Scope AR is enabling real-time 3D collaboration on the HoloLens, and some of the world’s biggest brands are getting on board.

A few months ago I went to the Microsoft offices in London to try out a few of their new HoloLens applications. But even though I got to do some pretty cool stuff – like seeing the inside of a working (holographic) jet-engine, gathering evidence at a crime scene and looking at what a knee joint looks like during surgery – what really stuck with me was a broken light switch, and how I fixed it.

AR is empowering reduced travel costs and downtime on machinery or equipment
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Well, not exactly. Someone in the next room talked me through what I needed to do. They could not only talk to me and hear what I was saying, but they saw everything I was seeing through the HoloLens I was wearing. He was also able to annotate my surrounding environment by drawing arrows or circling objects – such as the appropriate tool to use next. In what seemed like no time, that baby lit right up, and I was left with a giddy sense of accomplishment only the DIY-challenged will be able to appreciate.

To me, it’s demos like that really drive home the potential of collaborative Mixed Reality, specially for enterprise. And I’m not alone, as many companies are developing increasingly sophisticated solutions that go beyond the “out of the box” Skype solution which I used at Microsoft.

One of those is Scope AR. Since 2011 they have had a device-agnostic technology that combines these Augmented Reality capabilities with live video streaming, voice, 3D animation, screen sharing, whiteboarding and world-locked annotations. It works on any iOS, Android or Windows smart device or Windows desktop, to allow an expert to overlay overlay digital content onto the real worldview of what the user is pointing their camera at. Companies like Boeing, Toyota, Lockheed Martin and GE already use it.

Since 2011 Scope AR has been combining Augmented Reality with live video streaming, voice, 3D animation, screen sharing, whiteboarding and world-locked annotations
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But their announcement that they have now integrated with the HoloLens adds a lot of interesting possibilities. Not only because it will be possible for it to tap into the device’s sophisticated spatial tracking capabilities, but that users taking advantage of that live expert assistance can do so without worrying about juggling a mobile device on their hand as they’re performing complex tasks.

As AR, AI and IoT become more integrated, this could help solve the skills gap
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Users wearing a HoloLens won't have to worry about juggling a mobile device on their hand as they’re performing complex tasks
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Scott Montgomerie, co-founder and CEO of Scope AR cites many scenarios where deploying this type of technology would bring immediate ROI to industry, such as an automotive plant where a small number of individuals based on site could maintain a large array of robotics and assembly equipment.

“A newly trained technician encountering a complex equipment problem can now show the issue directly to a remote veteran with expert knowledge and act as if they were looking over the on-site technician’s shoulder to resolve issues immediately without the need for additional travel costs and delays,” he adds

Problems around contamination and security restrictions could also be addressed in areas such as in pharmaceutical production, minimizing the number of workers entering a controlled environment and then re-entering standard areas. “The ability to remotely access those controlled areas keeps workers productive, rather than forcing them to end their day,” Montgomerie explains.

“Augmented reality is finally reaching its tipping point in the enterprise space. We are seeing adoption evolve from small, proof of concept implementations to larger deployments where AR is being used across business units. Organizations that want to stay competitive and improve efficiencies are now building strategies around it, which was not the case even a year ago.”

Montgomerie says the major investment in AR made by the likes of Apple, Microsoft and Google have seen the technology improve significantly in the past two years, making it easier for companies to adopt such solutions.

“The applications we’re currently seeing in the market around equipment repair and maintenance, remote assistance and employee training are just the tip of the iceberg, there is so much more that can be done once AR becomes mainstream.”

As AR, AI and IoT become more integrated, he adds, this could help solve the skills gap, since people would require less training to effectively perform tasks. A field worker, for example, could receive IoT data about a system such as an engine’s temperature, pressure data or maintenance history while out in the field. This data could then be displayed visually as a technician is looking at the engine in the real world, fed into an AI system, and provide on-going guidance to the worker by overlaying instructions on the real world as each task is completed, giving precise, intuitive guidance.

AR could make areas such as pharmaceutical production much more efficient by avoiding contamination risk
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AR is also empowering reduced travel costs and downtime on machinery or equipment as real-time, collaboration tools are giving organizations the ability to leverage the expert knowledge in their company without having to fly them to the site of the problem or needed repair.

“Clearer, more intuitive instructions mean less errors, resulting in increased productivity and a better bottom line. We are seeing significant gains in workers’ knowledge retention and the accuracy and efficiency with which they complete complex tasks. In some instances, there’s a 25% increase in time savings when compared to a worker completing the same procedure using traditional paper instructions.”

This article was originally published on VRScout

How This Remote AR Assistance App Wants to Transform Business via @alicebonasio https://t.co/1SBdnsDY3L pic.twitter.com/ZUE9rppDZf

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Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post How Augmented Reality is Transforming Business appeared first on Tech Trends.

Think you haven’t got time to take a lunch break? Consider it a time investment that pays off in the long-term.

Last year, a survey found out that over a third of British office workers ate pretty much the same lunch every single day. Not only that, but they tended to do it at their desks, taking less than half an hour ‘break’ to consume the ‘meal’, which — as it turned out — was most likely to be a cheese sandwich.

Over a third of British office workers eat the same lunch every day: a cheese sandwich
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Now don’t get me wrong, cheese sandwiches have their place, but I can’t help thinking that there has to be more to life than eating the same thing all the time? In fact, the workers surveyed didn’t seem to be that fond of their sandwiches, but instead blamed habit and convenience as key factors in making that choice (over and over again).

But if you think that you’re getting more accomplished by skipping lunch, think again. Far from making you more productive, these “working lunches” can actually sap your creativity. Kimberly Elsbach, a professor of management at UC-Davis, says that working without breaks exhausts our cognitive capacity and makes us less able to make creative connections: “If you’re skipping lunch to continue to push forward in a very intense cognitive capacity, then you’re probably not doing yourself any favours,” she says.

Far from making you more productive working lunches can actually sap away your creativity
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Then there are the social benefits of interacting with your colleagues. We know that employees who socialize together in the workplace tend to build stronger bonds, and as management consultant Dr Ben Waber told the New York Times, employers should structure work to make sure that people have those opportunities, because “when we look at what makes people happy and effective at work, it’s being able to spend time with a close group of people”.

Employees who socialize together in the workplace tend to build stronger bonds
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Companies like Google, who are often voted as the best and most productive workplaces in the world, have long realised the power of food in bringing people together and making them happier and more creative. They even went so far as designing the queues in their canteens so that people had a chance to talk while waiting. Food and the rituals around it are, it seems, perfect triggers for social interaction, and employers would do well to encourage this in the workplace.

Google famously designed its lunch canteen queues to encourage people to talk to each other while waiting
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Of course, not all employers can afford to provide staff with free lunches, and as that survey demonstrates, we are creatures of habit who, left to our own devices, are likely to fall back on the easy option. We also know that home-cooked food is tastier and healthier than mass-produced supermarket fare, but with busy lives, most of us opt to grab that extra half an hour of sleep rather than packing a healthy lunch.

People will often opt to get some extra sleep rather than getting up earlier to make a packed lunch
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The answer? Making sure that the best option is also the most convenient. I remember my last office was right around the corner from Leather Lane Market in Farringdon, which had a wonderful array of restaurants and street food. However, instead of walking two minutes to get lunch there, most of my colleagues went to the supermarket next door for their cheese sandwich. These were people who loved their food, but… the supermarket was right there! The irony is that there was such a lunchtime rush at that supermarket that they probably spent twice as long standing at the checkout line than it would have taken them to stroll down to the market.

The answer might be to make the healthiest options more convenient
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We spend so much of our time at work, so wouldn’t it be nice if we could have all the goodness of a fresh, home-made lunch, delivered to your desk? That was some of the thinking behind a company called Trybe, which is connecting passionate home cooks to people who love food but don’t necessarily have the time to cook it themselves. If the survey above is anything to go by, they’ve got their work cut out for them, but if they succeed they could help make London offices a lot more sociable and productive.

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post How Lunching at Your Desk Eats Away at Your Productivity appeared first on Tech Trends.