philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

The 10 most innovative virtual and augmented reality companies of 2020

Snap, Microsoft, and Warby Parker top the list of companies that made the most compelling spatial computing products of the past year.

1. SNAP

For scanning the world to apply lenses to it

The ephemeral messaging platform has increasingly become an AR company in recent years. In 2019, it added a good deal of artificial intelligence to the mix as well by introducing a new feature called Scan. Scan uses computer vision technology to understand objects in the camera’s view, then suggests AR overlays, called “lenses,” that are relevant to that object. If your camera is trained on a dog, for instance, Scan might bring up pet-friendly lenses. Snapchatters just press and hold on the camera screen to scan the world around them. Snap says more than 70% of its daily active users play with its lenses every day.

Read more about why Snap is one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2020.  

9. TECHSEE

For helping customer service agents diagnose and fix problems

TechSee’s “Smart Assist” feature uses AR and computer vision to help customer service agents diagnose and fix malfunctioning hardware devices. The feature uses the support caller’s smartphone camera to give the customer service agent a view of the problem, while the computer vision model spots visible symptoms that lead to a diagnosis with 95% accuracy, the company says. Then the system can deliver advice and next steps to the client using annotations that show up directly on their smartphone screen. Some problems can even be solved without the help of a human customer service agent. TechSee says that its technology is being used by wireless service providers, consumer electronics companies, insurance companies, and utility companies.
See the full story here: https://www.fastcompany.com/90457929/virtual-augmented-reality-most-innovative-companies-2020