Augmented Reality is an interactive way of presenting relevant digital information about the user environment in real time. Unlike virtual reality (VR), which creates a completely artificial environment. AR users experience real-world environments, with perceptual information generated on top of it.
Augmented reality is used to visually alter the natural environment or provide users with additional information. AR manages to blend digital and three-dimensional (3D) components with a person’s perception of the real world. From helping with decision-making to entertainment, AR has many uses.
AR transmits visual elements, sounds, and other sensory information to the user through a device such as a smartphone or glasses. This information overlays on the device to create an interwoven experience. Digital information replaces the user’s perception of the real world. Overlaid information can be added to the environment or to the facade part of the natural environment.
Augmented Reality vs Virtual Reality
Augmented reality uses the existing real-world environment. It places virtual information—or even a virtual world on top of it—to enhance the experience. For example, think of Pokémon Go, where users are searching for animated characters in their real-life neighborhoods. It pops up on their phones or tablets.
In contrast, virtual reality immerses users in a completely different environment.
A computer creates and presents a virtual environment for users. For example, virtual reality users can be immersed in an animated scene or a digital environment. Virtual reality takes pictures of an actual local location and embeds them in a VR app. Through a virtual reality headset, a person can walk around Italy as if they were actually there.
How does augmented reality works?
Augmented reality can be delivered including smartphones, tablets, and glasses. AR is also developed when delivered through contact lenses. Technology requires hardware components, such as processors, sensors, a display, and input devices. This hardware is already available in mobile devices with sensors. It includes cameras, accelerometers, a global positioning system (GPS), and a solid-state compass. This helps to make AR more accessible to the everyday user. A GPS is used to pinpoint a user’s location, and its compass is used to detect device orientation, for example.
Sophisticated AR programs used by the military for training may also include machine vision, object recognition, and gesture recognition. AR can be computationally intensive, so if a device lacks processing power, data processing may be offloaded to a separate machine.
Augmented reality apps are written in specialized 3D programs that enable developers to connect animations or relevant digital information in computer programs to augmented reality markers in the real world. When a computing device’s AR app or browser plugin receives digital information from a known marker, it begins executing the marker’s code and layers the correct image or images.
Uses of Augmented Reality:
Retail:
Consumers can use the store’s online app to see how products such as furniture will look in their homes before purchasing.
Guidance:
AR can be used to overlay the route to a user’s destination on a live view of the street. AR used for navigation can also display information about local businesses in the user’s immediate environment.
Entertainment and Gaming:
AR can be used to overlay virtual games in the real world or enable users to animate their faces on social media in various and creative ways.
Architecture:
Architects visualize a building project by using AR.
Tools and measurements:
Mobile devices can use AR to measure various 3D points in the user’s environment.
Archaeology:
The AR aids in archaeological research by helping archaeologists reconstruct sites. The 3D models help museum visitors and future archaeologists experience an excavation site as if they were there.
Military:
Data can be displayed on the windshield of the vehicle indicating destination directions, distances, weather, and road conditions.
Examples of AR:
Some early adopters in retail have developed AR technologies designed to enhance the consumer shopping experience. Augmented Reality is incorporated into store catalog apps, which allow consumers to visualize how different products will look in different environments. For example, when buying furniture, buyers point the camera at the appropriate room and the product will appear in the foreground.
The benefits of augmented reality can also reach the healthcare sector, where it can play a huge role. The AR app enables users to view highly detailed, 3D images of various body systems when they hover over a target image on their mobile device. Moreover, This use of AR has become a powerful learning tool for the training of medical professionals.
