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Category: augmented reality – Page 61

Cool

Shipments of augmented reality hardware, which combine real-world and virtual images in the user’s field of view, are forecast by market research firm IDC to ramp up over the next few years. Unlike virtual reality hardware, which tends to be more geared toward gaming, AR hardware is particularly suited for enterprise use, such as architecture, equipment repair and maintenance,

Product design and medical procedures, to name a few. IDC predicted that VR hardware will take off first, but AR will catch up, with combined devices markets seeing hardware shipments exceeding.

110 million units in 2020.

Continue reading “Virtual Reality Projected To Lead Before Augmented Reality” | >

Nice

The consumer version of Google Glass smart wearable probably won’t be coming to the market anytime soon, but it seems like the project is far from dead. Namely, one of the startups which came to being after Google originally revealed its hi-tech headset several years ago is now raising new capital in order to bring Google’s optical head-mounted display into more hospitals and other health care facilities. The company in question is Augmedix, one of the ten official “Google Glass for Work” partners. Its main activity is developing software for wearable devices utilized in the medical industry, i.e. co-developing inventions which should make doctors’ lives easier. As Augmedix’s CEO Ian Shakil puts it, the doctors are “engaging with patients in front of them” while his company’s inventions are taking care of the “burdensome work in the background”.

Augmedix managed to raise $17 million of strategic investment capital from five institutions: TriHealth Inc., Sutter Health, Catholic Health Initiatives, Dignity Health, and a fifth, yet unnamed entity. This is the second round of funding the Silicon Valley company managed to secure in just over a year after raising $16 million in 2015. In total, the groups which financed Augmedix’s endeavors represent more than 100,000 health care providers. Naturally, the company can’t yet aim to deliver 100,000 of smart wearables designed for the medical industry, but it’s slowly getting there. Specifically, it’s currently providing equipment and services to hundreds of physicians and surgeons and is hoping to do the same with “thousands” more by 2017. No concrete figures have been provided by Augmedix, though the startup did confirm that it’s currently achieving a “multi-million dollar revenue” on a yearly basis.

What does this all mean for Google Glass? Well, despite the plans for the consumer version of the headset being momentarily dropped by Google, the Work program designed to deliver the said piece of hardware to various industries around the world is still going strong, and Augmedix is one of Google’s key partners in this business endeavor. Google Glass 2.0, officially called Project Aura is currently in development for enterprise applications and it seems like it has a very bright future in the medical industry as Augmedix claims its internal study concluded that close to 100 percent of patients are completely fine with their doctors using augmented reality (AR) headsets. In addition to that, it’s worth noting that Glass is the dominant platform Augmedix sells its services on, so it makes sense that this latest round of funding will see it end up in more heath care facilities in the very near future.

Continue reading “New Funding Could Bring Google Glass To More Hospitals” | >

Over the past few days, Wired has published some articles that give us the closest look yet at the ambitious, enigmatic augmented reality company called Magic Leap. They’ve left us with both a lot of fascinating possibilities and a lot of questions, because most of Magic Leap’s technological explanations are couched in the language of either science fiction or, well, magic. As poetic as “[talking] to the GPU of the brain” and “dreaming with your eyes open” sounds, this is probably the clearest and most interesting description of Magic Leap’s work in the piece:

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VERY nifty!

Wired just published a giant feature on Magic Leap, the lavishly-funded, and very secretive mixed reality startup that we know almost nothing about. Professional thoughtfluencer Kevin Kelly got impressive access to the startup and reveals some new details about what the hell they’re doing. There’s a headset! And it is capable of what you see in the video above, which is like tripping, if LSD made you hallucinate your calendar.

The demo, which Magic Leap just posted to YouTube, is a look at what your morning might be like if you’re living in the company’s mixed reality future. It’s not a very lofty future, but I daresay it’s a useful one. Though I’ve never had a morning in which I intensely study topographical maps of Everest or ethereal jellyfish, it is nice to have a clean heads-up display in front of your face, full of notifications and information. The graphics are very high fidelity—especially compared to Magic Leap’s mixed reality cousin, Microsoft HoloLens.

Continue reading “Magic Leap’s Latest Demo is Like Tripping Balls” | >

Hmmm; not sure if I can watch given my tolerance level of seeing blood.

Cutting-edge technology has a way of snaking itself into the medical field. Over the past few years, for example, we’ve seen 3D printers used to create prescription medication, prosthetic limbs, casts, replacement bones, homemade cosmetic braces and even cartilage implants.

Now, we’re beginning to see some of the ways that virtual reality will impact modern medicine with a company by the name of Medical Realities leading the way.

Co-founded by Dr. Shafi Ahmed, Medical Realities is a medical training firm that specializes in virtual reality, augmented reality and serious games using consumer-level devices like the Oculus Rift. In just a few days, he and his team of medical professionals will be livestreaming the removal of a tumor from the colon of a man in his 70s.

Continue reading “Watch a live surgery take place in virtual reality on April 14th” | >

Samsung is exploring the development of a contact lens that can project images directly into the users’ eye, take photographs and connect wirelessly to a smartphone, a patent application has revealed.

The South Korean copyright authority has published a 29-page application made by the consumer electronics firm two years ago, reported the technology blog Sammobile, offering a rare insight into a science fiction vision of a future technology that could be closer than we think.

The lens could overlay internet-connected services directly into the user’s line of sight, in an example of what is known as augmented reality. It could also discreetly – even covertly – take photographs. The device would be controlled by eye movements or blinking, according to the patent, and it would connect with a smartphone.

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Munich. BMW has become the first car manufacturer to introduce a mixed reality system into vehicle development that has been devised entirely using components from the computer games industry. This offers some significant advantages over the VR systems that have existed to date, and is the first step towards making virtual reality a very real part of many developer workstations in the not-too-distant future.

The adoption of this computer system makes it possible to save a great deal of time and effort, especially during the early stages of development. VR investigations could previously only be conducted at costly specialised facilities. By incorporating consumer electronics, the developers gain an unprecedented degree of flexibility, because any modifications can be implemented and tested very quickly. In addition to this, developers around the globe will be able to take part in the decision-making process from their own office without having to travel too far. Only once the draft designs have been approved with the help of the 3D headsets will they actually be built for further testing.

BMW has been employing VR systems in the development process since the 1990s. It is now reaffirming its pioneering status by systematically implementing technology from a sector which has not previously been the focal point of industrial applications. Since this spring, components from the computer games industry have been allowing engineers and designers to immerse themselves more and more often in virtual worlds that are increasingly realistic. The shorter innovation cycles of consumer electronics result in a far wider scope of functions together with lower costs. This thereby enables more vehicle functions to be translated to a VR model in ever more realistic fashion. It is furthermore possible to scale the system to many different developer workstations with little effort.

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