Augmented Reality (AR) is the technology that places a layer of virtual objects or content over the real world in real-time. These virtual objects could be 3D objects, 2D images, videos, or even audio information. Augmented Reality is experienced through headsets, AR glasses, phones, and tablets.
Augmented reality is a branch of Extended Reality but unlike virtual reality (VR), AR doesn't need a completely simulated world for it to be experienced. AR works by enhancing the world around you with virtual objects.
AR started way back in the 1990s when Louis Rosenberg, a computer scientist, created Virtual Fixtures at the U.S. Airforce Research Laboratory. Virtual Fixtures overlaid the real world with computer-generated images and information. This was aimed at guiding and assisting the user through certain tasks and operations.
How Does Augmented Reality Work?
Using the device's camera the AR technology receives and analyzes the surroundings. Sensors like gyroscopes and accelerometers, track the location and orientation of the device (sometimes with SLAM technology).
Afterwards, the 3D object, image, or video is downloaded and superimposed on the feed gotten through the device's camera. As the user moves around, this is updated to keep up with the new location and orientation.
How Common Is Augmented reality?
AR has become more commonplace in recent years. With the adoption of effects and lenses on social media, millions of users experience and even work with AR technology without realizing it. Anyone who has used a Snapchat or TikTok filter has experienced Augmented Reality.
AR has also been used in the gaming industry. Pokemon Go, an augmented reality mobile game, shook the world in 2016. Using your camera and device location, you could collect as many Pokemon as you could find in your surrounding. You could see the pokemon in your environment through your phone.
Applications of Augmented Reality
You can experience AR in many different sectors. They include:
Gaming
AR Games, such as Pokemon Go, Ingress, and Minecraft Earth, allow you to find virtual objects and explore virtual territories while still interacting with the real world. These games are usually location-based.
Entertainment
The experience at concerts, shows, conferences, and even sporting events could be further enhanced through Augmented reality.
In concerts and shows, you can create immersive and interactive experiences for the audience. In 2018, Maroon 5, Snapchat and Verizon partnered to create a live karaoke experience for concert-goers right on their phones. Other examples include the U2 "Experience+ Innocence" tour, and many other experiences during Coachella.
Education
With interactive textbooks and AR Museum tours, you can bring educational concepts and historical figures to life in the classroom.
Health-care
AR can be used to guide doctors during surgeries and even train medical students by allowing them to practice procedures virtually before working with patients.
Medical professionals can even view patient data like X-rays and CT scan information in real time through AR technology.
Industrial Training
Workers can be trained with AR simulations instead of real-world equipment. This saves time and money, allows more people to be trained, and us much safe.
Shopping and Retail
A very useful application of AR technology is virtual try-ons. With Augmented Reality, consumers can try on clothes, glasses, headgear, footwear, and make-up before making a purchase.
This is not limited to fashion. With AR, you can also test how furniture and objects would look in your home. IKEA and Amazon make use of AR tech.
Military
Augmented Reality can be used in training simulations. This way, military persons can be trained for real-life situations.
Construction and Architecture
AR technology can be used in design visualization, overlaying digital plans and models on construction sites, and interactive marketing and sales experiences for the finished building.
Advertising
This can be expressed in different ways. Print media like magazines and billboards can display AR content when they are scanned. Brands and companies can also make use of Social AR on social media apps like Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook to engage and connect with their users.
Types of Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality can be experienced in different ways.
Marker-based AR
This type of AR needs visual markers it a target images to trigger the AR experience. These markers could be QR codes, images or objects.
Markerless AR
Unlike Marker-based AR, markerless Augmented reality does not need a target image or marker to trigger the experience. It relies on computer vision technology to recognize and track objects and surfaces to overlay the digital content on.
Projection-based AR
Projection-based AR makes use of a projector to display digital content directly over real-life content. The project is paired with a camera that tracks the location and orientation of the object.
This allows the user experience AR with their naked eye and without the use of headsets or phones which could lead to fatigue.
The Future of AR
As AR becomes more accessible, it is expected to greatly impact sectors like entertainment and shopping. People will get so used to interacting and working with AR that it would become as natural as taking a picture.
Augmented Reality has the potential to change the way we interact with our surroundings.