COVID-19 Facilitates Adoption of AR, MR and IoT Technologies
The Covid-19 crisis has changed the world upside down. Work in technologies such as an AR/MR enables people to shop, talk and socialize leveraging these immersive platforms. As the demands of remote work expand from weeks to months, many industries are moving to technologies such as augmented reality, mixed reality and IoT solutions for increased communication and collaboration.
Industries are specifically adopting these technologies to continue their crucial operations running in an undetermined and challenging environment. Augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) technologies in collaboration with IoT solutions are being utilized by organizations across the globe to assist a more connected, involved, collaborative working and learning environment. Learning and most importantly, AR/VR may also be the most suitable option for remote training for workers at home or who are unable to travel in this situation and would otherwise be unable to be at onsite training.
There are some quick ways that the government can utilize AR/MR, likewise to improve training for workers. AR/VR lets agencies replicate real-world situations, giving workers the opportunity to get experience in a controlled environment. This type of training is specifically useful for law enforcement and other first responders who face situations where there can be critical outcomes from mistakes made during on-the-job training.
AR and MR Improve Education
To stop the adverse spread of the COVID-19, governors took the decision of statewide shutdown of public schools in 48 states, needing thousands of students to move to remote learning. These technologies are supporting educators embrace to this shift and keep supporting the learning requirements of students.
With the inclusion of AR and MR headsets into educational institutions, students will be capable to learn via immersive and captivating experiences. These technologies are changing the way students learn, interpret and maintain information by enabling them to carry their imagination and thoughts to life. New techniques such as 3D generated models and images also assist teachers to create more interest in their class while explaining key points and ideas.
AR and IoT technologies are being utilized in education to improve the following:
1. AR and MR technology can support teachers to turn up students to speed and improve their capability of interpreting new study material. Educators can utilize immersive hands-on MR experiences to add-on in traditional teaching methods, which can support students at all levels to resolve tricky problems quicker, resulting in both enhanced learning rates and first-pass assessment testing rates.
IoT devices connected to the cloud enable teachers to customize student learning. Data from these devices assist teachers to decide which students might require more help as well as attention and accordingly they can plan for the progressive lessons of the respective students.
2. AR glasses planned for remote mentoring with a real-time platform which enables students to cooperate with instructors in real-time anywhere in the world. Students can easily get live feedback on their studies and see instructions in a collaborative classroom.
3. With the help of wearable AR technology, students can become engaged in what they are learning, observe simplified lesson instructions and resolve complex problems quicker. This technology also enables students to access visual characters as well as document and record data.
Teachers can also utilize smart tools such as IoT smart whiteboards and digital highlighters to communicate with students wherever they are to make learning more immersing and enhance learning results.
How Healthcare Sector can Accomplish AR and MR
These technologies are having a huge impact on patient’s care in the healthcare sector. The technology is assisting healthcare professionals to get along with high demand for care and services powered by the COVID-19 crisis, including:
First Responders
IoT connected drones and robots are utilized by first responders to deliver the medical supplies within hospitals and clinics as well as to carry food, supplies and medicines to people restricted to their homes. However, these delivery drones and robots can manage large volumes of work and aren’t vulnerable to the virus.
Gartner predicted that 24.9 thousand enterprise drones have planned for this purpose and will be shipped worldwide this year, though those figures were revealed prior to the pandemic. Wearable AR and MR technology enables first responders to remain hands-free while addressing to the emergencies. With the help of this technology, first responders and healthcare workers can easily acquire crucial life-saving information and interact with the concerned emergency authority in real-time. Real-time functionality enables medical professionals to circulate what they are seeing direct to the remote physician, get live feedback and instructions while staying hands-free and keep more focus on giving critical care to patients.
Telehealth
Now, the requirement for virtual healthcare and wellness advice has accelerated and is improving telemedicine adoption. To protect those with coronavirus symptoms from immense hospitals, clinics and medical practices, the US government explored telehealth consultations to nearly 62 million Medicare beneficiaries, making it simpler for them to interact with healthcare providers, gain treatment and fill prescriptions through phone or videoconference.
AR with IoT is assisting facilitate better patient health results with real-time visualization of information and actionable insights. The burden on healthcare resources resulting from the COVID-19 crisis is being relieved somewhat by an improvement in telehealth.
AR and IoT technologies enable healthcare providers to acquire patient data without interrupting care. Using these technology doctors can complete virtual patient visits while simultaneously checking data from IoT connected devices, likewise wearable patient monitoring devices.
Medical Equipment
Hospitals as well as other healthcare sectors have a huge range of advanced medical equipment from ventilators to anesthesia machines etc. IoT sensors can analyze the status of this equipment, giving proactive analysis to help minimize equipment downtime. MR in combination with IoT technology can work more effectively to maintain critical healthcare facility equipment up and running.
When any equipment fails or needs routine maintenance, actionable insights from IoT connected devices can be streamed to MR glasses. These glasses enable remote field technicians to interact with experts in real-time, receive instruction and resolve concerns, all while working hands-free.
AR, MR and IoT Technologies are playing an important role in helping organizations to sustain operations and deliver on their core mission in this challenging environment.