Augmented Reality examples and use cases in the real world mature and grow each year, with the introduction of new products and software.
From education to entertainment to business, the market is being flooded with new AR products worth checking out.
In this article, we have put together examples of AR and use cases of how AR applications can be developed in the real world. Many of these use cases are available to buy today! So, if you are ready to learn, then let’s get started.
Medical Augmented Reality Examples
AR plays a crucial role in medicine. Listed below are some examples of augmented reality in the medical field.
Medical Training
Augmented Reality apps for medical students help them perform complex procedures digitally first. By wearing AR glasses, students can see interior organs and bones digitally on a regular test mannequin.
Proximie is a company that offers AR surgery tools, letting doctors perform complex tasks digitally and offering a community that can review and comment on the work.
Nursing Assistance
Another augmented reality example in the medical field is for making nurse’s jobs easier in the hospital. Accuvein is a product that digitally scans a person’s arm to identify veins. This can cut down on the 40% of failed IVs on the first try.
Medical Diagnosis
Doctors can use AR headsets and glasses while they perform their jobs to provide them with useful information on the spot. They can see a patient’s MRI results overlaid with their X-Ray results and point out potential trouble areas. This can help them with surgical and medical planning. EchoPixel is one AR company doing work in this space.
This use case will only continue to get stronger as machine-to-machine IoT technology grows and can feed information directly to AR headsets.
Educational Augmented Reality Examples
The following are a few examples of how augmented reality can support educational objectives.
Language Translation
Google made headlines a few years ago with its Translate app, which can detect words in images and translate them into another language. It was one of the first real-world AR examples.
Car Maintenance
An AR app like I-Mechanic allows you to view car diagnostic and maintenance information digitally. The app suggests potential fixes and points out trouble areasd with your vehicle.
Interactive Books
Companies like Holo Popups have created interactive augmented reality children’s books. Using your phone, you can see characters come to life as you read, entertaining kids and making reading fun.
Other possibilities include digitally replaying or simulating historical events or using digital elements to teach math and science courses.
Click here to check out some augmented reality books.
STEM Kids Toys
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Teaching these concepts to your kid early can help them get into schools and jobs later on in life.
Toys like the MERGE Cube teach kids about these concepts using augmented reality. There are a lot of STEM apps which teach your kids these concepts too.
Learning Games
Augmented Reality is a proven method for teaching kids new concepts in a fun and creative way. One example is the Professor Maxwell Science Kit, which lets kids experiment using AR goggles to guide them in creating food and experiments.
Business Augmented Reality Examples
Augmented reality can play a role at every level of business management. Listed below are examples of its many uses in diverse business settings.
Logistics
AR technology empowers logistics staff by providing the right information at the right time and in the right place. This augmented reality example is an efficiency that is important to complex distribution networks.
In warehouses, AR-enabled HMDs can be used to improve processes for product picking and packing, assembly, inventory management, and to assist with the training of warehouse staff. DHL has been exploring this technology for a while.
Warehouse Navigation
Similar to logistics, augmented reality can help warehouse workers navigate. For example, a worker can see task instructions overlaid on their AR headset, which can guide them through the closest path to the object.
Visualizing Analytics
With growing volumes of business data, companies want a better way to visualize it. 2D visualizations and manual processes limit companies’ abilities to detect data patterns.
AR companies like Virtualitics can provide new ways to visualize these complex datasets, providing real value to decision-makers.
Retail Information
Clothing store owners can utilize AR experiences to provide shoppers with an interactive way to obtain product details. Some examples include where a garment was made, if it’s part of a sale or promotion, or if it uses sustainable materials. Shoppers can conveniently view this information on their mobile devices and then share it on social media or other digital channels if they choose to.
Business Marketing
Business marketing is an example of how augmented marketing can add life to static marketing mediums. It enables marketers to include 3D animations, video, and targeted information into AR-based storefronts, brochures, posters, t-shirts, flyers, and billboards. Doing so provides a lucrative and seamless experience to the targeted audience.
Architecture
AR is being used to virtually project a building on an empty piece of land before the building is constructed. Constructors are also measuring length and distance between objects using the tracking capabilities of augmented reality.
With the help of AR, engineers can also view their finished project on site before the actual building process begins.
Military Simulation
Instead of using expensive equipment like, single-use targets, bombs, ammunition, aircraft and others, AR technology is being used to substitute these components during military training. A
AR is also utilized to enhance the vision and navigation of pilots and soldiers by providing target identification, obstacle avoidance, terrain information, more precision in aiming and even ally and enemy location.
Real Estate
AR developers are creating elaborate visual presentations that immerse potential clients in a specific property. It offers views of the home or building not previously available, such as aerial views and 3D renderings of yet-to-be-built developments.
These virtual tours give property buyers the power to make a more informed decision, and can help them decide if a home or building is worth moving forward on.
Travel Augmented Reality Examples
AR can enrich and improve the travel experience for tourists everywhere. Listed below are examples of how augmented reality can guide and facilitate travel plans.
Travel Guides
Travel guides and maps, both printed and digital, are being enhanced with augmented reality content to provide extra information for tourism.
With AR apps like eTips, tourists can easily find valuable information by scanning their surroundings to get pinpoint props of free wifi, restaurant and accommodation tips, customer reviews, directions, transportation options, historical facts, interactive maps, customizable itineraries and more.
Live Navigation
Using a GPS while traveling to a new place is often troublesome – and potentially dangerous if distracting. To tackle this situation, AR has come up with smart glasses that have sensors that enable drivers to keep track of a route they are taking without looking around.
Entertainment Augmented Reality Examples
Listed below are examples of how augmented reality can entertain and enhance your quality time.
Phone Gaming
The most notorious AR game to date is Pokémon GO. When the game went viral, people went to the streets to capture Pokémons digitally layered in the real world.
But the possibilities for using AR in games are constantly expanding. New augmented reality games are hitting the App Store and Play Store daily.
Board Games
Some board games come with an augmented reality example that allows you to view digital graphics and enhancements through your phone’s camera.
Face Filters
Apps like Instagram and Snapchat have gone crazy with face filters that allow you to look like someone or something else. These apps use augmented reality to read the shape of your face and location of your eyes, nose, and mouth. Next, the filter is placed on top and stretched to fit your face shape.
Virtual Pet
Augmented reality is taking the Tamagotchi into the future. With AR, your virtual pet comes alive in front of you as you work on feeding and playing with it.
The Melbits POD is a Kickstarter project that looks like a good evolution of the virtual pet.
Personal Augmented Reality Examples
Augmented reality can also be used for personal purposes, and listed below are some examples of how augmented reality can be of service.
Clothes Shopping
Retail brands can leverage AR with a digital portrayal of the shopper wearing their products. Customers can make sure that everything fits just right, minimizing the need for returns.
Interior Design
Interior design retailers rely on online stores to reach their customers as more and more people are connected to the internet. One of the issues in online shopping is that customers cannot visualize how new furniture pieces would blend in their homes.
Apps like Ikea Place and Wayfair allow you to view furniture inside of your house, to scale before you buy.
Food And Beverages
Consumers can use augmented reality to get detailed information on the ingredients and nutritional value of food items in restaurants. In turn, this might encourage chefs to experiment and create new recipes more in tune with what consumers want to consume.
Sporting Events
Big sport-related events such as the Olympics, UEFA, Wimbledon, and others are relying on AR to innovatively bring exclusive content, event info, and fun engagement to their spectators.
Art
Artists are creating digital art pieces layered over public places that are unveiled through AR. People can leave notes and doodles in public places that are also revealed through AR. Museums have been enhanced with AR guided tours that provide extra content about exposed items.
Swimming Goggles
The new FORM swim goggles fitted brings training metrics, water temperature, number of laps, and other stats right to the swimmer’s face. The combination of AR and a small on-board computer measures a variety of metrics and displays the information on either the left or the right lens.
That discreetly brings the information directly to the swimmer without having to check a wrist device or listen to a coach.
Motorcycles
The Eyeride HUD AR helmet allows users to input a destination by voice and receive audio and/or visual directions to the location in the helmet. The technology behind the display ensures that, even in bright light, these projections are always clearly visible.
HUD can be controlled and retracted easily via voice command, integrating with services like Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant. Riders can use voice activation to control the cameras, make calls, or play music.
Golfing
Golfers can use AR to view the golf course from multiple vantages. They will be able to easily identify the green, bunkers, water features, trees, and the rough that are typically hard to view otherwise.
AR can give specific distances to each feature while simultaneously giving golfers placement strategies to reach the green or provide safe lay-up options. Additionally, it can recommend what club is best for a particular shot.
Promoting Exercise
Companies can create augmented reality exercise apps that combine competition and gaming elements to promote healthy habits and lifestyles.
The Traffic app rewards you with virtual cryptocurrency for getting out and moving around your neighborhood.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is augmented reality in simple terms?
Augmented reality uses digital visual elements and sound in a duplicate version of the physical world for various purposes. We can solve real-world problems by teaching complex subjects to students or providing combat training to soldiers in accessible and easy-to-understand formats.
What are some of the many uses of augmented reality?
Augmented reality plays a role in medical training, retail, machine repair and maintenance, design, modeling, business logistics, tourism industry, military purposes, and classroom education.
What are the advantages of augmented reality?
A primary advantage of augmented reality is that both mentally and physically challenged persons can benefit. AR can blur the difference between the physical world and the virtual world, enhancing its usability for more people.
What is required for augmented reality?
Augmented reality requires a few components, like a display, computer vision, sensors, and camera. The camera and sensors work together to create a virtual environment, with the overlaying of AR content through the process.
How do I learn more about augmented reality?
AR/VR Tips has all the essential resources for you to get a better understanding of augmented reality. Apart from this, there are some online courses and a few YouTube channels you can check out.
Summary
As seen above, the use cases and augmented reality examples are many. By combining virtual and real-world scenarios, AR can create more engaging and interactive experiences. And when combined with Computer Vision AI capabilities, it becomes even more powerful. It excites us to imagine what the future of AR has in store.
Enterprises should take note of the leading Augmented Reality use cases that can have a significant and immediate impact on almost all areas of a business. AR can help the company on its journey toward successful digital transformation.
What are some other innovative augmented reality examples that you’ve found? Share your thoughts with us using the comment box below
