Augmented Reality: Similarities And Differences

What is Virtual Reality?

• Virtual reality is a completely artificial digital environment that uses computer hardware and software to create the appearance of a real environment to the user. For a user to “enter” a Virtual Reality environment, they must first put on special gloves, earphones, and goggles, all of which receive their input from the computer system as can be seen in the Figure below. • By doing this, at least three of the five senses are controlled by the computer. In addition, the computer monitors the user’s actions. The goggles, for example, track how the eyes move and respond accordingly by sending new video input.

• Some advanced, hectic systems now include tactile information, generally known as force feedback, in medical

• AR is not just one technology, it is a combination of several technologies that work together to bring digital information into visual perception. It is a highly compelling, virtually endless, collection of technology assisted experiences that helps create the real-time Web.

Differences and Similarities of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

• Virtual Reality is the complete immersion into a digital world either based on a real model or completely fabricated. Augmented Reality is the blending of digital information within a real-world environment. In AR, you may open your hand and see a baseball player resting in your palm, but in VR, you can be transported into a new world.

• The similarities between the two are that they both use various sources of information and programming to create visual, or other sensory, simulations to create an experience.

• Despite the similarities in feel to the user, there are more differences between AR and VR than there are similarities, with the biggest difference being that one takes place in the real world and the other does

• Despite the similarities in feel to the user, there are more differences between AR and VR than there are similarities, with the biggest difference being that one takes place in the real world and the other does not.

• The latest innovations in AR are the AR headsets, such as Microsoft HoloLens and Magic Leap, which show the computer graphics directly in your field view; the graphics are not mixed into a video image. If the VR headsets are like closed goggles, the AR headsets are like translucent sunglasses that employ technology called light fields to combine the real-world light rays with computer generated imagery (CGI).

• Augmented reality has the sole purpose of enhancing the real-world experience by adding virtual components. This can be done through images or graphics, all adding a new digital layer on top of the real world. Virtual reality takes this purpose a step further and creates its own reality that is completely independent of the real-world in a relational