Systems Integration Asia — February-March 2018

ADVERTORIAL 53

Smart Glasses and the Future of Augmented Reality

Overview

After some false starts, it looks like 2018 could be the year that

Augmented Reality gains serious traction and begins to become

part of the consumer's everyday world.

In the B2C market, several well-known brands are already

pioneering AR applications – IKEA Place allows shoppers to

superimpose virtual images of IKEA furniture in their own real-life

setting, and Timberland offers a virtual tting room for customers

to check the look of a new outt before buying.

This is just the start – major tech industry players are committed

to developing AR marketing. Apple, Microsoft, Google, and

Facebook all are providing deep toolsets for developers to create

apps for this approach. All have quietly adopted the implicit

assumption that a persistent, wearable articial reality is the next

big thing.^1

Acceptance in B2B market

Outside the growing acceptance of AR among consumers, the

technology has been quietly breaking new ground in the

enterprise sector. One key to unleashing the full potential of AR in

an industrial context is developing new apps on the smart glasses

platform.

Smart glasses, designed for purpose, allow hands-free operation

in such environments as healthcare, logistics, maintenance and

construction, where the ability to devote both hands to the

specic task is critical. Operators can benet from remote work

assistance and projected instruction manuals, saving time,

increasing productivity and enhancing safety.

Moverio - The Epson story

One of the pioneers in the application of AR through smart

glasses is Epson. The visual communications industry leader

launched their rst Moverio smart glasses model in Southeast Asia

in 2012 and have continued to expand their product range.

Epson has carefully researched the needs of different market

sectors and their range of smart glasses meets the demand for

commercial, personal and industrial sectors.^2

Besides applications for logistics, repair and maintenance as well

as audio-visual experiences for the hospitality sector in hotels and

museums, Epson's Moverio smart glasses are key to innovative

applications in the healthcare sector.

Moverio smart glasses are helping surgeons and clinicians

concentrate fully on their patients by freeing them from manually

handling data, allowing them to focus on their often complex

tasks. Moverio is also helping to augment the sight of visually

impaired patients sufciently to enable them to interact socially

through enhanced facial recognition, read individual words or

signs and even navigate through crowded areas such as stations.

Dentists too nd their work is greatly aided by Moverio, using the

smart glasses to provide a precise heads-up overlay of their

patient's teeth. This enables better hand-eye coordination and a

more precise treatment time.

In the logistics industry, ST Logistics has piloted Epson's Moverio

headset for an augmented reality notication and navigation

system for collecting of orders in the warehouse, which has

helped to improve productivity.

The potential is huge. Following the personal computer, the

Internet and the smartphone, Epson believes that AR and smart

glasses are the world's next transformative technology.

1 https://www.wired.com/story/future-of-augmented-reality-2018/

2 https://epson.com/moverio-augmented-reality

http://www.epson.com.sg/moverio

S I A