On June 20th, I had the pleasure of attending a Tech in Motion Orange County event at the University of California – Irvine, with brief presentations by several start-ups focusing on advancements in the fields of virtual, mixed and augmented reality. Presentations were made by a handful of companies, including some that are developing content and games for virtual reality, new applications for mixed reality including for the Microsoft Hololens, and a presentation about one business’ successes in the augmented reality space. This latter presentation I found the most intriguing, as the presenters discussed “cognitive mixed reality” applications they have already deployed for companies like Best Buy, Ford Motors, and for various hospitals, among other enterprise clients. On the one hand, it was interesting to learn about innovative new experimental games and content for VR from the other presenters (and I mean no disrespect to them), but I was very excited by this augmented reality presentation.
The company in question, Meridian ARS, helped make it clear to me the very low barrier to entry for augmented reality applications. During their presentation, they demonstrated applications for user-friendly interactive manuals in your car to applications for training heart surgeons. They also hinted at way-finding and other uses for their cognitive technology. Just hold your phone up and follow the on-screen info bubbles. It was fast, efficient and there was no need for any sort of wearable technology or glasses.
When it comes to VR, apart from enticing early tech adopters and enthusiasts, finding those everyday, practical, and efficient use-cases for VR, MR, and AR tech that can also be used by every day people is a little tough. Devices like our Cyndr Sentry, a practical, highly useful sensor and notification platform, can really help, for instance, gamers, but without widespread adoption beforehand of the corresponding devices that the Sentry can help support (re: virtually any PC, including those running VR devices), it becomes no small task for innovators like the Cyndr team to help users see the practicality of the Sentry. However, more and more people are picking up VR and other mixed reality devices and applications every day, and Cyndr is ready for them!
When it comes to basic augmented reality, just look at the popularity of Pokemon Go. When all you need is the phone in your pocket, which everyone already has, then it becomes only a matter of time for widespread adoption. Big data plus perpetual, location-aware app development make any company developing real-time, cognitive reality a significant technology disruptor. We at Cyndr are especially excited by this!