In response, large, mainline biotech firms like Pfizer and Novartis, smaller CMOs (contract manufacturing organizations), equipment manufacturers and others involved in the highly fragmented pharmaceutical sector are looking to emerging technologies to improve efficiency, speed up research and production, widen margins, and guarantee quality and safety.

The author describes what it takes to develop a drug and changes in Pharma, then goes on to discuss immersive wearable tech in pharma:

If you can’t raise prices, then you need to cut costs elsewhere. For pharma companies, this means spending less time and money on R&D and going to market faster. As the drug pipeline shifts to meet demand for personalized medicine (targeted biologics), pharma companies are feeling the pressure to revamp their product lines, factories, and processes to become more streamlined and cost-efficient.

AR/VR for drug discovery

R&D spending in pharma has been rising parallel to the growing complexity of drug development, leading forward-thinking companies to explore AR/VR as a tool for discovering new drugs faster (and therefore cheaper). If VR-trained surgeons are able to complete procedures faster than non-VR trained surgeons, it follows that pharma researchers would innovate faster with VR than they currently can using computer graphics (CAD) and static models of molecules made of wooden balls and wires. Indeed, whether in the classroom or the lab, virtual reality is proving effective for visualizing and conveying difficult concepts while augmented reality can put interactive complex molecules into the scientist’s real-world environment.

Wearing a VR headset, drug developers can step inside a molecule or compound to see how it responds to different stimuli and quickly simulate complex drug interactions. Wearing AR smart glasses or a mixed reality headset, researchers can manipulate molecules and chemical structures in space – folding, knotting, and changing the shape of the molecules right before their eyes – and tweak a drug’s chemical makeup so it bonds to the protein in question, altering its function to the desired effect. AR/VR decreases the number of errors in the years-long process of drug discovery, which is essentially one of trial and error, by helping “drug hunters” iterate and improve (get to the right shape) faster. As a result, companies are able to develop better drugs with fewer side effects. Immersive tech can also improve collaboration among researchers around the world, eliminating barriers like distance and language by allowing two or more scientists to walk through the same chemical structure together from separate locations.

For manufacturing

Training and education

In other manufacturing sectors, augmented and virtual reality are allowing new workers to learn on the job without making mistakes as well as safely practice operating equipment before using a real machine. Likewise, AR/VR can significantly improve training outcomes for pharmaceutical workers. In addition to “practice runs” on complex pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment even before entering a facility; a process engineer wearing safety smart glasses can learn on the job while still meeting high levels of control and quality by accessing step-by-step instructions and other multimedia support for troubleshooting and repairing a machine right in her field of view or connecting via livestream to a remote expert for guidance and support. Operators and scientists can also use VR to learn the proper principles of aseptic technique and the proper procedures for different laboratory and production environments (ex. the specialized containment and personal protection requirements for HPAPIs). Beyond production, AR/VR can help explain new treatments to doctors and patients, and train nurses to administer a new drug or therapy.

Heads-up, hands-free information and documentation

In manufacturing in general, data from connected machines is unlocking the ability to perform predictive maintenance, saving manufacturers millions of dollars in downtime; so a systems engineer wearing smart glasses in a pharmaceutical plant could receive real-time, heads-up and hands-free notifications about, say, a location that will soon need replenishment or an instrument that’s predicted to fail, allowing him to catch and address issues in advance, thereby improving efficiency, speeding up production, and lowering costs. Anywhere along the production cycle, digital information can be beamed in this way to augment an engineer’s view and intuitively show him or her what to do. For instance, an engineer could use smart glasses to scan the QR code on a piece of equipment, automatically bringing up work instructions or an interactive diagram tailored to that machine. Engineers could access batch records heads-up and hands-free and record values and videos via voice command, never needing to take their hands or attention away from a process. This is also an easy and effective method for audit readiness.

Remote support

All of this instant, hands-free access to information – presented heads-up and in context – is designed to enable users to work faster and more accurately, but it’s not just the challenges of visualizing complex drugs and the use of incorrect, out-of-date paper procedures, manuals, and documentation that slow down time to market; the need to fly in specialists to a pharmaceutical facility when something goes wrong is another contributor to what has become a years-long, complicated, error-prone and unrewarding process. Immediate ROI and time saved can be had from adopting AR glasses for remote support, especially when users need vendor advice. With augmented reality software, the expert can even draw on the user’s display to highlight specific buttons or connections and drop 3D arrows into her real-world environment in the facility.

Conclusion

The possibilities for AR/VR in the pharmaceutical sector are great and desperately needed. Pharma companies should be taking cues from other advanced manufacturing sectors, which are already seeing results in training, efficiency, quality insurance, and safety through the use of AR glasses and VR headsets. Of course, pharma is a sensitive industry, and new devices open up new opportunities for hackers to gain patient data and secret drug research. Any investments in emerging technologies must be accompanied by investments in cybersecurity.

Learning to make a dazzling technology practical

Augmented reality, or AR, is a way of adding digital elements to a live view, often by using the camera on a smartphone. While it’s been available for years, it became popular with the creation of social media tools such as Snapchat filters and mobile device games like Pokemon Go.

On the other hand, virtual reality, or VR, is an experience that seeks to place an individual in an entirely virtual world. This immersion is typically accomplished through the use of VR goggles or a headset.

Ayer says he was first introduced to augmented and virtual reality as an undergraduate architectural engineering student at Pennsylvania State University. He was working as a lab assistant managing the equipment when he says his interest took off.

“I got very dazzled by them,” says Ayer, who is a faculty member in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, one of the seven Fulton Schools.

Out of a desire to utilize AR and VR technologies, he says he found himself seeking problems that would fit the tools instead of the other way around, which made it difficult to measure the technologies’ impact and success.

As he entered his master’s degree program, also at Pennsylvania State University, Ayer says he had to reevaluate how he was looking at technology and the role it plays both in a classroom and in the real world.

“Through grad school, and certainly when I got to ASU, the shift was pretty polar opposite: Don’t start with the technology, start with the human and the problem that the human has, and how that technology is supporting them,” Ayer says.

This perspective is something he attributes to a subtle comment made to him during his doctoral studies by a mentor and co-adviser, Chimay Anumba, who is now at the University of Florida.

“In a very sort of understated way, I remember him just saying to me, ‘Sometimes when you have a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail,’” Ayer says.

Addressing the problems

Over the years, Ayer has come to identify two major challenges AR and VR technology can help students face when it comes to construction education and entering the workplace.

The first is visualizing design concepts from two-dimensional plans that represent a three-dimensional space.

“We take this 3D concept; we have this building around us. And the way we communicate that is we dumb it down to flat paper plans,” Ayer says. “Instead, we can give them augmented reality glasses with the idea of saying, let’s make it easy to understand the design. They just see the model show up almost like it was there, but it’s virtual.”

Ayer says once students can get past the dazzled phase, they can dial in and learn the underlying construction competencies they need to be successful on the job.

For example, Ayer says he conducted a study a few years ago aimed at helping students explore buildings as if they were the end-users, like a facilities manager tasked with keeping a building up and running. He says they gave one group of students an augmented reality setup and the other group a computer setup. Both were given the same task of exploring the building to find flaws in the design. He says both groups could identify the flaws, but the group utilizing AR was able to come up with ways to improve the design and correct the flaws.

“The students using the computer setup, which was still a 3D model on the screen, knew something had to be considered, but couldn’t effectively articulate what about the design was problematic,” Ayer says.

Kieren McCord, a construction management doctoral student in the Fulton Schools, says while doing research with Ayer for her dissertation, she was inspired by the use of AR and the ability it gives students to visualize designs.

“Physical builds are a great way to learn, but they can be extremely cost-prohibitive to bring to a classroom. So, a virtual simulation can be a valuable, cost-effective alternative,” McCord says.

She says there are far fewer physical restraints on virtual environments, meaning if you can dream it, you can create it in a virtual environment.

The second challenge Ayer says he wants to improve is job site safety.

What makes people change behavior is when they see or experience a bad thing.

— Steven Ayer, associate professor of constuction engineering

“We see a lot of times where we use very antiquated modes of teaching safety courses that are ‘chalk-and-talk’ lecture-style learning, which by almost any accounts have been ineffective, and, by empirical data on sites, still don’t stop injuries,” Ayer says.

“People from industry will say, ‘I didn’t care about safety until …’ and they’ll tell you a story of when they saw someone hurt, or someone lost a life,” he says. “And when they’re the one that makes the phone call to the husband or wife saying, ‘Your spouse isn’t coming home today,’ it hits them.”

With that impactful moment in mind, Ayer says he sought to create an experience for students that balanced real-life decisions with the dangerous outcomes created by mistakes.

“What makes people change behavior is when they see or experience a bad thing,” Ayer says. “What we’re doing with virtual reality is putting students and even industry personnel into this environment. But, unlike most virtual reality training environments that give a report card when something goes unrecognized and they fail to identify the hazard, we will show them the impact of their decision.”

Ayer says showing the impact is accomplished through the use of slow-motion video or animations. In addition, the negative effects never impact the AR user, but another character within the virtual environment.

“The situation would be to see if we can have a virtual artificial stimulus, the VR experience, trigger a real psychological response,” Ayer says. “So, now students or industry professionals can say, ‘I didn’t care about safety until I had this really impactful training experience that didn’t actually harm anyone.’”

He says the biggest challenge is overcoming how students and industry professionals first react when they experience these technologies. Many people find it “cool,” he says, but this impression isn’t what he wants to see.

“What are the metrics you would track to know if this provided a return on investment, or saved lives, or reduce rework, or whatever the underlying value is? How we get them back to thinking about that can be a challenge,” Ayer says.

It’s a challenge that he’s willing to take on because he says technology is something that education and industry need to take seriously, as it can be the solution to several problems, not only in construction, but in society as a whole.

“I think in the future, as technology becomes more prevalent, the role the human plays may be more critical because we will be slightly more out of the loop in terms of decision-making tasks and that kind of thing,” Ayer says. “So getting the human to interact with those technologies really well, for the time that they do, will be even more critical.”

R&D expenses in the construction industry are often substantially lower than those in other industries (it rarely goes higher than 1 percent of revenues). That might be another reason why it is losing ground in the digital age and lagging behind other industries in terms of integrating innovative technology.

According to MIT Technology Review, employing advancements in the field of augmented reality is one approach for the construction sector to enhance production quickly while ensuring long-term effects (AR).

Augmented Reality is a technology that augments actual environments on a mobile device screen by superimposing digital material on top of them. Augmented Reality is built on real-world footprints and simply adds computer-generated data such as animation or three-dimensional objects to it rather than completely replacing any virtual experience.

Augmented Reality in Construction

Because of its capacity to give real-time information, augmented reality is being used in the construction sector to increase productivity, improve safety on building sites, maximize teamwork and collaboration, and time management, cost, and supplies.

There are many sub-processes in Construction where Augmented reality is of utmost importance. Some may be associated with Project planning whereas some may be associated with construction training. Whatever it may be, we’ll be discussing every plausible steps in construction that requires AR.

Additionally Augmented reality is one of the most promising technologies of Industry revolution 4.0. So, it’s important that we leverage the most important technology across every field so as to stay ahead.

The article then goes on to cover some of the processes in construction that require AR for better implementation. These are repeated below only in bullet point form. Readers may want to visit the article in full for an in depth explanation.

1. Planning of Projects
2. Team Efforts
3. Information of Projects
4. Training of Safety and Precaution
5. Measurement

The article then goes on to explore:

• Restrictions of Augmented Reality in Construction
• Successful Implementation of AR in Construction
• Future of Augmented Reality in Construction

Chinese startup Rokid has been through a few stages of transformation over its eight years of existence.  The Temasek-backed company started out as a smart speaker maker when the vertical was all the rage in China in mid-2015s, but it has in recent years put more focus on Augmented Reality.

This week, Rokid said it has secured a $160 million Series C round, lifting its total capital raised to $378 million.

Rokid has been exploring enterprise use cases, like enabling remote communication for field workers in the auto, oil and gas, and other traditional industries. Its X-Craft headset, for instance, is resistant to explosions, water and dust and comes with 5G and GPS capabilities.

During the COVID19 pandemic Rokid pitched smart glasses that could detect temperatures of up to 200 people within two minutes.

With a team of about 380 employees, Rokid said it will spend the new proceeds on research and development as well as global expansion, so developed markets could be expecting more of Rokid’s B2B offerings. Indeed, the firm just hired an energy industry veteran to head its sales in the APAC region.

The AREA sends our congratulations on this expansion.

Find out more about Rokid on the Rokid inc AREA member profile.

Yesterday, Pixee Medical announced that its Knee+ AR computer-assisted orthopedic solution will be commercially launched in the United States, providing a perfect fit for Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs). Launched in Europe and Australia early in 2021, Pixee’s solution will be formally launched in the US at the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Annual Meeting on March 22-26 in Chicago, where the company will meet with surgeons and finalize the organization of its distribution channel.

Additionally, Pixee Medical added that it will soon be adding new features to its Knee+ platform, with soft tissue balancing, kinematic alignment and data connectivity. It will also be expanding its portfolio with a mixed reality product for total shoulder arthroplasty and with an easy-to-use cup orientation and leg length controlling AR tool for total hip arthroplasty. Knee+ is also now compatible with surgical hoods.

Rods&Cones has been a growing consumer of Vuzix M400 smart glasses, which let staff in the operating room, ICU or other medical facility, including surgeons, instrumentalist nurses and other healthcare professionals, provide 4K broadcast quality imagery to others while interacting with patients and staff from a safe distance. To date, Rods&Cones is active in more than 600 hospitals across more than 30 countries and the company anticipates that 2022 will be the year when companies and medical providers start changing their models to prioritize remote technology at the heart of their operations.

Rods&Cones recently announced that its remote access service is compatible with the Pixee Knee+ augmented reality solution for total knee arthroplasty. The compatibility of the two solutions is expected to allow surgeons to use augmented reality during total knee arthroplasty surgeries, while also connecting remotely with other medical experts around the world.

“Firms like Pixee Medical and Rods&Cones are innovators within the healthcare sector and their solutions are facilitating communications and learning, reducing costs, and improving outcomes in operating rooms around the world with the help of Vuzix smart glasses,” said Paul Travers, President and Chief Executive Officer at Vuzix. We look forward to working with these and other providers to help transform the healthcare industry in 2022 and beyond.

Qualcomm Incorporated announced on March 21 2022 the launch of the Snapdragon Metaverse Fund, established to invest up to $100 million in developers and companies building unique, immersive XR experiences, as well as associated core augmented reality (AR) and related artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The fund plans to deploy capital through a combination of venture investments in leading XR companies by Qualcomm Ventures and a grant program by Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. for developer ecosystem funding in XR experiences such as gaming, health and wellness, media, entertainment, education, and enterprise.

“We deliver the groundbreaking platform technology and experiences that will enable both the consumer and the enterprise to build and engage in the metaverse and allow the physical and digital worlds to be connected. Qualcomm is the ticket to the metaverse,” said Cristiano Amon, president and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated. “Through the Snapdragon Metaverse Fund, we look forward to empowering developers and companies of all sizes as they push boundaries of what’s possible as we enter into this new generation of spatial computing.”

Qualcomm Technologies has been a key contributor in every major computing evolution and is a leader in core technologies such as 5G, AI and XR – all of which are critical to the metaverse. As we enter the new era of spatial computing, the Snapdragon Metaverse Fund will help enable and foster innovation across the entire ecosystem through venture investment and developer ecosystem grants for content projects.  In addition, recipients may have the opportunity to gain early access to cutting-edge XR platform technology, hardware kits, a global network of investors, and co-marketing and promotion opportunities.

Companies and developers who are interested to learn more can visit qualcomm.com/metaverse-fund. Applications for the Snapdragon Metaverse Fund will officially open in June.

About Qualcomm

Qualcomm is the world’s leading wireless technology innovator and the driving force behind the development, launch, and expansion of 5G. When we connected the phone to the internet, the mobile revolution was born. Today, our foundational technologies enable the mobile ecosystem and are found in every 3G, 4G and 5G smartphone. We bring the benefits of mobile to new industries, including automotive, the internet of things, and computing, and are leading the way to a world where everything and everyone can communicate and interact seamlessly.

Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of our engineering, research, and development functions, and substantially all of our products and services businesses, including our QCT semiconductor business.

“We are ecstatic to offer this leading PLM technology integration to our current and future customers,” said Scott Montgomerie, Co-founder and CEO. “Streamlining the creation of AR experiences from PLM systems is an integral part of the digital thread. With the connection between Teamcenter and WorkLink, that vision is now a reality. We launched WorkLink Create to give the world the fastest AR authoring and publishing experience possible. That experience is now seamlessly connected to the world’s most widely used PLM system, and this integration unlocks limitless use cases for our shared customers.”

From its founding, Scope AR has improved the way people work with technology that accelerates the sharing of specific knowledge. In 2010, Scope AR’s founders saw the power augmented reality had to make anyone an expert, regardless of how complex the task. To harness that power, they developed WorkLink, a platform that transforms the way enterprises manufacture, inspect, test and train their workforce through step-by-step 3D visual guidance. WorkLink enables higher workforce productivity with better training, less rework, and higher compliance.

WorkLink has been proven transformational in hundreds of use cases and industries, and makes it easy for leading organizations like Johnson & Johnson, Mitsubishi, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Honeywell and others to create and distribute powerful AR content in minutes across a wide array of devices. In addition to Siemens Digital Industries, Scope AR partners with technology leaders such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, ServiceMax, Unity, NTT Data and more.

AR/VR smart glasses have the capability to improve and also take the place of current technology solutions in supply chains.

Organizations using AR wearable electronics are showing applications that result in improvements in productivity, efficiency, and also compliance.

The market is expected to gain from the developments in machine vision and AI and also analytics and big data. Object and face tracking enhancements, voice recognition and other capabilities will augment the adoption of AR and VR. The AR/VR smart glasses market is also expected to gain from the Industry 4.0 and the growing interest in AR/VR technology among gamers.

Also, the implementation of 5G technology and increasing digitization are likely to drive gains in the market.

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Smart Augmented Reality (AR) Glasses estimated at 721 Thousand Units in the year 2022, is projected to reach a revised size of 8.8 Million Units by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 80.3% over the analysis period.

This and other trends are analyzed in the recent report which can be requested here >>

Global Smart Augmented Reality (AR) Glasses Market to Reach 8.8 Million Units by the Year 2026 

However, while smartphone apps can give us a taste of the benefits AR can offer, there’s a whole new world of opportunities available when we explore AR wearables.

Augmented Reality glasses are becoming an increasingly exciting concept, particularly as numerous brands like Apple and Meta (previously Facebook) discuss introducing their own fashionable versions.

With unit sales expecting to reach around 3.9 million by 2024, many companies will be wondering how to pick the ideal vendor for their own AR smart glasses investment.

The article talks through the things to consider in detail when choosing a wearable AR solution.

1. What do you need AR smart glasses for?
2. What are your crucial features?
3. Prioritise comfort and ease of use
4. Research the vendor

The original article can be read in full here. 

Many of AREA’s members are providers of AR smartglasses and other wearable technology – see our full member list here

This order follows the successful completion of a proof-of-concept (POC) earlier last year in one warehouse and the initial deployment of Vuzix smart glasses in 40 warehouses several months ago. This follow-on order will support the further deployment of glasses to these 40 warehouses as well as initial deployment to additional locations.

“We are pleased to see a customer of this caliber, not only a retailer leader but also an innovative user of new technologies, continue to deploy and actively use Vuzix smart glasses, a proven productivity tool,” said Paul Travers, President and Chief Executive Officer at Vuzix.

“This Fortune 50 customer represents just one of many exciting opportunities within this vertical, and we look forward to working with them, as well as others, to expand both the depth and breadth of Vuzix Smart Glasses usage this year and beyond.”