How Augmented is your Reality?

Augmented Reality must deliver on its namesake in enterprise applications.

aug·ment·ed
adjective

having been made greater in size or value.
https://www.google.com/search?q=dictionary+augmented

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Words matter.  

We often accept category names verbatim, without any scrutiny on whether or not the name delivers what the words imply.  Sometimes, we even accept an oxymoron - like "virtual reality" - somehow expecting clarity amidst contradiction.

At LogistiVIEW, we have staked our success to the emerging industry known as augmented reality or A/R for short.

"Augmented" gives us a goal, and a testable condition.  Has our offering actually improved the reality of the humans using it?

In a previous post, we explained how our technology offers measurable efficiency improvements over hand-held equipment.  However, highly efficient communication does not, in and of itself, constitute "augmented reality."

With the video below, LogistiVIEW offers a glimpse of how we actually create an augmented reality.  It is a simple, yet powerful, demonstration.

The video is a view through a Vuzix M300.  The human wearing the device is tasked with selecting the correct products out of a collection of nearly identical packages.  This might happen at a packing station, kitting table, or dense storage area where many different products are crammed into close quarters.

The video shows how an augmented reality solution can actually improve upon inherent human limitations.  Consider, for a moment, how you would choose the right packages without the visual cues presented on the display.  Would you look for a product name or a fragment of the UPC code?  How many times would you have to compare your selection to an instruction sheet or hand-held display?

Using the camera on the device, our solution quickly found all the barcodes in the human's line of sight and painted intuitive visual cues on the correct ones.  The end result: the human resolved the task more quickly than possible if unassisted.  Because the information was presented on a VIEW device, our productive human had two free hands available to efficiently extract the target products.

For every step of a modeled workflow, we consider:

• What does the human need to know to complete the step safely, correctly and quickly?
• What does the business system need to know about the human's progress?
• Which capabilities of either the human or the A/R device are best suited for the job?

In the case of "finding the correct barcodes out of many choices," the device can definitely complete this sub-task faster than the human, so that's where our solution intervened.

Many proponents of A/R have produced wonderfully futuristic videos, showing an almost immersive experience through the glasses (usually with a little help from a good CGI shop).

That is not our intent.  We recognize that the litmus test for any augmented reality for the workforce is that it must measurably augment.  Our video above is a simple demonstration of that approach.
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