Augmented Reality

This week’s lessons were particularly interesting as they talked about Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR, AR). After Dr Abel showed us videos on Ikea’s AR catalogues and how customers hand to just scan the QR code on the catalogue and were able to actually view the actual furniture being placed in front of them via their mobile devices. He also showed us the AR app, Layar, which I found was extremely cool, but it cannot be used as much in Singapore, for not many things are registered with Layar. Hence, I decide to google more into AR and find out if there were other even more cooler products out there. I then came across the BMW’s AR glasses!

To tackle the fixing process of modern electronics in BMW vehicles, the Munich-based engineers designed a pair of augmented reality glasses that enable users and mechanics to obtain step-by-step instructions on how to fix an engine, simply by looking at it.

The best part is that the highly-advanced glasses can also help anyone, especially those with no previous mechanical experience.

Using augmented reality, the glasses display the guide and instructions to the user through a 3D color display that is laid over the top of the original engine view. Animations explain exactly how to dissemble car parts and to diagnose any trouble with the car itself.

The relevant engine part is highlighted and a written instruction is displayed in the top left-hand corner of the screen. The glasses come with headphones that also read the instructions out loud. In the bottom left-hand corner, the glasses will show a picture of the tool needed to carry out the job.The list of instructions can be recalled by pressing the data button.

When using the glasses, apart from the real environment,  the user can also see virtually animated components, tools to be used and hears instruction on each of the working steps through headphones integrated inside the goggles.

Honestly this is such a cool invention and the future of AR seems to have limitless possibilities.