Augmented reality

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Augmented reality (AR) is a field of computer research which deals with the combination of real world and computer generated data. At present, most AR research is concerned with the use of live video imagery which is digitally processed and "augmented" by the addition of computer generated graphics. Advanced research includes the use of motion tracking data, fiducial marker recognition using machine vision, and the construction of controlled environments containing any number of sensors and actuators.

Contents 1 AR as a transformative technology 2 Outdoor AR 3 AR and ubiquitous computing 4 Current and potential uses 5 Examples for current applications: 6 Future applications: 7 Further Examples 7.1 Specific applications 7.2 Popular Culture 7.2.1 Anime 7.2.2 Science Fiction 8 Notes 9 References 10 Conferences 11 Books 12 See also 13 External links

[edit] AR as a transformative technology

For many of those interested in AR, one of its most important characteristics is the way in which it makes possible a transformation of the focus of interaction. The interactive system is no longer a precise location, but the whole environment; interaction is no longer simply a face-to-screen exchange, but dissolves itself in the surrounding space and objects. Using an information system is no longer exclusively a conscious and intentional act.

[edit] Outdoor AR

A new and major area of current research is into the use of Augmented Reality in the outdoors. The use of GPS and orientation sensors allow for backpack computing systems to take AR outdoors. Early systems have been developed at Columbia University (MARS system) and the University of South Australia (Tinmith system). ARQuake is a good example of the use of outdoor AR.

[edit] AR and ubiquitous computing

AR has clear connections with the ubiquitous computing (abbreviated UC) and wearable computers domains. Mark Weiser stated that "embodied virtuality", the original term he used before coining "ubiquitous computing", intended to express the exact opposite to the concept of virtual reality (Mark Weiser's personal communication, Boston, March 1993). The most salient distinction to be made between AR and UC is that UC does not focus on the disappearance of conscious and intentional interaction with an information system as much as AR does: UC systems such as pervasive computing devices usually maintain the notion of explicit and intentional interaction which often blurs in typical AR work such as Ronald Azuma's work. The theory of Humanistic Intelligence (HI), however, also challenges this semiotic notion of signifier and signified. ^[1] In particular, HI is intelligence that arises from the human being in the feedback loop of a computational process in which the human is inextricably intertwined, and does not typically require conscious thought or effort. In this way, HI, which arises from wearable Computer Mediated Reality, shares a lot in common with AR.

As compared to UC, Ronald Azuma's definition is more focused and covers a subset of AR's original goal, but it has come to be understood as representing the whole domain of AR: Augmented reality is an environment that includes both virtual reality and real-world elements. For instance, an AR user might wear translucent goggles; through these, he could see the real world, as well as computer-generated images projected on top of that world. Azuma defines an augmented reality system as one that

• combines real and virtual
• is interactive in real time
• is registered in 3D

This definition is now often used in some parts of the research literature (Azuma, 1997).

[edit] Current and potential uses

Commonly known 'examples' of AR are the yellow first-down line seen in television broadcasts of American football games, and the colored trail showing location and direction of the puck in TV broadcasts of hockey games. The real-world elements are the football field and players, and the virtual element is the yellow line, which is drawn over the image by computers in real time. Note that this example is not an augmented reality application according to the definition above, as objects are not inserted into the real environment and there is usually no interaction with these virtual objects.

Another type of Augmented Reality applications uses projectors and screens to insert objects into the real environment, enhancing museum exhibitions for example. The difference to a simple TV screen for example, is that these objects are related to the environment of the screen or display, and that they often are interactive as well.

Most of the possible applications of AR will however need personal display glasses.

In some current applications like in cars or airplanes, this is usually a head-up display integrated into the windshield.

[edit] Examples for current applications:

• Support with complex tasks, in assembly, maintenance, surgery etc.:
  • by inserting of additional information into the field of view (for example, a mechanic getting labels displayed at parts of a system and getting operating instructions)
  • by visualization of hidden objects (during medical diagnostics or surgery as a virtual X-ray view, based on prior tomography or on real time images from ultrasound or open NMR devices, e.g., a doctor could "see" the fetus inside the mother's womb)
• Navigation devices
  • in buildings, e.g. maintenance of industrial plants
  • outdoors, e.g. military operations or disaster management
  • in cars (headup displays or personal display glasses showing navigation hints and traffic information)
  • in airplanes (headup displays in fighter jets are one of the first AR applications anyhow; meanwhile fully interactive as well, with eye pointing)
• Military and emergency services (wearable systems, showing instructions, maps, enemy locations, fire cells etc.)
• Prospecting in hydrology, ecology, geology (display and interactive analysis of terrain characteristics, interactive three-dimensional maps that could be collaboratively modified and analyzed)
• Visualization of architecture (virtual resurrection of destroyed historic buildings as well as simulation of planned construction projects)
• Enhanced sightseeing : labels or any text related to the objects/places seen, rebuilt ruins, building or even landscape as seen in the past. Combined with a wireless network the amount of data displayed is limitless (encyclopedic articles, news, etc...).
• Simulation, e.g. flight and driving simulators
• Collaboration of distributed teams
  • conferences with real and virtual participants
  • joint work at simulated 3D models
• Entertainment and education
  • virtual objects in museums and exhibitions
  • theme park attractions (Such as Cadbury World)
  • games (e.g. ARQuake)

[edit] Future applications:

• Expanding a PC screen into the real environment: program windows and icons appear as virtual devices in real space and are eye or gesture operated, by gazing or pointing. A single personal display (glasses) could concurrently simulate a hundred conventional PC screens or application windows all around a user
• Virtual devices of all kinds, e.g. replacement of traditional screens, control panels, and entirely new applications impossible in 'real' hardware, like 3D objects interactively changing their shape and appearance.
• Enhanced media applications, like pseudo holographic virtual screens, virtual surround cinema, virtual 'holodecks' (allowing computer-generated imagery to interact with live entertainers and audience)
• Virtual conferences in 'holodeck' style
• Replacement of cellphone and car navigator screens: eye-dialing, insertion of information directly into the environment, e.g. guiding lines directly on the road, as well as enhancements like 'X-ray'-views
• Virtual plants, wallpapers, panoramic views, artwork, decorations, illumination etc., enhancing everyday life
• With AR systems getting into mass market, we may see virtual window dressings, posters, traffic signs, Christmas decorations, advertisement towers and more These may be fully interactive even at a distance, by eye pointing for example.

[edit] Further Examples

[edit] Specific applications

• LifeClipper, a wearable AR system
• Characteroke, a portable AR display costume, whereby the head and neck are concealed behind an active flat panel display.
• MARISIL, a media phone user interface based on AR

[edit] Popular Culture

Pop group Duran Duran included interactive AR projections into their stage show during their 2000 Pop Trash concert tour.^[2]

[edit] Anime

Gundam, Gunbuster, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Hoshi no koe and Martian Successor Nadesico amongst others depict 360° augmented reality cockpits that are used to display information. The upcoming series Dennou Coil depicts a future where children use illegal AR goggles to enhance their environment with games and virtual pets.

[edit] Science Fiction

In the Star Trek universe, the Jem'Hadar used a sort of augmented display to view the real world and what was outside the ship, integrating with the star ship's main sensors to gain an outside view of the star ship.

The television series Firefly depicts numerous AR applications, including a real-time medical scanner which allows a doctor to use his hands to manipulate a detailed and labeled projection of a patient's brain.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Mann, Steve. "Intelligence: WearComp as a new framework for Intelligent Signal Processing", Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 86, No. 11, November, 1998.
2. ^ Pair, J., Wilson, J., Chastine, J., Gandy, M. "The Duran Duran Project: The Augmented Reality Toolkit in Live Performance." The First IEEE International Augmented Reality Toolkit Workshop, 2002. (photos and video)

[edit] References

• Wellner, P., Mackay, W. & Gold, R. Eds. Special issue on computer augmented environments: back to the real world. Communications of the ACM, Volume 36, Issue 7 (July 1993).
• Azuma, Ronald T. "A Survey of Augmented Reality." Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 6, 4 (August 1997), 355 - 385
• Starner, T., Mann S., Rhodes B., Levine J., Healey J., Kirsch D., Picard R., Pentland A. "Augmented Reality Through Wearable Computing." Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 6, 4 (August 1997), 386-398
• Ramesh Raskar, Spatially Augmented Reality, First International Workshop on Augmented Reality, Sept 1998
• S. K. Feiner. "Augmented Reality: A New Way of Seeing: Computer scientists are developing systems that can enhance and enrich a user's view of the world." Scientific American, April 2002 [1]
• Oliver Bimber and Ramesh Raskar, Spatial Augmented Reality: Merging Real and Virtual Worlds, A K Peters, July 2005, 360 pages
• Rolf R. Hainich, The End of Hardware - A Novel Approach to Augmented reality, Booksurge, 2nd Ed. Nov. 2006, 300 pages
• Michael Haller, Mark Billinghurst, Bruce Thomas, Emerging Technologies of Augmented Reality: Interfaces and Design, Idea Group Publishing, Nov 2006, 300 pages

[edit] Conferences

• 1. International Workshop on Augmented Reality (IWAR'98), San Francisco, Nov. 1998.
• 2. International Workshop on Augmented Reality (IWAR'99), San Francisco, Oct. 1999.
• 1. International Symposium on Mixed Reality (ISMR'99), Yokohama, Japan, March 1999.
• 1. International Symposium on Augmented Reality (ISAR 2000), Munich, Oct. 2000.
• 2. International Symposium on Mixed Reality (ISMR'01), Yokohama, Japan, March 2001.
• 2. International Symposium on Augmented Reality (ISAR 2001), New York, Oct. 2001.
• 1. International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR 2002), Darmstadt, Oct. 2002.
• 2. International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR 2003), Tokyo, Oct. 2003.
• 3. International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR 2004), Arlington, VA, Nov. 2004.
• 4. International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR 2005), Vienna, Oct. 2005.
• 5. International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR 2006) Santa Barbara, Oct. 2006.
• 6. International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR 2007) Nara, Japan, Nov. 2007.

[edit] Books

• Rolf R. Hainich, The End of Hardware - A Novel Approach to Augmented reality, Booksurge, 2nd Ed. Nov. 2006, 300 pages
• Michael Haller, Mark Billinghurst, Bruce Thomas, Emerging Technologies of Augmented Reality: Interfaces and Design, Idea Group Publishing, Nov 2006, 300 pages
• Oliver Bimber and Ramesh Raskar, Spatial Augmented Reality: Merging Real and Virtual Worlds, A K Peters, July 2005, 360 pages
• W. Barfield and T. Caudell, Eds. Fundamentals of Wearable Computers and Augmented Reality. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001.

[edit] See also

• Simulated Reality
• Mixed reality
• Virtual reality
• Alternate reality game
• Cyborg
• Virtual retinal display
• Augmented virtuality
• Virtuality Continuum

[edit] External links

AR research groups and labs

• Human Interface Technology Lab, Seattle Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Human-machine Interface
• HIT Lab NZ Human Interface Technology Lab, New Zealand
• TU Munich
• STUDIERSTUBE Augmented Reality Project
• Augmented Environments Lab, Georgia Institute of Technology
• ATR Lab. Japan Augmented Reality
• Carnegie-Mellon Entertainment Technology lab
• Columbia University Computer Graphics and User Interfaces Lab

Reference articles and link lists

• HowStuffWorks: How Augmented Reality Will Work
• Resources Page: Jim Vallinos AR

AR toolkits, frameworks and libraries available for download

• Augmented Reality Toolkit (ART) - Multi-plataform Augmented Reality libraries
• OpenIllusionist: A framework for rapid development of augmented environments
• Mixed Reality Toolkit (MRT) - University College London
• ARTag marker system and SDK - by Dr. Mark Fiala at the National Research Council of Canada

Specific AR projects and results

• Video demonstrations of Augmented Reality and hybrid vision-assisted tracking at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• The Handheld Augmented Reality Project
• Example videos of video see-through Augmented Reality with vision-based tracking From E-Motion Solutions
• Ron Azuma has done some interesting work in resolving the registration issue.
• David Drascic of the University of Toronto is a developer of ARGOS: A Display System for Augmenting Reality. David also has a number of AR related papers on line, accessible from his home page.
• Networked Augmented Reality (AR) Future by Matt Groves
• Interactive Paper, ETH Zürich
• IPF: Augmented Reality for Disaster Management Universität Karlsruhe(TH)
• the Augmented Round Table for arcHitectural design and URban planning. ARTHUR
• Wearable Full-Stereo Outdoor Augmented Reality System - Wearable full-stereo outdoor augmented reality system, designed by Dr. Charles B. Owen
• New Scientist: Article on a system that makes use of Augmented Reality
• Arpa Solutions: Projects for interior designs and interactive books