IBM Systems Magazine, Power Systems - May 2017 - 12
R&D The FUTURE Becomes REALITY Augmented reality brings practical benefits to businesses and consumers I magine being able to look at a car's engine-almost as if you had X-ray vision- without lifting the hood. Or asking a handheld device how you can fix an oil leak even if you have no idea what you're doing. Now extrapolate that to jet engines or oilrigs, the complexities of which can be mind-boggling to novice technicians or those tackling new problems. By using augmented reality (AR), however, those novices can quickly become experts. Jim Utsler is a senior writer for IBM Systems Magazine and has been covering technology for more than 20 years. At IBM Research in Haifa, Israel, Tal Drory, senior manager Multimedia Analytics, and Dr. Ethan Hadar, manager of Cognitive Vision and Augmented Reality, are helping businesses and consumers alike take advantage of AR to conduct complicated technical tasks without having applicable experience. This skill will help companies and consumers save money, create safer working 12 // MAY 2017 ibmsystemsmag.com environments and become more productive and efficient. IBM Systems Magazine (ISM): I guess we should start with the obvious question: What is augmented reality? Tal Drory (TD): Essentially, augmented reality is a technology that allows us to augment the field of view of the person we're assisting. For example, imagine you're looking through a video camera of a mobile device at a retail shelf in the store. You see the reality in your field of view of the device, but that can be augmented with additional information, such as detailed product descriptions, promotions or even personalized information: You like this one; you're allergic to that one; you bought this previously. Other ways to augment reality can