Augmented reality presents a very new forefront for learning. It can bring new hands on experiences to students like never before. Teachers can make math “come alive” for students through AR. Currently, America’s education system is mainly based on auditory learning. Teachers constantly give lectures and students are supposed to take notes. With AR, visual learners will finally get the experiences they need to learn best. A current AR app entitled Popar Toys changes the way children read books. It can make books become interactive, or even create interactive charts on human anatomy, periodic tables, or the solar system.
Navigation is a seemingly natural use for augmented reality. The very first company to take advantage of this discovery is entitled “Wikitude”. Wikitude navigation was the world’s first pedestrian and car navigation system that integrates an augmented reality display and eliminates the need for maps. This navigation system was first released in 2010, initially deputed as a smartphone product. Currently, the Wikitude SDK pro is 1,980 a year, however the price is predicted to decrease within time. The Wikitude SDK pro is an example of the current uses of Augmented Reality.
For many people, the most notable form of augmented reality are the multitude of AR games out on the market. Head worn systems are inexpensive and computing power is more portable than ever before. The sensational game of the year, Pokemon Go, is a form of augmented reality, and look just how popular that game was. Ogmento, an AR game developer, just received 3.5 million dollars of institutional funding to develop gaming applications. AR technologies bring forward a whole new meaning to gaming and will become increasingly popular towards the future.
Medical students can use AR to practice surgery in a controlled environment. There have been new technologies that allow visualizations to aid in explaining complex medical conditions to patients. Augmented reality can also perform the simple task of enhancing a surgeon's senses, saving countless patients from misdiagnosis or unneeded surgeries. Neurosurgeons can now see an image of the brain in 3D on top of the patient’s actual anatomy. That can be especially powerful and helpful for neurosurgeons. The registration of specific coordinates in a brain can be seen by the surgeon.