Cities have been of interest to people for centuries, pursuing the benefits and facilities which aren’t available otherwise. But with the incredible transformations taking place in everything around us, it’s not hard to imagine that city life experiences will start to transcend the boundaries of physical existence. Technological advancements riding on the wave of social media has created an interconnected web of interactions, where it’s not necessary to even occupy the same continent and yet the communication between people is stronger than ever.
Despite the forecast of UN that by 2050 the world population residing in cities will be 66%, industry experts share a different view. The sweeping argument is that socioeconomic trends aren’t immortal and can die as suddenly as they rise up. Since the technologies such as augmented reality have taken the world in its grasp, the life on this planet is more probable to undergo consistent transformation than it was in the stone age.
People used to move from villages and suburbs to urban areas because cities offered higher job opportunities, greater access to products and services and a richer social life. Taking UN’s statistics in stride, if 66% of the population is going to live in the cities, it’s going to push numerous problems to the surface. Ultimately, people will start looking towards other options to get away from higher crime rates, congestion, and inequality. Countryside, suburbs, and villages would appear welcomed escapes for the people then. On top of that, 80% of American employees state that they prefer to work from home as per the study conducted by Global Workplace Analytics.
But how do you keep the employees connected when they’re working remotely?
Static video calls are already off the table because more often than not the caller may not even know which voice belongs to whom. This is where augmented reality makes an entrance while holding hands with telepresence robots. Telepresence robots are remote-controlled devices on wheels with wireless internet connectivity and are already being used by people for video calls through the inbuilt apps. The earlier design of a telepresence robot was less than pleasing but companies are now catching up by improving their designs and making them user-friendly with a streamlined look.
It’s not far off from the Hollywood movie Surrogates where people lived their life through robotic representations of themselves. In this instance the telepresence robots represent you and the AR works its charm to create a hologram that not only looks like you but also moves and talks as you do. Not only does this dynamic duo increases work productivity allowing employees to multi-task, it is also changing the way of education and e-commerce.
The possibilities between augmented reality and telepresence robotics are immense and only future can reveal the extents to which this technology can change the world. The three key reasons why people move to cities are rapidly being wrapped up into capsules of virtual world viewed through the lens of immersive technologies. Whether people live in cities or suburbs would soon become irrelevant as the city life experience will be available to everyone, everywhere.