An article was released this week on Austin Inno, discussing an AR game designed by Jackrabbit Labs, inspired by the game cornhole. It works by capturing a ‘marker’ with an iPhone camera, which the app then logs and remembers its position using the phone’s gyroscope and accelerometer.

We couldn’t help but notice that this technology is similar to scanning QR codes in the iQagent app.

You can see how iQagent uses this technology in their latest video detailing the function of their Augmented Reality app for the Plant Floor. The video includes:

• A list of where data is used on the plant floor
• How access to the data is essential to maintenance and repair
• How access at the point of service keeps production running smoothly
• Steps for accessing data using the iQagent app:
  1. Identify points of interest on your plant floor with a QR code
  2. Associate relevant data and resources to each point of interest
  3. Scan QR code with iQagent
• By scanning, hidden data and resources can be revealed, so users can now access all points of data on the plant floor

Earlier this week, an article on Business Wire reported that leading developer of holographics, AI, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Pulse Evolution Corporation, has announced a joint venture with Augmented Reality specialist, Augmently, Inc.

The partnership is aiming to obtain digital celebrity assets as well as boost Pulse’s digital portfolio of performers and artists. The organisations are already developing AR technologies and applications for global distribution.

The founder and CEO of Augmently, Mr. Ziggy Kormandel, is quoted to have said that their focus is to use mobile devices to expand the consumer experience of AR, as they will benefit from the partnership. The Chairman of Pulse, John Textor, is also quoted to have said that their development of digital humans can really make a difference in society by working with companies like Augmently.

By increasing awareness of AR amongst consumers, enterprises can sooner realize the benefit of such technology and use it to their advantage in the industry sector.

A recent article on IT World Canada discussed General Electric (GE) Corp.’s Wearables Challenge which was launched last year, and led to pilots being made for three use-case scenarios for AR headsets; assembly instructions and metrics, field service applications for calling an expert, and packing.

The projects involve the following AR organisations:

• AREA member DAQRI
• Google Glass
• HoloLens
• Vuzix

General Electric uses the Skylight software platform, built by AREA member Upskill Inc. (formerly APX Labs) to integrate traditional software applications to provide a sufficient platform for AR headset users. The World Economic Forum recognised Upskill as a ‘technology pioneer’ last year.

Using wearables to pilot Upskill’s Skylight platform is GE’s response to the industrial issue of maintaining complex machinery on tight budgets, and GE organised its innovation challenge so that wearables could be integrated into its workforce quickly. The platform increases efficiency from 30% to 50% from first use, and companies that use the technology experience a 30% increase in quality of output in addition to a 20% increase in resource utilisation.

Paul Boris, General Electric’s Vice President of Manufacturing Industries, views the deployment of wearables in three stages of development:

• Instruction
• Confirmation
• A profile of analytics on the machine

AR headsets are used in the manufacturing industry so that employees can access the information that enables them to complete the tasks they need to do. They also allow supervisors to provide assistance through a first-person perspective of their work.

The following is a summary of a recent article on the use of smart glasses in order picking.  Arvato SCM Solution, in cooperation with technology supplier Picavi, has successfully launched the innovation project “Pick-by-Vision” for Sennheiser.

Order-picking with smart glasses saves time and ensures a smooth flow of materials – from the moment goods are received until inventory is counted. A display integrated into the glasses gives warehouse employees all the necessary context-related information and navigates them through the work process.

 For purposes of the innovation project, a separate pick process was identified in advance together with Sennheiser. This way, processes can be carried out in a controlled environment and evaluated with precise time measurements. The objective is to use the smart glasses to increase productivity and quality and to identify the optimal process workflows for the new technology. Initial feedback from employees on the operational side of the business is positive: the new pick technology is easy to learn and intuitive to use. Furthermore, the smart glasses are very comfortable to wear during the movement-intensive work in the warehouse.

 The pickers have both hands free and their eyes on the current process steps at all times – in contrast to the work with hand-held devices. Instead of relying on the tiring voice commands of pick-by-voice systems, our system inserts data directly into the field of view of the worker in real time,” says Dirk Franke, CEO of Picavi. “We’re currently working with Arvato on additional augmented-reality features that provide intelligent support to processes aside from classic order-picking.”

 In the coming weeks, the collected data will be carefully compared and evaluated. During this time, the Arvato employees will continue to wear the mobile WLAN smart glasses in order to get used to them and be as prepared as possible for the coming peak season of growing order volumes. Meanwhile, Arvato and Picavi are already working on an expansion of the system. They have now identified another field of application that could profit from the new technology: since the glasses allow warehouse employees to have their hands free when stacking the pallets, errors can be minimized when the outgoing goods are scanned, which leads to significant gains in productivity and quality.

Although the Augmented Reality Smart Glass Market is growing there are still challenges – an article by AREA Member BrainXChange, claims devices are still lacking.

Wearables in the workplace are becoming the ‘norm’ with them benefitting business, however, there are still some challenges ahead for this emerging technology.

Devices are not meeting industry regulations and in some fields this could have serious repercussions such as military where the article claims problems include hardware not being reliable, ergonomic, or intrinsically safe.

There are also some limitations when it comes to the working environment itself such as in the Oil and Gas industry. This had been pointed out before by Vincent Higgins of Optech4D, an AREA member organization. The Oil and Gas industry normally involves operations in explosion prone, harsh environments. This means putting infrastructure in place in order to accommodate wearables is extremely difficult.

These disadvantages need to be overcome, so that we can take advantage of wearables in all fields. Many enterprises are still producing wearables that are being put to good use. However these challenges need to be corrected so that widespread adoption by all businesses is possible.

For resources on overcoming barriers to augmented reality adoption, do search our large bank of resources including webinars.

An article on zdnet in December 2016 draws together information from a variety of sources to offer clues as to the product that Thalmic Labs is on the verge of introducing: a revolutionary new gesture controlwearable tech product.

The article links various news sources that help to identify clues as to what their new gesture control software might be.

The article includes a video of someone wearing a band, called the Myo ($199) – this contains eight sensors that measure electromyographic pulses in his upper arm — electric pulses sent there by his brain to move muscles that no longer exist.

These are then transmitted to a computer that studies them and figures out what movement the person is thinking of and then commands the prosthetic limb attached to his skeleton to perform them.

Now, apparently, Thalmic Labs is using its pioneering work in gesture control — used to manipulate all manner of things ranging from computers and phones to drones, video games, touch screens, surgical robots, power-point presentations and more.

The article speculates whether voice control may have a part to play. The fact that Intel are participating may indicate there are IoT functionalities involved, where wearables play a prominent role.

To sum things up, we have the possibility of gesture control, voice control and IoT functionalities all rolled into one product based on these reports.

• It raised $120 million in September of this year, built a new factory.
• There has been a marketing ‘buzz’ about a “revolutionary new product that people say will radically change the way we engage with virtual reality, gaming, smartphones, manufacturing or pretty much anything you do that can be replaced with a few subtle finger taps, swipes and gestures made in thin air.”
• Founded in 2012 out of the mechatronics program at the University of Waterloo, by Stephen Lake, Matthew Bailey and Aaron Grant.
• Thalmic Labs hasrelocated its manufacturing from China Waterloo, a 45 minute drive from Toronto and their San Francisco office has been hiring

A recent article shows how a company called Finger Food Studios is helping enterprises with design by using holograms.

They began as a game design company and are currently partnered with Microsoft, developing for their HoloLens hardware.

Finger Food Studios recently did a lot of work with a semi-truck company, helping them to redesign their vehicles. Ryan Peterson their CEO, is quoted as saying “When trucks normally go through that restyling—making them look more modern, or changing the aerodynamics—engineers work with a huge, life-size clay model, which takes about six months to create. Instead, we made a life-sized hologram, and built it so you could manipulate the truck design while wearing the headset. It cut the process down to three days.”

They recently acquired and opened a 25,000 square foot warehouse. The warehouse is called the “Holodeck” and is the first in the world dedicated to developing large-scale industrial holographic projects. Currently in the process of hiring around 100 new staff members to help program and imaginatively style the Holodeck’s ventures, Finger Food is hoping to attract some of the city’s top engineering talent and visual designers.

“We work on three levels,” Peterson says. “There’s a part of our business that we call the Internet of Things, where we produce data through things like 3D printing and electrical fabrication. The next part is VR, or virtual reality, and the last is AR, or augmented reality—both of which help people visualize data in a digestible format. When we take all these technologies together, it’s possible to make exponential transformations to the current way that we do things.

A post on Nanalyze this week reveals facts about Lumus, their partners in the AR Ecosystem.  There is an emphasis on the rapidly growing AR headset market and Lumus’ possible place within that market.

• The DK-50 is their standalone kit available to developers
• Israeli startup Lumus was founded in 2000 and has recently raised$56 million in funding to develop their “wearable displays”, smart glasses.
• The actual technology is called “Light-guide Optical Element technology” and it’s a small engine which projects the digital image onto the glass in front of your eyes.
• Lumus supplies heads-up displays for f-16 fighter jet helmets. They have already sold 10,000 of their product. Their actual product is the hardware engine that powers the glasses. The biggest customer to date is the U.S. military.
• In their latest funding round, the two lead investors were Quanta and HTC.
• Lumus paired with Infinity and AREA member DAQRI in developing their headsets.
• Lumus has also partnered up with French companies Thales Group, a company that builds electronic devices for aerospace defence and transportation, and Essilor Group, a world leader in visual health with over 60,000 employees.

A recent post on nanalyze.com completed a list of 13 smart eye wear companies they believe are set to proliferate in 2017.

• Atheer (AREA member) are focused on making enterprise-ready wearable technology for field engineers and deskless workers
• Optinvent, with a focus on enterprise solutions, targeting the logistics and manufacturing industries with their Ora-2 Professional Smart Glasses.

• Osterhout Design Group: Targeting the enterprise market, ODG are taking their glasses to the transportation, medical, manufacturing and logistics industries.

• Microsoft HoloLens which incorporates waveguides and infrared technology in order to track eye movement.

• Sony released the Developer Edition of the Sony SmartEyeGlass, which includes a gyroscope, ambient light sensor and built in camera.

• Epson, who are developing a line of 3 models of AR smart glasses, intended for both commercial and enterprise applications.

• Vuzix M300 will target enterprise applications, yet doesn’t rule out a consumer-centric version.

• GlassUp: The UNO and Factory 4.0 are GlassUp’s two lines of smart glasses in development for commercial and enterprise applications.

• Jins Meme: This Tokyo based company intended to keep functionality and fashion in mind for their smart glasses, while still delivering advanced features as an academic resource.

• Recon Instruments: The Recon Jet provides smart glasses for athletic performance tracking and training, designed to fit securely on the face while biking, walking or running.

• CastAR is focused on commercial applications, with intentions to bring complete, 3D holographic worlds to life and is designed for the gaming market.

• Meta’s smart glasses will allow users to see, create, interact with and move virtual objects and apps. The company is focusing on enterprise applications.

• LaForge Optical, the article claims there is a focus on aesthetics over functionality, with The LaForge Shima.

The 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas saw Osterhout Design Group (ODG) unveil their new R-8 and R-9 glasses (source post on techrepublic.com.) Acting as a complement to user’s mobile devices, the R-8 glasses are intended as a consumer device, whereas the R-9 glasses target prosumer and light enterprise AR users. A press release from ODG states that existing customers belong to the logistics, medicine, energy and aerospace industries.

Described by COO of Osterhout Design Group, Pete Jameson, as “slightly oversized sunglasses that you wear” with “two stereoscopics HD displays”, the glasses are intended to be used as needed for specific experiences, as opposed to long periods of time.  

Jameson states that he expects the R-9 glasses (built on ODG’s Project Horizon platform, winner of three CES 2017 Innovation awards) to bridge the commercial and consumer markets. In terms of enterprise use cases, the largest opportunity for ODG is healthcare, but their smart glasses may also be used for assisted-reality, maintenance and repair, surgery, remote help, telepresence and training, according to the company’s COO.

The reveal of the new smart glasses comes after ODG’S recent announcement of its $58 million Series A round of venture capital funding; the largest in history of both Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.

The R-8 and R-9 glasses boast equally impressive features, details of which can be found in the original article.