Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) is a variation of a Virtual Environment (VE), or Virtual Reality (VR) as it is more commonly called. Virtual Reality technologies completely immerse a user inside a synthetic environment and while immersed, the user cannot see the real world around him. In contrast, Augmented Reality is taking digital or computer generated information, whether it be images, audio, video, and touch or haptic sensations and overlaying them over in a real-time environment. Augmented Reality technically can be used to enhance all five senses, but its most common present-day use is visual. Unlike Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality allows the user to see the real world, with virtual objects superimposed upon or composited with the real world. Therefore, AR supplements reality, rather than completely replacing it as depicted in Figure 1.1 Augmented Reality can be thought of as the blend, or the “middle ground,” between the completely synthetic and the completely real.