The Promise Of Augmented Reality To Simplify Your Life

The Pokemon Go smartphone game has brought augmented reality to the mainstream. The world will change forever because of it. For those of you who have been living under a rock and may not be familiar with Pokemon Go stay tuned.

In the game, players look through their smartphones as if they were going to take a picture to see the world around them. Players walk around the physical world following a digital map, searching for Pokemon cartoon creatures that pop up at random. When an animated creature appears, they toss Pokéballs at it until it is subdued.

This is the basics of the game and you may be wondering why I say this is going to change the world. Trust me here, you are living in amazing times and this will be documented as a time the world shifted.

Follow me and we will explore why. Now and in the future, you will be bragging about where you were when it happened. OK . . . I may be laying it on a little thick but I am just excited about this.

Virtual Reality vs Augmented Reality

Virtual Reality (VR) is an artificial computer-generated environment or simulation. It immerses the user in that created environment by stimulating sight and sound.

This is usually achieved by the user wearing a headset like the popular Oculus Rif. The headset is used to create and enhance the imagery of that imaginary world.

In many cases, the simulation can be a facsimile of an actual place or environment. It is my opinion that VR will be mostly used for gaming and porn but I could be wrong.

It is heavily used in training like flight simulators and police training. But you can never underestimate the creativity of human beings, so the possibilities may be endless.

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that layers computer-generated enhancements atop an existing reality and gives you the ability to interact with it. AR is developed into apps and used on mobile devices to blend digital components into the real world. In such a way that they enhance one another, but can also be operated apart easily. This is what the Nintendo company uses to create the popular Pokemon Go game.

Pokemon Go has catapulted this powerful technology into the mainstream and players transverse the globe capturing monsters in the daily spaces they occupy.

I can see why this game quickly became popular. You can walk around your home or another place you are familiar with peering through your phone as if to take a picture and a monster jumps from behind the bed as you quickly fire Pokéballs to subdue it.

Augmented Reality Will Change The World and Simplify Your Life

Remember that augmented reality enhances experiences by adding virtual components such as digital images, and graphics. Or sensations as a new layer of interaction with the real world. Before Pokemon Go, you would have to be wealthy enough to own an exotic car or lucky enough to be a fighter pilot to experience AR in the form of the Heads Up Display.

The Head Display is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. It is an AR display that floats vital data in the same place the user should looking to complete a task.

I am all about minimalism and simplifying life. Boiling things down to the essential, important, and necessary. This enables us to save time to go and do what we really love to do with the people we enjoy doing it with. The power of AR will enhance our ability to accomplish that.

Beyond Pokemon Go current applications of AR are scarce but we can already see enterprise applications where field technicians use AR smart glasses to operate hands-free while wearing the devices for hours at a time every day.

It would be easy for a person to use AR to significantly boost productivity in many industries. For instance, in package warehouses, AR glasses could provide workers with specific directions to a product that needs to be dispatched instead of chasing Pokemon Go creatures. Get Your Oculus Rif.

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When the warehouse person reached the relevant aisle or shelf the glasses will highlight the product that needs to be ‘picked’. The barcode can be read by the camera on the device updating the stock management system. This would not only increase productivity but help simplify life for millions as well.

The auto mechanic or yourself replacing the brakes on your car can wear the AR glasses and be guided as to the order with which to remove particular bolts or cables and also how to reassemble the brakes or engine afterward. This could apply to millions of tasks we are asked to do or would normally pay someone else to do.

The day may come when your loved one winces in horror as you grab your AR glasses to repair the boiler. Or repair a major electrical problem in your home with little or no experience. Just AR guides them step by step every step of the way. You may be able to provide many expert repairs to save money around the home. I would be like the movie The Matrix. You just jack into the computer to learn the task and off you go.

I know when I was Telecommunication Engineer I sure could have used AR in the field. On a conference call, with 6 people from all over the world,  trying to complete an install or correct a problem. A group of more experienced engineers could have seen what I was seeing on site and guided me through the repair. We all could have saved time and been able to spend more time with our families instead of wasting the night away with trial and error.

Pokemon Go Is Just The Beginning

Yes, Pokemon Go is the beginning and there will be more games and better games. More importantly, you will see Augmented Reality become more commonplace as it helps simplify our lives.

Anything that saves time, money, and increases productivity is welcome in my world. Not to increase the bottom line but to free up precious time. Money is important but time is the only thing you will wish you had in the last moments of life. I hope you have made the greatest memories when that time comes.

What do you think about some of the uses and possibilities of AR discussed here? What do you believe would be good uses of AR? Pokemon Go will fade into the darkness as the years go by but AR is here to stay. Leave a few comments below and tell me what you think 😉