Augmented reality (AR) has sparked the attention of everyone in recent years, from business giants to regular consumers. With its potential to blend the virtual world with real-world data, the technology applies to nearly every industry. Manufacturing, healthcare, advertising, sports, entertainment, military logistics, education, retail, and real estate are just a few industries, to begin with.
Augmented reality is a powerful technology when leveraged appropriately. The potential uses for augmented reality (AR) are endless. We will probably see even more uses for AR once new, more potent AR hardware hits the market (like Apple’s rumored spectacles). This article will highlight the top applications of AR across numerous sectors; read on.
Medical Education and Training
AR has evolved into a crucial teaching tool for medical students. It might be challenging to internalize the intricate nerves and organs that make up our bodies. With the aid of augmented reality, it is simple to make 3D pictures of the organs and view them almost in real-time with behaviors that closely resemble those of living things. This enables medical professionals, especially surgeons, to easily comprehend and understand complex procedures instead of taking hours or days.
In addition, AR helps pharma companies by providing essential drug information where lab workers can observe and understand how the drug works in the human body through a three-dimensional version. Another area where AR can add significant value is contract surgery. One of the most delicate parts of the human body is the eyes. In ophthalmology, augmented reality-enabled training helps trainee doctors hone their abilities before managing a crucial case.
Gaming and Entertainment Sector
A couple of years back, Pokemon Go was a smash hit, peaking at over 250 million players a month being transported to real-world locations from the video game series. That showed the potential of AR in the gaming and entertainment sectors. Particularly, augmented reality has found a natural home in the gaming sector, where technology has fueled several enormous mobile game successes.
Retail Sector
The retail sector offers one of the most innovative and intriguing applications for augmented reality. Retailers, both online and offline, can utilize augmented reality apps to their advantage to interact with customers more effectively. And now that technology is more widely available and more reasonably priced for all businesses, everyone can use it.
The extraordinary capabilities of augmented reality (AR) allow you to accomplish amazing things, like measuring objects using the camera on your smartphone or imagining furniture in your room before you buy it. Virtual try-on using augmented reality encourages many more customers to make purchases than they had planned. Many different try-ons have gained popularity, including augmented reality-based eyewear try-on, make-up try-on, jewelry try-on, furniture try-on, electrical appliance try-on, and car accessories try-on, among others.
Design, Branding, and Modelling
The primary step in the design process is visualization. Concepts for products and user experiences are often envisioned and developed through drawing and CAD modeling in the early stages of development. These tools enable designers to produce 3D models and digital content efficiently. However, when ideas are put on paper or computer screens, it has a chance to remove from the scale and geographical context of the real world.
The use of augmented reality design enables us to fully transfer a concept from the screen into the physical environment. Walking around or within something allows us to understand better its shape, size, and relationship to the surrounding area. Compared to alternative methods of rapid prototyping, we can visualize with higher fidelity far sooner in the process and at a significantly cheaper cost.
Construction Industry
Augmented reality is a crucial tool in the construction business from the planning stage through the actual construction process. Many architecture tools help with space visualization, enabling designers to see 3D models in both virtual and augmented reality.
On the construction side of the equation, AR offers applications that range from educating workers about safety to progress capturing and monitoring technology that directly compares actual sites with virtual models in real-time to ensure they are not deviating.
Related article: Mixed reality in construction landscape: More than just a wow factor
Tourism Business
A few years back, Hub Hotel from Premier Inn, a British resort, implemented AR and made it compatible with the wall maps placed in the hotel, facilitating visitors to explore the local places of interest with extra information when viewed using a smartphone or tablet. Thus, AR can make traveling more enjoyable. Additionally, location-based features allow for the provision of a better experience that is tailored to a user’s interests and demands. There have also been individual locations that have experimented with augmented reality to guide visitors, like Gatwick Airport, which installed navigational beacons that guide passengers via a smartphone application back in 2018.
Education Sector
AR can be utilized to enable learners to safely interact with things they would not otherwise be able to access while remaining in a familiar environment, be it a classroom setting or on-the-job training. Furthermore, due to augmented reality’s potential to impact many facets of education, educators have already begun employing it in classrooms worldwide, and we anticipate this trend to continue.
Repair and Maintenance
It is a dream come true for employees in the repair and maintenance industry to be able to access information instantly, contact remote technical support and complicated walk-through repairs without touching anything. AR can make your life easier no matter what your role is, from an industrial technician or a facility manager. In addition to changing how you do your job, AR will also change how you live your life.
Conclusion
The bottom line is integrating AR into everyday products and services adds value to everyone’s time and money, from changing the way we shop to enhancing the customer experience and engagement. Users’ experiences are enhanced when the interaction is encouraged and additional emphasis is placed on an existing product or concept. In the coming days, AR will be more accessible to common people since recent developments in display technologies have led to even cheaper AR glasses and enhanced smartphone-based AR capabilities.