What is Augmented Reality?
Augmented Reality
Augmented reality (AR) is an experience where designers enhance parts of users’ physical world with computer-generated input. Designers create inputs—ranging from sound to video, to graphics to GPS overlays and more—in digital content which responds in real time to changes in the user’s environment, typically movement.
Augmented Reality vs. Virtual Reality
Augmented reality uses the existing real-world environment and puts virtual information on top of it to enhance the experience.
In contrast, virtual reality immerses users, allowing them to “inhabit” an entirely different environment altogether, notably a virtual one created and rendered by computers. Users may be immersed in an animated scene or an actual location that has been photographed and embedded in a virtual reality app. Through a virtual reality viewer, users can look up, down, or any which way, as if they were actually there.
How does Augmented Reality Work and What are the technologies behind It?
Augmented reality overlays digital information on top of a camera-captured natural environment. To work, it needs the following components:
- Depth-sensing camera: You need a camera to record visual information to add to an existing object or place. The said camera should be capable of figuring out the subject’s distance and angle from it.
- Registration tools: These are tools, such as motion sensors and accelerometers, that allow a computer to define the space where it would superimpose or place the sensory information or the objects that should be around the AR user.
- Computer vision: As you use the camera, it takes images from the outside world for interpretation and referencing using a machine learning (ML) algorithm. For example, when you train a camera’s focus on a box, it uses the pixels from that image as a reference to recognize similar-looking objects. The next time you take a photo of another box, the algorithm would try to recall this information to guess if the object is indeed a box. The ML algorithm also combines all pieces of information and adds a creative touch to them to give the user an immersive and believable AR experience.
- Output device: This refers to the display device where users can view the resulting image or video, such as a phone or computer monitor.
Five benefits of AR for marketing
Technology is unique and noticeable
For now, there are many more chances to surprise your customers and create a necessary buzz because you can give your consumers something your competitors don`t have yet.
Augmented reality gets more virality
Speaking about the buzz. Word of mouth and social sharing increase the acquisition of new customers.
AR opportunities for personalization
A chance to create something unique and thereby to express one’s individuality is way more engaging than standard media content.
Content quality improvement
With AR you give users a tool for creating the content that they couldn`t do before by themselves.
Interactivity maintains the retention
Not in vain, the entertainment trend stays on the leader’s list. The highly exciting content motivates users to interact with your mobile application again and again.
What are the Different Types of AR?
There are different ways to execute AR, which include:
- Marker-based AR: This type needs a visual marker or a distinct image that the camera recognizes and processes to reveal information about an object. The marker is usually a QR code or a custom logo or artwork. Marker-type AR is very popular because it is easy and inexpensive to implement. However, it also requires the download of a custom app that recognizes specific patterns. The video below demonstrates this. The camera recognizes the QR codes on the coasters and this triggers the corresponding image to be displayed.
- Markerless AR: As the term indicates, it requires no visual markers for a camera to augment an image into a physical space. Instead, you move virtual objects. An example of this is an interior design app that lets you put pieces of furniture in various arrangements to see how they would look. Markerless AR is best for apps that do not require an “anchor” to the real world. In the video below, no marker is used. The camera simply tracks the fingertips and displays the image.
- Projector-based AR: This type uses advanced projection technology to simplify complex manual tasks that are part of a company’s manufacturing, assembly, sequencing, and training operations. It can be applied to light guide systems. In a factory, for instance, instead of asking employees to follow step-by-step instructions to create a product using a manual, lights indicating each step are used instead. Check out the projector-based AR demo in the video below.
Real Use Cases for Augmented Reality
1. Medical Training
From operating MRI equipment to performing complex surgeries, AR tech holds the potential to boost the depth and effectiveness of medical training in many areas. Students at the Cleveland Clinic at Case Western Reserve University. For example, will now learn anatomy utilizing an AR headset allowing them to delve into the human body in an interactive 3D format.
2. Retail
In today’s physical retail environment, shoppers are using their smartphones more than ever to compare prices or look up additional information on products they’re browsing. World famous motorcycle brand Harley Davidson is one great instance of a brand making the most of this trend, by developing an an AR app that shoppers can use in-store. Users can view a motorcycle they might be interesting in buying in the showroom, and customize it using the app to see which colors and features they might like.
3. Design & Modeling
From interior design to architecture and construction, AR is helping professionals visualize their final products during the creative process. Use of headsets enables architects, engineers, and design professionals step directly into their buildings and spaces to see how their designs might look, and even make virtual on the spot changes. Urban planners can even model how entire city layouts might look using AR headset visualization. Any design or modeling jobs that involve spatial relationships are a perfect use case for AR tech.
4. Classroom Education
While technology like tablets have become widespread in many schools and classrooms, teachers and educators are now ramping up student’s learning experience with AR. The Aurasma app, for example, is already being used in classrooms so that students can view their classes via a smartphone or tablet for a more rich learning environment. Students learning about astronomy might see a full map of the solar system, or those in a music class might be able to see musical notes in real time as they learn to play an instrument.
5. Tourism Industry
Technology has gone a long way towards advancing the tourism industry in recent years, from review sites like TripAdvisor to informative website like Lonely Planet. But AR presents a huge opportunity for travel brands and agents to give potential tourists an even more immersive experience before they travel. Imagine taking a virtual “Walkabout” Australia before on AR glasses before booking a ticket to Sydney, or a leisurely stroll around Paris to see what museums or cafes you might like to visit. AR promises to make selling trips, travel, and vacations a whole lot easier in the future.
6. Public Safety
In the event of an emergency today, people will immediately reach for their smartphone to find out what’s going on, where to go, and whether their loved ones are safe. Moreover, first responders arrive on the scene of a fire or earthquake trying to figure out who needs help, and the best way to get them to safety. AR is showing promise in solving both pieces of the public safety puzzle. First responders wearing AR glasses can be alerted to danger areas, and show in real-time individuals that need assistance while enabling to still be aware of their surroundings. For those in need, geolocation enabled AR can show them directions, and the best route to, safe zones and areas with firefighters or medics.
