The Future of Industrial AR

Previously we talked about why AR will boom over the next few years and what the implications of that are for the consumer. But actually it’s quite likely you might end up using AR more for work than for your home life. Advances in headset and AI technology mean that jobs previously the reserve for highly qualified personnel AI will become options for less skilled workers. Moreover, processes that have previously been impossible will be made practical by AR developments.

In engineering we are always seeing the overlay of expert systems within AR to help with fault diagnosis in the automotive and servicing industries. Engineers can see, without having to reference technical documentation, which part in front of them does what function - and more importantly, what common issues it can display and the symptoms they manifest. This speeds up fault identification and resolution massively. 

With added sensory information across a factory or any other commercial premises AR can be used to identify risks of fire and a range of other hazards, this works towards creating a safer working environment. But also, architects can use AR in the field to see in real time how their designs will work within the environment and enable them to foresee any potential building issues.

The biggest predicted growth of AR is within the medical industry - where the benefits span across professionals and end users. Again this will enable less qualified staff to perform tasks previously reserved for doctors. But, with AI able to spot visual issues to a higher degree of accuracy than humans and overlaid data such as temperature and chemical analysis, medical diagnosis will be lifted to superhuman levels. For people at home the use of consumer AR technologies will help them manage medical conditions better. Processes that might have once required periodic visits by medical staff can be automated - or at least guided remotely by medical staff. For example the application of medical sensor technology such as the Dexcom glucose monitor might benefit from AR.

In science, AR is making inroads into bringing published works to life - presenting overlays to  complex diagrams in 3D is useful for understanding everything from molecular structures to the size and nature of galaxies. But where AR is really making strides in academia is helping people with learning disabilities. Much work is being done to develop AR solutions to support people with dyslexia after it was found that AR can side step a lot of the issues - especially in more advanced stages of education where a lot of intense reading is required.

Cadasio has obvious benefits in helping all of the above groups understand 3D information better by allowing users to see visually how things work in a variety of contexts - from step-by-step assembly instructions to product information to remote learning applications - so we will be following the development of AR very closely over the next few years.