Augmented Reality: From Fiction to Fact

Fall is in the air, and chances are you’ve caught a football game (or several!) on television over the past few weeks. You know the yellow line that marks the first down — the one that moves under the players as the game changes? That line is one of the first commercial uses of augmented reality (AR) and one of the simplest ways to show AR’s practical use.

So what is augmented reality? For years, it was just an idea out of science fiction. (Remember the “holodeck” on Star Trek?) It’s now part of our everyday world, and you might not have even noticed.

AR brings digital information, video, and other media elements into the user’s existing “real” environment. Simply put, AR enhances what you’re watching or doing by adding in other media that wouldn’t normally be there, making it more informative and creating a richer experience.

Besides football, there are tons of examples all around us that use AR.

• Home decor magazines feature apps that let you “see” new furniture or decorations in your room.
• Clothing retail websites include features that let people virtually try on clothes.
• The weather maps that you see behind the newscaster allow you to see weather patterns as they develop.
• Airplane pilots use AR “heads up” displays to see navigational and maneuvering information without having to look down and search a control panel.

Major benefits for manufacturing

AR is used in a variety of practical and important ways in manufacturing to enhance and streamline precision processes in this industry. AR is perfect for manufacturing environments because of its two primary properties:

• It can create such rich and clear pictures.
• It can overlay images onto physical objects.

General Motors (GM) has started a pilot program using Google Glass, a product that hasn’t taken off in the consumer realm but is proving useful in industrial applications. In the GM manufacturing environment, the AR technology allows equipment operators to evaluate machine productivity, assess and diagnose errors or malfunctions, and solve issues immediately.

As Delta Sigma Company (DSC) and partners, such as Laser Projection Technologies, pioneer advanced assembly and manufacturing solutions through our optical projection systems, we are actively watching the development of AR in the manufacturing industry.

DSC continues to raise the bar to enhance the way we live and work; contact us today to see how our systems can help your team.

[cta]For answers to more questions about optical projection and how it can make assembly operations better, faster, and cheaper, call DSC at (770) 575-5100 or email info@deltasigmacompany.com.[/cta]