AR at Boeing (1990)
The term "augmented reality" was coined at Boeing in 1990 by researcher Tom Caudell. He and a colleague, David Mizell, were asked to come up with an alternative to the expensive diagrams and marking devices then used to guide workers on the factory floor. They proposed replacing the large plywood boards, which contained individually designed wiring instructions for each plane, with a head-mounted apparatus that would display a plane's specific schematics through high-tech eyeware and project them onto multipurpose, reusable boards. Instead of reconfiguring each plywood board manually in each step of the manufacturing process, the customized wiring instructions would essentially be worn by the worker and altered quickly and efficiently through a computer system.