Augmented Reality Design Uses

📖 The Story of Rivet: From HoloLens Dreams to the Battlefield Back in 2016–2019, Microsoft HoloLens captured everyone’s imagination: an AR headset capable of blending digital and real-world environments. When the US Army launched the IVAS (Integrated Visual Augmentation System) program, the idea was simple yet revolutionary: take that technology and turn it into a “superpower” for every soldier. 👉 Reality was harsh: nausea, discomfort, and limited battery life. IVAS showed that a product designed for offices and labs couldn’t withstand real battlefield conditions. Enter Rivet. A group of former Microsoft engineers — many of them HoloLens veterans — decided to take the leap: leaving Microsoft to build an XR device designed from the ground up for soldiers. The result was Rivet. 🧩 The Missing Piece: Palantir Hardware alone isn’t enough. Soldiers need intelligence in real time. That’s where Palantir comes in — a data analytics powerhouse with a long-standing partnership with the Pentagon. The Rivet-Palantir collaboration creates a powerful combo: Lightweight, rugged AR glasses with advanced optics (Lumus waveguides) and integrated sensors (night vision, IR, tracking). Data and situational awareness software that transforms raw feeds (maps, drone video, friend/enemy positions) into actionable overlays, right in the soldier’s line of sight. 🚀 From Stealth to $195M In 2025, Rivet emerges from stealth mode and makes headlines: the US Army awards a $195 million contract under the SBMC (Soldier Borne Mission Command) program to deliver 470 advanced prototypes. For a startup, this is a huge leap — from outsider to recognized player, competing with giants like Anduril and, indirectly, Meta, which is advancing consumer XR. 🌐 Full Circle The story comes full circle: - Microsoft sparked the vision with HoloLens. - IVAS highlighted the pitfalls of forced adaptation. - Rivet took that lesson, designing “military-first” XR hardware. - Palantir adds the intelligence layer, turning the headset into a true command-and-control tool. 💡 Moral of the story: sometimes, when a giant stumbles, the startups built by its own talent find the right path. 🤔 Question for you: Do you think Rivet will truly become the standard military XR platform for US soldiers, or will it face the same challenges as IVAS (comfort, battery life, scalability)? 🔖 #XR #MilitaryTech #IVAS #SBMC #Rivet #Palantir #Microsoft #HoloLens #Defense #SituationalAwareness #AR

The first Apple Vision Pro-assisted cataract eye surgery was just completed successfully. An ophthalmologist in San Diego, Dr. Tommy Korn, used Apple Vision Pro during a live cataract procedure as part of a clinical study at Sharp HealthCare. Instead of constantly turning between microscopes, monitors, and different screens during surgery, he used the headset to view critical patient data, surgical imaging, and real-time visual overlays directly in front of him. The setup also included a ZEISS digital surgical microscope and ClearSphere software to create a more immersive operating environment. The goal of the study is simple. See whether spatial computing can improve surgical precision, depth perception, workflow, and surgeon ergonomics while reducing the physical strain doctors have dealt with for decades. As Dr. Korn said, surgeons have been sitting in front of microscopes since 1946, and he doesn’t want to go back to the old way. And honestly… this makes a lot of sense. $3,500 sounds expensive for consumers. For hospitals and surgical centers, that cost is almost nothing if it helps doctors operate more efficiently and potentially improves patient outcomes. We spent years using VR headsets for gaming, entertainment, and watching courtside NBA games. Now we’re starting to see what happens when the same technology enters operating rooms. This is where things get really interesting. Healthcare might be one of the biggest winners of the next wave of consumer tech. Follow Endrit Restelica for more tech stuff.

A surgeon in Berlin just operated while looking straight through a patient's spine. Not with X-rays. With holograms floating above the body. Helios Berlin-Buch is the first German hospital where surgeons wear AR glasses during spinal surgery. They see organs, bones, and blood vessels in 3D - while operating. What this means: → 40% more accurate implant positioning → Significantly shorter surgery times → Faster recovery for patients Think about that. 1.9 million spine surgeries happen globally each year. 1.9 million people facing potential paralysis. 1.9 million families holding their breath. Now imagine those same surgeries with: • Millimeter precision guided by AI • Surgeons seeing through tissue in real-time • Gesture controls keeping hands sterile The technology that once were for a privileged few? Now spreading to major hospital globally. Here's what changes everything: A spinal implant off by 2mm can mean permanent nerve damage. With AR, surgeons place it perfectly. First time. Every time. By 2025, 20% of surgeons will operate with this superhuman vision. That's 380,000 spine surgeries made safer. 380,000 people with better chances of walking. 380,000 families getting good news. This isn't just better surgery. It's a whole change in healthcare to improve and use the latest technology. The solutions are getting cheaper and more accessible, but still more funding is needed to support doctor's training with AR/VR and the otherwise complicated operations. Follow me, Dr. Martha Boeckenfeld, for more breakthroughs saving lives. ♻️ Share if you believe every surgeon should have superhuman vision. #MedTech #Innovation #FutureOfHealthcare

This week's defining shift for me is that XR is a practical tool for reducing real-world risk. It helps people see what they are dealing with before they commit to a choice or an action. Teams can spot problems before they happen, drivers can get comfortable with harder scenarios before hitting the road, and shoppers can get a better feel for fit and style before purchase. Better awareness at the start tends to pay off later. This week’s news surfaced signals like these: 🏎️ Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 is using TeamViewer’s AR tools to speed up how its test rigs are put together. Engineers can point a tablet at the setup and see step-by-step guidance placed directly on the hardware. The overlays come from the team’s CAD files and help staff check part placement and confirm that everything is ready before testing starts. 😎 Tom Ford Fashion has added an AR try-on feature for its eyewear on its online stores. The experience, powered by Perfect Corp., uses a person’s pupillary distance to show frames at the right size on their face. This gives shoppers a more accurate sense of how different styles will look and can help cut down on returns. 🚘 South Carolina State University opened a VR training lab for commercial drivers, using full-size simulators to prepare people for roadway hazards such as fatigue, congestion, and aggressive driving. The system also captures physiological data to support safety research and improve training design. Why this matters: Tools that help people understand things earlier can lead to better outcomes. XR does this by making moments that used to feel uncertain easier to anticipate. As more organizations adopt it, the technology becomes a powerful way to bring more confidence into everyday decisions. #spatialcomputing #XR #virtualreality #VR #augmentedreality #AR

Wow! Finally, we have an AR breakthrough that is saving lives. ❤️🧠 But doctors don’t want to use it. Here’s why: It finally works! Augmented reality (AR) that overlays 2D MRI scans onto a patient’s body in real time. Imagine “seeing through” skin to navigate tumors, blood vessels, or fractures with millimeter precision. Yet, many surgeons hesitate - not because the tech isn’t groundbreaking, but because the stakes of imperfection are catastrophic. 👩⚕️ Last week, I spoke with a neurosurgeon who admitted, “I stayed up all night thinking: What if the AR is off by one pixel? A tremor, a misalignment, and suddenly I’m responsible for irreversible harm. Do I blame myself, or the software? Neither answer feels right.” This isn’t just about technology - it’s about accountability. Give it a thought yourself: 1️⃣ Precision ≠ Perfection: A single pixel error isn’t just a glitch - it’s a lawsuit waiting to happen. How accurate must AI be before we trust it with our lives? 2️⃣ Responsibility: AR must become the surgeon’s tool, not the other way around. Doctors need to learn to operate with AI, knowing that they are making the final cut. 3️⃣ XAI (explainable AI): Doctors need transparency, not promises. Can the software explain why it aligns scans a certain way? Can it learn from surgeon feedback? 👉 What’s one non-negotiable thing that must be required from AR in healthcare?

Old Wine in New Bottles 🍷 Here's a recent example from camera vision applications... 📰 I recently read that Honeywell and Stereolabs announced that they developed a "revolutionary" mobile solution for warehouse dimensioning. What Honeywell and Stereolabs announced? 🛒 A four-wheel pushcart equipped with a scale and Stereolabs cameras mounted overhead that gathers weight, dimensions, SKU data, lot numbers and expiration dates. Essentially the same dimensional scanning tech from the 1980s... now on wheels. Let's be frank: 📊 Dimensioners first appeared on the market in 1985 when a Norwegian company named Cargoscan began producing dimensioning and data capture solutions. That's 40 years ago. Not 10, not 5. Four decades. Here is what we did not see. Instead of workers staring at mounted cameras and pushing carts, imagine: 👓 Hands-free operation using gesture-based navigation with AR glasses 👁️ Workers receiving step-by-step visual guidance overlaid directly onto their field of vision 📈 Real-time inventory updates displayed directly on storage bins and pallets 🗺️ Precise indoor positioning that guides workers through complex layouts without paper maps or guesswork The missed opportunity: 📊 The global augmented reality market is projected to grow from $140.34 billion in 2025 to $1,716.37 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of 43.0% (Fortune Business Insights), while AR-driven logistics solutions increase scalability by 30%. 🏭 Companies like BMW and Samsung SDS are already using AR for real-time scanning with 30% reduction in inspection times and AR-enabled digital twins to anticipate supply chain disruptions. Bottom line: When you have the chance to revolutionize an industry with cutting-edge camera vision integration, why settle for inventing a better wheel for the ox cart? 🐂 🚀 The future of warehousing isn't mobile dimensioning - it's augmented intelligence. What do you think? Are we seeing innovation or just incremental improvements? 🤔 #SupplyChain #Innovation #AR #Warehousing #Truckl #AugmentedReality #Logistics

A new review highlights how #ArtificialIntelligence is transforming every stage of microsurgery, from detailed planning before an operation to guiding surgeons during it, and even monitoring patients afterwards. This is making complex reconstructive surgeries safer and more efficient. Key Facts:  📍Smarter Planning: AI helps surgeons identify tiny blood vessels (perforators) more quickly and accurately using imaging, reducing planning time significantly. It can also predict risks for patients and simulate surgical outcomes, improving patient understanding and consent. 📍Real-time Guidance: During surgery, AI-powered augmented reality (AR) can overlay crucial information onto the surgical field, like cutting guides for bone, improving precision and potentially reducing the need for expensive custom tools. AI also helps assess tissue health by analysing blood flow in real-time. 📍Post-Op Monitoring: After surgery, AI-driven smartphone apps can continuously monitor free flaps for signs of complications, detecting issues like insufficient blood flow with high accuracy (over 90% sensitivity) even before they're obvious to the human eye. 📍Future Potential: While more large-scale studies are needed, AI is set to redefine surgical procedures, making them safer, more precise, and more effective for patients. By MDPI https://lnkd.in/diq7b3sq Implication: This integration of AI into microsurgery represents a major step toward data-driven, precision surgery—enhancing outcomes, reducing complications, and laying the groundwork for a new standard of surgical care. #Microsurgery #AIinHealthcare #MedicalInnovation #SurgicalTech #HealthcareTechnology

One of the most meaningful pieces of research I’ve worked in recent years involved a deep collaboration with a major airline to adopt Augmented Reality (AR) for Digital Transformation. This wasn't just just about theory, but about creating real value in real operational settings, where precision and performance matter. In the age of digital transformation, AR is reshaping how work is done—especially in high-stakes environments like aircraft maintenance, where a single oversight can have critical consequences. In collaboration with a major airline, we embedded AR into aircraft turnaround inspections, replacing paper-based workflows with near-eye digital guidance. Over a 3-month period, our research team stayed onsite, collecting rich multi-modal data, first-person and third-person video, eye tracking, wearables data, combined it with image recognition, expert coding, and surveys to understand several key questions: How does AR affect operational processes? How does it influence employee attention and behavior? And ultimately, how does it impact work performance on the ground, in real operational settings? Our first academic paper based on this research has just been published in MIS Quarterly "Augmented Reality at Work: Attention Dynamics and Their Impact on Work Performance", in collaboration with my co-authors Cheng Yi and Runge Zhu. 🔍 What did we find? - AR enhances focus and task performance by reducing the attention-switching cost between the physical and digital world. - But design matters: when AR displays become too information-dense, users experience heightened cognitive load, which can hurt performance. - Interestingly, AR benefits fatigued workers even more, and its focus-enhancing effects spill over into subsequent tasks—even when AR is no longer used. 🚀 Why does this matter? Because this is not lab research. This is real technology, tested in real operations, under real pressure. It shows that AR, when thoughtfully designed, can empower employees, enhance precision, and support safer, smarter, more efficient workflows. 💡 For organizations embracing digital transformation: - Use AR to present core, context-sensitive information—avoid clutter. - Adopt a dual-device strategy: AR for real-time execution; smartphones/tablets for complex processing and interaction. - Identify where human attention is most strained—and where AR can most meaningfully reduce that load. This work shows how AR + AI can serve not only as tools for automation, but as technologies that support human expertise in the moments that matter most. #MISQ #AR #DigitalTransformation #AI #HumanCenteredDesign #AttentionManagement #SmartMaintenance #Aviation #XR #HCI #EmpowerEmployees #RealImpact #EnterpriseTech Erasmus Centre for Data Analytics Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM) Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University

What if you could show a patient exactly how their medication works inside their body—in real-time, right in front of their eyes? That's not science fiction. That's augmented reality transforming pharma and medical devices TODAY. I've been tracking AR's explosive growth across healthcare, and the results are staggering. When Bayer first used AR at a medical conference, booth engagement time jumped from under 2 minutes to 10 minutes. Johns Hopkins surgeons are performing spinal surgeries with AR-guided precision. One pharma company is saving an estimated $27 million per factory using AR training solutions. Here's what's really exciting me about AR in pharma: 🎯 Sales & Marketing Revolution: Instead of complex brochures, reps can now demonstrate drug mechanisms in 3D. Patients can literally see how treatments will help them. 🔬 Manufacturing Excellence: AR overlays guide operators through complex processes, reducing errors and ensuring consistency across billion-dollar production lines. 👨⚕️ Medical Training Transformed: Students can practice procedures without risk, and surgeons gain "x-ray vision" for unprecedented precision. 💊 R&D Acceleration: Virtual molecular simulations are speeding drug discovery—just look at how mRNA vaccines developed at record speed during COVID. But here's the kicker: Over 50% of physicians WANT AR to learn about diseases and conditions. The demand is already there. Yes, there are challenges—costs, regulatory hurdles, capability gaps. But the companies moving first are seeing tangible ROI while their competitors are still figuring out the basics. The pharmaceutical industry has always been about improving human health. AR isn't just a cool tech toy—it's the next evolution of how we educate, engage, and heal. The question isn't whether AR will transform pharma and medical devices. It's whether your organization will lead the transformation or watch from the sidelines. What's your experience with AR in healthcare? I'd love to hear how you're seeing this technology impact patient outcomes. #Pharma #HealthTech #MedicalDevices #DigitalHealth

𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴. In high-variety assembly lines, many tasks are still performed manually. Why? Because flexibility and complexity are hard to automate. But manual work comes with its own risks: • Errors creep in. • Workers face physical and cognitive strain. • Customers demand flawless quality—with no room for mistakes. So instead of chasing full automation, OEMs are rebalancing. They are reducing automation levels to regain flexibility while turning to assistive technologies to support human workers where it matters most. This is where cognitive assistance systems enter the stage. Think of them not as replacements, but as companions for human operators. Here’s how the architecture works: 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 & 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 – Wearable and infrastructural sensors capture activity, monitor skills, and even detect cognitive states. 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 – Smart models adapt guidance to the worker’s strengths, weaknesses, and real-time performance. 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 & 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 – AR glasses, smart displays, or cobots deliver step-by-step instructions, highlight errors, and provide safety cues. 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 – Actuators and cobots step in for repetitive or hazardous tasks, reducing strain and boosting productivity. The impact is clear: • Errors are reduced. • Quality improves. • Flexibility is preserved. • Workers are empowered Real-world examples prove it: Airbus uses AR glasses for aircraft assembly, allowing technicians to compare workmanship directly with CAD models in real time. BMW has deployed cobots on shop floors to handle repetitive tasks, enabling workers to focus on skilled assembly. DHL reports a 25% efficiency boost in logistics after rolling out AR picking systems. The future? Even more powerful: AI-driven AR copilots that anticipate errors before they happen. Cognitive systems that sense fatigue or stress and adjust workflows to reduce overload. Self-learning digital twins that continuously optimize assembly systems based on human + machine interactions. Seamless human–cobot collaboration, where machines naturally adapt to human pace, skill, and context. This shift marks a fundamental truth: The factories of the future won’t be about humans adapting to rigid machines. 👉 They will be about technology adapting to humans, amplifying creativity, ensuring safety, and guaranteeing precision. The real question for leaders today is not if to embrace assistive systems, but how fast. Ref: Towards Flexible and Cognitive Production- Muaaz AbdulHadi et all