Baby boomers or Gen X would have never thought that they’d be able to sit in their lounge and choose a piece of furniture, pick a hair colour or try on shoes that actually suit them. Yes, this has become possible by a truly great invention called Augmented Reality – AR. This technology was first created in 1968 at Harvard when Ivan Sutherland (named the “father of computer designs”) made an AR head-mounted show framework. In the next many years, labs, organisations, and public offices further progressed AR for wearables and computerised shows. These early frameworks superimposed virtual data on the actual climate (e.g., overlaying a territory with geo-local data), and permitted reproductions that were utilised for avionics, military, and modern purposes.
Augmented Reality is an intelligent encounter of a certifiable climate where the articles that dwell in reality are upgraded by computer-created perceptual data, some of the time across various tangible modalities, including visual, hear-able, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be characterized as a framework that joins three essential elements: a mix of genuine and virtual universes, ongoing collaboration, and exact 3D enrollment of virtual and genuine articles.
AR TECHNOLOGY OVER THE YEARS
AR IN THE PAST
- 1957 – MORTIN HEILIG INVENTED SENSORAMA WHICH DELIVERED AUDIO, VIDEO, VIBRATION, AND SMELL TO THE VIEWER.
- 1968 – IVAN SUTHERLAND INVENTED A HEAD-MOUNTED DISPLAY
- 1975 – MYRON KREUGER, AN AMERICAN COMPUTER ARTIST DEVELOPED THE FIRST VR TO INTERACT WITH VIRTUAL OBJECTS
- 1980 – STEVE MANN A COMPUTATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY RESEARCHER INVENTED THE WEARABLE COMPUTING
- 1990 – THOMAS P CAUDELL OF BOEING COINED THE TERM “AUGMENTED REALITY”
- 1992 – LOUIS ROSENBERG DEVELOPED THE FIRST PROPER AR SYSTEM AT THE UASF ARMSTRONG’S RESEARCH LAB
- 2000 -BRUCE THOMAS DEVELOPED AN OUTDOOR MOBILE GAME CALLED ARQUAKE
- 2009 – ADOBE CREATED A TOOLKIT
- 2013 – GOOGLE ANNOUNCED IT OPENED THE BETA OF GOOGLE GLASS
- 2015 – HOLOLENS WAS CREATED BY MICROSOFT
AR IN THE PRESENT
AR includes a variety of technological innovations such as:
| TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS | PRODUCTS |
| GENERAL HARDWARE COMPONENTS | Processors, Display, Sensors, and Input devices. |
| DISPLAYS | Optical projection systems, head-mounted displays, eyeglasses, contact lenses, the HUD (heads up display), virtual retinal displays, EyeTap, Spatial Augmented Reality and handheld displays. |
| SENSORS AND INPUT DEVICES | GPS, gyroscopes, accelerometers, compasses, RFID, wireless sensors, touch recognition, speech recognition, eye tracking, and peripherals. |
| SOFTWARE | There is already an Augmented Reality Markup Language (ARML) which is being used to standardize XML grammar for virtual reality. There are several software development kits (SDK) that also offer simple environments for AR development. |
| INDUSTRIES | Archaeology, Art, Architecture, Commerce, Construction, Industrial Design, Education, Emergency Management, Disaster Recovery, Medical and Search and Rescue, Games, Sports, Entertainment, Tourism, Military and Navigation. |
AR IN THE FUTURE
| UX creators in the AR field should genuinely consider the inquiries of how customary encounters can be worked on through AR – simply making their cooker equipped for utilizing PC improvements isn’t sufficient; it also requires better eating or better-prepared nourishment for clients to keep in mind. The future will have a place with AR when it further develops task effectiveness or the nature of the result of an encounter for the client. This is the vital test of the 21st century UX calling. The metaverse will utilise expanded and computer generated reality (AR/VR) in blend with man-made robustness and blockchain to make versatile and right virtual universes. (3) |
To come to think of it the possibility of AR expanding is endless. It’s just a matter of time before this innovation will become an integral part of our daily routine. We are still yet to get there but there are a few organizations that have already adopted and have indulged in providing the best experiences to their consumers. Let’s take a look at how brands have incorporated and used AR in increasing the customer experience.
IKEA – STUDIO APP
Ikea remains world-class and leads mixed reality shopping. Ikea was one of the first retail stores to implement AR technology, the Ikea Place application permitted clients to put virtual furniture in a room. Presently involving LiDAR sensors in iPhones, the all-new Ikea Studio application empowers clients to catch whole 3D room plans and once again plan them, joining everything from windows and doors to curtains and carpets. Presently in beta, Ikea Studio isn’t yet connected to the Ikea site, meaning it offers a fairly siloed client experience (with no shopping usefulness included). As per Wired, be that as it may, this adaptation of Ikea Studio was the generally implicit groundwork for the appearance of Apple Glass, which could make a more vivid and sensible AR experience. Tommy Campbell who is the digital design lead at SPACE10 told Wired that they’ve tried very hard to make sure that the studio can co-exist on both smartphones and on the glasses-like settings as well. (1)
GUCCI – VIRTUAL SNEAKERS
One of the fundamental reasons retail marks have put resources into AR innovation is to help clients settle on better and more educated item choices. Gucci was one of the luxury brands to do such, adding an AR element to its application to let clients ‘ try on’ shoes. This is a profoundly utilitarian illustration of AR for retail; by providing clients with a visual portrayal of how an item will look in reality, the innovation can hypothetically decrease returns and lift consumer loyalty.
All the more, Gucci has delivered a couple of virtual shoes, which are intended to just be worn and shared on the web. The ‘digital only’ shoes, made as a team with AR-style stage Wanna, can be purchased through the Gucci application for $17.99, making it an open way for buyers to get their hands on the luxury shoes.
Expanding on the ascent in the fame of both virtual forces to be reckoned with and AR channels via online entertainment, this is one of the principal instances of digital fashion’ – an idea that some foresee will take off soon enough. Sergey Arkhangelskiy, CEO of Wanna, let Business of Fashion know that “in five or perhaps 10 years, a somewhat enormous piece of luxury brands’ income will come from digital items.” (3)
WALMART – TESTING FOR INVENTORY
In October 2020, Walmart declared that it would transform four of its actual retail locations into ‘test stores’ to evaluate new innovations determined to improve all stores to become both in-stores and online shopping centers.
A significant component of these stores is stock control, with one test including an application that is intended to accelerate the time it takes to move things from the private alcove to the deals floor. The application utilizes expanded reality to do such, permitting representatives to hold up a handheld gadget (which will then feature the containers all set), instead of examining every individual box.
This is one illustration of expanding the truth being utilized to upgrade interior cycles, successfully making a more consistent and quicker work process. In spite of not being noticeable to clients, that’s what Walmart says “notwithstanding, the client will benefit”, with the innovation, at last, assisting with improving the client experience by putting more items on racks, quicker than previously.
MACHINE A – VIRTUAL CONCEPT STORE
Machine-A is a London-based idea store, which is typically committed to displaying contemporary style. With the covid-19 and current year’s London style week either dropped or restricted to advanced shows, Machine-A concocted an idea to empower whatever a number of individuals could reasonably be expected to see crafted by arising creators. The thought was a virtual store, which as ShowStudio states, intended to “carry a vivid twist to a computerized time of shows, spanning the space among IRL and URL.”
By just scanning a QR code inserted in banners and bulletins situated around London, versatile clients had the option to ‘enter’ the virtual shop and investigate the new assortments of originators. Matthew Drinkwater, top of the Fashion Innovation Agency, told Vogue Business that AR in this setting assists with building “a lot nearer connection between the customer and brand when its extremely challenging.”
While this model is for the most part about mindfulness and commitment – as there’s no coordinated shopping usefulness – it indicates how AR could improve the web-based business experience in the future, basically making virtual stores for clients to both peruse and purchase in a totally vivid manner.
SEPHORA – VIRTUAL ARTIST
Beauty care products retailer Sephora’s ‘Virtual Artist’ apparatus has been accessible by means of its primary application starting around 2016, and it stays probably the slickest illustration of AR inside magnificence. As of late, obviously, Sephora has been empowering utilization as a trade for in-store shopping.
Rather than furniture in homes, the AR innovation allows customers to see what certain items (like lipstick or eyeshadow) could look like on their own faces. To do such, it utilizes Modiface innovation to examine lips and eyes, prior to overlaying different lip tones, eye shadows, misleading lashes, etc.
The primary point of the application is by all accounts to help online business deals, with purchasers commonly determined in-store because of questions about what items will resemble, all things considered.
Some could say it is no counterpart for giving the real in-store try-on experience, yet the advantage of the instrument is the number of various items clients can test – without the issue or tedious nature of doing it, all things considered. In the meantime, it additionally fills in as a touch of good times for customers but one more way for excellent brands like Sephora to give amusement and motivation as well as the actual items.
By looking at all these amazing augmented reality real-life examples we can say that this is definitely the way forward. The current value of the AR market stands at 3.5 billion and by 2024 there will be 1.73 billion users of AR on mobile phones. Almost 70% of the users of AR believe that it brings them benefits. If this keeps on growing this way it is expected that the revenue for AR will hit $340 billion by the year 2028. This is not only beneficial and fun for the customers but also the businesses, 67% of media planners want AR ads in their digital marketing campaigns. (4)
AR or expanded reality has gone from unrealistic fantasy to reality in a little more than a century. There are numerous AR applications being used or a work in progress today, notwithstanding – the idea will possibly take off all around when UX architects contemplate how they can coordinate AR with day-to-day existence to further develop usefulness, proficiency, or nature of encounters. There is limitless potential for AR, the unavoidable issue is – how might it be explored?
REFERENCES
(1) 2022. [online] Available at: <https://econsultancy.com/14-examples-augmented-reality-brand-marketing-experiences/>
(2) The Interaction Design Foundation. 2022. Augmented Reality – The Past, The Present and The Future. [online] Available at: <https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/augmented-reality-the-past-the-present-and-the-future>
(3) Inap.com. 2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.inap.com/blog/7-incredible-examples-of-augmented-reality-technology/>
(4) 2022. [online] Available at: <https://techjury.net/blog/augmented-reality-stats/#gref>
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