Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Anyone using augmented reality, VR, glasses, helmets etc. in industry?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 87 posts

Re: Ask HN: Anyone using augmented reality, VR, glasses, helmets etc. in industry?

#21

Post by spookie »

rhcom2 wrote: post #14
fn-mote wrote: post #12

Talk to an architect. (The kind that designs buildings, not software.) Last I knew a decade ago there were already early adopters from that field making daily professional use of VR. Mostly for showing clients the concept, I believe.

I worked in a firm for ~6 years and there was very little design work done in VR. It was all client presentations and some clients were very adverse to wearing the headset themselves. They wanted to watch on a monitor as a team member explored the virtual building.

Well, someone near to my heart works in architecture and a LOT of clients want the VR experience and full control.

So ymmv

Re: Ask HN: Anyone using augmented reality, VR, glasses, helmets etc. in industry?

#22

Post by jlarocco »

I work at a company that does CAD data translation (multiple formats into 3D PDF), and a while back we had an internal hackathon where one of the projects added basic support for VR glasses to our desktop app. It was really neat, and there was some excitement about it, but there hasn't been much follow up. I think the key issue is whether or not it adds enough value to justify buying everybody a headset, and for our use case I don't know if it does, though I'm just a lowly programmer, I don't know what the customers think about it.

We have another product that's geared towards collaborating and sharing data between teams and vendors, and it seems better suited there, but that one is a web application, and I don't know how well VR glasses are supported there.

I think it'd be awesome in the CAD applications themselves but I don't know if any of them support it out of the box.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone using augmented reality, VR, glasses, helmets etc. in industry?

#23

Post by rightbyte »

koakuma-chan wrote: post #7
geocrasher wrote: post #4

I am actively looking into an Oculus 3 for a virtual desktop environment that I can use portably, such as in an Airbnb, instead of lugging around a 43" 4K monitor. I'm also looking at projectors for this purpose. The context is remote work.

That's actually a great idea. Don't need multiple screens if you can just use AR/VR.

I think alt-tabbing or virtual desktops has less mental overhead and physical strain than using VR though.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone using augmented reality, VR, glasses, helmets etc. in industry?

#24

Post by nahuel0x »

geocrasher wrote: post #4

I am actively looking into an Oculus 3 for a virtual desktop environment that I can use portably, such as in an Airbnb, instead of lugging around a 43" 4K monitor. I'm also looking at projectors for this purpose. The context is remote work.

Saw some good reviews of the Viture Pro XR for this use case.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone using augmented reality, VR, glasses, helmets etc. in industry?

#25

Post by spookie »

geocrasher wrote: post #4

I am actively looking into an Oculus 3 for a virtual desktop environment that I can use portably, such as in an Airbnb, instead of lugging around a 43" 4K monitor. I'm also looking at projectors for this purpose. The context is remote work.

I would search for lighter options if you intend to use it for long periods of time or get a better head strap.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone using augmented reality, VR, glasses, helmets etc. in industry?

#27

Post by jayd16 »

rightbyte wrote: post #23
koakuma-chan wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's actually a great idea. Don't need multiple screens if you can just use AR/VR.

I think alt-tabbing or virtual desktops has less mental overhead and physical strain than using VR though.

Its less mental strain to just lay out the windows spatially. Who doesn't like more monitor space? However, its much more physical strain than multiple monitors.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone using augmented reality, VR, glasses, helmets etc. in industry?

#28

Post by jona777than »

rightbyte wrote: post #23
koakuma-chan wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's actually a great idea. Don't need multiple screens if you can just use AR/VR.

I think alt-tabbing or virtual desktops has less mental overhead and physical strain than using VR though.

This is a good point. I thought about it, too.

I could see a frequent traveler using an AVP as a "full setup" on the go. In my experience, I can get away with most with a MacBook. Some projects really benefit from the extra screen real estate (and a mechanical keyboard.)

Re: Ask HN: Anyone using augmented reality, VR, glasses, helmets etc. in industry?

#29

Post by stuaxo »

spookie wrote: post #26

They are used for training, personally developing something intended for firefighters. Hurdles? Battery life, proper hardening against dust/water.

Have you seen the immersive environments by IglooVision ?

Its the opposite- surround projection, so you can put a group in a room into a scenario.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone using augmented reality, VR, glasses, helmets etc. in industry?

#30

Post by isk517 »

Yes, the company I work for has started using Hololens 2. We have a program that can overlay the 3D models from our CAD program onto the physical steel assemblies for QC. When it works, it works well and enables our quality checkers to perform checks faster and more accurately than using tape measures while going back and forth looking at a 2D drawing printed on 11 x 17 paper.

The biggest hurdles is that none of the large companies think there is enough profit to be made from AR. The Hololens 2 is the only headset on the market both capable of running the program required while also being safe to use in a active shop enviroment (VR with passthrough is not suitable). Unfortunately the Hololens 2 is almost 6 years old as is being stretched to the absolute limits of its hardware capabilities. The technology is good but feels like it is only 90% of the way to where it needs to be. Even a simple revision with double the RAM and faster more power efficient processor would alleviate many of the issues we've experienced.

Ultimately from what I've seen, AR is about making the human user better at their job and there are tons of industries where it could have many applications, but tech companies don't actually want to make things that could be directly useful to people that work with their hands, so instead we will just continue to toss more money at AI hoping to make ourselves obsolete.

Post reply on HN