassle with trying to figure the perfect look.
Beyond e-commerce, Augmented Reality is also finding use in physical store locations.
AR glasses like Vuzix Blade deliver location-aware information, data collection, and supporting remote audio and video communication.
In-store shoppers wearing the glasses see product information once they step into the store by merely looking at the products.
The device can also allow buyers to read product reviews and descriptions and filter products by preference.
Image credit: Vuzix
Shoppers can use voice control capabilities to carry out tasks via shopping apps.
For instance, when you voice the product price you're looking for, the glass' AI assistant highlights the products within that price range to your visual field.
4. Logistics
Timely and efficient delivery is crucial for sustaining businesses, and AR is transforming how logistics companies operate.
Logistics workers use AR glasses in warehouse operations to access a digital packing list. It also shows them the best route to cut travel time.
AR devices can also scan items to detect damages, pack cargoes in perfectly sized boxes, and maximize freight loading spaces.
Image credit: Jason
The Vuzix M-Series can support product line operations and a wide range of other industries.
5. Athletics
Several athletes use AR glasses to stay ahead (pun intended). It provides them with insights to improve their performance and come up with on-the spot solutions in real-time. As you can imagine this is great for training and planning and coming up with a winning strategy when it's time to perform.
The Vuzix Labs Smart Swim for swimmers fits into all swim goggles. In addition, it provides them workout status and swims performance information to help app users reach optimum performance without interruption.
Image credit: Vuzix
The device also provides a coach to swimmer connection and lets swimmers spice up their underwater experiences with their favorite TV shows or videos.
Also, Raptor AR headset and Solos provide augmented reality experiences for cyclists and runners. The device allows them to access data without taking their focus off the road.
Image credit: EverySight Raptor
6. Advertising
Some organizations rely on AR to enhance product discovery reality experience. AR provides immersive experiences that connect brands and viewers emotionally.
The ads are highly engaging, and consumers can interact with them in real-time, creating positive experiences that drive impressive conversion numbers.
Pepsi's bus shelter AR ad is one Augmented Reality ad example.
The company launched the campaign to share its brand message, "Live For Now." The ad overlays bespoke virtual assets onto a street's live feed on a bus shelter display, transforming it into incredible live-like experiences.
Unsurprisingly, this Pepsi Max campaign had massive engagement numbers.
It garnered over three million YouTube views in just five days and boosted Pepsi Max sales by up to 35% year on year for the month the campaign went live.
The campaign won over 20 awards and generated an organic PR frenzy that reached more than 385 million people.
7. Remote Collaboration
AR glasses are seeing increasing application in remote collaboration tasks.
The technology's built-in "see-what-I-see" feature lets team members communicate and work together seamlessly on tasks regardless of their locations.
Organizations incorporate AR smart glasses like Vuzix to connect their workforce for faster issue resolutions and collaborations.
Image credit: Vuzix
The device allows the workforce to access remote training, receive expert assistance, and execute remote inspections without the travel costs and commute time.
The Lenovo ThinkReality A3 and A6 smart glasses also make remote collaboration possible.
Image credit: Lenovo ThinkReality
8. Live Language Translation
The world's over 7,000 spoken languages make it a diverse and beautiful place. But since we can't learn all the languages, translations offer an easier way.
But thanks to AR translation applications, you can receive assistance in real-time, meaning you don't need to copy and paste texts again to translate them.
Google Translate's Word Lens features:
Instant translation
Overlay translated texts on a live video feed
Creates a next-level augmented reality experience that gives you the exact feel as the original sign
See a live translation in action in this video.
The technology is still in its infancy and will get better with time.
9. Gaming
One of the most obvious uses of immersive technologies is gaming. It blends a virtual environment with the natural world to completely immerse gamers.
The technology steps up regular games by bringing entertainment outside the smartphone.
Pokémon GO is a breakthrough AR game. It allows players to play in their real-world environment, using a smartphone's camera, GPS, and others to enable a location-based AR experience.
The game lets players become Pokémon Masters by capturing monsters hidden in several locations in the real world.
Other examples of AR gaming successes include Jurassic World Live, The Walking Dead, and Harry Potter.
10. Education
Thanks to Augmented Reality, instructors can improve students' learning outcomes through immersive learning.
AR tools like ThirdEye X2 smart glasses can help instructors supplement traditional teaching with immersive AR experiences and break learning barriers. It also lets students follow simplified lesson instructions to solve complex problems.
Additionally, the device enables remote learning, allowing students to receive live mentoring and learning support hands-free.
11. Architecture and Design
ThirdEye X2 is one AR glass that’s pushing the envelope in the architecture and design fields.
Image credit: Lenovo ThinkReality
The device allows design teams to create initial building concepts, project plans and make real-time changes.
It also enables remote collaboration, supporting several teams to work on the same project from anywhere.
Furthermore, the "see-what-I-see" feature allows architects to stream what they see and receive feedback from clients or supervisors while working hands-free.
12. Aerospace and Defense
The need for faster repairs, quicker production rates, seamless personnel onboarding, and improved first-time quality are behind AR growing applications in aerospace and defense.
Aerospace and defense bodies streamline operations, conduct routine maintenance, and collaborate in real-time with remote experts through live feed streams using ThirdEye Gen.
Additionally, AR glasses reduce downtime with hands-free access to mission-critical documents, schematics, and instructions. They let workers complete digital checklists without interrupting their workflow.
Wrap Up
Augmented reality lets users communicate seamlessly regardless of their locations, enables paperless enterprise journeys, accelerates learning through interactive 3D content, plus other potent promises and applications.
The popularity of XR is on the rise and this time it's emerging globally not just in United States. In fact, Singapore has seen the most growth in the recent years. It's surpassing the pure entertainment use in social media - the enterprise solutions are saving millions of dollars by cutting down production or maintenance time while e-commerce retailers are selling more products by incorporating the new technology and increasing shopper experience.
It's the present and the future; that’s why Circuit Stream has developed the most comprehensive AR design and development education courses where you will learn how to build XR (virtual, augmented or mixed reality applications) of the future.
Circuit Stream’s ten-week Interaction Design and Prototyping for XR online course prepare you to earn the Unity Associate Artist certificate.
The program explores Extended Reality design best practices. You’ll learn to prototype intuitive, usable, and human-centered experiences for AR and VR.
The XR Development with Unity project-based ten-week course covers the foundational skills in AR and VR development. In addition, it prepares you for the Unity Associate Programmer certificate and lets you build seven real-world projects during the course.
