Introduction to Augmented Reality
The names we give our technologies are sometimes aspirational, and augmented reality (AR) is not any exception. Since the term was coined within the early Nineteen Nineties, AR has been a hopeful concept, meant to explain screen-mediated experiences that add information to at least one’s surroundings relatively than replacing those surroundings, as virtual reality does. However, the issue of making AR has proven to be very hard to resolve.
Challenges in Creating AR
For AR to work, objects have to look real, stick solidly in place, and stay there in shared environments. Creators need tools to construct them, and users need ways to search out and interact with them. All of this must occur without blocking out the actual world; otherwise, AR feels more like degraded reality. Despite these challenges, innovators have been removing roadblocks one after the other, and an era when we will all use AR for work, learning, and entertainment is coming into view.
AR Headsets
In 2016, Microsoft introduced HoloLens, a self-contained AR headset, and last November, it began selling an improved version to business users for $3,500 per unit. Consumers can now buy an analogous headset for $2,300 from the start-up Magic Leap. Both devices use see-through lenses called waveguides to create a 3-D effect. However, each headsets suffer from a limited field of view: about 50 degrees diagonally, which is lower than half the arc visible to the human eye.
Smartphone-Based AR Apps
While AR headsets are still bulky and expensive, smartphone-based apps are filling the gap. Last November, San Francisco-based start-up Ubiquity6 released Display.land, an app that lets users capture, annotate, decorate, and share photorealistic 3-D models of real-world places using the cameras on their smartphones. Phone-sensor data and computer-vision techniques allow Ubiquity6 to pin these models to the true world with an accuracy of centimeters.
Outdoor AR Projects
Another start-up, Sturfee, has emerged with a method that helps to resolve the localization problem outdoors. It uses satellite imagery and computer vision to work out what a smartphone camera is pointing at and to retrieve the best underlying 3-D mesh to anchor shared, persistent AR objects. Producers are going beyond games to create compelling outdoor AR projects, equivalent to the interactive Museum of the Hidden City, a tour that shows visitors to San Francisco powerful visual evidence of the best way racist "slum clearance" projects transformed a minority neighborhood.
Future of AR
Tech web sites are abuzz with rumors that Apple will place 3-D distance sensors alongside the back-facing cameras of recent iPhones in 2020, allowing developers to construct more powerful AR apps. The company can also be regarded as designing its own AR glasses, with a release date as soon as this yr or as late as 2023. AR has already reached consumers through smartphone-based games equivalent to Pokémon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, each from Niantic. Such experiences will gain fidelity and turn out to be more collaborative, but they may run totally on phones because AR headsets are still bulky and expensive.
Conclusion
In conclusion, augmented reality is getting real, and its potential uses are vast. While AR headsets are still within the early stages of development, smartphone-based apps are making AR more accessible to consumers. As technology continues to enhance, we will expect to see more modern AR projects and experiences that can change the best way we interact with the world around us. With the removal of roadblocks and the advancement of technology, an era of AR is coming into view, and it’s exciting to take into consideration what the longer term holds for this technology.
