Top 10 Applications of Augmented Reality

The emerging technologies will be bringing drastic changes in our lives and one of them is augmented reality.

For those living under a rock, Augmented Reality(AR) refers to the experience of an improved version of real-world scenarios and environments with the help of software or hardware equipment. This is often confused with a similar term which is Virtual Reality (VR) which in fact, is the 180-degree opposite of AR. Virtual Reality is the depiction of manipulated reality or simulated environment. AR and VR basically work by displaying the computer fed data obtained from sensors, using audio, video sensations or text information incorporating with the real-world form. Consequently, a more clear and easy-to-understand image of the real-world environment is obtained.

When taking AR into account, the modified version makes the scenario easy to digest, more interactive and thus helpful, whereas, in case of virtual reality, a distorted form comes out as the sole product, which may not relate to the reality in many aspects.

Another form is the Mixed Reality (MR) which basically is the integration of AR and VR enabling both the digital and physical aspects to coexist at the real-world time providing innovative aspects of the real-world environments. With that being elaborated, on to the applications of AR, VR, and MR.

The incorporation of augmented reality and mixed reality has brought mankind on the threshold of ease and comfort. Finding utilities not only in the tech and software paradigm, AR is making its way through almost all-important fields of life. Narrated below is the list of the major mergers unveiling productive results in this regard.

Military and Intelligence

The use of AR in military ages back to centuries. Locating the enemy’s troops, their nuclear supplies and weapons reserves is quite essential to determine a country’s strength. Moreover, keeping an eye on the enemy’s actions to avoid security threat is also a must for defense and national security. In order to estimate the fighting capability of a country, the intelligence agencies always long for such technologies.

Image Credit: Military.com

 Medical and Healthcare

The diagnosis of diseases in the extremely fragile parts and organs of the body always appeared as the toughest scenario to handle, accompanying a wide variety of risk factors. But through the use of AR in this field, the diagnosis of tumors and anomalies even under cranium is not an issue anymore. Equipping endoscope, MRI, and X-ray cameras with AR has made the infected regions easy to locate, identify and thus operate.

Image Credit: Apoqlar

Sports Coverage

The sports matches we witness on our couches at home do not provide the same experience as watching it live but in fact, a better one. For all the football fans aware of the significance of “yellow first down line”, to their amazement, there is no such line in the playground. The pixels of cameras covering the match are so adjusted to replace the specific pixels of ground with the yellow color, keeping all other pixels constant. In such a way, the players seem to move over and cross the yellow line, but in reality, it never existed. Moreover, the addition of scoreboard on the tv screen displays also involves AR.

Image Credit: KitGuru

Construction and Architecture

Keeping the flaws of construction and architecture in mind, the use of AR equipped software to design drafts and blueprints is the ultimate step to eradicate errors. Ensuring the feasibility of the project, comparing with the data fed and the data retrieved from sensors, the construction business now gets safer to new levels.

Image Credit: Autodesk

Explorations and Mining

The exploration of land and mining for reserves is an extremely risky and technical task to perform, for the danger of landmines always exist. But through the integration of AR, this risk is minimized to a great extent. The pre-location of landmines and dangerous spots just by a camera view helps facilitate this troublesome activity.

Space Industry

The space industry is credited to have used the AR technology in the early 1990’s. Even the Neil Amstrong’s space venture to the moon was also aided with virtual fixtures. Such fixtures overlay the necessary information on the real-life scenario right in front of the pilot, with the crucial details displayed to avoid him from getting distracted to any other direction.

Image Credit: ARVR Journey

Gaming 

The obvious advantage of MR is in the video gaming domain. The highly interactive and popular games like Pokemon Go developed by Niantic. Inc and Real Strike (available at iOs only) are the results of this technology application. Such games display the physical and the digitized, game developed graphics simultaneously, providing a hands-on, refreshing and exciting gaming experience in the real world.

Intelligent Browsing

With the AR powered browsers, like the remarkable Argon4, the information search and display gets to a new level of ease and comfort. Simply capture the thing you are interested to know about, and within seconds the app displays the entire information of the thing on the screen. Browsing before was never too easy.

Sales and Marketing

In the sales and marketing field, the AR technology has caused a great deal of ease by presenting the idea of product preview using AR equipped apps. The world-wide famous app Augment is currently being used by Nokia, Nestle, Siemens, Coca-Cola and many other multi-national companies. The app enables the user to check the feasibility and suiting options of any product before purchase, be it furniture or some paint color.

Navigation

Being done with the google maps, now comes in the AR powered navigation apps such as AR GPS Compass Map 3D Pro, AR GPS Drive/Walk Navigation, etc. these apps help navigate the paths and routes without a map, but just by the camera previewed virtual environment. Moreover, the nearby restaurants, cafeterias, hotels, filling station and all such stuff is also displayed simultaneously to ease the driver.

The above-stated applications of AR/VR are the ones which have been executed or are about to be. But that’s not the end, because there are far more fields planning and working on the integration of this innovative technology. This article was an insight into the tremendous fields AR is causing a revolution in, the details of these amalgamations will be shared in a series of upcoming articles.