What is Augmented Reality and how does it work?

Here's a brief guide to Augmented Reality.

| Published: Monday, February 13, 2017, 19:50 [IST]

While Virtual Reality might have reached a pinnacle in 2016, it has paved a way for more comprehensive technology the Augmented reality. Last year we saw many companies introducing their latest products based on the VR technology but 2017 looks to be a year where AR technology will shine. And as we say this, AR has already been the talk of the town lately.

What is Augmented Reality and how does it work?

Especially, with the introduction of Pokemon Go, it has drawn a great deal of attention to the world of Augmented Reality. And what's more important is that the success of this AR based game has opened the eyes of different brands and they have started to realize the great potential of this technology. Moreover, as people have got a small taste of the AR technology (Snapchat filters particularly), more consumers may be ready to engage with AR in the days to come.

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On the other hand, with further developments in technology, we might just see this technology being adopted by many brands in different vertical and fields.

That being said, if you are still wondering what Augmented Reality exactly is or you have questions like How does augmented reality work? Is it similar to virtual reality? then read on further to know more about this revolutionary tech.

Augmented Reality: What it is and How it works?

Well, Augmented Reality according to Wikipedia is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented (or supplemented) by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data.

In a more simpler term, Augmented Reality is a technology that turns the environment around you into a digital interface by placing virtual or artificial objects in the real world, in real-time. And how does it do that, Augmented reality basically uses a software to superimpose information on the world you see.

In addition, the software also makes use of a combination of an electronic devices' (smartphone) camera, accelerometer, compass and location data (such as the Global Positioning System - GPS) to determine the position in the physical world. And this location data is then compared by the programmed software to a database to determine what the device is looking at and thus allowing the device's data/graphics (usually artificial image or CGI) to be displayed on-screen.

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Difference Between VR and AR

The main difference between AR and VR migh be the level of immersion. If you consider Virtual reality, its technology is completely based upon a complete simulation of a real world environment which the user can explore and interact with by means of a head-mounted display (HMD) and input devices. The level of immersion is full into a digital world.

Whereas with Augmented Reality, the user sees the real world with the addition of computer generated images which are superimposed on various objects within the real world. There is less immersion as the users are aware of the real world. AR usually makes use of a smartphone or a webcam or a head mounted display which contains software that pulls in various objects and places them on the display.

Secondly, Virtual Reality replaces the real with the artificial whereas augmented reality enhances real life with artificial images. So basically, VR aims to generate a convincing digital simulation of the world for its users to explore while AR sticks with "real" reality, and uses computers to layer useful or interesting information on top of it.

Conclusion

Now that we have stated the differences between the two, you should pretty much have an idea of what AR tech exactly is and capable of. On that note we can expect AR technology to become more prominent in the days to come. And you will be hearing about it more.

Besides, in 2017, it look like it is going to be a big year for the world of augmented reality with tons of new additions between software and hardware. More significantly, we can expect this technology to flourish amongst the mainstream audience as there are many new experiences anticipated to dominate the field across all industries.