In news that marries the up-and-coming technological worlds of the Internet of Things (IoT) and augmented reality, Eon Reality Inc. of Irvine, Calif., has upgraded its EON AVR Platform so nontechnical users to create augmented reality overlays to real-world environments.
To create these overlays, users attach Eon’s AR 3D Annotations to physical objects and environments. That technology is supported by Eon IoT sensor data, the vendor’s geographical positional tracking software, and its augmented reality interface.
The augmented reality overlays can turn objects and environments into “interactive learning bots,” where, according to Eon:”knowledge transfer becomes a multi-sensory experience by targeting visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners through highly visual, interactive learning objects. The end result is an illuminated world where knowledge, not just information, is a glance away.”
The platform helps users build intelligent means to help students and teachers quickly learn interactive learning content on their tablets, smart phones, VR headsets, or AR glasses.
Rather than immerse users in an artificial world, AR dangles data or a digital image into a person’s visual field that describes what they’re looking at. The latest, best-selling example comes from the augmented reality game Pokémon Go.
The potential is such that the market for AR apps for engineering will grow 10-fold between 2014 and 2019, from $247 million to $2.4 billion, according to a report from the market research firm Juniper Research.
But along with gaming, AR could also transform the workplace, according to Juniper through creation of those “interactive learning bots.” The name for such learning tools vary according to which vendor, consultant, or technology tool is referenced, but the main idea is the same.
The bots could allow doctors to visualize veins and internal organs and see a display of information such as heart rate and blood pressure to help diagnose and treat patients. With them, teachers could supplement their curriculum by having students simultaneously view text, graphics and videos overlaid on the real world.
And engineers could benefit as well. Siemens PLM has created AR brochures with images that spring into view, and Bentley Systems has created a homegrown AR system that overlays 2D and 3D construction plans to help architects and construction engineers convert 3D CAD representations of buildings into 2D blueprints and back into 3D augmented-reality renderings.
The Eon image, above, for example, depicts how a technician at work on an MRI would use AR to view the internal parts, exploded out before him via AI. An AI tag also tell him where the part that needs to be replaced is located. All this gives him insight into and a grasp on the physical workings of the machine before him—workings he can’t see with his own eyes without opening the machine up. AI gives him a leg up on trying to find the problem and attempting to replace the part. The bot essentially shows him where and how to do this.
To create the bot, a programmer and engineer would outfit the MRI with many sensors, calling upon IoT technology. Sensor feedback would show the bot, in essence, where parts are located, what they do, and how they’re running. That information can then be called up in AI, as shown in the accompanying chart shown to the technician that depicts operation in graphical output.
And the fact these bots can now be created without deep technological know-how, as EON allows, is a key factor in driving the AI industry forward and advancing use of these bots across many fields.
