For tech business owners and technology lovers, 2021 is an exciting year and a super exciting time to flourish. Every year witnesses the inception of new technologies that open new business opportunities. With the evolution of the latest technologies including Blockchain, Automation, AI, and many more, the whole world has changed and so have our lives. Some advancements have secured our lives and many of them have made things simpler and easier for us. But the inception of AR and VR has completely changed our lives and the way we access the world around us. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality have entirely changed the way we see our world. Modern businesses and startups are implementing these technologies as their main business pillars.
Virtual Reality reminds everyone of the movie ‘The Matrix’, doesn’t it? The technology is getting better and more realistic. Virtual Reality or VR allows us to be immersed in a virtual world – it’s not quite at the level of The Matrix yet, but it’s getting more and more realistic. Augmented Reality or AR allows us to manipulate the world around us by technology. Gamification is the evergreen element that these technologies offer. Let’s have a look at these trends in the immersive world of AR and VR.
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality is the old technologies that have been around for several years and derive their concepts that date back centuries. It is only in recent years that technology has reached a level of certainty where businesses can harness the power and this has gained widespread popularity.
The idea behind AR and VR is not new. The only new thing is the advancement in technology and abilities to build complex interfaces that can process the virtual world in the augmented space. These updates and advancements in technologies are making the adoption of AR and VR across different fields more progressive. This upward trend in the adoption of AR and VR will continue to rise in the market in different ways. There are plenty of exciting times ahead of us in the world and this adoption of AR and VR will change the world around us.
The increased use of AR and VR is booming with the amalgamation of artificial intelligence. While Snapchat offers real-time pics with filters, Facebook is changing the facial recognition technologies when it comes to tagging your friends and connections in photographs. Artificial Intelligence plays a huge part in streamlining the information flow across hybrid and complex interfaces and thus helps the users with interpreted data in real-time. While this merger of AR and VR with AI will lead to never-ending questions and debates, the technology is not likely to slow down anytime sooner.
The tech giant, Apple, has recently released ARKit 4 of its open-source AR development tools. Google is also competing with the release of its ARCore technology to thrive in the market. Since the inception of these technologies back in 2017, these tools have assisted the developers to scale the market. Because of great application support, the number of AR-capable devices and users has increased in recent years. Google’s ARCore is innovating the way people view the publicly-made Street View images. ARCore has evolved and improved. Smartphones are taking on the street-view market with the ability to incorporate Google Maps for a more immersive experience.
Giving the customers a virtual option to shop and try on the new equipment and items has been a trend for many retailers. Many retailers now provide their customers with virtual fitting rooms. This gives the end-users a try-before-you-purchase experience from home. This is especially effective during the pandemic. The majority of retailers allow their customers to see the products and furniture for their homes using augmented reality space. Apart from that, the RFID tags and smart mirrors open new doors for product suggestions.
With more control over the interior environment and more bandwidth, the advantages offered by the augmented reality for indoor navigation are crystal clear. There is a huge array of tools that are used to streamline this experience at different levels. Bluetooth beacons, QR codes, ceiling antennas are drastically transforming the CX. In-store navigation has greatly improved with the advances of AR technology.
It is quite clear that remote work has exploded in the market since the beginning of the pandemic. Several institutions also predict that the current trends of remote work will continue even after the pandemic has subsided. Because of the explosion of remote work, new solutions are required to maintain the efficiency of the certain professions that formerly operate in-person. AR can help the IT professionals to give guidance to customers using on-screen directions.
IT computer repair is a great example. Augmented reality can allow IT, professionals and technicians, to give guidance to customers using on-screen directions. Great remote assistance can be offered with WebRTC using augmented reality. This allows the customers to connect with the professionals and experience the same environment through a peer-to-peer connection. This is achieved by sending the feed in real-time without causing any load challenges.
Augmented Reality has a large impact on the automotive industry. One of the more clear applications of this technology is the heads-up displays (HUDs). The users are quite familiar with the HUDs in games, interactive content, and 3D movies. Augmented reality HUDs serve a special purpose and assist the drivers. This allows the drivers to process the information that supports their view of the road. The most important application of an AR HUD is the drivers’ safety. These specialized HUDs can help the drivers of the potential obstructions and contraflows and this eliminates all the risks.
AR is relatively convenient on a smartphone but it is not as convenient for shoppers and tech customers. The AR experience that a headset gives, is excellent to view the simulated world through the camera of your smartphone. There is a huge hype around these headsets and once these become socially accepted, the importance of AR will skyrocket. Several companies are developing AR glasses and headsets that are more feasible for customers to purchase and use. The importance of AR will skyrocket in the coming years as more societies are accepting them and socializing. Several tech giants are developing AR glasses that are feasible for everyone. AR glasses are not here yet but these will have a major take on the industry.
Augmented Reality has transformed the travel industry and this is enhancing virtual events such as career fairs and virtual onboarding. This is achieved by dedicated applications or through WebAR solutions. Augmented reality events can provide unique experiences to attendees, customers, and can allow them to interact despite the quarantine restrictions. Apart from that, the entire experience is powered by WebAR and does not require any application downloads to function. This makes WebAR a vital core for marketing purposes.
In the wake of the pandemic, several businesses are affected and many companies have introduced the concept of virtual onboarding. This has streamlined the recruitment process and improved the virtual hiring process. As a result, the employees can get a view of the office in a simulated environment.
Augmented Reality is increasing the student focus on the course content while studying at home. The technology also makes learning modules more diverse and immersive by focusing on more visual content for more visual-focused students. The most important advantage of augmented reality in the education sector is the ability it gives a student to inspect a model from several different angles of the spectrum. This is introducing the feature of experimental learning. The potential of augmented reality can break the monotonous video conferencing and note-taking classroom sessions to improve student engagement.
LiDAR or Light Detection And Ranging technology is more about using light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure the range and this technology is seeing more support on consumer devices such as the iPad Pro 2020, iPhone 12, and Pro 12 Pro Max. This new trend is being used on a large scale on devices and opens new doors of possibilities for the augmented reality tech advancements in 2021.
The trend of LiDAR being used on the scale of consumer devices opens up a wide range of possibilities for augmented reality technologies in 2021. One of the most important opportunities that LiDAR provides is occlusion. This allows users and customers to get more immersive experiences to frame the virtual objects. This new trend is paving way for the marketing strategies of large enterprises.
New businesses are investing in AR and VR technology and are integrating these technologies into everyday life for advanced advertising opportunities. With a huge number of people using mixed reality, and spending more time on smartphones and digital devices, businesses have a better chance of reaching potential customers and roll out their marketing strategies for different clients accordingly.
The widespread deployment of 5G networks is said to speed up the adoption of augmented and virtual reality. The industry analysts confirm that 5G would come with a promising approach for the future and region-wide applications of AR and VR. By integrating the augmented reality technology with 5G, the users and consumers can get a better experience in terms of low-end latency times as 5G can boost the pace of data transfer to the cloud, processing the formation of a virtual image that delivers an enhanced virtual experience to the users.
Augmented Reality Cloud or map of the world is a machine-readable model on the 1:1 scale. It is updated constantly to ensure that it represents the environment at all times. AR Cloud enables the information and experiences to be augmented, shared, and tied to specific locations to occur across different devices. This Cloud is typically used in training, online streaming, travel, real-estate, social messaging, and many other industries
As the augmented reality is using head-mounted displays, the natural facial expressions are pretty hard to recognize as the face is half occluded. Tech giants are coming up with specialized headsets that are designed to track eyes, facial expressions, and gestures. These headsets work just fine with AR where users can easily see an overlay of virtual objects in a simulated world. There is eye-tracking hardware gear that can effectively track the human eye, facial expressions, and gestures.
Lastly on the list of top AR VR trends is the VR CAVE. CXAVE stands for Cave Automatic Virtual Environment. A VR CAVE is a small cubicle where a few walls act as large displays. These immersive displays give the users a super-wide view. This super-wide view is far bigger and better than any head-mounted displays (HMDs). Users can move around inside the system and this gives them the CAVE environment. This can be a futuristic trend for virtual navigation, exploration, mass education, and more all just by putting on a pair of VR goggles similar to 3D glasses.
Gamification has been the highest share of the industry’s revenue and will remain a core driver in the augmented reality space. Practical uses of augmented reality used by the healthcare and engineering solution providers, business, retail, and sports will gain traction. The latest AR and VR trends are transforming several businesses ranging from real estate to corporate campuses and the mobile market is blessed with such amazing technologies.
Implementation of AR solutions is being followed by an ongoing cycle of interface evolution, performance delivery, and superior integration. This is how the augmented reality trends are helping different industries scale the market and stay ahead of the competition. Studies and research say that AR and VR trends will get even sophisticated and that’s one reason why NOW is the right time to invest in AR and VR technology!
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