Augmented reality involves a combination of the real and the virtual to assist a user of such a system in his environment. It involves a combination of the graphics from a computer display or television screen integrated into the real-world environment. The line between what is real and what is computer-generated will be blurred. This relatively new technology is closer to the real world in that it integrates graphics, sounds, and even smells into the real world as it exists. In augmented reality the user can see the real world integrated with computer graphics. This is in contrast to virtual reality, the basic idea of which is to immerse a user inside a completely imaginary, computer-generated world. In augmented reality the real world is not replaced, it is "supplemented."
Video games have been a strong driving force in the development of augmented reality, but it has many other far reaching applications, including telemedicine, architecture, construction, and devices for the disabled. In medical applications one can envision giving a doctor x-ray vision. Repairing or building a complex piece of machinery would probably be easier if one had 3D drawings superimposed upon the machinery itself and verbal commands telling the mechanic what to do and where to do it rather than a manual with text and 2D pictures.
Augmented reality is meant to augment human perception by supplying information not ordinarily detectable by human senses. One way to develop an augmented-reality system is via an optical, see-through head-mounted display, somewhat similar to a wearable computer. These devices are optical combiners in that they let light in from the real world as well as reflecting light from built-in monitors displaying graphic images created using computer technology. This results in a combination of real-world objects and virtual-world graphics.
Although somewhat rare, there are several large augmented reality systems in operation, including the Interactive Video Environment system, smart rooms, and 3D web browsers. Smart rooms are designed to act like invisible butlers in that they use the input from cameras, microphones, and other sensors to try to interpret what people are doing in order to assist them. An example of a smart room would be a smart car interior that knows when drivers are trying to perform a specific action such as stopping, turning, or passing without being told. These smart rooms are unencumbered user interfaces to virtual environments that have eliminated the need for invasive sensors, head-mounted displays, and distracting dangling wires. Such smart rooms are designed to exploit human strengths such as remembering the surrounding three-dimensional spatial layout of an environment. Being created along with smart rooms are immersive 3D web browsers. These rely more heavily on human strengths and try to understand human logic so as to design a more efficient environment for interactions. These augmented-reality systems, as one can imagine, are of high interest to the advertising and marketing industries.
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