Wearables and industrial AR: moonshot or multibillion-dollar emerging market?

By Jean-Jacques DeLisle, contributing writer

AR 3D tracking technology. Image source: Inglobe Technologies.

There has been a substantial focus in 2016, and so far in 2017, around wearables and augmented reality (AR) for the consumer market. New smart watches, smart bands, smart vests, and many more “smart” forms of traditional accessories have cropped up. We’ve also seen many of the prior new wearables, such as Google Glass, fade into memory. Commercial markets haven’t seen anywhere near the traction expected from consumer wearables or any real traction with AR technology. This is excluding the Bluetooth audio headset and hands-free communication headsets, which are currently almost half of all wearables sold in 2017 and are likely to maintain that percentage going forward, according to Gartner.

So how do wearables and AR tech fair for industrial markets? It appears that many consider the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) or Industry 4.0 to be lagging behind even consumer equivalents of the technology. There have been repeated claims that AR systems can enhance efficiency, increase productivity, and improve safety (see also: 1, 2). Yet many suggested solutions have gone the way of vaporware or have yet to produce a product, as with Magic Leap, which has raised several billion dollars since 2010 without a product release. It’s likely that many decision makers are now skeptical of industrial wearable or AR solutions and may doubt their near, and even long-term, viability.

Speaking on this topic, and specifically regarding head-mounted displays (HMDs), Angela McIntyre, former research director of Gartner, mentioned in a statement, “Current low adoption by mainstream consumers shows that the market is still in its infancy, not that it lacks longer-term potential.” There are many questions of what it may take to build a successful industrial wearables or AR business, and with this emerging market, there are few examples to go on. However, there are some related examples that may provide some insight.

For example, Panasonic has maintained business with its Toughbook ruggedized computer lineup for many years and has recently introduced a similar family of offerings, the Toughpad. Other handheld products, such as the Keysight Technologies FieldFox handheld RF analyzers and multifunction wireless/telecommunication test systems, have made a name for themselves by enabling better quality test and measurement in portable and field applications. It could be argued that solutions like these are just a form-factor step away from being a wearable or some software and form-factor tweaks away from including powerful AR features.

As these solutions may be too experimental to product lines that may not have high-enough margins to afford substantial research and development on these new features, it’s likely to fall to startups to have to pave these new roads. For bottom-line-driven industrial customers, it can be very hard for decision makers to take the risk of adopting a new, and often unproven, technology from new and unproven entrepreneurs.

A question for which many investors and entrepreneurs are burning to receive an answer for is, “How do you convince a seasoned decision maker of an efficiency-driven industry to take a leap with a new solution?” Given the state of confusion and number of startups that have gone belly-up, there doesn’t seem to be a clear answer on this question. However, the competitive landscape of the world is increasing, and there are substantial pressures in many industries to further improve efficiency and increase the productivity of a single worker. This is especially true in dangerous, tedious, or complex tasks that require a well-trained operator who is unlikely to be replaced by a robot anytime soon.

A key future solution to the challenge of staying competitive in a world where borders are lowering from an industrial perspective is likely to involve the fusion of man and machine. I don’t mean surgically augmented cyborgs, but human operators who are well-trained and assisted by industrial wearables and AR, or even operators who are trained in the field leveraging these technologies.

So, what will these solutions look like? Answering this question is still like navigating murky waters. It is my opinion that technologies that tap into the successful past trends of enhancing communication and information accessibility, especially in rugged industrial environments, are likely to be the key. It is important for these new solutions to enable new functions, or enhance old and necessary ones, without limiting an operator or violating safety/security standards. Two key factors to also consider are the caliber of the entrepreneurs running the startup and/or if the device simply just works without cumbersome training and setup.

Examples of solutions that meet these criteria are the RealWear HMT-1 and goTenna Mesh/Pro. The RealWear HMT-1 is a hands-free and rugged HMD, but unlike many prior attempts at this technology, it’s a truly voice-driven device that leverages all of the flexibility and features of an Android tablet and GoPro. The founding members and executive board of RealWear are also veterans of deploying industrial solutions, including ultra-rugged smartphones, micro displays, and electronic warfare systems. It also appears that the RealWear team has avoided a pitfall common for many startups by finding ways to produce a highly multi-functional industrial AR/HMD at a price point comparable to solutions that could accompany or replace.

Another example of an enabling wearable with serious industrial and governmental/military potential is the goTenna wireless mesh network system. These devices pair, through Bluetooth, with standard smartphones or tablets and instantly generate either a peer-to-peer or wireless mesh network, all without the regularly required cellular network or Wi-Fi infrastructure. The use of these devices is limited to messaging and sending small amounts of data, such as GPS location data, but can communicate over several miles/kilometers. These devices can also be used to create pop-up mesh networks, and as a ruggedized version, the goTenna Pro comes in at a price less than a flagship smartphone — low for the types of technologies they can replace.

It may still be a long road to the IIoT or Industry 4.0, and it may be demoralizing to see many new ventures disappear or go up in smoke. As is the tale of technology, it’s likely that with the spark of innovation in the air, and extreme economic and market forces on a global scale, real enabling industrial wearable and AR solutions will emerge.