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40 SMT007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2018 Military: The U.S. Army will test HUD 3.0, an augmented reality system using a heads- up display that will let them see both the real world as well as allow them to deter - mine where they and the other members of their unit are specifically, and more impor- tantly, where the enemy is. What is not wide- ly known is that HUD 3.1 is already in use. Br eaking DoD reports indicate they are skip- ping 2.0 because of the sheer technological leap that is now available, hence 3.0. Travel to previously inaccessible locations: Already, XR allows one to travel to and walk the sea bottom, tour an ancient city, take part in a relatively accurate historical bat - tle, or go and do just about anything with three of your five senses immersed in a virtu- al world. We cannot yet accurately simulate taste and smell, but that is coming. But how about standing on the surface of Mars? You can't pick up that rock sitting on the Martian surface—not yet at least, but eventually, you may be able to control a robotic device and sense all as if you were there—but that is still well off and even 5G may not be fast enough. You can stand in places the Curiosity rover has explored, see that orange-yellow sky with the Martian red terrain on all sides, and feel like you're in an alien world, as if it were you rather than the rover actually perched on the surface of Mars. Or perhaps you just want to witness and feel what a rocket launch is like. The point is that today's higher-end XR technology (using a real relatively powerful PC connected to a high-quality headset and haptic devices, not a smart- phone and Google Cardboard!) allows you to do what was unthinkable just a decade ago. Thanks to a few innovative thinkers within NASA, this may all be available soon. Medical: To get an idea of what is com- ing in medical technology, here's a partial list of upcoming papers to be presented at the Augmented Human International Conference scheduled for March 2019: • Augmented Taste, Brain-Computer Interfaces and Artificial Intelligence • Muscle Interfaces and Implanted Interfaces, • Exoskeletons and Super Human Technologies • Augmented Sports and Serious Games • Human Augmentation • Privacy and Security Aspects of Augmented Humanity • Services and Applications for Human Enhancement, and many more. Add to that the upcoming 5G-enabled advances in robotic surgery and diagnostic technologies that are already in use. Remote Service and Diagnostics: We can cer- tainly expect to see increased use of XR for remote service, which is so much more efficient and faster than sending out a service person. I would expect to hear announcements regard - ing newly available XR services very soon. New Hardware: We can certainly expect to see the next generation of XR hardware, new head- sets and perhaps the release of the next gener- ation of the long-awaited Microsoft HoloLens. Also, there will be more powerful small com- puters allowing for better mobility and next generation haptic devices. Figure 3: XR being used on the USS Ford.