Augmented Worlds Expo-- Field Report

It seems that everywhere you go these days, you hear about the emergence of virtual reality and 360 video. But if anyone would ask me what is the next big thing- I’d argue it's in the mixed and augmented realities realm. My assumption was supported when I participated in the Augmented Worlds Expo (AWE) beginning of the month of June 2016 in Santa Clara, California. Over 4000 participants, 200 speakers and an Expo which rivaled a lot of tech expos I have seen in Silicon Valley over the years, in it’s levels of interesting and emerging technology.All the big names in Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and technology were there, proving that Augmented Reality (AR) is big business and is here to stay.VR is getting its day in the sun, yet AR is emerging fast and steady. Even though VR is really exciting right now, there is a sense that AR will be the bigger player over time.“There are many announcements from different enterprise based AR solutions in AWE this year and we won’t see them until 2017 in the market," says the founder of AWE and CEO of Augmented Worlds, Ori Inbar.“In the consumer space we see Virtual Reality entering the market now and we will see Augmented Reality coming in later. But my message to investors: AR is right now - and the most interesting startups are being built at the moment.” Inbar has been running AWE for 7 years and has seen the growth in the industry. He has been a big believer in AR for over 10 years. “The difference between VR and AR is that AR allows us to be more human - being there in the moment." His company, Augmented Reality motto is : “We Advance Augmented Reality to Advance Humanity”Between new technology announcements, lectures and demos on the floor and invite only demo rooms, here are a few highlights from the conference: Daqri, one of the leaders in development of AR enterprise solutions, had a spaceship themed booth for its open source community ARTOOLKIT - which featured its internal creative project and showcase, which will be released in the fall of 2016 - Altera (more images)Once released, one can tour ARToolKit 6 through a whole new world of experiences, each illustrating a unique way in which AR can enhance learning, creativity, workplace efficiency and gaming!@DAQRI mission is to enable the vision of #AR anywhere - #AR will win the workspaceIn one of the lecture sessions, the brilliant John Rousseau of the Artefact Group in Seattle, laid out his perspective on the Laws of Mixed Reality without Rose colored glasses: He expands on his idea in this blog post. Metaglass’ ceo Meron Gribetz wowed the crowd with his presentation of their newest model.Gribetz talked about how the killer app in AR might be sculpting. Rule #1 in developing an effective neurol-interface is  Affordances - build tools and content that invite the user's natural movement. I had the privilege of testing the HMD and it was quite a great experience. The headset and software is still in early stage of development, but definitely has the potential of being our everyday work environment and communication tool of the future, replacing our phones and even computers, once it's ready for mass use.A business use case I was impressed by was from a company named: Zappar. Zappar announced the launch of their studio - Zapworks:  “MAKES THE WHOLE PROCESS OF CREATING AMAZING INTERACTIVE AR CONTENT SUPER SIMPLE” Beyond that: It enables AR creators to continue pushing new content to already purchased products, and thus continue engaging with the audience over time and create more monetization possibilities for companies using their systems. The studio helps creators rapidly create both AR and VR snackable media. [more in this video: https://youtu.be/zgkGDSQTy1g]From futurism, to science fiction to enterprise - the event really felt well rounded. Some prominent virtual reality groups from the bay Area, such as SVVR and UploadVR  had been invited to take part of it, promoting the idea that all media and platforms need to start thinking about a 360 approach to these emerging technologies. There was even a debate: AR vs. VR Debate: Is the future Augmented or Virtual?The event truly abides by its tagline and wishes to bring “superpowers to the people." Time will tell how fast we will be adopting and becoming superheros!