Table of Contents
What is Augmented Reality ?
Augmented Reality is providing an experience to the user where Digital elements e.g. text, sound, digital characters, Maps, etc are being superimposed to the physical reality. A very common example of AR is the Pokemon game “ Pokemon Go“. The digital objects may interact with the real-world to some extent.
Augmented reality is probably going to be the next big thing in the technology sector and this will explode with the use of more and more smartphones and wearables. The area of applications of AR is huge. e.g. AR is being used in the field of Military and Health care for training the candidates.
According to some trusted journals, the Market of AR will be $198 Billion by 2025.
Big corporations like Sony, Nvidia, Intel, etc are investing in this technology.
The most important aspect of the underlying technology of AR is the location and identification of objects. AR is a sophisticated technology and it can be presented with the help of Wearables e.g. Headsets, Heads up or Mobile Devices e.g. Smartphones. In today’s date, most of these devices have inbuilt digital cameras. In the case of AR, digital objects, characters, words, or maps will be superimposed either on the process of taking the image capture or after the capturing of images is done.
What is Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality & Extended Reality?
When it comes to Augmented Reality, some people mix up the term with Virtual Reality. So let’s explore the other terms like VR ( Virtual Reality ), MR ( Mixed Reality ) & ER ( Extended Reality ). Let’s explain each of them one by one.
Virtual Reality: VR provides an experience to the user of a complete virtual world around. When users put on the VR headset and switch it on, they experience an unreal/virtual world which is different from the reality around
Mixed Reality: MR provides users the experience which is a combination of Virtual and Augmented reality where digital objects can interact with the real world.
Extended reality: XR is the superset which includes both the Virtual and Real-world. XR provides users with experience in both the Real and Virtual worlds with the help of Technology, Wearables, Gadgets. It’s a complete experience humans interact with the machine with this semi-virtual world.
Some Applications of Augmented Reality in Daily Life
A very common example of Augmented Reality is by one of the most prestigious companies in the world “Google”. They released “ Google Glass” in 2013. This glass provides users with overlaying images, audios, and other necessary information while viewing. Google glass was not a commercial success. But it was a definite success in terms of technology.
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The importance of AR can be understood by the special apps and games which run on smartphones and tablets and reaching into people’s lives. The most common game in the smartphone is “Pokemon Go”. In this game player’s location will be identified and then the app will ask the user to roam around on nearby certain locations to find out the virtual Pokemon or Pikachu characters. This app has got huge popularity, especially amongst kids.
Some other AR apps are also there in the market e.g. coloring book developed by Disney is the app which can detect a real-world object as images and virtually let the user color the picture and save it.
Most of you must already know about the Snapchat app which superimposes some features on users’ faces. First, it detects and recognizes the facial structure and adds beard, sunglasses, Caps, etc.
IKEA, a furniture company based in the USA has launched a VR app that can take the picture of the entire empty room, recognizes the objects, and then help a user to put virtual furniture in the room.
Home improvement store Lowe’s has developed AR apps which provide 3D images of furnishings and accessories into your home or commercial space.
AR has been in the Military and defense even before snapshot or any other app exists in the market. US Military and Force have always invested in technology to keep the training most effective for the soldiers.
Though Artificial environments are not as close as the real-world war zone, it improves soldier’s efficiently to act faster in the real War Zone due to this intensive training using AR-based Training sessions.
It also improves their cognitive skills while working under pressure in this artificial environment.
Some apps are there which help viewers to identify objects and provide recommendations e.g. while walking on the streets this app will tell which are the restaurants nearby, or in a building which companies are there who are hiring right now.
Sixth Sense
Sixth Sense is the first gesture-based wearable computer technology invented by Steve Mann as a student of MIT in the year 1994. He developed both headworn ( 1997) and neckworn (1998) version and the research was further continued by Pranay Mistry at MIT Lab.
Steve Mann started creating wearable computing devices from high school as an amateur.
This technology was later used by many companies in many applications e.g. Apple.
Future of Augmented Reality
AR is probably going to be the next big thing in technology by 2025. Currently, most of the accessible AR apps run on tablets and smartphones but in the future, there may be AR functionalities that will be implemented on glasses and we will call them “Smart Glass”.
But to make that happen we need to eliminate some flaws which took place in the “ Google glass project”. The reason for Google to pull the project that was security concerns. Future AR may be implemented on contact lenses as well.
There are also certain projects undergoing development that come under AR development e.g. holographic display. These are futuristic projects.
Other Applications of AR
AR In Healthcare: AR-powered applications are being used in health care which helps medical students to get trained in a more efficient way. They can get more information about any surgery from the digital contents superimposed on the real-world physical organs. In critical condition, AR-based applications can give more information related to surgery and diagnosis.
Retail: AR in retail will bring more customers resulting in more revenue. Presenting the products with 3D models and with more information using audio and digital content will make more visibility and will create more interest.
Real Estate: Real Estate can also benefit from Augmented Reality via 3D tours of apartments and houses, that can also be manipulated to amend some parts.
Education: AR is used to create interactive 3D models to teach students about Maths, Chemistry, and other Scientific subjects in a more effective way.
Tourism: AR-based apps can make a significant difference in traveler’s exp. While walking on the street this can provide the traveler with information about different hotels, restaurants, and entertainment places around the areas and different important places to visit.
Entertainment: The popularity of AR based games are increasing day by day. They are accessible to the kids by smartphones and tablets. Also, AR can be implemented on many wearables that can be used e.g. glass.
AI and AR Together
Augmented reality and artificial intelligence are two different and unique technologies but together they can create killer applications. AR apps powered by efficient underlying AI models can help to understand 3D models of the world around, where the digital objects ( including audio and text) can provide accurate data about the objects.
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