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AR enters the lives of most people through
smartphones 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. Star Walk App
The app then shows information about the nearby restaurants, stores and places of interest.
Disney Research developed a colouring book with AR. After
the user colours 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 coloured. The app also uses AR to recreate
the character in a 3D form on the screen.
Colouring Book
Virtual Reality
In Virtual Reality (VR), we create a virtual world that users can interact with and explore in a way
that mimics real-world experiences.. In this world, the user cannot easily distinguish between
what is real and what is virtual.
In both VR and AR, people must wear HMD (Head
Mounted Displays) or a VR Headset like Oculus Rift or
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 you can feel that you are Virtual Reality
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 gives 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 an active 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 Virtual 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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