What is Augmented Reality (AR)?
It is technology that adds digital content on top of the real world.
Unlike Virtual Reality (VR) (a.k.a. Virtual Worlds) and Mirror Worlds (MWs), it’s not fully virtual and it is, instead, meant to enhance the real world.
You've probably used/seen it before in software like Snapchat/Instagram face filters, Pokémon GO, and even virtual furniture placement apps.
How does AR work?
Despite the simple concept of AR, there are still many processes that run in order for it to not only function, but also make it look appealing to the viewer, so here is a general rundown of how AR generally works for most situations.
1. Camera captures surroundings
2. Computer vision identifies surfaces & objects
3. Sensors track movement and position
4. Processor places digital elements
5. Screen shows combined view (i.e. the digital content in the real world)
6. All processes work to also update virtual elements in real time to adapt to inputs and/or perspective / environment changes
All of this goes into making virtual content appear in the real world through the screen as efficiently and as cosmetically appealing as possible.
Inception and Evolution of AR
1968: Ivan Sutherland, a Harvard professor and computer scientist, creates the first head-mounted AR display.
1970s and 80s: Research focused on how this technology can be utilized, such as Myron Kruger, a computer researcher and artist, building a laboratory at the University of Connecticut called ‘Videoplace’ that was entirely dedicated to artificial reality.
1990s: Tom Caudell, a Boeing researcher, coins the term ‘augmented reality’. Starting to become more prevalent, mainly rapid prototyping and refining interaction with AR elements, like the EyeTap (Google Glass predecessor).
2000s: Yellow line in football broadcasts & AR Games, an app on the Nintendo DS. Essentially, the era when AR started to take off and become more developed and researched. A great example of this is Hirokazu Kato developing the open-source software library called the ARToolKit. The library uses video tracking to overlay virtual graphics on top of the real world, and the package helps other developers build augmented reality software programs.
2010s: Pokémon GO & Microsoft HoloLens Headset are created. Wearable AR headsets start to become more sleek and compact, with companies trying to experiment using cost-effective technologies.
Today: Thousands, maybe millions using AR on apps, predominantly Snapchat and Apple Vision Pro, as well as applications like in the military, and many people have access to it due to the technological minimum being very low (like your phone).
Where is AR used today and where can we see it?
It's used in a multitude of scenarios, especially in common places, like Social Media and Entertainment, Retail and E-commerce, Healthcare, Education and Training, Navigation and Travel.
Examples of such uses include -
Retail: Virtual testing
Healthcare: Surgical guidance
Education: Interactive models for teaching
Manufacturing: Error reduction
Travel: Live translation & overlays
Construction: Real-time visualization of designs and enhanced safety training
Since its implementation into these many parts of society, not only has user experience been better, but work within them has been able to be more streamlined and efficient thanks to the assistance that AR can provide.
Case Studies
1: IKEA Place - Developed before and released in 2017, this software lets you put IKEA furniture in places so that you can have a visual model of furniture in your own house with accurate dimensions without having to physically go to a store and bring it back to place it in your home. It's made to make the furniture buying process easier and more convenient.
2: vGIS AR - This software was released in 2018. It lets construction workers see where important parts of a building are so that they can also see where future construction should go. It’s a huge step up from having to manually check areas, letting this process be much more streamlined than before. By scanning the site, or uploading a virtual schematic to the software, workers can see how things are supposed to look, and find where it's safe to work with minimal tearing down of previous structures, all in real time with accurate perspective and measurements.
3: SMART Garden Room Visualiser App - A software using REYDAR AR technologies released in 2021, this allows users to visualize SMART Garden structures right in their own backyard and see how those modules will fit in that space. It even allows for customization of said structures, from adding and removing panels, windows and doors, and finishes. The augmented reality allows users to see how the garden room would look, outside and inside! Essentially, this allows people to interact with the virtual objects in a new way, by allowing people to actually go inside and see what the virtual object is like from inside it, rather than it just being a view-from-the-outside only experience.
Current Drawbacks
Unfortunately, good things always have some amount of limitation, and, due to this technology still being refined and developed, AR is no exception. AR does require a good chunk of hardware processing units, so there is major battery drain for wireless pieces of technology, such as for phones and other mobile devices. AR also has tracking limitations, meaning that the virtual objects placed might shift due to fast movements, or the surface being obscured, meaning that the software can make some errors when trying to keep the object in the same place, however this can also be somewhat attributed to camera quality as well. Another issue is that graphical limitations are common, since the higher fidelity a model is, the more processing power is needed to keep the software running smoothly, so lower-quality models must be used in order to allocate more resources to placing the object, and keeping it accurate in location and perspective. And, finally, there are the social issues, like privacy concerns, which are a common discussion topic as, since AR commonly uses a camera, that means that entities like corporations can take that camera feed and use the location you're capturing as data, which raises some concerns due to users usually being in that same location when using AR, which could potentially be dangerous if data leaks arise. Overall, AR still needs to work out many kinks before we can better reap the benefits of it when it becomes more integrated into our daily lives.
The Future!
Although Augmented Reality is a much older technology than we give it credit for, there are still many more improvements we can make upon it. Once most of the drawbacks are minimized or eliminated, we will be able to use it in many more scenarios and in ways that we thought were never possible before. Things like a seamless navigation aid overlay, hologram-like technology, efficient shopping (e.g. showing deals without having to check price tags and phones constantly), entertainment, such as more video games using the technology, AI enhancements, whether that be upping digital content resolution or better tracking through predictions, and a way to more efficiently use processing power while making power draining less of a concern.
References
- https://www.reydar.com/portfolio/smart-garden/