Introduction to Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is a fairly impressive technology that lets us integrate our real, physical worlds with our digital lives. However, the ways the typical person uses it now are mostly pretty silly. For example, you need to use Snapchat to modify faces together with your dog, or the Sephora app to see how different colours of eye shadow will look. Ikea has an app that permits you to place virtual furniture around your home to see how it should look before you purchase, and naturally, there’s Pokémon Go.

The Evolution of Augmented Reality

Rather than some revolutionary recent technology, augmented reality, or AR, has come into our lives piecemeal. Some version of the technology has been around for some time now. Jet fighters have used heads-up displays of their helmets for a long time, and Boeing tried using displays that overlaid wiring diagrams to assist technicians within the early 90’s. Aparna Chennapragada, Senior Director of Product at Google, Inc., has talked in regards to the recent Augmented Reality stickers feature of the Pixel 2 smartphone, which shows how far the technology has come.

Current Uses of Augmented Reality

Franzi Roesner, an assistant professor on the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering on the University of Washington, says that there are two spaces by which augmented reality is getting used without delay. One is in ways which can be already commercially available for people, mostly through phone apps. The other is in additional immersive experiences, just like the ones promised by Google Glass in 2013, where the experience will not be limited to a phone screen. Microsoft has developed their HoloLens AR headset, and other firms are developing augmented reality automotive windshields to display things like driving directions directly on the road in front of you.

The Immersive Potential of Augmented Reality

Franzi argues that AR is basically different from other forms of technology we interact with due to its immersive potential. "It is directly sitting between your perception of reality and your actions within the physical world," she says. This implies that AR has the potential to vary the way in which we interact with the world around us, making it a really exciting but additionally potentially scary technology.

Privacy and Security Concerns

Part of what makes this technology potentially scary is that it brings with it recent and unique privacy and security concerns. "If you are wearing an augmented reality headset," Franzi says, "to ensure that that to work well, it must be constantly sensing every thing about your physical world… sensor data, audio data, video data, about your physical surroundings." While that continuous surveillance raises privacy concerns, the largest danger in line with Franzi is on the output side, especially if an AR user installs a malicious app. For example, an app could block your view of pedestrians crossing the road or startle you with scurrying spiders while driving.

Protecting Users from Threats

With these threats in mind, Franzi says that the job of protecting users will go to the designers of the operating systems that run augmented reality technology. "If you put in an application, even when that application tries to do things like block your view of oncoming cars while you’re crossing the road, it shouldn’t have the option to do this," she says. The designers of the operating systems have to work out constrain applications to forestall them from causing harm.

Preparing for the Future

So far, we’re only getting a small glimpse of what will probably be possible with AR, but Franzi says this is precisely the appropriate time to be preparing for these concerns. "Now is sort of the critical time where we still have the chance to make a few of these design decisions that may keep in mind the potential future risks before the technologies are already widely deployed." It’s essential to think about the potential risks and advantages of AR and to design the technology in a way that prioritizes user safety and security.

Conclusion

In conclusion, augmented reality is a robust technology that has the potential to vary the way in which we interact with the world around us. While it’s mostly used for silly things like Snapchat filters and Pokémon Go, it also has the potential for use in additional immersive and potentially life-changing ways. However, with this potential comes recent and unique privacy and security concerns that should be addressed. By considering these concerns and designing the technology with user safety and security in mind, we are able to be certain that AR is utilized in a way that advantages society as an entire.