ScopeAR's Mixed Reality Smart Instruction Development Platform Now Supports HoloLens

Today at Microsoft Build 2017 in Seattle, Washington, ScopeAR announced that their mixed reality smart instruction development platform, Worklink, will now work with the Microsoft HoloLens in addition to the mobile devices that are currently supported.

The heart of this platform is the "Smart Instructions" feature, which is designed to guide a worker through potentially complex tasks giving them step-by-step contextually accurate instructions. This can be used for guidance in complex tasks for workers and customers. It could also be used for advanced training for skilled workers.

One of the co-founders of the San Fransisco-based ScopeAR, Graham Melley, walked me through a demo they put together for Build. Using a DJI drone as the subject of the demo, the user wearing a HoloLens would first look at the model and allow the object view to sync. Then a series of voice commands flips through a number of callouts for various parts of the drone, like the USB port or camera.

He explained a few other benefits of this platform aside from simply being a context-based 3D manual. Live data is being generated as a user goes through a process, and this data can be used to generate performance analytics.

Passive data. Who you are. Where you logged in. How long you are taking for each step. This can be pretty powerful.

— Graham Melley

These types of metrics allow a great deal of fine tuning to a process and can increase productivity across the board. Research being conducted in the area of augmented and mixed reality recently reported by Harvard Business Review is showing an increase in productivity ranging from 25 to 32 percent.

WorkLink has been designed with non-technical HoloLens users in mind. Being able to create their own MR-based instructional content in a fashion similar to creating a PowerPoint presentation — and quickly — enterprise organizations can adapt and at a much faster rate with accurate training and improved efficiency.

According to Melley, if you are a current WorkLinks user, the update that added HoloLens functionality is already in — it was just left out of the update notes. Have fun in a new hands-free mixed reality experience, assuming you have a HoloLens laying around.