1.Introduction of AR-Augmented Reality
Augmented reality seems like
something straight out of a science fiction futuristic movie. But the truth is:
it is here today. It is easily accessible to anyone with a smart phone. Just a
few years ago, the phenomenon could seemed impossible to a common man. But with
the rapid development of mobile technology, this new power really change our
lives. It could just be the next step in a way we collect information, helping
the user understand his/her environment better. AR can be described as the
computer-generated modification of a real-world environment in real time. This
is usually done through a camera and software algorithm.
2.AR Applications
AR has a lot of applications
in real life. In commerce, AR can allow customers see what's inside a package;
activate views customization and additional images. In education, any materials
can contain embedded “markers” which can produce supplementary multimedia
information so that students participate interactively with simulations. AR can
also allow gamers to experience digital game play in a real world environment
because of better movement detection like Kinect. AR also exists in navigation
devices which can indicate destination directions, meter, weather, terrain,
road conditions and traffic information. AR helps us in translating, interprets
foreign text and re-display; transcribes spoken words, translate and then
displayed in a user's view as printed subtitles. AR enhances a user's
experience when traveling by providing real time information including
comments, rendering them into their current view. Another amazing application
is Google Glass, which is a wearable computer that can display information,
take pictures, record videos and communicate with the Internet via natural
language.
3.Pros & Cons of AR
AR technology offers both
advantages and disadvantages. In term of providing information, AR technology
adds a virtual layer of information to the video streams of real life, thus
providing deeper understanding of the surrounding environment. However, as a
mean of displaying information, it may leads to privacy violation. Another
advantage of AR technology is that it requires little interaction of users, so
users can access to the Internet easily. Nevertheless, software running on AR
devices requires continuous connection to the Internet, which demands high
bandwidth, resulting in more strain on the Internet. In term of social impact,
on the one hand, AR technology reshapes the way people communicate, making the
conversation easier and more interesting by providing users information of the
person they are talking with. On the other hand, it makes the conversation more
challenging, because the person may or may not use AR technology to discover
their partner's personal information. In advertising industry, AR technology
offers a more effective way of advertising, but it also causes annoyance to
users by pushing too much advertisements to them. Finally, AR technology is
very useful when applied in medical, military and architecture.
4.The Future of AR
Even though AR technology is
very promising and prospective, it still encounters certain difficulties as
well as barriers. Firstly, accuracy limitation of current devices is a serious
problem. Secondly, people may not want to be overreliance on their current
mobile devices which is not suitable for superimposing information. Technical
challenges are also accompanied by issues of social etiquette, privacy and
security. Despite of the difficulties above, the future of AR is still very
bright. Large companies like Intel, Microsoft has joined in developing the
technology. It’s expected that AR industry will bring a trillion dollar market
for visual content and change the world in the way that graphical OS has
changed world.
References
1. Adstuck
(2013) ‘Adstuck's Technology Talks on
Augmented Reality and Beyond’, Available from:
http://www.adstuck.com/blog/?p=1036 [22 September 2013]
2. Designgene (2009) ‘Augmented
Reality – Pros n Cons’, Available from:
http://designgene.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/augmented-reality-pros-n-cons/[21 September 2013]
3. Farber, D. (2013) ‘The next big thing in tech: Augmented
reality’,Cnet.
Available from:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57588128-76/the-next-big-thing-in-tech-augmented-reality/
[23 September 2013]
4. Smith, K. and Lubin, G. (2013) ‘A Disturbing Vision Of
Augmented Reality In The Future’, Business Insider. Available from:
http://www.businessinsider.com/augmented-reality-future-2013-3?op=1[23 September 2013]
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