In the summer of 2016, a somewhat unexpected trend took over everyday life. Outsiders wondered why crowds of people are now fixated on the mobile phone screen to the real world scan They shouted ecstatically that they had Caught a relaxo, whatever that should mean.
Pokémon GO was a somewhat curious sensation: From a game title that many people associated more with Game Boys and the like, to a record breaker. 206.5 million US dollars in revenue, 130 million downloads — and that just in the first month. A success that is based on various factors: youth nostalgia, a new community activity, adorable designs of the little pocket monsters and, last but not least, an explosive technology that many came into contact with for the first time: augmented reality (AR).
We use the term augmented reality in reference to the indeterminate, unstable, context dependent and multiple realities brought into being through the subjective coming together in time and space of material and virtual experience [...]. In other words: augmented reality is the material/virtual nexus mediated through technology, information and code, and enacted in specific and individualized space/time configurations.
Simply put: Augmented Reality overlays image, text, video and/or audio components onto existing real-world material. This allows, for example, your personal favorite Pokémon to sit in the garden, place furniture previews in the home, try on glasses digitally and much more.
Augmented reality is therefore no alternative to recording reality; rather, it works in conjunction with it. For example, when scanning a tourist attraction using your own smartphone, which then provides information about it. AR is therefore more of an extension of reality and offers far more diverse options than entertainment.
As the example with regard to tourist attractions already suggests, augmented reality offers various potential in terms of education, such as the promising combination of education and entertainment: edutainment.
Through the collaboration of MIT and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, a hand-held AR program known as Alien Contact! What created. This game was designed to focus on several educational aspects such as math, language arts, and scientific literacy. Students used this device throughout the study to participate in roles and collaborate as a team. The authors found that there was a high level of engagement.
Participating students showed already in the study from 2014 greater interest and more interactive participation than with traditional teaching methods With growing technical activity among children and young people, a high response is to be expected from the TikTok generation, which is already consuming a variety of learning formats digitally. The carrying out researchers concluded that this increased effect is due to two important factors:
Don't forget: Anything with aliens is cooler. An important, highly scientific factor. 😉
A major strength of AR in this case is how versatile the technology is, even when using different media. Whether on a desktop, smartphone or other mobile device, AR finds a variety of methods to expand lesson content, make it more tangible and offer students more interaction. Once again: Augmented Reality supplemented Reality instead of replacing it. Augmented reality therefore refers to our reality, while virtual reality is a reality simulates (and uses AR where appropriate). Two terms that are often compared but are completely different.
The “lock down”, which has given us quality time alone, has also put retailers under pressure. For one or the other company, AR was an absolute blessing: online shopping. Loud IBM's 2020 U.S. Retail Index Report, the pandemic has accelerated the shift to digital shopping methods by around five years. It goes without saying that features have also been popularized in this process that make the online shopping experience easier — for example with the help of AR.
Augmented Reality (AR) applications have been on the rise with virtual “try-before-you-buy” experiences ranging from previewing furniture and products in your home with everyday brands like IKEA and Home Depot, to virtually trying on luxury fashion such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci. Once a nice-to-have feature, AR has quickly become an essential technology for retailers.
The technology is therefore used to give users a foretaste of the product on offer. Be it the IKEA armchair, Mr. Spex glasses or Adidas hiking boots:
Papagiannis assumes that this is just the start and that the next step is gamification of this in order to play, explore and shop digitally with friends. It is clear that this try on system is extremely promising for the retail sector.
Incidentally, the potential can be tapped not only in retail, but also in production. Mechatronics engineers can use AR to discover “hidden” components in various car bodies and navigate simple remedial tasks such as removing various components. The use of AR would be According to Bosch Save a full 15% of time spent. Medicine is also beginning to use AR technologies, for example in the form of microscopeswhich display various data using the lens.
We will look back at the years when people walked down the street, necks bent, staring down at little screens in their hands as an absurdly primitive way to interact with information.
At least that's what Dr. Louis B. Rosenberg, computer scientist and CEO of Unanimous AI, thinks — because he was allowed to Take a look at the future — literally. According to this, it has now been three decades since a group of test subjects at the Air Force Research Laboratory interacted with a mixture of real and virtual objects to test a prototype of AR, known as Virtual Fixtures Platform. The aim was to show that AR could enable an increase in performance in tasks within the real world — with success. There was another significant milestone this year: An AR contact lens.
A tiny lens that sits comfortably, can communicate wirelessly with external devices and needs to be charged — equipped with modern technology — a small technical marvel that requires ingenuity, even though it will certainly take years before the device is ready for the market. Dr. Rosenberg, however, has to go so far as to assume that smartphones will first be replaced by AR glasses, then contact lenses as the primary interface.
As long as it doesn't go as far as in the Black Mirror episode “Crashed” (Very exciting, albeit sometimes scary series, by the way!) , everything should be fine. Perhaps.
Whether it's gaming fun, everyday support or gaining information, the possibilities that AR provides are excellent and who knows where else we will find them. There is still a lot of potential.
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