virtual reality kiosks
Coming to a
kiosk near you
Augmented and virtual reality technologies promise
to greatly expand screen-based applications
Richard Slawsky, Contributor: Kiosk Industry Association
A new dimension is about to be
added to the world of customer-
facing screens. Retailers and other
businesses are working to incorporate
augmented reality and virtual reality
to change the way consumers shop,
industrial workers manufacture
products and engineers design new
devices. These technologies haven’t
yet reached critical mass in the
marketplace, but industry observers
say it’s just a matter of time.
Although predictions of market size
should always be taken with a grain
of salt, a report by Digi-Capital pegs
the AR/VR market as topping $108
billion by 2021, up from $3.9 billion
in 2016. Augmented reality is defined
as a technology that superimposes a
computer-generated image on a user’s
view of the real world, thus providing a
composite view.
Augmented reality as a concept
has been around for several years, but
gained widespread attention in 2016
with the smartphone-based game
Pokemon Go. Players of the game used
the smartphone’s GPS capabilities to
locate and capture virtual creatures
called Pokemon, which were visible
when viewing real-world locations
using the smartphone screen.
Virtual reality, on the other hand,
is a computer-generated environment
typically entered via a headset that
creates that world in front of the
wearers’ eyes. Although the gaming
market may be the prime driver for VR
technology, retailers including Lowes,
IKEA and Walmart are exploring VR for
uses ranging from interior design to
employee training.
VR solutions currently on the
market include Facebook’s Oculus
Rift and HTC’s VIVE. In addition, a
number of solutions integrate a user’s
smartphone into an add-on headset as
a way to create a VR experience.
Early adopters setting the stage
Much of the movement in the AR
space to date revolves around
solutions that let consumers view
how a particular product will look in
their home before they make a buying
decision. Ashley Furniture, for example,
debuted an iPad app in 2016 to help
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