Possibilities with Augmented Reality.
Change is inevitable. To some that might sound scary but for Nicklas Jarl, who works with AR and VR solutions within our business area Product Information, it is the promise of a brave new world. This is his Semcon Story about new technologies and how we all can benefit from knowing more about them.
The exponential rate of progress in just about all areas of technology is changing our world at an ever more rapid pace. The cross-fertilization of different fields accelerates progress even more. Raymond Kurzweil, nowadays director of engineering at Google, dubs this “the law of accelerating returns”.
With the potential to change human life
To tackle change we need to acknowledge it, analyze it and create strategies based on how the changes affect us and how we can benefit from them. There are some technologies that are more prevalent than others, such as AI, which will potentially affect every aspect of human life in one way or another. Then there are technologies that are disruptive, which although wide spread have limited uses and are temporary.
One such technology could be smartphones. Smartphones are ubiquitous and have disrupted everything from communication, banking, entertainment and access to knowledge etc. At the same time, it is not too hard to imagine that there will be a time in the near future where we leave handheld devices for something more humanly integrated. There is a lot of research going on regarding brain-interfaces such as Elon Musk’s Neural Lace but there are several steps between a handheld device and going full cyborg.
Making information more accessible for the end user
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, said that “Augmented Reality will change everything”. Access to information in a more natural way through digital assistants, such as Amazons Alexa, is growing quickly. However, presenting information visually without the use of displays is still in the bud. Even though some products are available, such as HoloLens2 and Magic Leap, they are still quite expensive and to be honest they have improvement potential. But they come with a promise of something that can really change how we interact and process the world and things around us.
That possibility is what we at Semcon Product Information want to unlock and make available for our customers. To make all our great product information available in a more accessible manner. To present new ways of transferring knowledge to field technicians, car owners, mechanics, operators and all the other types of roles that use the information we produce on a daily basis.
As I mentioned, the technology is not quite mature enough to disrupt smartphones just yet. But due to the law of accelerating returns we can be fairly sure that it is not very far away. That is why we already produce solutions for Augmented Reality as well as other Extended Reality technologies. Because that is an evolution of technology that adapts to human behaviour. And that is what we do at Semcon – we develop products based on human behaviour.
Facts:
Name: Nicklas Jarl
Title: Concept owner AR/VR at Product Information
Education: Culture and Communication, HMI, PM
Worked at Semcon since: 1999-2012, 2018-
I have most fun at work when I…: Working together with customers to find technology driven solutions to old and new challenges.
About Semcon Stories
A series of articles for everyone wondering what it’s like to work at Semcon. With Semcon Stories our employees get to highlight certain exciting aspects of their jobs.
