By definition, augmented reality technology, or AR tech, is a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user's view of the real world, thus providing a composite view. It acts to enhance the surrounding existing reality instead of Virtual Reality technology, which acts to create a new reality for the user to interact with. This technology has many current uses, both commercially widespread and solely in use for advanced research, and great potential to continue to enhance our interaction with our world.
Augmented Reality, or at least the idea of it, has been around for a long time. Its development and attempts at commercialization have not always been met with success, but its research and development have served to improve many of the ways we view the relationship between our lives and our technology.
The history of AR tech begins in 1968, with American computer scientist and father of graphics Ivan Sutherland's development of the first head-mounted display system, the Sword of Damocles. With the help of his student Bob Sproull, Sutherland's device served to present the user with a display of wireframe rooms, changing the display depending on the movement of the user's head, necessitating head-tracking technology that resembled a giant arm descending from the ceiling onto the device, hence its name.
In 1974, American digital artist Myron Kreuger built "Videoplace", an "artificial reality" laboratory. Videoplace used a combination of projectors, video cameras, and user silhouettes in order to present the user with an environment to interact with. This technology was intended to further explore the capability of technology to enhance human capability concerning aesthetics rather than engineering, and Videoplace is still on display today in the State Museum of Natural History in the University of Connecticut.
In 1990, American Boeing employee Tom Caudell actually put a name to the developing technology: Augmented Reality. Caudell and another employee, David Mizell, also proposed supplying factory workers at Boeing, an airplane manufacturing company, with Head Mounted Devices equipped with AR tech to assist in making changes to airplane schematics.
In 1993, American inventor, entrepreneur, and writer Louis Rosenberg developed "Virtual Fixtures", one of the first pieces of AR tech built for the Air Force. At the time, 3D graphics could not provide a realistic or fast enough picture to convey a realistic environment to work with. Rosenberg's Virtual Fixtures allowed a user to control two robots with a worn upper-body exoskeleton to work in an immersive environment in real-time.
In 1994, American television writer and producer Julie Martin produced the first AR theater production: Dancing in Cyberspace. In this production, performers interacted with and danced around projected objects displayed in real-time through Silicon Graphics computers and the Polhemus sensing system.
In 1998, 1st & Ten, a graphics system, debuted on ESPN, casting a virtual yellow line down marker during an NFL game. This system would continue to be developed and
is currently used in most, if not all, televised sports, today.
In 1999, Naval researchers developed BARS, or Battlefield Augmented Reality Systems. BARS were developed in order to look into the problem of combat in close quarters or in situations with low visibility.
In 1999, NASA utilized a Hybrid Synthetic Vision system, also described as a "virtual cockpit", to fly the X-38 spacecraft. The Hybrid Synthetic Vision system overlayed navigational data to enhance visual navigation during flights.
In 2000, Japanese professor Hirokazu Kato created ARToolKit, a software library for building AR applications. This library served to help developers with common problems such as user tracking to assist in creating as real an interactive environment as possible.
In 2003, Sportvision enhanced the 1998 breakthrough of the 1st & Ten graphics system by inserting the system into the Skycam, the NFL camera that provides an aerial viewpoint of a game.
In 2009, the ARToolKit began to be used in web browsers.
In 2009, printed media, notably, Esquire Magazine, integrates AR in their work. Specifically, Esquire encouraged readers to scan a picture of Robert Downey Jr. to make him appear to come alive on the page.
In 2013, car manufacturers began implementing AR tech in order to assist customers with vehicle service. For example, the Volkswagen MARTA, or Mobile Augmented Reality Technical Assistance, app allowed technicians to see how prospective repair paths would affect the vehicle.
In 2014, the trend of wearable AR tech begins with Google's shipment of Google Glass, a type of smart glasses.
In 2016, two major implementations of AR were introduced to the public. The first was the release of Pokémon Go, an application for mobile devices that allows users to traverse through their everyday lives in search of Pokémon. In the app, a phone's camera was used to capture the world around the user, and then an image of a Pokémon would be superimposed on that. The second was the introduction of filters to Snapchat, a popular mobile device application that allows users to send pictures to one another. In this implementation, users would take images of themselves, and, using facial-recognition software, the application would place different images on the user's face, like makeup, animal features, and glasses.
While no extremely notable achievements have been made since 2016, investments in AR tech and research continue to grow, and the future holds many possibilities.
As with any technology, AR has both a strong following of proponents and dissenters. As the technology continues to develop, many people become increasingly aware of possible security risks, especially with technologies like smart glasses that can possibly be worn throughout the span of an entire day on a daily basis, generating paranoia of being recorded. Additionally, because the widespread commercialization of AR tech is still fairly new, laws and restrictions specifically pertaining to their technology has not yet been established and society as a whole is still adapting to the everyday use of these programs, as shown in problems with Pokémon Go wherein users were trespassing and endangering their lives by not fully paying attention to their surroundings.
Should AR continue to be developed, however, the possible benefits are boundless. Already, possible uses to help people with disabilities concerning their interaction with the world around them can be seen, as existing applications to assist blind people by reading printed labels or identifying common objects grow in popularity. In education and research, AR tech can help to provide in-depth visuals that may not otherwise be readily available, especially in diagram-heavy fields like medicine or engineering. In entertainment, there is, of course, an astounding potential in improving the way we consume media, especially concerning video games.
While Augmented Reality may seem to be a very exclusive technology, it's a lot more common than what is typically thought. From everyday uses like GPS, which can superimpose current speed, ETA, and nearby locations over the user's map, to video games, like Pokémon Go, Augmented Reality technology has played a large role in our every day lives for a long time.
Applications like Snapchat allow users to filter their camera's view in real-time, affecting either their general surrounding environment or certain facial features. Some applications also have scanners that allow users to point their phone's camera at an image, such as a movie poster, and watch it come alive on their phone screen. Additionally, apps like the Google Translate App enable people to simply point their phone's camera at text in a foreign language, and the app will translate whatever the camera is viewing to the user's familiar language. This development means extraordinary things could be in the future for breaking down language barriers, which could lead to even more expansion of the use of AR on a global scale.
In video games, other than Pokémon Go, Microsoft Kinect allows the user to work directly with their environment which is displayed on their screen with interactive objects added. The Kinect camera tracks the user's movements in order to determine the way in which the created objects behave. The Nintendo 3DS, similar to the aforementioned smartphone applications, allow users to point the camera at certain cards, resulting in an on-screen animation.
In mass media, televised sports often use Augmented Reality in order to show markers such as lines in a football game or dots in a tennis match to enhance the audience's understanding of what is happening in the game.
Most recently, wearable AR tech has become more and more popular, especially with the release of Google Glass. Wearable AR tech such as smart glasses allows users to go about their daily life with AR technology enhancing how they interact with their everyday environment without obstructing their ability to interact with said everyday environment.
Augmented Reality holds a lot of potential in continuing to enhance the way in which we go about our daily lives. Its development and research are integral in allowing us to continue to develop as a society in our relationship with our technology.
As previously mentioned, AR tech can greatly assist in research by providing interactive visuals that may not be readily available by other means. In medicine, students can be able to directly work with a three-dimensional model right before their eyes, and doctors can use similar methods using imagery from CT scans or MRIs to create a comprehensive diagram of a patient in order to assist with diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. Similarly, in engineering or architecture, students and professionals can work directly with interactive models in order to understand physical relations to enhance their work.
Much of the problem with shopping is that many consumers oftentimes don't have a good idea of how the product will fit in their home or how to interact with the product. Some businesses are hoping to or are already in the process of developing AR tech that will allow consumers to have a scaled, interactive view of the product within their residence.
Like Ivan Sutherland, some artists have already begun to explore the idea of computer-aided aesthetics. Ideas for art museums requiring the use of Head-Mounted Devices have already been proposed, and there is a great potential for artwork made entirely with AR tech. There is also potential for performing arts, such as with Julie Martin's 1994 theater production.
Of course, finally, entertainment holds a lot of potential in the development of AR tech. In video games, most obviously, the idea of further integrating augmented reality has already been explored in apps like Pokémon Go and in services like the Nintendo 3DS animating a certain card when scanned. AR tech could be developed similarly to that of Virtual Reality gaming headsets to allow a more complete integration of an interactive virtual reality gameplay for a user. Entertainment use, however, is not solely limited to video games. Other media such as movies, shows, televised sports events, books, etc. can also be enhanced with this technology according to the user's preferences or needs in order to create a more stimulating environment when consuming such media.