What is augmented reality? Augmented Reality Technology

What is augmented reality? The first thing that comes to mind to any person is the well-known dreams of virtuality, full immersion, whether it's a movie or a computer game. However, this is not the case.

Introduction

Augmented reality is a whole technique that allows you to supplement the real world with new information using digital technologies.

Another definition is a mixed reality perceived with the help of computer-added elements in the current time.

The scientist Ronalz Azuma determined in 1997 that the technology of augmented reality is a system combining virtual and present, interacting in the current time and working in 3D.

As you can see, the concept of virtual reality is only a part of something much more than just an accessory for entertainment.

First steps

In order to understand what augmented reality is, it is not necessary to understand the processes taking place in the computer. People for whom words about virtuality do not say anything and do not explain, can recall examples from childhood.

Did you have a printer or a computer in your youth? This is now people can not imagine life without digital technology, and in the distant 90's, children wrote essays and abstracts by hand. It seems, where can you find augmented reality? Abstracts in schools were written on A4 album sheets. Who is cleverer, to get out exactly, put the sheet through a pencil and a ruler, but some were more lucky. In families it was often possible to meet a stencil - a sheet of paper with clearly and brightly marked black lines. If you put a landscape sheet on top of it, these lines will be visible right through, and the person will be able to write as if they were a ruler. The stencil was added to the album sheet by lines.

And maybe someone remembers the stencils in the engineering and design offices. Transparent films, which are applied variants of schemes and drawings, so that it can be superimposed on the original.

In the Russian army, glass tables with a double surface and illumination are still used. A terrain map is placed between the two planes, and combat plans are drawn on the upper transparent cover. Thus, the prototype of the working virtual place is created.

Microsoft Innovations

The development of modern applications does not stand still. Many people are hearing now that various companies are developing glasses of augmented reality. An example of this technology can be called Microsoft HoloLens. This is a modern gadget, made in the form of glasses designed to create augmented reality. The device is controlled by gestures or voice commands and allows you to control virtual objects created on top of real ones that are visible through transparent lenses.

During the presentation of this gadget, 3D video was viewed, and the possibility to create 3D objects was demonstrated. Moreover, the creators assure that the models created in their device can be immediately sent to a 3D printer and print.

The mechanism of these glasses does not use holograms, but simply creates an image on the surface of the lens in such a way that you can track eye movements. In fact, the entire virtual picture remains entirely in your head. These glasses do not require any cameras, sensors or connection to a computer.

Google Pioneers

Despite the obvious progress in creating augmented reality glasses from Microsoft, the first to create a working prototype was the specialists from Google X. The so-called google glass was presented in 2012 and had to combine a video diary, augmented reality, mobile communications and the Internet.

The gadget is attached to the head, it is equipped with a small display and a camera. Management takes place in the voice of the keyword. The idea was realized for people wearing corrective vision glasses of augmented reality, so that you could replace the lens for each individually.

Playing Life

Ironically, the games of augmented reality entered our life relatively long ago. Of course, regarding the creation of glasses. An interesting fact is that the entertainment industry is always one step ahead of serious projects. Unfortunately, and perhaps fortunately, they did not acquire a format for mass hobby. Most likely, in order for this to happen, a massive revolution in the mind is needed. Although there is a possibility that humanity is simply afraid to eventually confuse reality and virtuality. Here are a couple of games using the technology of augmented reality.

1. Real strike is not even a game, it's just an application. It uses the camera of your smartphone. When you start, the camera turns on, and the model is superimposed on the picture. There are no opponents. So the user with a quiet heart can "shoot" bothersome neighbors, boorish on the road, got the boss. A good application for detente nerves.
2. One of the popular genres of computer games is the so-called Tower Defense. Crowds of embittered monsters trying to destroy your tower. The action of the augmented reality game AR Defender 2 takes place in your room, office or classroom. In the same way, as in the previous version, the gadget's camera reads information about the surrounding space and already displays an image on it. The advanced application engine absolutely clearly perceives surface irregularities, which provides an even higher level of immersion.
3. A good way to have a break at work is to play virtual basketball. Application AR Basketball, allows you to create an image of a basketball basket on the place where a special QR code is attached. You can print it and place it on any surface, even just on a wall, even on a mug with coffee.

Not before games

If you are a serious person who believes that games are not a place in our life in general, then there are applications of augmented reality for official activity. Thousands of programs and utilities that allow you to make a good marketing move.

1. How do you get the idea to install clothes in the fitting-room of the augmented reality system so that visitors do not take things from the hangers, but just try them on the computer?
2. Or the National Geographic channel that took place, which introduced people to the world of wild nature without leaving the city.
3. The ability to create a 3D building project in the application, with the transfer from place to place without any problems.
4. If you are an avid tourist, the augmented reality browsers will help you to find any necessary information in the place where you are, or find the way if you get lost.

With your own hands

If you are a practicing programmer and you are interested in augmented reality, how to make it yourself, the Swarp SDK will tell you. The product developed by Russian programmers is used to create augmented reality application in "home" conditions. Since programming is a complex creative process, we will not delve into the subtleties of this action, but simply describe the general interface of the software.

1. Bin - the directory in which all Swarp SDK libraries are located, as well as the Mogre control engine.
2. Docs - all documentation, license agreement, and user's FAQ are stored here.
3. Examples - here are the examples created by the developers of the Swarp SDK.
4. Trackable - there are several ready-made markers necessary for placing a virtual object in reality.
5. Utilites - there are 3 built-in utilities, two of which serve to view the license and general information about the application, but the third one creates markers for the augmented reality objects.

With the help of this software, augmented reality is created, programs that use it, as well as codes necessary to implement virtuality in real life.

Examples

Augmented reality has already become firmly established in the everyday life of many people. Except for computer technologies and gadgets, humanity uses it to solve a variety of tasks.

In modern combat aircraft and helicopters with the help of augmented reality systems, the indicator panel, the aiming mode, in general everything that can be viewed quickly and easily, without being distracted by the rest of the dashboard is realized.

In the polygraph, augmented reality is also used in quite large volumes. In various magazines, newspapers, guides or maps, special codes are placed, which must be read by special browsers designed for viewing them. In such marks can be absolutely any digital content - text, video, images or even music.

Augmented reality on the android platform is realized in the form of gaming and entertainment applications.

In medicine, this technology is also used. For example, to locate a tumor in an organ, a scan is performed, and then the result is applied to the model of the affected organ, thus saving more healthy tissue. Augmented reality already now saves thousands of lives. Even though it is still in its infancy.

Future

The technology of augmented reality penetrates ever deeper into our life. The level of distribution of cyber technologies and their integration into the sphere of human life is so high that in the near future we may not need many of the now familiar things. Despite the fact that applications of augmented reality are not very popular now, perhaps because they require people to do something at all - go out, move. It is difficult to say what will happen to humanity in the near future due to these technologies. We can either completely atrophy, sitting at the computers, or step into a new world full of interesting events, technologies, attractions ... that is, to play, completely immersed in virtuality.