Enterprises are now able to leverage AR technology due to: support of machine learning, advances in IoT sensors, deep neural networks rendered into eyewear, and specialised real-time video processing. Therefore, machine learning, cloud, and data can add further value to organisations and augment AR.

Industry examples listed in the article include:

• Guided assembly of complex components like airplane engines
• Oil rigs floating in the Arctic being remotely monitored from Houston using IoT sensor-enabled digital twins
• Off-floor monitoring of a continuous process manufacturing
• Following through on a new product from early design to final product launch, including detailed design, testing, and potential customer use all in AR

AR also enables digital twins. A greater amount of data is generated from sensors, giving a more immersive experience. The operational data gathered can be analysed or leveraged for other uses, such as arranging preventive maintenance. In field service, the data can offer insights into how users operate the product, allowing for better training.

Already, large enterprises are investing in IoT sensors and data analytics. The same strategy can be used to support enterprise AR, if the following technologies are integrated:

• APCs: put in places where digital twins will be, enabling data generation
• IoT edge capabilities: to gather data and allow for cloud services to be run to process data locally
• Cloud environment: to store data from sensors and physical twins.
• IoT hub capabilities: to act as a central hub for communication between physical twins and applications.
• Real-time processing capabilities: to process sensor data and feed it into AR applications.
• Mixed Reality software development toolkits: to build digital twins and other MR experiences.

Challenges of AR mentioned in the article include:

• Muscle strain and shoulder / spine discomfort
• No AR glasses alternatives for people with eye impairments
• Safety issues from prolonged use of contact lenses

In order to avoid these issues, enterprises should adhere to strict time limits for employees. Networks should also be audited to ensure they are secure and resilient.

The article concludes by stating that AR capabilities for digital twins allows for many opportunities for industries such as automotive, aerospace, energy, utilities, defense, and transportation. In particular, manufacturing is expected to change drastically for the better due to AR, with higher efficiency and reduced time.

Here is the list of hurdles towards mainstream enterprise AR adoption and ways of overcoming them:

• Scalability and expandability – An important requirement for enterprise AR is having the flexibility to apply to a range of industries. According to Nathan Pettyjohn, Lenovo’s Commercial AR/VR Lead, the most prominent AR use cases for the enterprise are training, remote assistance, and guided workflows. Bridgestone’s Brian Robinson believes that training is the most valuable AR use case, but the goal is to make ARVR technologies a “daily use item”. AR and VR also have independent use cases, as each is more suited to a particular task or activity.
• Speaking the language – Enterprises must also learn how to implement AR technology correctly and identifying the terminology. Deploying unstable apps with the potential to overload the network would be detrimental for AR adoption, so the type of AR a business chooses to integrate must match up with the intention.
• Cost – Depending on the budget for equipment in the organisation, cost of AR can be a challenge. Robinson claims that “showing rather than telling” can reduce price resistance of plant managers, as they see the benefits of AR technology first-hand.

You can read the full article on AR Insider here, or watch the fireside chat here.

The packaging company, which plays a prominent role in the pharma supply chain for COVID-19-related drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines, has deployed both the pre-packaged solution Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and other HoloLens 2-based applications alongside data management, CRM, AI, and other Microsoft cloud services.

Stevanato Group have instituted two key mixed reality use cases, both aimed at accelerating remote acceptance of their equipment.

They have introduced a Virtual Audit plan that relies on Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, Microsoft’s pre-built application that works with HoloLens 2 to allow a remote worker to communicate and collaborate with another person doing work on-site with equipment or goods. For Stevanato, Remote Assist serves to allow customers working remotely to observe and verify production processes for quality purposes.

Microsoft is an AREA member. Read the Microsoft AREA member profile about their work in enterprise Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality.

Attendees were often drawn to events that invited networking and imparted memorable experiences. But as Covid-19 guidelines began to impact work and personal engagements, the appetite for virtual, immersive and interactive events became increasingly important. As more businesses now turn to virtual events to drive engagement with their communities, the role of communication needs to also transform to bring value to each attendee.

Competing for attendee attention at conferences has never been easy, and in virtual settings, it is even more of a challenge. Added to that are the multiple platforms and channels used by the event organizers and the attendee. So how can communication professionals tailor attendee experiences? Here are a few ways that can help spark the creative communication required for successful experiences.

Perception Of Attendees’ Place At Events

While in-person events allow event organizers the flexibility and space to design an atmosphere that can enhance what attendees experience, virtual experiences are often limited to the event application platform. But whether an event is in person or virtual, how attendees perceive their place there can influence where and how they spend their time.

To help close the perception gap for attendees, communication professionals have the opportunity to target their communication by specific groups, interests and activities. For example, apart from the promotion of the general conference, tailoring your communication plans to specific smaller audience segments, such as invite-only virtual group gatherings with CEOs, can be a high-touch experience. Tailoring the discussion around CEO topics and coupling them with fun, interactive experiences like wine tasting can help draw other like-minded attendees who also see the value of their time at the event.

In-The-Moment Communication

The unexpected is sure to happen at events. By including in-the-moment communication as part of the event strategy, the community of attendees has a greater chance to engage by staying in the know. Communication professionals can further curate in-the-moment event experiences by hosting pop-up interview segments with attendees and speakers across social channels.

Bringing this idea to life may start with selecting an important topic that attendees may be interested in. For example, last year, 65% of North American event creators said they believed that diversity was an important focus. Communication professionals can tap into the diversity trend by hosting pop-up interviews around this topic with a “behind-the-scenes” look with speakers before their presentation. This offers the community of attendees an opportunity to engage on the social channels and draw attention to the presentation with a common theme they can relate to and find value in. Leveraging social platforms like Twitter to host these interviews can further encourage in-the-moment communication with the community. 

Thought Leaders As Conference Curators

Historically, the communication program at events has primarily been about general promotion and logistics, helping attendees get to the next activity or presentation. The larger the event size, the more logistical communication is required. But with virtual events, communication professionals have an opportunity to be more impactful by scoping their role beyond tried-and-true strategies.

One way to encourage attendees to experience the conference beyond the traditional emails and Slack channels is by identifying the micro-community segments within your attendees, then partnering with thought leaders who share common interests with those communities to serve as conference experience curators. Having industry thought leaders help guide a micro-community of attendees can create a more intimate and valued virtual experience — one that aligns interest and may even prompt more engagement.

When done well, virtual events that are immersive experiences are unique and imaginative. Communication professionals have had to deliver on traditional plans, which include press releases and blogs to promote the event. But, as virtual or hybrid events become more mainstream, communication professionals have the opportunity to redesign their role and program to become a closer collaborator to event organizers and marketing overall.

“As increasingly distributed workforces and hybrid work models become the reality of a new normal, small and large businesses around the world are looking to adopt new technologies for smart collaboration, increased efficiency, and lower downtimes,” Lenovo wrote in its announcement.

The company will also provide a PC edition for virtual monitors. The ThinkReality A3 PC Edition enables users to see large monitors in their field of view and to use Windows software tools apps. The glasses tether can tether to a PC or certain Motorola smartphones via a USB-C cable, the company explained.

The glasses can also be used in more complex environments such as factory floors, labs, retail, and hospitality spaces with an industrial edition. Because the Industrial Edition is supported by the ThinkReality software platform, customers can build, deploy, and manage mixed reality applications on a global scale, according to Lenovo in a post.

“The A3 is a next generation augmented reality solution – light, powerful and versatile. The smart glasses are part of a comprehensive integrated digital solution from Lenovo that includes the advanced AR device, ThinkReality software, and Motorola mobile phones. Whether working in virtual spaces or supporting remote assistance, the ThinkReality A3 enhances workers’ abilities to do more wherever they are,” said Jon Pershke, Lenovo’s vice president of strategy and emerging business at Intelligent Device Group.

The new solution is also part of Lenovo’s efforts to “accelerate adoption of the next generation of wearable computing” within the enterprise.

In addition to the A3 smart glasses, Lenovo also produces the A6 headset as well as the mirage VR S3 for enterprises that want to take it a step further into total VR immersion for use cases such as soft-skill training.

Congratulations to Lenovo on this announcmenet. You can read more about Lenovo’s work in Enterprise AR in their AREA member profile.

Bedi details the following technology trends expected to come to pass by 2025, brought to light by COVID-19:

• Augmented Reality – AR will help to close the gap that remote work creates by facilitating digital collaboration. The technology has already demonstrated use cases in various industries, such as field service and medical applications, but robotics and haptics will move towards a wide-scale use of Mixed Reality in the future. Advanced videoconferencing technologies, such as holograms, are expected to advance alongside emerging 5G network and computing power. For remote workers, this reduces travel costs.
• Virtual assistants and enterprise chatbots – Since March 2020, there has been a 360% increase in virtual agent conversations across a range of industries due to remote work and social distancing. Artificial Intelligence chatbots will provide digital personal assistants for employees to ease their workload. Larger AI customer service operations will also increase speed of problem solving and data analysis for insights, giving a proactive service to improve customer experience.

Ubiquitous computing is said to be a “driving industry vision”, which current digital technologies are helping to achieve. It is anticipated that systems and devices will be integrated across platform and application.

The article concludes by acknowledging that full adoption and connecting these emerging technologies together will take time. However, digital transformation is vital for better business continuity, increased engagement, and improved productivity.

Read the full article here.

educating me on all the stuff that goes on from an enterprise standpoint. It’s a show focused on innovation, and as I say in my opening keynote, people are doing deals at CES across categories, across verticals. That’s why, when we tried to create the digital venues, we talked about how to get those lines out real quickly from one industry and one company to another. That’s what CES is so valuable for. I’ve talked to representatives from many different companies in many different industries, and that’s what they stress.”

Whilst it may be more difficult for customers to find what they are looking for this year, we will bring back to you a round up of all the enterprise AR at #CES2021

Vuzix Chief Executive Officer and President Paul Travers is scheduled to present on Friday, January 15, 2021 at 12:30 PM EST.  The presentation will be webcast live and available for replay and can be accessed in the Investors section of the Company’s website

The company will also be available for one-on-one meetings at the conference and qualified institutional investors are welcome to schedule a meeting with management by contacting their Needham Sales Representative or conferences@needhamco.com.

Read Vuzix AREA member profile.

A press release on Jan 7 2021 reveals that AREA member Iristick, a provider of augmented reality (AR) smart glasses developed for industry, and Harvest Technology Group Limited, a provider of remote communication technologies, have announced that they have entered into an agreement to commence proof of concept trials for integration of Harvest’s Infinity Nodestream and Wearwolf technology into Iristick’s industrial smart glasses.

Harvest Technology Group Limited is an Australian operated group of companies whose portfolio includes Harvest Technology Pty Ltd and Harvest Infinity Pty Ltd. Harvest Technology is a bespoke subsea technology solutions provider for the energy, resources, and renewables sectors. Harvest Infinity is an innovation company developing remote control, communication, automation and monitoring solutions.

The initial agreement will continue development of the integration of the Company’s Infinity Wearwolf application into Iristick smart glasses, embedding them with the Infinity Nodestream video encryption and streaming protocols.

Wearwolf is a software application version of the Infinity Nodestream encoding platform designed to run on wearable and smartphone mobile devices. According to Harvest, Wearwolf enables live secure point-to-point video and communications at ultra-low bandwidths and over poor quality or congested networks. Video and audio can be transferred as low as 32 kbps, allowing users to communicate directly to a Nodestream decoding device.

Prototype testing was completed during December 2020 where the Wearwolf application was successfully combined with the Iristick software development kit (SDK) on a smartphone and proved to work with the cameras, microphone and screen on the Iristick smart glasses. The companies stated that trial communications were successfully made and maintained between Perth, Australia and Brussels, Belgium at 128kbps.

Iristick’s Z1 Premium AR smart glasses

Harvest states that a final commercial product is planned for launch during the first quarter of 2021 and will communicate point-to-point with Nodestream mini decoding devices and the soon-to-be released Nodestream downloadable decoder software application, which will run on laptops and desktop computers.

“We are very excited to be involved in a relationship with Iristick and look forward to our joint opportunities in the future. The synergies between our two companies are synonymous with a motivation to deliver high-quality remote communications and assistance from anywhere in the world”, said Paul Guilfoyle, Company Group Managing Director at Harvest Technology Group. “We have successfully proven our Wearwolf application on multiple wearable platforms and we are confident it can be quickly adapted for use across other wearable devices. Given the expected growth in the wearables market, we are forecasting more than 1,000 new Wearwolf licenses in 2021.”

Johan De Geyter, Iristick CEO, commented: “The global pandemic kickstarted the use of remote assistance via smart glasses as a solution to keep enterprise operations running under strict travel bans and contact restrictions. As field workers are sometimes confronted with low or no Wi-Fi connection, this collaboration can overcome that issue and make remote assistance available over low bandwidth, at any possible location, ensuring workers stay connected at any time.”

Visit Iristick website

Visit Iristick’s AREA member profile to read more about their work in Augmented Reality.

Interested in becoming a member? See AREA membership information. 

In 2015, chief creative officer Rik Shorten saw an opportunity to use newly developed virtual reality technology and 3D animations in the medical field.

“They can select one of these codes and go through it and they can work as an attending and they’ll have a whole team in front of them virtually and they can do this anytime, anywhere,” Shorten said.  Bioflight VR is based in Akron, but the company works with hospitals, universities and medical device companies across the country, including hometown Akron Children’s Hospital.  Shorten said the COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus the need for distance learning, remote training and virtual training.

“The schools are struggling to get the nurses in training their clinical hours. And so the states have moved quickly to recognize XR technologies as perfectly adequate substitutes for in-clinic training. And so this has moved that conversation forward much faster,” Shorten said.

Bioflight VR business director Pauly Suchy said the company recently teamed with Case Western Reserve to develop an application on physician empathy training. 

“A 30-minute experience but it spans over the timeline of a month where they’re experiencing all the financial, social, emotional and physical burdens that patients typically face. But it’s also, a good example of how to use this technology to standardize that learning experience so they can deliver better care,” Suchy said.

Both Shorten and Suchy said 12 hospital systems and 1,000 ER doctors currently use their platform.  Their goal is to expand that 10-fold in the coming years.  They said they know the access to quality health care resources in Ohio can make it possible. 

“The idea of a small company with limited resources, we need to get to the right people quickly. And the access here is different. It’s afforded me so many other freedoms than trying to make a small company work in Los Angeles,” Shorten said.

For more information, visit the BioflightVR website.