Augmented reality in spine surgery is taking off, and its growth could be exponential in the near future. With more and more places adopting the technology, many surgeons have a positive outlook for the technology. It's the first AR system driven by artificial intelligence, using machine-learning-based guidance and automated surgical planning. In December, Royal Philips expanded its ClarifyEye AR spine system in Spain and Oman. In February, Neo Medical raised $20.6 million in funding, which will support the product's U.S. launch.

Augmented reality technology has taken off in spine and orthopedic surgery in 2021. In December, ClarifyEye expanded in Spain and Oman. The hospital is the first in Denver to implement Augmedics' Xvision system. Riverside Healthcare partnered with Brainlab to add its Zeiss Kinevo Microscope to its spine program. The first spine case combining augmented reality and a surgical robot was recently performed by Kornelis Poelstra, MD, PhD, director of The Robotic Spine Institute of Silicon Valley in Los Gatos, Calif., in May.

WASHINGTON – The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has issued a $5.8 million contract to a team building an artificial intelligence system able to scan instruction manuals and convert that data into instructions for augmented reality systems. Companies are already using augmented reality technologies in their manufacturing processes. Lockheed Martin, for example, uses augmented reality goggles in assembling its space systems for NASA. With the goggles on, technicians can see relevant information and instructions in the space around them as they go about their work, saving them from having to constantly walk back and forth to consult physical manuals or computer monitors. Under the $5.8 million contract, PARC, a Xerox company, will work with the University of California at Santa Barbara, the University of Rostock in Germany and Patched Reality on the Autonomous Multimodal Ingestion for Goal-Oriented Support (AMIGOS) project for the Perceptually-enabled Task Guidance Program.

The U.S. Army has awarded Microsoft Corp a $479.2 million contract to supply prototypes for the Army's augmented reality systems helping soldiers in training and combat missions. It follow a major revolt from some employees who do want the the firm to work on military technology. 'Augmented reality technology will provide troops with more and better information to make decisions,' a Microsoft spokesperson said. The U.S. Army has awarded Microsoft Corp a $479.2 million contract to supply prototypes for the Army's augmented reality systems helping soldiers in training and combat missions. 'This new work extends our longstanding, trusted relationship with the DoD to this new area.'

Robots make fantastic remote-sensing systems, ideal for sending in to disaster areas or for search-and-rescue. Drones in particular can move rapidly over large areas or through structures, identifying damage or looking for survivors by sending a video feed from their on-board cameras to a remote operator. While the data that drones provide can be invaluable, managing them can be quite difficult, especially once they get beyond line-of-sight. Researchers from Graz University of Technology, in Styria, Austria, led by Okan Erat, want to change the way we interface with drones, using augmented reality to turn them from complicated flying robots into remote cameras that an untrained user can easily control. Through a HoloLens--Microsoft's mixed reality head-mounted display--a drone can enable a sort of X-ray vision, allowing you to see straight through walls and making controlling the drone as easy as grabbing a virtual drone and putting it exactly where you want it to be.