AR Use In The Real World

This was my first time using live translate with the Google Translate app. It was amazing on how well it was able to translate the words in an instant as I am hovering my phone over the text. I could see this being used in so many different environments. For example, if you go to a restaurant and the menu is in a different language then you can easily use your phone to translate the food name. That is so much better than ordering something without knowing what it is and hope it turns out to be good. Another great example of how this can be used it when traveling to a different country where English is not the main language. Simply point the camera at a sign and you can instantly know what it says. For example, this can save you the trouble of trying to have a conversation with a stranger where they have no idea what you are saying and end up giving you wrong directions. That would be a disaster.

Obviously, not everything is perfect. At least when it comes to AR. There can be many problems with this sort of implementation. For example, if you take a look at Figure 2, the translator translates the word Spanish word “armado” to the English word “armed.” Obviously, that is not what the instructions is trying to say as you can see right next to it is the English word “assembly.” These two words are very distinct from each other. If this entire manual was in Spanish and had I used Google Translator to read the manual I would have been extremely confused. This is not always the case. As Figure 1 shows, the translator did a good job at translating the text. Another issue with this app is that if you move too much then it is constantly switching up the translation. This is a problem because say you are in a car in a foreign country and you need to know that the street sign is saying. If you point the camera at the sign, chances are that it will not register the word because you may be moving too fast and the text will not translate in time.

Let’s say this technology is put into a pair of glasses. This would be great because I would not have to be constantly pulling out my phone and pointing it at some text. It would also be better that holding a phone because I believe it would be more stable in the sense that you head would not shake as much as your hands would. In terms of how much control the user should have now that AR and the real world are completely one, I believe the user should obviously have complete control. The lenses for example should not be implanted into the user. If the user wants to disconnect from AR, then it should be completely in their power.

The main thing with this translator and AR is convenience. This translator’s main purpose is to make it easier to translate text in a very natural manner and it can do that. Imagine having to type all those words into a translator, that would be ridiculous and impractical. This type of AR application saves a user from all the trouble of course it is not perfect yet, but this technology and app is a great example of what can be done in the future and how we can progress. The ability to have access to data in an instance is a step forward from the ability to have data at the tip of your fingertips. And this is what AR allows us to attain.