Why is Augmented Reality a big deal?

[yautjacetanu]

I heard Abrash from value discussing AR with Palmer at quakecon and since then I've seen a bunch of stuff about how AR is a big deal and that VR is much smaller then it. Everyone seems to think that AR is going to be a big deal, as big as smartphones and that is just a given.

However I don't really see why AR is a big deal? Why does it matter and why would I ever get excited by it? Anyways some brief googling I found this that pretty much sums up my feelings towards it. http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669455/4-p ... ming-a-hit

I kinda think AR could work if it was literally built into my eye-ball. But as long as I have to put on some glasses (me being someone who does not wear glasses) it would be a little annoying.

[cybereality]

AR is, no doubt, bigger than VR. At least it terms of mindshare. There seems to be a lot of hype surrounding it and people seem to think there are large commercial opportunities. VR is having somewhat of a resurgence, due mainly to the Oculus Rift, but I'd still think your average person would be more interested, and more comfortable, using AR rather than VR.

What I call this is the "last hurrah for meat-space." People know that VR will eventually take over, and AR is sort of a defense against it. It is for the people that have a huge investment, and a huge attachment, to the so-called "real world." Personally, I would have no problem spending most of my time in totally immersive VR, but I think for some people this is a frightening concept. So that's my theory why AR seems so much bigger than VR.

Ultimately they are two different (albeit related) fields, and I don't think they really conflict with each other. We can, and will, have both technologies.

[MSat]

The thing about AR is that it can overlay (or cover up) a real scene with relevant data. For instance, say you go to a foreign country where you can't read the language. AR could replace the text on a sign with your language, all while potentially hiding the original text. Or you can go to the store and while looking at an item, you can get relevant information about it such as customer reviews. Perhaps AR glasses could even give a police officer Terminator Vision

So while VR and AR certainly cross over a bit, they're quite distinct. VR has huge potential in the gaming and visualization markets, while AR is more in the information market. Both can serve the consumer and professional markets, but I think it's fair to say that a quality AR system has a much higher market potential.

[Mystify]

the possibilities for AR really excite me. No so much what is being presented, which is mainly "Its your smartphone, but in your face all the time". It should be used to augment reality, as the name implied, not overlay notifications on it.
For instance, you are driving. Which is better- a small map on a screen with directions that takes your attention off the road, and can be ambiguous about what it means, or being able to look at the road and see a path directing you, or highlighting the exit you need.
You come across a restaurant you haven't heard of. Do you want to pull out your phone, go into a browser or app, search for the place, and get reviews, or would you like to be able to simple look at it, and with a simple command bring up its reviews, summaries, menus, etc.
Or the possibility of virtual objects. Things that have no real existence, but through some common protocol be identified and shared between people.
How about the ability to just pull up a video wherever you are, and watch it? It could be like one of those HMDs for watching movies, only instead of an extra peripheral to carry around, its just part of your normal attire.
Take the enhanced ways of interacting with things that you could do in VR, and apply them to the real world. The technological progress of each is also complimentary. You want gesture recognition and arm tracking for VR? That also becomes a great boon for AR. One of the major limits of smartphones is the interface. You have a tiny screen, you have to also use that screen as the input, and its all very cramped. You want the device to be larger, just so you can expand your viewing area and input area. With AR, those limits vanish. You now have a huge FOV to work with for providing feedback. Browsing the internet could be as easy as working on a computer, and even more mobile. Instead of a tiny screen for input, you could have a virtual keyboard. Display a false keyboard on a surface, track the user's typing, and you have a much easier interface than typing on a small touchscreen. Perhaps not as ideal as a real keyboard, but far better than any mobile options. You could also do stuff with writing- imagine being able to write on a surface, and have the vision identify your motions and the text written. Typing your essay would be as natural as writing it in a notebook- and could in fact, be the exact same thing.
Imagine gaming in AR. Instead of trying to deal with how to keep the player from actually moving in VR, you use AR and incorporate the actual environment into your game. Play lasertag/paintball with nothing more than your AR glasses.
Imagine being able to have virtual decorations on your walls. The wall has some device the AR goggles can find and interpret, which will tell it to visually change the color of the wall, or to show a mural, or even animate the wall. The decoration could change day to day, or switched as easily as your desktop background. You could even personalize how it appears to you specifically. Your friend objects to your favorite poster? Make it hidden to them.
In a similar vein, you could have a AR avatar. Other devices connect to yours, and are told what your skin is, and they in turn project the appropriate image over you.
As MSat said, you could do real-time text translation. You could also incorporate extra sensors into the device, and incorporate the data into your vision. As one example, IR vision that could be used to highlight people not in direct sight.

I also don't think needing an actual device is really that much of a downside. People already carry many items with them. Keys, phones, wallets, purses, etc. Many people wear glasses, and don't find it much of an inconvenience. It takes very little time for a pair of glasses to be as natural as wearing a shirt. Even for people without glasses, sunglasses are fairly common, and people don't object to wearing them. I feel like using "I don't want to wear a device" is more a conceptual dislike than something that would pose an issue once you started using it.

Most of this would not be initial doable, I admit. They are more long-term potential for the technology. However, we can't get there if we don't take the initial steps. The initial versions may be little more than glorified ways to show twitter updates. I'm sure everyone here can see the potential for VR. AR has no less potential.

[MSat]

Those were some great examples, Mystify.

Just wanted to point out to the OP that down the road, it's likely that the same pair of glasses could be used for both AR, and VR. In fact, some AR functionality would benefit VR - such as detecting objects and notifying you (like a wall you're about to smack your face into, or a person trying to get your attention).

[yautjacetanu]

Hmmm ok thanks mystify those examples kinda helped.

I suppose my instant reaction to all those examples is that they would mostly be quite cool as a feature of smartphones using the smartphone camera and doesn't need to be in glasses to be useful. If they are in glasses there is an element where you can get that information more quickly but I dunno how big a deal that is.

I can see how having the larger FOV might be quite cool for doing things like reading e-mails whilst waiting for a train, etc. I suppose with AR you could do some serious work whilst commuting if the inputs are good enough.

Regarding VR, I haven't met a single person yet who wouldn't want to try the oculus rift. But I suppose most of those people would just be interested in trying it out rather then actually buying a rift... but even then I don't know. I feel like anyone who would be ok buying a Wii would be more likely to buy into a rift.

[Mystify]

Some of the examples I gave could be replicated just by using a smartphone camera. Others really do need to be view-encompassing, on demand to be worth anything. Take the translated text example. There is already an app (or people are developing an app, I'm not sure which, but I've seen videos of it) that lets you point your phone at text and have the translation overlayed. If you are just wandering around and find some foreign text, it may be fine to pull out your phone ,load up the app, and check. But what if you are visiting a foreign country, and all the text is unreadable? You could be waving your phone at everything, or you could have AR that just translates everything seamlessly. And this is one of the features that is relatively amiable to having as a phone app.

[Kazioo]

Hard AR in future might have even bigger impact on society than creation of the Internet.

Just think about possibilities. Your wife will never know how sexy she looks in your eyes and your apartment will always look like you want and that's just the tip of the iceberg. It's actually terrifying.

[geekmaster]

Hard AR in future might have even bigger impact on society than creation of the Internet.

Just think about possibilities. Your wife will never know how sexy she looks in your eyes and your apartment will always look like you want and that's just the tip of the iceberg. It's actually terrifying.

So, have you started writing your own "virtual beer goggles" app for the Oculus Rift yet?

Beer Goggles:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIT3WlIyy1Y[/youtube]

[rhinosix]

I think it's difficult to see the big deal in AR if you're thinking about it as an isolated technology applied to the present.

It's difficult to predict how new technologies can be used until they become real products and are in daily use.

As computers become smaller and more powerful, and the Internet expands, almost everything will be connected and 'augmented' in some way. An augmented reality interface will allow you to communicate with all these devices, and have access to all kinds of information - expanding your senses and abilities.

In the future, your desktop computer, smartphone, power source, and VR/ AR goggles will all be integrated into your clothing, body, or wearable in some other way.

Imagine arriving home - you can change the visuals of your apartment any way you want, overlayed on the real environment. If you want you can step into a completely virtual world to play a game, an art, or music studio, or a garage. Or if you want to only see the real physical world you can turn it all off.

Everything in your home - lighting, heating, security systems, energy and food production, plants, pets could communicate with you. And with a simple visual programming system, or natural language processing you could set up automated tasks.

When you step outside you could call up an automated taxi to take you to where you want to go. When you're travelling in an evacuated tube transport system you could slip into a virtual office, or sleep in a virtual bedroom.

Or if you wanted, you could travel the world sleeping in hotels, or live on a Space colony and bring your virtual apartment with you.

Now we have photographic maps of the physical environment (Google maps, Open Street Maps, etc.). But in the future we could have real-time maps and extensive information on almost anything - ambient light and sound, pollution, wind and water currents, information on endangered species and protected environments, your health, environmental hazards, communication with emergency services.

Maybe in the distant future there will be some sort of satellite and ground based laser scanning system to give us a real-time virtual replica of the planet so you can use VR to be somewhere else, and other people will see you in the real location with AR?

Your AR/ VR goggles will also let you interface with other growing technologies such as robots, drones, and 3D printers.

For now, I think VR is way more exciting than AR, but you have to start somewhere, and with projects like Glass, the Rift, and the continued evolution of smart phones, sensors, batteries, and so on, all this will converge and expand into some very interesting technologies.