AR Possibilities

For most of us, augmented reality remains a far off vision—something to be hoped for, something to await. And beyond being a novel addition to one’s tech arsenal, augmented reality hasn’t really showcased much of its potential for practical use. By and large, most applications remain in the realm of entertainment and gaming.

However, each day brings the tech closer and closer to mass market, and as Meta (a known maker of augmented reality glasses) recently demonstrated, there’s a lot of potential use that AR technology can provide for the workplace.

Already, engineers employed in the company have been using AR glasses to replace physical monitors in their office. As one engineer notes, he was easily able to replace not one, but four desktop monitors because of the Meta AR glasses.

“I code for the glasses through the glasses,” the engineer said as he showed how he was able to work on a 3D design, while simultaneously running Spotify and checking his email through several virtual screens through the Meta glasses. “The keyboard is the only thing I need, except for the glasses.”

Office of the Future

Meta has had no qualms about claiming that their glasses could be the future of workspaces, and even predict that people won’t need to be hiding behind desktop monitors in the future in order to interact with digital information.

“We already have the resolution in [the glasses,] and all of the components necessary to start replacing that,” said Meta CEO Meron Gribetz.

Currently, the Meta glasses allow users to see through its lenses as it projects digital information on physical objects or projects physical objects rendered virtually. These virtual projections can be manipulated and operated by your hands or be controlled by a keyboard.

Their technology sounds very similar to Microsoft’s Hololens or Magic Leap, but the company is planning to make a major product announcement early this month, so our augmented future may be a bit closer than we think.