Adding a new layer to reality

Augmented Reality or AR keeps finding new angles from which additional layers of reality are superimposed on top of our existing reality.
Latest case in point: in October, Google and German software firm TeamViewer announced they will extend their partnership to bring AR solutions to retail.

Generalise this

The specific challenge that the new service is to answer is in itself a product of the growing merge between the virtual and the real: Customers increasingly expect brick and mortar shops to go online and vice versa – blurring the line between online and offline. The cooperation between Google and TeamViewer is designed to make retailers more effective at doing this.

Here is how it works:

• An employee responsible for handling online orders in a supermarket gets ready for their shift by putting their Google Glass on and a scanner which is worn like a ring.

• The employee scans the QR code on a tote bag associated to a specific order.

• Next, the order data, items, isle numbers, and descriptions appear in their field of vision, through the Google Glass.

• The employee scans items as they are placed in the bag. If they accidentally pick a wrong item, visual and audible feedback is sent to them immediately.

The glasses and ring scanner also process voice inputs, for instance when the employee confirms they have placed the required items in the tote bag.

Reaching High Street

While this example is a pretty specific application, finding specific use cases is precisely how a technology like this gains and increases a foothold in everyday life. From there, it grows incrementally until it has embedded itself as a normal component of reality. In addition to the incremental change, a real breakthrough moment is to be expected. Once it becomes possible to equip a regular-sized pair of glasses with the capabilities of a smartphone, the smartphone will be die out and smart glasses will take its place.

What comes after the smartphone?‍

The result will be that any surface (desk, wall, your wrist) can work as a screen if you want it to, and the AR glasses will superimpose visual information on it. You could interact with it the same way you interact with the screen on your phone.
This will also mean that anyone can personalise any wall in any location – just like we already do with phone screens – superimposing any available information on it. What’s more, is that these visuals will be interactive, just like the buttons on a touchscreen. This is being done even now, with Extended Reality (XR) headsets. It is only a matter of time until the same tech can be fitted to a pair of Ray Ban’s. Chances are, it won’t be long. When that happens, the internet will not live in our phones anymore. It will embed itself in our natural environment, as an additional layer of reality.

So buckle up, things are going to get interesting.

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