Engineering is a big business. Whether it’s CAD (computer-aided design) or CAM (computer-aided manufacturing), the markets are huge and make lots of money. It’s no wonder, then, that engineers embrace new technology in their work. This new technology includes high-quality assembly lines and robots, cutting edge software and so on. Within the last decade, immersive technology became widespread. Naturally, engineers paid close attention to it.
Generally speaking, immersive technology isn’t new to engineers. For example, ever since the year 2000, Ford has been using it to design their cars. With time, new AR/VR products will become an everyday part of engineering.
How and Where Can Engineers Use Immersive Technology?
CAM engineers can use 3D immersive technology to test out new products. Using a 3D model for testing is far more cost-effective than designing a whole product just to test it. In case the prototype doesn’t work properly, we have to re-engineer it from scratch again.
But that’s not the case with immersive tech products. Today, we can use the new technology to see how the product would perform without making it in real life and testing it. The more immersive technology gets better, the more precise and realistic the tests will be.
Of course, we can’t forget CAD engineers. Designing a product in a 3D environment is always a great option. Making an actual 3D object gives engineers a “full picture.” They can see what their object might look like in real life, what texture it would have and even how people can use it.
Engineering User Base
With the focus on CAD and CAM engineering, it’s not difficult to guess who the target audience is. The question then becomes “What’s the realistic number of products we can sell in the first five years?”
To answer that, let’s take a look at some figures. To be more specific, we will look into data provided by the US’s Bureau of Labor, Japan’s Statistics Japan, and the European Union’s Eurostat. According to these sources, there are a little over 6 million engineers in these three countries.
Immersive Technology Revenue
It’s not particularly difficult to estimate the potential earnings of immersive technology in engineering. By 2020 it will earn up to $1.5 billion in software alone. That number goes up to $4.7 half a decade later.
If all goes as planned, about a million engineers will use immersive technology at work. That number of engineers can easily go up to 3.2 million in 2025. A certain number of these engineers will get an annual subscription fee. Of course, the CAD software isn’t cheap. In fact, an engineer might spend up to $5.000 just for the software. That’s not a small investment. When we compare CAD to immersive technology, we can safely say that the VR product costs less. At the moment, decent immersive technology software can go as low as $1.500.
Can’t Engineering Companies Make Their Own Immersive Tech?
Yes, they technically could. In fact, these companies might have all the right resources and tools to do so. However, when it comes to quality, it’s always a better idea to buy a product from an expert in the field. Otherwise, the engineers can try to create their own software and fail, losing revenue in the process.
Immersive technology is evolving every day. Naturally, engineering evolves with it and it’s no wonder that the two are closely connected. However, buyers should make sure that the tech they’re getting is genuine, with software coded by an expert in immersive tech.
