Comment by papa_bear | Hacker News Reader

Comment by papa_bear | Hacker News Reader

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I remember one of the first hololens trailers featured someone trying to fix their own sink plumbing, and an expert skyping in and highlighting exactly what to do.

Making AR even slightly accessible is going to drastically change all of the trade skill industries. Any kind of simple job with something like plumbing, electrician, or car problems, you could call up a remote expert (or knowledgable friend/relative) and have them guide you through the job without forcing them to drive to your house. This would probably lead to training AIs to help with those same simple jobs, and eventually more complicated ones, but probably not for a good many years(?).

Maybe it's a lot easier said than done, but I feel like there are tons of more physical "remote work" opportunities that Magic Leap can open up, and they're not focusing on them nearly enough. Microsoft is pushing hard with using the hololens in industrial environments for training or collaborating, but even for just personal use, I could see myself buying AR goggles if it made learning basic handyman chores around the house easier to get started with, and hopefully feel less like a chore.

I love this idea but I can't see a mass market for it.

Many people use youtube for this. My experience is, it works well for almost any kind of repair or trade work you can think of.

You could "remote in" an expert, but now we're talking $10-$100 an hour as opposed to free. If you're doing the work yourself I think it's safe to assume you're not valuing your own time outside work at a high dollar value.

I don't know about a mass market - but I live in rural Oregon, and booking an appointment with a local tradesperson results in them showing up 4 to 6 months out - there just aren't enough of them. Sometimes you can convince someone to drive the 2-3 hours each way from one of the nearby cities - but most these guys don't relish 6 hours driving to install a fan.

So I use YouTube A Lot, and boy would I like to be able to pay someone to walk me through things. And I suspect there a a fair number of people in spots like me (if not so extreme). And I suspect there are a lot of Urban DIYers that occasionally get in over their heads and would use this service.

But quantifying this market would be hard.

I do think the ability to recreate the 3d environment, from the sensors on a device in the house would be pretty critical to this working. And the ability to show the customers in AR exactly what needs doing could be a difference that matters.

Still I'm not quitting my day job.

> If you're doing the work yourself

you'd be a remote pair of hands.

So very skeptical this will meaningfully impact the trades. Useful as a bit of DIY coaching, sure. A better Family Handyman or This Old House Ill grant.

But skilled trades are not just knowledge. They rely heavily on experience, skill, and equipment. For example which angle and torque to use with that spark plug, not just highlighting the plug on cylinder #3. A lot of this speaks to why there are apprenticeships instead of study sessions.

Theres also the UI and sensory problems in the hololens and your example. Transmitting fixed position AV misses out on a lot of contextual and situational awareness true presence delivers.

Ah, the 2.0 of talking your mum through some Windows hickup on the phone. If you believe in that market, don't wait for magic leap or anyone, start now building a marketplace for remote expert assistance. If it's viable with AR headsets it will also work using the handheld display and camera devices that everybody already has. When (or if, sorry, not a believer) AR hits mainstream, you will have an enormous head-start.

Ergonomically, it's much easier to hold your phone in your hand with the flashlight on, and point its camera at the plumbing under the sink to show a remote expert, than to strap some goofy goggles on your face and stick your head up under there looking around, with pipes bumping you and water splashing you in your extremely expensive electronic face.

Put perfectly.

I feel like you're making a pretty big assumption here: that people care or want to think about the details of these types of jobs at all, let alone do anything themselves.

Part of the reason why a plumber or mechanic is so expensive is that you're buying not only the solution to the problem, but also your own time and energy that you would have spent thinking about and implementing that solution.

This is the application I'm waiting for. I hope whoever is working on this will make sure it won't remain forever locked down in corporate works. Professional specialization is not absolute, I don't want to become e.g. professional corporate electrician to get access to AR that would tell me how to fix or put together some electronics.

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