What is Augmented Reality
Augmented reality (AR) is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is modified (possibly even diminished rather than augmented) by a computer. As a result, the technology functions by enhancing one’s current perception of reality(source:Wikipedia)
Augmented reality is the integration of digital information with the user’s environment in real time. Unlike virtual reality, which creates a totally artificial environment, augmented reality uses the existing environment and overlays new information on top of it.
Amir Efrati (writer at theinformation) asked Qualcomm’s Matt Grob what technological challenges we need to overcome in order to create the ideal augmented reality experience:
“What’s needed is beyond the current state of the art. If you imagine you’re sitting at your office and look up at the wall and there’s a 4K resolution monitor or display, even if it’s 50, 60, 70 inches, it’s only part of your field of view,” Grob said. “If you wrap that around your entire field of view, 4K isn’t enough. You need 8K or even more. ”
Better screens aren’t all ,
“It needs to be full field of view but you want it to be extremely low latency when you move left and right. It has to be able to track your gaze, especially see-through AR like what Magic Leap does. You need to track your focus, your vertex, you need to supply gigabit speed to it so everyone can be in a location and get content at the same time.” Grob said. “It needs to be lightweight and low-power, so there’s still severalfold more computing required than what we can do today. So these devices have not come of age yet, but they will.”
This kind of AR, which is sometimes known as mixed reality (MR). is really the next big step in computing interfaces.
How Augmented Reality Works
According to research the spectrum between virtual reality which creates immersive, computer-generated environments, and the real world, augmented reality is closer to the real world. Augmented reality adds graphics, sounds, haptic feedback and smell to the natural world as it exists it blur the lines between what’s real and what’s computer-generated by enhancing what we see, hear, feel and smell.
How Snapchat has Introduced The World to Augmented Reality
Every tech giant firms like Google and Facebook to Microsoft and, reportedly, even Apple have been researching how to connect our physical and digital worlds cohesively.But Snapchat might be closer than all of them.
One of the most popular features on the disappearing photo and video sharing service are Snapchat Lenses. On the surface, Lenses are just masks, designs, and graphics that are digitally superimposed on your face. Now, it should be noted that this probably isn’t true “augmented reality”—where computers can use your location, image recognition, and other data to provide more information on what you’re seeing. But Snapchat’s simplified version of the concept has become popular both with its youthful users and advertising partners.
Augmented Reality Can Create Games in the Real World
Augmented reality (AR) exists through the lens of our smartphones as information layered on top of what the camera sees, but Developer Jon Cheng worked with an indoor climbing facility in Somerville, Massachusetts, called Brooklyn Boulders, to turn rock climbing into a real-world video game where participants compete in a time trial to hit virtual markers on the wall.
Please look at the video below ,
as you can see in Video the system makes the climbing wall into an interactive virtual game by projecting a course and detecting a player’s movements within it.
The game selects can the targets, and participants can strategize their own path to reach them quickly. Because the game isn’t dependent on sensors in the wall, the gym can easily create new and different courses as desired. all thanks to augmented reality.
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Sara Wales