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AR enters the lives of most people through
phones and tablets. Vito Technology’s Star
Walk app lets a user point their phone
or tablet camera at the sky and see the
names of stars and planets superimposed
on the image. One more app called Layar
uses the GPS location of the smartphone
and the camera to collect information
about the user’s surroundings. The app
then shows information about the nearby Star Walk app
restaurants, stores and places of interest.
Disney Research developed a coloring book with AR. After the
user colors in a character in the book, he / she launches the app
on the device. The app uses the camera to detect the character
that was colored. The app also uses AR to recreate the character
in a 3D form on the screen.
Colouring book
Virtual Reality
In Virtual Reality, we create a virtual world that users can interact with. In this world, the user cannot
easily distinguish between what is real and what is virtual.
In both VR/AR, people must wear HMD (Head Mounted Displays)
or a VR Headset like Oculus Rift or the Google Cardboard. The
headset has two small video display screens one for each eye.
This creates the sense of three-dimension. You can also wear
headphones and gloves to experience VR and AR. The headphones
play stereophonic sound or even 3-D sound so that feel that you
are hearing sounds not only near the ears but also in various
places all around you. The gloves have sensors to collect data about your hand movements. This
equipment and the software give you interactive sensory feelings similar to real-world experiences.
Both AR and VR provide a total immersive experience to the user. These technologies find the greatest
use in entertainment, sports/gaming, close interactive eye to eye communication and aided shopping
experiences. Imagine sitting at home and browsing through a store in London where you can see and
feel the merchandise you wish to buy. This technology is also used in education. Imagine being a live
participant in a historical battle or a student of anatomy in medical school. You can really feel the
battle or touch the organs.
We must remember that the journey of VR started in the 90’s with the Nintendo Boy but it really did
not catch on. Now the case seems different as the means of experiencing AR/VR has become less
expensive. Also, there is a lot more on offer and we are all connected all the time at least via our
smartphones.
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