AR is a technology that adds virtual information over what the user sees through four components: cameras and sensors, processing, projection, and reflection.
AR has the potential to enhance interactions between users and products or services, providing users with enhanced experiences that benefit both themselves and businesses. Customers may enjoy being provided with more in-depth product details before purchase – saving businesses time and money in the process.
Education
As AR has become more and more prevalent in schools, educators are learning how to leverage it as an educational tool and boost student engagement. Through immersive virtual content, hands-on experiences, and experiential learning approaches, AR can engage students in learning new concepts while deepening their understanding of curriculum material.
One recent study found that using AR apps along with textbooks can significantly enhance student retention of mathematical functions, relieving them of time-consuming task of manually drawing functions while shortening learning curves.
Teachers must ensure the apps they select for use by their students are of high-quality and provide relevant content, and have Internet connectivity.
Another key concern when implementing augmented reality into education is cost. Not only must hardware costs be factored in, but teachers must remember that smartphones capable of running AR apps may not be as abundant.
Healthcare
Healthcare represents an area with enormous potential for AR technology. There are countless uses of augmented reality in medicine ranging from educational training and 3D scans, through surgery procedures and surgeries themselves.
Education is one of the primary applications for augmented reality technology in healthcare, helping students explore human anatomy and medical terminology through immersive simulation. Augmented reality can also be integrated with textbooks and curricula for additional practical learning experiences.
Augmented reality can also help surgeons enhance surgical processes and increase safety during surgeries by helping them gain insight into the unique anatomy of their patients’ blood vessels, bones and tissues prior to operation by projecting realistic digital CT models onto their body.
Augmented reality can also assist the medical field by helping specialists collaborate in performing surgical procedures from different geographical locations, which reduces risks during surgeries while increasing collaboration among professionals.
Retail
AR has many uses in retail, from improving customer experiences to streamlining shopping processes. Furthermore, it can help employees understand their roles better within a retail environment.
Some retailers are employing augmented reality to create virtual fitting rooms where customers can see how different items fit before making a purchase decision, helping customers make informed purchases while decreasing returns risk. This has proven highly beneficial in helping shoppers make more informed purchases and reduce returns risk.
AR technology can also be utilized to provide information directly about products via smartphone and e-commerce apps, improving merchandising in physical stores as well as online by offering more product details to customers.
Entertainment
Augmented reality can be applied across various fields and industries, from entertainment to education. Be it adding flower crowns to Snapchat selfies, visualizing IKEA furniture in your home or picking your newest tattoo design; AR has the power to add new dimensions to experiences across many fields and industries.
AR market growth is predicted to skyrocket over the coming decade due to improved quality and cost of AR technology, as well as its wide array of uses.
However, AR and VR technology poses several key restrictions that must be overcome before it can become widely adopted by the mass market. One major impediment to adoption is their high cost.
Lack of standardization within the AR and VR industries makes it hard for developers to produce content compatible with different devices, which presents companies who wish to implement AR into their business with significant challenges.