The Future of Augmented Reality: 10 Awesome Use Cases

Augmented reality is an enhanced version of the real physical world that is achieved through the use of digital visual elements, sound, or other sensory stimuli.

There are many augmented reality use cases we’ll see in the future like in:

1. Education

Augmented reality has a number of applications that can help improve the learning experience for students, especially for more visual focused learners.

One of the primary advantages of augmented reality is the ability for a student to inspect a 3d hologram from many different angles. By moving around a virtual object or rotating it in space, they can better examine and understand certain concepts. This alone can revolutionize learning in topics like biology, anatomy, cosmology, geometry, and more. It can even revolutionize how students learn history because they can visualize 3d holograms and simulations of historical events.

Augmented reality also enables students to benefit from at-home experiential learning. Students can run scientific and mathematical simulations in 3D space and view the results from every angle. For example, students can see how certain medications affect various organs in the human body. And they can adjust various physical conditions on a virtual planet to see how those conditions affect its ability to support life. This kind of learning is more likely to be remembered and understood by students compared to other methods.

2. Appliances, Furniture, & Other Tangible Products

There are already over a dozen smartphone apps that make this possible.

With AR, customers click on a product and instantly see it overlaid wherever they point their mobile device. That means, customers can see how appliances and furniture look in their homes.

In this scenario, customers could quickly change types of appliances and furniture, colors, sizes, and so forth. This is excellent for visualizing room arrangements and color matching before making a purchase.

Additionally, customers can view products from every conceivable angle in an interactive 360-degree experience. Thia gives customers a better idea on the value that a product can offer.

Shopify AR is an example of a tool that already allows customers to view products in natural environments before buying them. This is to ensure that the products are fit for the purpose intended.

Even though this technology already exists, it will only become more seamless and use friendly over time.

3. Clothing & Fashion

Augmented reality simulates in-person shopping experiences online by allowing customers to see how a product might look on them.

For example, customers can see how virtual versions of jackets, footwear, jewelry, makeup, and sunglasses look on them

Some people call this virtual fitting room technology. And its global market is projected to hit $10 billion by 2027.

Smartphones, smart glasses, and other handheld and wearable devices will provide the bulk of these experiences.

Smart mirrors are another way to use augmented reality to facilitate these types of experiences.

Many large retail chains like Ralph Lauren and H&M are already featuring smart mirrors in their stores.

4. JARVIS-Like Virtual Assistance

A company called Mojo is currently developing AR lens with micro-LED displays that place information inside the wearer’s eyes. Its first priority is to help people struggling with poor vision by providing better contrast or the ability to zoom in on objects.

But eventually, the lenses will be made available to everyone and could be used to show things like health tracking stats, text messages, weather reports, and more. It could also help us enhance our sight in low light conditions or serve as a teleprompter for speaking events.

Eventually, AR lenses and AR glasses could be used to augment the world around us and even facilitate virtual assistance with the help of sophisticated AI.

Depending on what permissions you grant to a virtual assistance software, it could listen to all your conversations, read your emails, monitor your blood chemistry, and more. With access to all of this data, this AI-enabled software would learn your preferences, anticipate your needs and behaviors, shop for you, monitor your health, and help you navigate toward your mid- and long-term goals.

5. The Creation Of The Metaverse

The combination of augmented reality, virtual reality, AI, 5G networks, and other technologies will make an open metaverse possible.

The metaverse refers to a convergence of physical, augmented, and virtual reality in a shared online space. The metaverse is the next step in the internet's evolution. You can think of the metaverse as a 3d or 4d version of the current 2d internet. The metaverse can be thought of as an internet that you're inside of rather than one that you're merely looking at. It will impact every industry in existence.

Other names given to the metaverse are Web 3.0 and SpatialWeb.

6. Outdoor & Indoor Navigation

AR could make it easier to navigate in outdoor and indoor environments.

For indoors, a line could overlay the ground and guide you toward a destination in a large airport, an airport parking lot, a large mall, an office building, a college campus, and so on.

For outdoors, instead of typing in an address into your map software, you will be able to point to a location and the directions will pop up automatically. And you can follow an AR-created trail on the ground perhaps with consideration to physical obstacles that might be in the way.

Additionally, you could point to an object such as a building and receive information about it without even knowing what it’s for.

7. Healthcare

There are three big roles AR will play in the future of healthcare:

Consumer Education

AR can help patients understand the benefits and risks of certain medications and procedures by providing visual demonstrations and simulations.

Assisting Doctors

AR can help doctors by creating simulations of how certain procedure should be done and it can help medical students by offering a very intuitive representation of the human body.

Medication Sales

The competition among drug makers is fierce and even the slightest advantage can lead to huge sales. If a salesperson is trying to gain the attention of doctors towards a new medication, they can use virtual simulations to demonstrate the positive effects of the drug.

8. Automotive Industry

AR heads-up displays can help drivers process information that enhances their view of roads.

This type of display can make drivers aware of potential hazards occurring ahead of them on their commutes. They can also make it easier to navigate than a traditional map software could due to customized visuals that are tailored to the terrain.

Car manufacturers like Nissan, Audi, and Volvo already use this type of technology.

Additionally, AR can be used for automotive marketing. BMW and Accenture designed an AR application that enables customers to experience a new car in their driveway without having to go to the dealership. Customers can also see what the virtual car looks like in different colors.

9. Sporting Events

In the United States, the Major League Baseball league is exploring the possibility of using analytics data from its Hawk-Eye baseball tracking system to create AR experiences. By having precise data on where players and the ball are on the field at all times during a match, AR delivery in a virtual space can be accomplished with a greater degree of accuracy and realism using this type of data. It seems likely that data from other sports such as soccer, American football, golf, and others could use this same strategy to provide AR experiences to fans.

10. Virtual User Instructions & Assembly Instructions

AR-based virtual user manuals can display 3d holograms, overlays, and visual instructions in the form of 3d animations for products such as vehicles, refrigerators, cameras, and more.

And when it comes to assembly instructions, we’ll be able to see the construction of items such as desks, cabinets, and more in many phases in the form of 3d holograms and 3d animations.