New Uses for Augmented Reality

One effect of the coronavirus pandemic that many people didn’t see (probably because they failed to look) is an explosion of ingenuity in designing new uses for existing technologies that will not only carry us through this time, but make our lives better in the future.

For example, a new application for augmented reality (AR) – a technology that allows users to interact with the real environment through a holographic headset – has taken on a crucial role in healthcare by guiding clinicians through critical tasks, such as how to operate a ventilator. It also enables physicians to offer remote assistance when they cannot be present at the patient’s bedside.

In another application, an Internet broadband company is using a remote AR service solution to help technicians guide customers through setup and troubleshooting requests during a time when social distancing has precluded them from entering people’s homes.

As a result of these, and other new ideas for using AR to enable productivity during the shutdown, at least one company has seen use of its AR headset technology increase 13-fold since January. Projections indicate that augmented and “mixed reality” headset usage by employees in the U.S. will increase from 25,000 in 2019 to a whopping 8.6 million by 2028.