A growing trend among different companies that involved business applications and mobile use in particular, using digital devices and visual elements or other kinds of sensory stimuli, an enhanced and updated version of the real world is achieved which is known as Augmented Reality also referred as AR. It involves auditory, visual sensory information to enhance one’s experience. So many companies and different retailers use augmented reality to promote their products, launch new ones, their marketing and also for user data collection. Moreover, augmented reality is a little more than the marketing tool as marketers and technology firms have a battle too.
Augmented reality is increasingly used in technology and it is different from virtual reality. Although so many people think that augmented reality (AR) and Virtual reality (VR). So understanding their difference is very important.
- Augmented reality is the enhanced version of reality through the use of technology, it might be with the help of smartphones or tablets. It adds digital information on an image of something.
- Virtual reality is defined as the use of computer technology for creating a stimulated and helpful environment. When we talk about VR, we see a completely different reality than the one which is in front of us. It can be an animated scene or an artificial one or an actual place that has been photographed. With the help of virtual reality, we can move around and also look in every direction if you were physically there. You can also explore places you have never been to.
Augmented reality has seen a significant amount of importance from the big tech names such as Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft.
Mobile Augmented Reality
It is the most easily accessible and most widely used form of augmented reality, it Is readily accessible to both the companies and the consumer also. The Mobile augmented reality apps are built on the smart phones and tablets with the AR content that can be visible on the screen in the form of a hologram.
A combination of real and virtual world
The interactive experience of the real world environment is of great importance these days. It accompanies both the real and the virtual world together in a single frame which is quite helpful now and will be doing wonders in future as well.
Key features of AR
It also comprises of a few prominent key features such as:
- a combination of real and virtual worlds
- real-time interaction
- accurate 3D registration of virtual and real objects
Augmented reality changes the ongoing perception of the real world environment whereas the virtual reality completely replaces it with a stimulated environment.
It is related to two terms:
- Computer mediated reality
- Mixed reality
Hardware for Augmented reality
The basic hardware components used for augmented reality are input devices, processors, display other kinds of sensors. The mobile computing devices such as smartphones and tablets contain these components. It often includes camera and GPS, accelerometer.
Display
Various kinds of technologies are used in augmented reality, which include handled devices, monitors, optical projection systems and other sorts of display systems which are worn on the human body.
Augmented reality in today’s world
Augmented reality is often referred as the technology of the future but in the past decade various labs and companies havebuilt the devices which provide us with augmented reality. In 2009, MIT Media Lab’s Fluid interfaces Group presented the Sixthsence which is a device that has combined the use of camera a smartphone, a projector, and a mirror. Four sensors devices on the user’s fingers can be used to manipulate the images.
In 2013, goggle rolled out Google Glass moving the augmented reality to a more of a wearable interface, glasses. In this case it displays on the user’s lens screen through a small projector andhas the ability to respond to the voice commands, overlying images videos and sounds on the screen. Some apps for tablets and smartphones work better with such objects as well.
Applications of augmented reality
The AR technology has been used in many different fields which includes tourism, archeology, art, commerce, emergency management, entertainment and leisure, education etc. some of them are discussed below:
- In the field of tourism, the application of augmented reality technology to the tourist’s attraction can restore the historical sites by using the smart phone cameras, the tablets, screen software’s and other sort of technological ways to display and integrate the realistic scenes which are observed.
- In the field of Archaeology, the real landscapes can be seen, and it can be used to pinpoint the exact locations.
- In the field of art, it has also done wonders, it has enabled people to have angles of reality and the ways by which they can interpret the reality. The fusion of the actual reality and this form of reality has become an area of interest now.
- Doctors can use the augmented reality technology to locate the patient’s surgical site. It is also helpful in better observance of the fetus and also remind the patient to take medication.
In the recent years the augmented reality technology has attracted a larger amount of attention from the researchers as well as the people taking interest in this and using this effectively.it has shown a strong momentum of development. The display equations, the tracking registration and the nature of human and computer interaction is also improved. There are still many problems related to this that are pending to be solved. In the next few years, the augmented reality technology more likely to be the mobile intelligent terminals will emerge on a larger and wider scale. It will the human computer interaction to a greater extent in the future. In terms of display technology, it is on great demand of the public. The small wearable devices will give a full play to the advantages of augmented reality technology. But in terms of the interaction mode the more natural and multi-user augmented reality interaction technology is still under attention.
