Internet users enjoy many benefits that were difficult to imagine some three or four decades ago. However, the decade to come will bring with it even more energizing developments in digital technology.
Perhaps one of the most fascinating ones will be the proliferation and eventual mainstream adoption of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). With technological advances in rendering and connectivity, the feasibility of Virtual Reality and Augmented reality is rising exceptionally. The number of VR headsets sold in the market has increased from 3 million in 2017 to 6 million in 2019. Similarly, sales of augmented reality devices are increasing and expected to grow to 31.9 million devices by 2023.
Instead of visiting websites or using applications, we’ll have the option to simply “invoke” visual realities about our existence. This will be done by employing cell phones, AR-glasses and VR headsets. Below are three simple implementations that will reveal to you how VR and AR will essentially change the way we live.
VR Training of Healthcare Professionals:
The first use case we would be looking at is focused on hospitals and healthcare facilities. Given what’s at stake, providing the right training to healthcare professionals is critical. However, it can often be time consuming, restrictive and very expensive. However, Virtual Reality can address some of these challenges by simulating a medical scenario at a hospital. For instance, a hospital room scene is loaded when the application boots up whereby the user, with the help of a speech manager can interact with the patient just like they would in the real world.
With the help of VR this is how the training scenario would unfold to provide the learners with a more engaging experience –
- All the interaction elements in hospitals are highlighted as glowing touchpoints for easy identification. These touchpoints are associated with items in the scene with which the user interacts to perform a specific operation.
- Interaction items in the scene will have elements like First Aid box, Curtains, Bed Control, Oxygen Cylinder, IV Fluid Regulator, Hazardous needles, Dustbins etc.
- When the user interacts with these touchpoints using the VR Controller, corresponding instructions will be displayed in the 3D contextual information panel.
- There will be two different touch panels for communication and Intervention instructions.
- When the user interacts with the communication panel, list of questions (quiz) will be prompted to the student which needs to be answered. This provides clarity on their understanding of the fundamentals.
- When the user interacts with an Intervention panel, a list of instructions will prompt students to guide them through a set of specific actions. For example, measure BP, apply an oxygen mask, elevate affected area, offer pain medication etc.
- At the end of the training, an interactive quiz session will make sure that the user did understand the training and are ready for a real-world situation.
In addition, VR can be used in a significant way to promote a healthcare facility to prospective customers, employees and investors. With the help of VR, they can now take a virtual tour of the hospital premises and obtain an almost realistic sense of all its amenities and infrastructure without leaving the comfort of their homes.
Field Assistance using AR:
Several industries require the deployment of highly specialized field executives in order to maintain or repair complex and expensive machinery. However, such experts are expensive and cannot be deployed across all regions serviced by a business. This is where Augmented Reality (AR) can have a substantial impact by connecting a field executive with an online expert that can provide specialized guidance remotely. This is how the process would work
- Both the expert and the field executive can annotate on the mobile screen for highlighting the areas of concern.
- This highlighting is rendered using augmented reality and becomes part of the augmented world of the field executive which means the annotation does not stick to the mobile screen but is transported into the augmented world of the field engineer.
- Experts can also add new augmented objects like tools or spare parts into the augmented world of a field engineer. This helps the field engineer to understand the best way to repair the machine with a tool or replace a spare part.
- More than one expert can join this discussion. This allows adding more than one subject matter expert (SME) into the discussion.
- At any time in the discussion, the screen (video feed) could be paused and resumed.
- The communication can be used to develop a knowledge base of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). This information can be processed to develop machine learning models for proactive maintenance schedules.
Virtual Classrooms based learning using AR:
The proliferation of mobile devices has led to anytime-anywhere content delivery and the same is now expected of learning experiences as well. With increased accessibility to content and the emergence of learners from different parts of the world, virtual classrooms are going to be the norm. Here is how Augmented Reality (AR) would facilitate this process –
- A teacher starts a classroom from his mobile application allowing several students to join the online classroom session.
- The students and teacher can be dispersed across varied geographic locations and time zones.
- The teacher can use a real (physical) model or a virtual model while teaching.
- In the case of a real model, students can annotate around the real model and have their doubts clarified.
- In the case of a virtual model, students can interact with the virtual model and ask questions around areas they need more guidance with.
- Student-teacher communication can be utilized to develop adaptive learning courses for students. This communication can also be used to develop a knowledge base for ready reference (FAQ).
We at Happiest Minds are working on both Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality technologies. The implementation use cases are spread across multiple domains from education to retail to field force assistance to gaming. If you are looking for a trusted partner that is well versed with AR & VR and understands your domain, Happiest Minds can deliver value on both fronts, so you can hit the ground running.
Nitin is an Architect at Happiest Minds with more than 14 years of experience in domains such as Fire and Safety, Location Based Services, Education and Gaming. He has worked on various technologies including but not limited to Java, Mobility (Android, Ios, Xamarin, Blackberry), Devops and various types of database.
Nitin has done his Bachelor of Engineering with specialization in Production Engineering from Veermata Jijabai Technological Intistute (VJTI), Mumbai University.
