In late October a group of reality explorers and top innovators gathered in Berlin for an Augmented World Expo conference. Perhaps augmented reality seems to promise a new way of being human, and here are some highlights from the event with achievments, challenges and new perspectives of the field.

Ori Inbar, Co-Founder & CEO, AugmentedReality.org

  • the inevitability of augmented reality because of it interaction with the real world.
  • smart glasses in 2016 — Google Glass, Epson BT200, Vuzix m300, ODG R7, Optinvent ORA-X, Recon Jet, Daqri Smart Helmet, Sony SmartEyeGlasses, Meta 2, Atheer AiR, Lumus DK50, Microsoft Hololens
  • headset adoption phases: forecast – mainstream in 2023 ( in 2018 – early majority, 50-100 Million shipment)
  • thearea.org — area use case database
Wolfgang Stelzle, CEO&Founder, RE’FLECT
  • app store for AR applications
  • content is a king of any virtual experience
  • written feedback
  • emergency assistant
Hoffman
Michael Hoffman, Partner, Object Theory
  • avatars for remote live team interaction on the same project
  • getting right avatars and avoiding uncanny valley
  • natural motion and look achived by creation of avatars without gender and  lower part of the body
Rudi Schubert, Director New Initiatives, IEEE Standards Association
  • market segments – priority vary (industrial, consumer, military/emergency services and professional services application)
  • identify use cases – where are technological gaps an needs
  • just because we can do it does not mean widespread adoption and embrace of new technologies, at least not very quickly
  • hand free interactions, instructions, guidance in particular place and time, training

image of Dieter with presentation sliides

Dieter Schmalstieg, Professor, Graz University (Review of Research of IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality)

  • trends in displays — head-mounted displays everywhere
  • trends in registration — big remaining problem – registration in dynamic environment, motion capture of user and retargeting to avatar, tracking dynamic objects for correct occlusion contourst
  • trends in interaction — real haptics + immersive VR, selecting real objects in 3D scans, remote exploration of 3D scans

The most discerning outcome from our time at AWE was realising our power. The idea that with this new technology we could create a journey to self-disovery, a journey self-reinvention and enhancing the way we interact with the real world.

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