The Promise Of Augmented Reality To Simplify Your Life

The Pokémon 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 Pokémon 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 Pokémon 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, Pokemon and you may be wondering why I say this is going to change the world. Trust me here, you are living in amazing times, Pokemon 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 the created environment by stimulating the senses of 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 widely used in training, including flight simulators and police training. But you can never underestimate human creativity, so the possibilities may be endless.

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that layers computer-generated enhancements over the real world and lets you interact with them. AR is developed into apps and used on mobile devices to blend digital components into the real world. In a way that enhances one another, but can also be operated separately easily. This is what the Nintendo company uses to create the popular Pokémon Go game.

Pokémon Go has catapulted this powerful technology into the mainstream, and players traverse 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 Pokémon 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 be 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 and do what we really love with the people we enjoy being with. The power of AR will enhance our ability to accomplish that.

Beyond Pokémon Go, current applications of AR are scarce, but we can already see enterprise applications in which field technicians use AR smart glasses to operate hands-free for hours at a time.

It would be easy for people to use AR to significantly boost productivity across 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 Pokémon Go creatures. Get Your Oculus Rif.

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

The auto mechanic or you replacing the brakes on your car can wear AR glasses and be guided on the order to remove particular bolts or cables, and on 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. You may be able to handle many repairs yourself 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 that when I was a Telecommunications Engineer, I could have used AR in the field. On a conference call with 6 people from around the world, trying to complete an installation or fix. A group of more experienced engineers could have seen what I was seeing on site and guided me through the repair. We could all have saved time and spent more time with our families instead of wasting the night away with trial and error.

Pokémon Go Is Just The Beginning

Yes, Pokémon 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? Pokémon 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 😉