Hurdles Faced in AR development

Augmented Reality has been enjoying the most cherishing youth and adulthood, coming out of its infancy. Initially used for immersive movie and game experience, its uses now extend beyond that to incorporate realms of education, marketing, parenting, and even workplace communication. Tech giants are working relentlessly to carry AR to the mainstream.

Consequently, the augmented reality market is rapidly evolving. While it recorded 725 million dollars worth in the year 2016, this value is expected to surge up to 15.497 billion dollars in the year 2022. AR Apps take the user away from life’s monotony by introducing a whole new world of immersive experience by entwining the real world with the virtual.

However, it’s adoption has its own challenges. In this article, we are going to trace some of the ones that have received worldwide attention.

Limited Hardware Capabilities

AR may give you really tough time perfecting the visual aspects. Sensors fail to filter the electric interference, something which is quite common in the urban areas. In addition, the cameras tailored to capture and deliver 2D obviously disappoint while rendering 3D images. To add to it, we have GPS systems that can only read only up to 6 meters and that is far less than the accuracy that AR markers require.

Despite that, the researchers are working hard to improve accelerometer reading using exponential smoothing technique, camera performance by using 2D QR and barcode markers, and targeting prominent landmarks to overcome the GPS challenges. But that’s not just it. They have more to take care of.

The real problem lies in the hardware optimization. Wearing those heavy objects over the head really freaks the users. Developers still fail to offer the convenience of spectacles with the hardware. On the good note, Microsoft Compact AR prototype seem to put these limitations aside. But until then, enjoy the ride.

Software Issues

When it comes to the software part of AR, multiple interoperability questions are yet to be answered. While privacy remains to be one of the major concerns, the fact that current application architecture fails to support the integration of aspects like social media is giving sleepless nights to many developers.

Adding on to headache is the infant state of the technology. Solutions enabling high-end scalability still need to get their interoperability sorted. While Apple’s ARKit and Google’s ARCore helps a bit, the fact that third-party vendors are emerging with new devices every day works to go against the flow.

Though the current AR development tools help providing amazing frameworks for the single user interface, the UIs offering multi-user experience is still beyond reach. This really hampers the performance of AR apps and makes it difficult to run them on the devices that have bigger screens than mobile phones.

Unsatisfying Experience

“Expectations hurt.”

This indeed comes alive when we talk about Augmented Reality. We end up expecting so much that no matter how much it delivers we end up getting disappointed. However, we cannot wholly blame it upon the users. Unlike Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality keeps the user always in touch with the real world objects, and that absolutely fails to offer the immersive experience that users need or expect.

Though cutting-edge AR solutions like Microsoft HoloLens have increased the potential and indeed work well to cut off the unnecessary disturbances from the real world, AR App development companies need to try hard in order to cut out anything that disturbs the visuals.

Uncomfortable Architecture

Mocktail made by mixing the virtual and real world really doesn’t look like a fantastic taste. With glasses taking up most of the spaces in our lives, the virtual mess in the surrounding is typically getting awful. The new era has made us less active and more digital so much so that we now have to seek help from trends like “digital unplug.”

With augmented reality taking this combination to a whole new level, the issues are only expected to accelerate. While we’ll welcome this change as a part of our lives, it will increase the chances of digital fatigue further.

Public Acceptance

Just like other emerging technologies, AR, being in its cradle, poses specific challenges in its adoption. While the investments make it a fit only for the big players, small companies are still not able to venture. Moreover, short-term ROI is not a rational expectation from it, at least for now. Companies willing to invest in the AR realm really need patience, and it’s kinda tricky.

Legal Issues and Regulations

The legal issues related to AR have long been topic of serious debates. User privacy and safety remains one of the major concerns, specifically with new regulations like GDPR paving ways. Moreover, copyright and ownership questions still need to be answered.

Who will own the ideas that emerge as a result of research by innovation-seeking brains?

Who holds the ownership of information that has been superimposed on the actual image?

This is one of the most critical aspects that remains a mystery till now. As of now, there are no specific regulations that emphasize on frameworks and standards for AR app development. Landmark building owners might come into picture claiming the rights of the information presented to the user.

The mobile app developers working on AR might also plan to use their own reality to engage the users.

The next big problem is the responsibility of the outcomes of an AR app. The recent Pokemon Go is the most significant example here. Death and damages caused by this particular app is an example of why we need strong regulations to guide users, besides the body who will be accountable for them.

While these legal issues will be eventually addressed and worked out, it is expected that AR App developers might end up losing many of their rights and freedoms in this process.

Conclusion

AR experts are pretty much sure that AR will emerge out of its challenges and social rejection risks. Credits to its unimaginable potential and ability to disrupt the tech arena. Staying relevant in the future requires to take a move towards the technology today to enjoy long-term ROI, and that eventually will seek a resolution to maximum challenges.

Bhanu Garg: