Oomii’s co-founder, Bill Tseng, highlights the huge business opportunities that AR technologies will bring to the gaming, entertainment and healthcare industries at Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA)
WIRED magazine once reported that AR is the ultimate integration interface of human and machine in various technological devices. In the 5G and 6G era, Artificial Reality (AR) will integrate all information from various sources and present it in real-time. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, and telecommunications have become an important operating mechanism of human society. As a result, the advantages of AR/VR have gradually been highlighted. During this forum, Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) and Horuseye Tech (now known as Oomii Inc.) & Toii will start a live discussion under the topic "Crossing the X Realm - Looking through the new AR vision.”
Bill Tseng, the co-founder of Horuseye Tech (now known as Oomii Inc.), pointed out that AR technology has gradually become popular in the film and television entertainment industry. AR has appeared in the Iron Man Marvel movies and Jolin Tsai's MV in the past few years. As AR becomes widely used, interface problems have also begun to emerge. Tseng said that whether it is AR, VR, or MR, the image composition is all 3D, but the current display interfaces that present the technology to users are all on 2D screens. Therefore, the benefits of 3D images are limited. Tseng believes that mobile devices and other flat screens are only the transitional interface phase for AR/VR/MR, which will eventually move towards the near-eye display.
There are diverse applications for Near-eye display, but the industry with the highest demand and need is the medical field. According to an estimate, the market will reach $175.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2026. Tseng used surgical navigation as an example: in order to increase accuracy in surgery, a simulation of the procedures is done before the surgery. The doctor will compare the simulation result on the screen while performing the surgery and determine the progress based on the simulation and actual surgery taking place. The current practice is to place the screen on the side of the operating table, and the surgeon must turn his head to see it. This unintuitive approach may affect the accuracy of the operation. The best way is to use the near-eye display and use AR technology to display the surgical information right in front of the doctor’s eyes.
Nevertheless, currently available near-eye display devices still have three major pain points, such as dizziness caused by vergence-accommodation conflict, inaccurate contrast, and focal rivalry. Only when these pain points are solved successfully can the applications have an opportunity to expand, and the market output value increases significantly. Horuseye Technology (now known as Oomii Inc.) has gathered talents from all various areas of expertise, such as optics, software, hardware, IP, ID, etc., and solved the above-mentioned pain points in the near-eye display. As a result, Horuseye can provide a more comfortable and easier-to-use AR/MR experience.
In addition to the niche markets, AR/VR can also be integrated with daily life to create various applications. Yu Zheng-yan, the founder of Kiouaihei Lab, said that the company's technology focuses on AR+LBS (indoor positioning) and is mainly used in smart cities. There are also relevant use cases in the tourism industry.
Yu further pointed out that AR technology has been in use for some time, such as the popular mobile game, Pokémon Go, which was launched by American firm Niantic in 2016. When it launched, the game set off a global craze, allowing players and the industry to see the potential of AR technology. In addition to gaming, AR can also be applied to other fields. For example, in the retail industry, stores can use AR to provide various services. Consumers can see the location or information of the goods they would like to purchase on their mobile phones. It can also be combined with AI chatbots. When the customers have questions, the virtual customer service on the system will appear instantly and answer the questions accurately.
Another application is to integrate with tourism and create new business opportunities. Taiwan and Japan both have successful use cases. Two successful cases in Taiwan are the limited Pokémon events in Chiayi and Tainan, where the game released limited-edition Pokémon to attract players to the destined locations while cooperating with local businesses to run various promotional activities to expand business opportunities. Japan is launching a "Holy Land Tour" event, which combines AR with well-known animation attractions. When fans take pictures in places such as Totoro Forest, Slam Dunk Seaside Level Crossing, and other places, anime characters will appear on the screen. In addition to the animation industry, the local government has also cooperated with industry players to design various AR games to increase the willingness of the people to travel to the local area.
As various technological challenges are solved one by one, the implementation of AR/VR will begin to accelerate. Tseng and Yu both believe that Taiwan has strong science and technology talent and funds. Because of the recent COVID-19 pandemic and Taiwan’s relatively successful response, technologies and other experts from various countries have begun to gather in Taiwan. Therefore, Tseng and Yu suggest that the Taiwanese players should make good use of this opportunity and combine these technological skills and advantages to extend more feasible XR application ideas, such as manufacturing, medical, audio and video industries, etc. Indeed, XR can create an unprecedented experience and business opportunities, while promoting other industries in Taiwan at the same time, creating a win-win situation.
Source: https://www.digitimes.com.tw/iot/article.aspcat=130&id=0000607926_NWK8A5X63PLSAF5ACYU4S
