Augmented Reality Technology - How Does it Work?

Augmented reality (AR) is an emerging technology that blurs the line between real and virtual world by giving us all the sensations of a real world within a virtual environment. With this technology, you can see, hear, feel and smell different things that are computer-generated, so as to give you an idea of how it would be in the real-world.

This technology offers unlimited potential for companies world over to better connect with their customers, and more importantly, to give them a feel of a product before buying it. It also creates endless possibilities to change the way we see the world, and interact with it.

Difference between VR and AR

Often, AR is confused with virtual reality, though they are much different from each other. Virtual reality creates a virtual environment where the user immerses himself or herself with the help of devices such as head mounted displays. However, with AR, users continue to live in the real world and are not immersed in a virtual environment. Rather, they get to feel and hear objects that are overlaid on objects in the real world. In other words, virtual reality replaces the real objects with artificial ones while AR enhances the real objects with appropriate artificial images.

How does AR work?

So, how does this technology work?

At the core, AR superimposes graphics and sensory enhancements over a real-world environment in real time. Though it sounds simple, there is a lot going on within this process of superimposition, as the final product should look and feel like the real one. The main catch is to generate images that are highly realistic, so that it is useful and beneficial to users. This is best achieved with smart algorithms that tap into the power of sensors such as gyroscopes and accelerometers that make it possible for the virtual images to stay aligned with the real world objects.

This technology is still in its nascent stages as more researchers are studying ways to use it more effectively in different fields. For now, it is available on smartphones with iOS and Android operating systems. The different features of these phones are used to generate AR experience for users. For example, the built-in GPRS feature in smartphones provide the location of a user, and accordingly, tags, images and videos pertaining to that location can be superimposed to give users more information on what they can see and do in that location. Similarly, the camera feature captures the face of a user, and a makeup can be superimposed on this face to give users a virtual feel of how it looks on them.

Besides smartphones, projection mapping is another AR method that is being explored. A case in point is the "Google Glass" that uses something called a prism projector to superimpose useful information and images on the real world of users.

Going forward, AR offers immense potential to change the way we see and perceive things as a society.  

Gary Herring is the President of The Albert Einstein Group, a product development, strategy creation, and manufacturing company where all of its roads end in retail.