New-Tech Europe Magazine | November 2018

Great things come in small packages: enabling augmented & virtual reality’s next wave

MOLEX

Close cousins, augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) hold great promise across a wide range of industries and applications: gaming and entertainment, warehousing and logistics, healthcare and medtech, industrial and infrastructure maintenance, retail showcasing, manufacturing, and more. In fact, according to market intelligence provider, IDC’s Worldwide Semiannual Augmented and Virtual Reality Spending Guide, total global spending on AR/VR products and services is expected to soar “from $11.4 billion in 2017 to nearly $215 billion 2021, achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 113.2% along the way”. But first, AR/VR needs to overcome several technical limitations, including the size and weight of

headsets, their limited field of view, their need to be tethered to computers and difficulties in tracking the real world. Challenges concerning electronic subassemblies also impact the overall user experience, for instance, space and weight constraints to help avoid headsets or smart glasses being overly cumbersome. AR/VR’s potential in healthcare & medtech According to industry authorities, AR/VR is poised to revolutionise the operating theatre. Surgeons already use AR, particularly in neurosurgery, but the most common method, in which they refer to separate screens as they operate, forcing them to continually look away from the patient and refocus, can be

distracting or disruptive in a field where intense focus is literally a life- or-death requirement. As a result, ‘see-through’ AR headsets or smart glasses that enable information and digital content to be overlaid directly in the surgeon’s field of view, much like a pilot’s ‘head-up display’ (HUD), offer many valuable benefits for surgery. But to be more effective and compelling, AR headsets need to become more portable and lightweight. For such devices to become a natural extension of the surgeon’s senses, they must be light, mobile, comfortable and functional – potentially for extended periods of time. AR efficiencies in warehousing & logistics

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