Augmented Reality

Colin Neagle expounds on "Augmented Reality: What do Businesses Need to Know?." Neagle provides examples of firms (Lego and Ikea) that are already deploying augmented reality technologies similar to Google Glass. They are being used to attract customers, to demonstrate how a project can be completed, and so forth.

Another form of augmented reality was explored by Zack Minors, who reports that at SXSW the "Beam [Mobile Robotic] Videoconferencing Device Takes a Spin." Minors reports that "on the exhibit hall's opening day, attendees were greeted by a talking monitor on wheels." Other firms such as Double Robotics and Mantarobot.

I believe a more primitive, less interactive version of robot technology was used by the Japanese to explore the radioactive Fukushima nuclear power plant. I can forsee that distant supervisors might rent such robots to conduct surprise inspections of distant facilities, creating a market for "robot rentals."

-DD