Interview with CEO Matthias Krampe of Auggd

 SM: How did you get involved in the field of AR technologies?

 

MK: In 2011, I had the opportunity to invest in the predecessor of Auggd, called Explore Engage. Their main focus was designing and developing AR eyewear hardware and software. I saw the vast application potential of the tech across various market sectors. In addition to my investment in the company I also represented them in the Middle East. In 2014, Explore Engage's CFO and I did a management buyout and rebranded the company to Auggd and focused on developing a highly flexible AR content management system, i.e., platform.

 

SM: How does your company integrate AR technologies into your current work and in what sectors?

 

MK: Since we’re a 100% focused AR service provider we integrate AR in all of our client work. Our main sectors are architecture, construction, engineering, education and training, marketing (mainly events). 

 

SM: How is your work on AR involved in education and training sectors?

 

MK: we have executed several education and training related projects. Amongst them are:

 

- University of Newcastle - correlating brain imagery with textbook anatomy

- Dr. Karl - https://drkarl.com Two of his more recent books contain AR experiences that provide additional context to the subject matter. 

- McDonald’s - They used AR to visualise the new burger prepping process. Their primary objective for using AR was to see if the trainees are actually engaging with the training material, i.e. creating insight through deploying engaging content.   

- Industrial client - use our platform to visualise vehicle loading related processes.

- Training consultancy client - client is using our platform to visualise load inspection procedures of heavy machinery etc.  

 

The latter two visualise content at 1:1 scale and also have green screen holograms. (See a reference example of the hologram feature here  Any trainer/educator can add more context to any given topic.) Any content can be updated on the fly via our platform and made instantly available to the user in AR.

 

SM: Do you see a relationship between the use of AR and AI technologies in your work?

 

MK: Yes, I do. However, one needs to distinguish between basic and highly advanced computer vision. The former, which is currently prevalent, is primarily used to visualise predefined content to contextualising one’s environment with a gimmicky tea cup, the solar system, 1:1 scaled buildings, etc.  

 

Currently, the likes of Telsa or NASA are deploying advanced computer vision and combining it with AI. In my opinion, and for a lack of a better comparison, they are essentially at the level that was demonstrated in the movie The Terminator - computer vision scans the environment that feeds the AI/ML database that then instantly populates and visualises data in predefined templates or prompts a predefined action, e.g. stop the car.  

 

The next level up from that will be when computer vision can interpret AI data and instantly construct and visualise a complex solution in 3D with all sorts of interaction functionality. 

 

SM: In your view, what is the future use of AR and AI broadly and specifically in education and training?

 

MK: One of the biggest opportunities I see is in closing the skill gap that is responsible for the shortage of skilled manufacturing workers and service technicians. In general, AR will allow more workers to do high skill jobs, and improve their performance.