Abbreviated as AR, Augmented Reality is a type of virtual reality that aims to duplicate the world’s environment in a computer. An augmented reality system generates a composite view for the user that is the combination of the real scene viewed by the user and a virtual scene generated by the computer that augments the scene with additional information. The virtual scene generated by the computer is designed to enhance the user’s sensory perception of the virtual world they are seeing or interacting with. The goal of Augmented Reality is to create a system in which the user cannot tell the difference between the real world and the virtual augmentation of it. Today Augmented Reality is used in entertainment, military training, engineering design, robotics, manufacturing and other industries.
Augmented reality devices
Augmented Reality can be used on all screens and connected devices.
• On smartphones and tablets, Augmented Reality feels like a magic window. Hundreds of Augmented Reality apps are available on iPhone, iPad and Android.
• On PC and connected TV, Augmented Reality works with a webcam, which can be quite cumbersome when you have to manipulate a tracker in front of your screen.
• On connected glasses and lenses, Augmented Reality feels like being Robocop.
Augmented Reality(AR) v/s Virtual Reality(VR)
Both virtual reality and augmented reality are similar in the goal of immersing the user, though both systems to this in different ways. With AR, users continue to be in touch with the real world while interacting with virtual objects around them. With VR, the user is isolated from the real world while immersed in a world that is completely fabricated. As it stands, VR might work better for video games and social networking in a virtual environment.
AR might have more commercial success because it does not completely take people out of the real world.
