AUGMENTED REALITY
Picture 1. Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies (Gartner 2018)
Picture 1. Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies (Gartner 2018).
Right now, there are a lot of AR applications being developed. Some, like Pokémon GO, are celebrated by the crowds, others do not really bring anything that new or exciting to the world. AR needs to develop from ASTTW (add something to the world) to ASBTTW
(add something beneficial to the world). Considering the darker examples of AR there also needs to be rules to prevent accidents from occurring because of people’s divided concentration to the real situation and the AR world around them. With AR possibly com-ing more common in the future, people need to be trained to use it to reduce the risks involved in it. (Sabelman & Lam)
When looking from the economical point of view Google, Microsoft and Apple seem to control most of the development with AR (Ganguly 2018; Taulli 2018; Neiger 2018).
This means that also the direction that AR development is taking is mostly in their hands.
It is interesting to see where this development is taking. Will there be more challengers for the big companies or is the future of AR the result of their competition.
As predicted in the Gartner’s Hype cycle, AR will become a bigger part of people’s life’s in the future. Exactly how is still unsure. What we do know is that the next generation is always a head of the one before in adopting new technologies and applications. As this happens there needs to be some responsibly and understanding involved to prevent some horrible scenarios from happening.
5. CONCLUSIONS
We set out to explore Augmented reality as a technology with interesting aspects and unlimited possibilities. What was also clear was the dark side of AR and the not-so-im-pressive course its development has taken in the few years. It was also known that it has yet to answered people’s expectations as much as wanted. We started with this presump-tion and found out more about AR technology, its applicapresump-tions and implicapresump-tions with hu-man needs in mind.
Interestingly there are a lot more uses for AR than many could expect. It can be utilized in making multicultural relations work better by using augmented reality to for example make people feel closer to each other besides of distance. AR glasses could help translate speech, making communication easier. Augmented reality can also increase safety for example with pilots or firefighters who can work with more certainty with the help of AR technology. Other good uses of AR are different training situations, construction of build-ings, design and furnishing.
On the side of good examples comes also more useless features. These are different ava-tars and filters that many applications provide. The development has sadly in most cases been left to that. In the other end of the spectrum there are however some more dubious uses and ideas that can cause a lot more harm than good. One of the most shocking find-ings is people neglecting to pay attention to the surrounding world when engaging to an AR experience such as Pokémon GO. This has led to accidents and even death.
At the moment AR technology development is in a sort of a standstill. It is still waiting for the most innovative and useful adaptations. It is in most ways on the right track and people are finding beneficial ways of utilizing it, but a little more time needs to pass for it to really go mainstream, disregarding Snapchat filters and avatars. There is also a huge issue with the ethical side of AR technology and people need to understand the dangers of AR to use it so they can avoid threatening situations.
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