Tag: augmented reality glasses

Google Glass makes its way into a Tennessee operating room

| July 10, 2014

A surgeon in Nashville is looking into the various benefits that can be brought to an O.R. by the augmented reality headset.

A Nashville surgeon is currently investigating some of the ways in which his wearing Google Glass while in the operating room will be able to benefit him – as a surgeon – as well as the patient.

This augmented reality headset has been greatly embraced by the medical community.

Despite the fact that Google Glass is still in a limited release phase, the doctors and others in the medical community have been coming up with a large range of different potential uses for these and similar augmented reality devices. Although the public has had mixed responses to the devices, doctors appear to be ready to wear them and discover what they can offer in terms of efficiency, accuracy, and other potential benefits.

A company in Nashville is now taking the use of Google Glass in hospitals to the next level.

augmented reality glasses google glassOctovis Inc. believes that there could be massive implications for the augmented reality technology in health care. It is now undergoing its “14-week startup boot camp” along with another company based in Nashville, Jumpstart Foundry, which is a business accelerator. This project is meant to test some of the various applications for the mobile technology among a handful of physicians.

Sanat Dixit, one of the participating physicians, is a neurosurgeon who has been working within the region for four years. He has now become the first doctor in Tennessee to bring the augmented reality device into the operating room. Moreover, he is also one of the only doctors in the entire Southeast to actually use this cutting edge mobile tech for professional reasons.

While the doctor is not permitted to reveal the name of the hospital in which surgeries have now been performed while using Google Glass – as the facility has yet to create an official policy regarding the use of this technology and wants to ensure that the privacy of its patients remains protected – what is known is that at least two procedures have been completed and it looks as though other facilities will soon be discussing similar efforts in the not too distant future.

Wearable technology could be a $50 billion industry by 2018

| July 8, 2014

A new report from ON World has predicted that these mobile devices will become explosively popular.

A new report has now been released by ON World, a research firm, which has forecasted that wearable technology devices – which include everything from smartwatches to smart clothing and from fitness bands to augmented reality glasses – will make up an industry worth $50 billion by the year 2018.

It expects that by the end of that time period, 700 million of these mobile devices will have been shipped.

The wearable technology report also projected that by the year 2018, there will be 330 million shipments around the world of smartwatches, alone. When this is compared to the 3 million that were shipped on a global scale, last year, it is clear that this represents a staggering growth. The vast majority of the revenue in this area is expected to be from hardware, within that time span. That said, apps and monitoring services – among other subscriptions – should also be taking of throughout that time.

Wearable technology will also experience a shift in the dominant types of device during that time.

Wearable Technology - 50 billion dollar industry by 2018The research firm feels that by 2018, the current leaders in the market, which are health and fitness focused mobile devices, will be replaced by smart gadgets such as smartwatches, augmented reality glasses, and wearable sensors in many different forms. The smartwatch, says ON World, is going to be a highly disruptive force within the current tech market. The company believes that these devices will replace a number of the app needs currently experienced by many owners of smartphones.

To support the predictions that it has made, the firm went on to survey 1,000 consumers and determined that among all of the various forms of wearables currently available, 55 percent preferred a device in wristwatch form. Another 38 percent said that they had an interest in the health applications that are offered by these types of gadgets.

The consumer survey also found that the rumored wearable technology from Apple, dubbed the iWatch, is the most preferred, despite the fact that it hasn’t even been unveiled, yet. Price is also an important deciding factor that determines a consumer’s final choice, as 40 percent were willing to pay over $99, but only 8 percent were willing to go above $299.