Applications of Augmented Reality in Screenless Technology

Published on Sep 16, 2019

Updated on Nov 6, 2019

Screenless technology uses augmented reality to superimpose interactable imageries on users’ surroundings. AR is redefining the future of experiences. This article brings forth applications of augmented reality in designing screenless interfaces. It also discusses the psychological impact of augmenting computer-generated visuals in the real world.

Applications of Augmented Reality in Screenless Technology

According to MarketsandMarkets research, the screenless display market is projected to reach $5.7 billion by 2020. In a near-future, augmented reality would be able to project imagery onto almost any surface and medium. However, there’s another aspect of screenless interfaces accompanied by audio and haptics.

AR Audio

Imagine you come across a billboard with a picture of diamond jewellery. You’re impressed and want to know more about the ad. Typically, you’ll pick your phone, type some search queries and then get to know the information about the product. What if you can skip the process and get the information instantly?

AR Audio gives audio responses according to the user’s visual cues. It fulfils the user’s need for information on demand immediately. The technology is advancing to an extent that the AR device can measure your gaze direction and locate the objects in your range of vision!

Sturfee’s Visual Positioning Service (VPS) is a remarkable attempt towards AR innovations.

Seamless Projection

The recent development in augmented reality eliminates the need for bulky headsets or special glasses to see an augmented view of the world. In fact, the screenless display market is projected to reach $5.7 Bn by 2020.

This is possible by seamlessly projecting the imagery in a shared physical space. That is, mapping the imagery on a street or a playground, where many people can simultaneously witness the virtual aspects of augmented reality. The ability to project visuals seamlessly on any surface is one of the biggest applications of augmented reality feasible today.

Humane Creatures

The next take on coupling augmented reality with artificial intelligence is the development of humane creatures or avatars. These human-like intelligent beings can act as a learning companion for children suffering from autism. Augmented reality can smartly interact with children, ask questions, encourage, offer suggestions, and can be a companion in their tough time.

In her book – The Art of Screen Time, Anya Kamenetz mentions Alex, a research project directed by Cassell’s PhD student Samantha Finkelstein. Alex is a gender-ambiguous 8-year-old intelligent augmented reality avatar. During an experiment in a classroom at a charter school in Pittsburgh, students along with Alex discuss their know-how about a picture of a dinosaur. Alex couldn’t catch everything that other students were saying and sometimes his responses are inappropriate. But, this illusion of conversation is a step forward towards the new developments in the AR arena.

Screenless Time?

‘Modifying reality’ is putting a question mark on the psychological impact of augmented reality. Augmented reality together with artificial intelligence is creating environments next to real. Are our mental-models ready to adapt? Or a sudden disruption is going to play with our sentiments? Unfortunately, there are no concrete answers to these questions.

Today, kids (aged between 8 & 18) spend on average more than 7 hours every day looking at screens. However, the new AHA guideline recommends screen time to be at a maximum of two hours per day. In the not so distant future, kids will be growing up with AR accompanying them throughout their day. Whether they are learning about something new or shopping online, AR will have merged and formed a virtual tether with their daily routines.

While screenless AR does pose several questions around its ethical benefits — with responsible use we can harness the best from this technology.

Augmented Reality Best Practices

While using Augmented Reality in design, keep in mind the users’ real-world context. Do not distract or mislead them for social, political, or economic benefits.
Do not play with emotions or drown user senses into meaningless things.
Augmented Reality is data-rich. Ensure the safety of users’ data.

Concluding Remarks

Haptics, gesture control, Synaptics, and triggered imagery are adding intractability to the screenless technology. Today, video games and retail are harnessing augmented reality the most. The future awaits more applications of augmented reality to build screenless interfaces across different industries.

Let’s take a trip back in time—2008. Netflix was nothing like the media juggernaut it is today. Back then, they were a DVD-rental-by-mail service trying to go digital. But here’s the kicker: they hit a major pitfall. The internet was booming, and people were binge-watching shows like never before, but Netflix’s infrastructure couldn’t handle the load. Their single, massive system—what techies call a “monolith”—was creaking under pressure. Slow load times and buffering wheels plagued the experience, a nightmare for any platform or app development company trying to scale

That’s when Netflix decided to do something wild—they broke their monolith into smaller pieces. It was microservices, the tech equivalent of turning one giant pizza into bite-sized slices. Instead of one colossal system doing everything from streaming to recommendations, each piece of Netflix’s architecture became a specialist—one service handled streaming, another handled recommendations, another managed user data, and so on.

But microservices alone weren’t enough. What if one slice of pizza burns? Would the rest of the meal be ruined? Netflix wasn’t about to let a burnt crust take down the whole operation. That’s when they introduced the Circuit Breaker Pattern—just like a home electrical circuit that prevents a total blackout when one fuse blows. Their famous Hystrix tool allowed services to fail without taking down the entire platform.

Fast-forward to today: Netflix isn’t just serving you movie marathons, it’s a digital powerhouse, an icon in platform engineering; it’s deploying new code thousands of times per day without breaking a sweat. They handle 208 million subscribers streaming over 1 billion hours of content every week. Trends in Platform engineering transformed Netflix into an application dev platform with self-service capabilities, supporting app developers and fostering a culture of continuous deployment.

Did Netflix bring order to chaos?

Netflix didn’t just solve its own problem. They blazed the trail for a movement: platform engineering. Now, every company wants a piece of that action. What Netflix did was essentially build an internal platform that developers could innovate without dealing with infrastructure headaches, a dream scenario for any application developer or app development company seeking seamless workflows.

And it’s not just for the big players like Netflix anymore. Across industries, companies are using platform engineering to create Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs)—one-stop shops for mobile application developers to create, test, and deploy apps without waiting on traditional IT. According to Gartner, 80% of organizations will adopt platform engineering by 2025 because it makes everything faster and more efficient, a game-changer for any mobile app developer or development software firm.

All anybody has to do is to make sure the tools are actually connected and working together. To make the most of it. That’s where modern trends like self-service platforms and composable architectures come in. You build, you scale, you innovate.achieving what mobile app dev and web-based development needs And all without breaking a sweat.

Is Mantra Labs Redefining Platform Engineering?

We didn’t just learn from Netflix’s playbook; we’re writing our own chapters in platform engineering. One example of this? Our work with one of India’s leading private-sector general insurance companies.

Their existing DevOps system was like Netflix’s old monolith: complex, clunky, and slowing them down. Multiple teams, diverse workflows, and a lack of standardization were crippling their ability to innovate. Worse yet, they were stuck in a ticket-driven approach, which led to reactive fixes rather than proactive growth. Observability gaps meant they were often solving the wrong problems, without any real insight into what was happening under the hood.

That’s where Mantra Labs stepped in. Mantra Labs brought in the pillars of platform engineering:

Standardization: We unified their workflows, creating a single source of truth for teams across the board.

Customization: Our tailored platform engineering approach addressed the unique demands of their various application development teams.

Traceability: With better observability tools, they could now track their workflows, giving them real-time insights into system health and potential bottlenecks—an essential feature for web and app development and agile software development.

We didn’t just slap a band-aid on the problem; we overhauled their entire infrastructure. By centralizing infrastructure management and removing the ticket-driven chaos, we gave them a self-service platform—where teams could deploy new code without waiting in line. The results? Faster workflows, better adoption of tools, and an infrastructure ready for future growth.

But we didn’t stop there. We solved the critical observability gaps—providing real-time data that helped the insurance giant avoid potential pitfalls before they happened. With our approach, they no longer had to “hope” that things would go right. They could see it happening in real-time which is a major advantage in cross-platform mobile application development and cloud-based web hosting.

The Future of Platform Engineering: What’s Next?

As we look forward, platform engineering will continue to drive innovation, enabling companies to build scalable, resilient systems that adapt to future challenges—whether it’s AI-driven automation or self-healing platforms.

If you’re ready to make the leap into platform engineering, Mantra Labs is here to guide you. Whether you’re aiming for smoother workflows, enhanced observability, or scalable infrastructure, we’ve got the tools and expertise to get you there.

The Future is Screenless