“Augmented Reality”. It doesn’t quite roll off the tongue in a manner that could be described as euphonious. The term sounds lopsided and clunky. Definitely not two words that I find compelling or evocative. Those two words are the literary equivalent of a blunt instrument: slow, heavy, and strong. In fact, the term feels like a badly written movie that goes straight to DVD (and that you’ll eventually find it in the bottom bin at a Wal-Mart sale for $2.99). You can’t even make a workable abbreviation out of it; if you say “AR” in the wrong crowd, they will think you are referring to Accounts Receivable or Arkansas.
While we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover (or even by the movie “based on the book”), we likewise shouldn’t judge a technology based on its name. In a similar vein, we shouldn’t be quick to discount augmented reality based on early examples/demonstrations that appear gimmicky. It is easy to miss the full earth-shaking, mind-rattling, jaw-dropping paradigm-shifting potential of future AR as both the technology and the industry matures. We are at the dawn of something new: it is almost impossible to understand the full scope and impact of what is coming. In many respects, it’s as if we have discovered a new country full of promise and hope. This “AR country” offers enormous potentiality for change, as well as many associated risks.
And just what is this augmented reality stuff anyway?
Augmented Reality in its most basic form is the blend of the real and the virtual. Beyond this, there is some contention as to what AR is or isn’t. There’s also the issue of whether any given example could fall under the categories of Mixed Reality, Virtuality, or something else entirely. We could construct various models and/or other litmus tests to determine if something should be referred to as AR, or we could easily adopt any of the more common definitions.
For now, let’s just keep it simple and a little broad. AR is the blend of the real and the virtual which can be experienced through a number of modes or modalities. It usually requires a digital video camera, a monitor, and either a printed marker or a pre-defined image which is tracked (which effectively replaces the marker). This definition is particularly suited to the past and the present state of AR technology.
In the near future, AR will incorporate geolocative, spatial, contextual, interactive, semantic, mobile, massively multi-user, and pervasive technologies. In the long-term AR will evolve into a platform that is extraordinarily dynamic and immersive. The popular/primary interface will include a pair of wearable displays with transparent lenses similar to a head’s up display. The form of these wearable displays will be nearly identical to a contemporary pair of Ray Bans or Oakleys:
This interface will be linked (hopefully wirelessly) to a mobile internet device that is likely to be clipped to a belt or sewn into clothes.
So what does all this mean? Why am I constantly going on about the blue sky potential of mobile augmented reality? With all combined AR elements, we will effectively be able to create an experience that is like a rudimentary Star Trek Holodeck. Interactive virtual objects, information, and life sized avatars will blend with the world around us:
…and will appear like semi-transparent holograms or digital ghosts. We will own virtual pets. Data visualizations will exist for everything from directional floating arrows to information tags anchored to every object (including us). 3D movies will be completely redefined. MMORPGs will be played in public parks. Doctors will see patients overlaid with X-Ray and MRI information. Education will come alive in the classroom….
There are thousands of potential applications and mobile AR experiences that will change nearly every aspect of our lives. A media revolution will occur; we will be thrust into a new information age where we are no longer chained to bulky PCs, heavy laptops and/or power hungry monitors.
This above vision is one that I am pursuing through my company, Neogence Enterprises. Although Augmented Reality has been in existence previously – the list of true early pioneers, innovators, and academics is long – Neogence wants to be at the forefront of taking AR to a new functional level. It may be a few years before our full vision is realized. There are plenty of technical hurdles still to overcome; in the meantime Neogence will aggressively push ahead one step at a time, building up piece by piece. If all goes well, we will be launching the first commercial version of a global mobile augmented reality network on October 10th, 2010 at 1010am Eastern. We plan on releasing bits and pieces along the way with some closed beta testing in the Spring. We want to build this emergent technology correctly and create something that is infinitely extensible and expandable. We intend to focus on the end-user experience and empower you (the user) to create wonderfully original applications and content.
Join us on our journey and help us build the future. In the next week or so, Neogence will open mirascape.com. We will allow for closed beta registration in the Spring. I have some special plans for the first 100,000 unique sign ups when we launch. The future awaits…
When I see a technology in this stage of development I am always conflicted. I understand the perceived need to generate the hype cycle and on the other hand the gee whiz nature of the media. I do also see that there is a pretty narrow window where the technology exists and, if the applications exist, great opportunities, wealth and change are created.
Will people adopt a wearable monitor (especially as fashionable sunglasses)? It certainly is possible given the extended use of visual devices by cyborgs like Steve Mann, but most of us end up taking off our headphones to have a conversation. I am rambling a bit here, but glasses, and particularly monitors compete for our attention. Studies indicate that we really don’t multitask well. The clever combination of cues and clues in a geospatial environment that matches our attention needs is going to be critical.
I remember when cell phones with in ear headsets became popular. It was odd seeing more people than usual walking around talking to themselves. What will a mostly on AR do to the way we encounter the environment?
The shift in virtual reality that made it the massive success it is today was one of hardware to software. The shift from a headset and glove to the window of a PC and the view of Azeroth. Further it also relies heavily on the social connection in that almost no one is in a virtual environment by themself for any length of time.
I am not entirely convinced that immersion through glasses and “terminator vision” are the solution here. I have to agree though that they are coming, and if there are apps ready for the early adopters they will achieve some foothold as long as there is no social stigma associated with them.
In the end I think that there will need to be a culture shift to accommodate the fundamental shift in information infrastructure. To this end I think that an early adoption by artists will ease the way in this primarily visual medium.
hi rubaiyat,
have u seen:
“Vuzix Wrap 920AV Video Sunglasses Feature “See-Thru” Quantum Optics“?
mez,
I hadn’t seen that particular product, but of course anticipated it. I am curious about what effect this will have on our interactions. I certainly might have missed something here, but isn’t it like having an iPod plugged into one ear? The augmented data layers over/in/through the ambient reality.
Will people want to wear this constantly or will it be like an iPod or noise canceling headphones? Culturally what will it mean to have people focused on their own worlds but moving about in the shared physical reality?
is this the cyborg? either way it is intriguing and I am anxious to see what develops. (I am still being gee whizzed
It is important to keep in mind that much of the failure or success of ubiquitous augmented reality is going to be dependent on the user experience, particularly in regards to the interface. It has to be intuitive, minimal, and responsive.
Second, the idea here is to augment the world around us, and make that a shared experience. Think of two people talking in an art gallery, at the grocery store, in a hotel lobby, or a campus dorm. These environments are varied, and filled with various stimuli (or distractions) but that doesn’t change the dynamics of the personal interaction or conversation.
Mobile AR should be the same way. It should augment the local environment (equivalent to adding new pieces of art to the gallery, more options at the grocery store, extra newspapers and magazines in the hotel lobby, and a few more sorority girls at the dorm), but not replace it. This is one of the differences between AR and VR. VR was designed to completely immerse you in other environments.
Also, Rubiyat, I’d like to make a distinction between virtual worlds (success!) and virtual reality (fail!). Yes, they both have a core element that is a 3D environment, but the other aspects are quite different. VR failed early on, for a number of reasons, and one of them was the tremendous hype from Hollywood and other sectors that raised expectations too high. The hardware and the industry couldn’t keep up.
The AR industry has incredible potential but faces many of the same risks, particularly over hyping. I’m already beginning to see this all over the net with people talking about contact lenses or photoshopped conceptual devices as if they already exist and will be out by Christmas. It is one thing to talk about the future and where thngs are going, should go, and could go, but it needs to be a little thought out and with balanced expectations.
Oh, one more point, mobile AR will encourage more user to user interaction, not less. It isn’t meant (in my opinion) to cause people to withdraw into their own little worlds (heh) but rather get out, and explore their surroundings with other people. Mobile AR could kill the backbreaking rut of being hunched over a keyboard with a mouse and a pale glowing monitor late into the night. I want the future, but I don’t want to be a hunchbacked zombie when it arrives.
…but rob: *zombies rawk!* specially hunchbacked 1′s [lulz].
The computer screen saved and made the virtual profitable. I don’t want to argue about definitions, but am of the belief that the shift from hardware to software is what has functionally enabled and made popular the virtual in contemporary culture.
The step from an attempt to be visually immersive to socially immersive and intellectually engaging is also fundamentally responsible. Why do 14 million people play WoW each month when the game fundamentally sucks on many levels? My friends play, I keep in touch with my peers and my family through it. It provides a distraction and a shared experience. Other environments have different things to offer, but the ones that interest me are social at their centers.
Are we to become cyborgs like Steve Mann (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Mann) who has moved to glasses with readouts? I have no doubts that we will manage to integrate whatever comes down the pipeline with society, but I cannot help but notice the amount of attention that it takes my friends to send a text message, or to read an email if one happens to arrive during a conversation. If you create a layer of useful information over top of the environment there will ostensibly be an attention cost. Even if we are sharing the information.
If the two people in your example are you and me and I am facing a TV (in a gallery or bar or persons home) I will be distracted, so much so that I will change my position relative to you so that I cannot see the TV and I can pay attention to you. That is a failing in me, and I am well aware of it.
So in closing, I would like to say that I like the idea of being able to separate from the computer, but at the moment the work I am doing requires powerful machines. I am looking at a net-book to write on and am totally peeved about staring into a light bulb for hours at a time at night. I suspect though that a few tweaks on the technology will clear that up. Oh yes and my computer has a camera on it too. Any plans for luggable AR?
I take it from a filmmaker point of view. Could the perspective of MAR (Mobile Augmented Reality)lead to new cinematic (co-)creativity? Upon that possibility, and as the web remains the main platform of MAR development, I feel the need for the exploration of more audiovisually oriented designs – ones that question and enable acting on the infinite cinematic sequences of … reality. Because still, it will be video – perceived and processed over and over again. Hopefully, in ways that can inspire – not only direct to the next best products or services. As rubaiyat says, a cultural shift is necessary. Filmmakers since the early days of cinema have been exploring ways to sequentially structure the passing of time and space through sounds and images. So the cultural shift has been happening for years, often far from Hollywood. I think this heritage needs to translate through the coding of Mobile Augmented Realities.
maybe AR is just a temptation, giving back a technological reality to the current simulation – (BAUDRILLARD,J, 1981)