How will augmented reality change our lives?

Today, there is a lot of hype going on regarding augmented reality. Realizing AR’s immense potential, tech giants Google is investing heavily in augmented reality. So, the first thing that comes into our mind is that what exactly is augmented reality and how it will impact our day to day lives?

The word augmented originated from the word augment, which means to add or enhance something. Following its name augmented reality presents an improved user experience by adding graphics, sounds, and touch to the reality.

Augmented reality differs from virtual reality as it does not trick the mind to believe the virtual world is real, instead it brings the elements of the virtual world to enhance the real world. For example, if you want to change a car tire, all you need is a pair of Special glasses, and you will be able to see the step by step procedure to change the tire. Similarly, augmented reality can walk you through the various tedious task in your day to day life. You no longer need to google stuff to know more about it, not you need to open manuals. AR will serve a great assistant by presenting information and showing procedures step by step.

Augmented reality will transform mobile phones into windows to the virtual world.

The time is not far when AR will come in handy in our mobile phones. Apple recently developed ‘ARkit’, a developers kit to integrate elements of virtual reality with the real world. In Apple’s worlds ARkit “Build unparalleled augmented reality experiences for hundreds of millions of users on iOS — the biggest AR platform in the world.” It means you will have a virtual measuring tape whenever you need to measure something. It means the bedtime stories will get more lively with the different characters of the story coming alive in front of you and the list is unending.

 

Augmented reality will have a huge positive impact on the Healthcare industry

AR has the potential to make huge transformations in healthcare. ‘AccuVein’ is an AR-based technology that lets the nurses to more accurately find veins by letting them view a 3D outline of the exact location and precise anatomic structure of the patient. AR technology can assist surgeons in brain surgeries, ablations, ligament repairs, and much more thus increasing the chances of success.

‘Augmedix’ app powered by Google Glasses is an AR-based app that takes care of the medical documentation and administrative tasks that takes up a considerable amount of doctor’s time, thus letting doctors focus more on getting to know patients better. The app also presents doctors with the patient’s information during consultation just by wearing the special glasses. So doctors need to not to waste their precious time in finding the patients information.

Architects can see their creations before actually building it.

Architects will be able to visualize their creations beforehand. They can see it, test it, and make changes accordingly in their real-world creations. This kind of revolution is not limited to helping architects. Imagine the same visualizations can be done for nuclear facilities, electrical plants, large-scale farms factories, etc. Enabling designers and architects to experience their work beforehand can be the key can to more innovative products meeting excellent standards.


Augmented reality is certainly going to transform the world around us for better. The potential and the possibilities of Augmented Reality are immense. AR will keed on amazing us, as it more of its applications and uses unfolds with time.