Augmented reality
Augmented reality (AR) is a type of 3D human-computer interaction that puts virtual objects placed into a user's real space. The objects appear to exist as if they are in that space. It is also known as mixed reality (MR). It can be done using a variety of physical devices, including head-mounted displays and handheld devices. If using a headset, the headset requires position and orientation tracking.
Augmented reality overlaps with the concept of 3D displays, but also includes absolute positioning systems.
To register the coordinate system to the environment, 3D tracking must be used. Tracking can be done using cameras (using fiducial markers or markerless SLAM), or by using magnetic tracking or lighthouse tracking. Augmented reality can involve fiducial markers for tracking, such as ArUco markers.
Multi-user augmented reality can be used for communication between people. Multiple people, each with an AR headset or smartphone, could all see a 3D model that one person is annotating.
Augmented reality can be see-through or passthrough. See-through uses an optical see through display like on the Magic Leap. Passthrough uses a camera feed and an optically opaque display, like on a Meta Quest Pro.
Technologies[edit]
Head-mounted see-through displays[edit]
See through displays have been used in devices like the Magic Leap 1 and the HoloLens 1 to overlay content onto the real world.
Augmented reality using headsets benefits from a high field of view and a high focal depth range. Focal depth range can be done using light field displays or holographic displays.
3D tracking (Positional tracking)[edit]
Environment tracking is the capability of a device to know its position and orientation relative to its environment. This is required so that the virtual imagery has correct registration to the real world. Augmented reality systems typically use some form of camera-based tracking.
History[edit]
First head-mounted displays[edit]
The first person to develop augmented reality systems was Ivan Sutherland.[1][2][3][4][5]
Ivan Sutherland and Bob Sproull created a head-mounted display system at Harvard University and the University of Utah in about 1968. The system has see-through optics and displayed simple wireframe graphics, and was held to the ceiling by a mechanical arm which tracked the head movements of the user. This iteration of the technology would prove to be impractical for mass use.
The historical development of AR technologies intersects with that of virtual reality. During the initial stages of its evolution in the 1960s, the terms augmented reality and virtual reality had not been coined and, consequently, there wasn’t a clear distinction between AR and VR.[1]
Boeing[edit]
Professor Thomas P. Caudell, a researcher at Boeing, coined the term augmented reality in 1990.[6] The term was in reference to a HMD that guided workers through assembling electrical wires in aircraft.[1][7][5]
Virtual Fixtures[edit]
Virtual Fixtures is developed at USAF Armstrong’s Research Lab by Louis Rosenberg. It was one of the earliest systems to have video pass-through augmented reality with handheld 3D tracked controllers. It was a system that overlaid sensory information on a workspace to improve human productivity.[1]
Multi-user AR: Studierstube[edit]
The first collaborative AR system was developed by Schmalstieg and colleagues. The Studierstube enabled multiple users to experience virtual objects in the same shared space through the use of HMDs. Each user from his individual viewpoint could see an image in correct perspective.[2]
Outdoor augmented reality: The Touring Machine[edit]
Steven Feiner and colleagues created a mobile outdoor AR system at Columbia University, called the Touring Machine.[8] It had a see-through HMD, GPS, and orientation tracking. The system needed a backpack with a computer to deliver mobile 3D graphics, various sensors, and a version of a tablet computer for input.[2]
First autonomous handheld AR system[edit]
Wagner and Schmalstieg presented a handheld AR system that ran autonomously on a handheld device (A PDA). A multiplayer handheld AR game called Invisible Train was shown at the SIGGRAPH Emerging Technologies show floor.[2]
Handheld AR[edit]
Handheld AR was first done on PDAs, then smartphones and tablets. It involves using a device's camera. On iPhones, ARKit can be used. On Android devices ARCore can be used.
Headset-based AR[edit]
Two companies that popularized augmented reality in the 2010s were Magic Leap and Microsoft with the HoloLens.[1]
Headset-based AR can either be video passthrough or optical see-through. The Magic Leap 1 and the HoloLens are both optical see-through.
CREAL has developed light field displays for augmented reality. VividQ and Swave advertise holographic-based displays and display components for augmented reality.
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The Interaction Design Foundation. Augmented Reality - The past, the present and the Future. Retrieved from https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/augmented-reality-the-past-the-present-and-the-future
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Hollerer, T. and Schmalstieg, D. (2016). Introduction to Augmented Reality. Retrieved from http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=2516729
- ↑ Javornik, A. (2016). The mainstreaming of augmented reality: A brief history. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/10/the-mainstreaming-of-augmented-reality-a-brief-history
- ↑ Virtual Reality Society. History of Virtual Reality. Retrieved from https://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality/history.html
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 van Krevelen, D. W. F. (2007). Augmented Reality: Technologies, applications, and limitations. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rick_Van_Krevelen2/publication/292150312_Augmented_Reality_Technologies_Applications_and_Limitations/links/56ab2b4108aed5a01359c113.pdf
- ↑ Site, Using This; Our, You Accept (2015-12-13). "Augmented Reality – The Past, The Present and The Future". https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/augmented-reality-the-past-the-present-and-the-future.
- ↑ Sawers, P. (2011). Augmented reality: The past, present and future. Retrieved from https://thenextweb.com/insider/2011/07/03/augmented-reality-the-past-present-and-future/#.tnw_tfKQ6SY7
- ↑ "A Touring Machine: Prototyping 3D Mobile Augmented Reality Systems for Exploring the Urban Environment". https://sites.cs.ucsb.edu/~holl/pubs/feiner-1997-iswc.pdf.