The future of our augmented worlds

The idea of augmenting reality brings an interesting promise and could possibly be a fundamental shift in how we interact with computers.

A common definition of Augmented Reality (AR) is of a digital overlay on top of the real world. The digital overlay may consist of 3D graphics, text, video, audio and other multimedia formats.

it rests on the idea that AR only supplements reality, but what if it becomes one? What if it enables you to switch between multiple realities? The ‘real’ real, the ‘augmented’ real and a ‘parallel/virtual’ real.

We already live in a world of illusions.

AR’s evolution

We have made great strides in image recognition, machine learning, 3D graphics optimization and a whole host of other technical challenges to have this first wave of AR within hands reach. Most of us have seen a 3D architectural model of a building in an AR environment being showcased as the pinnacle of AR’s potential. This is only the beginning.

If the first wave of AR was all about overlaying an accurate representation of digital artifacts in the physical environment, the next wave would be about these digital artifacts being contextually relevant. For example, if I am reading about frog anatomy, then a first wave AR experience would be an accurate representation of the frog and its anatomy. An evolved experience would be showing me a representation that is adapted to my persona. For a layman like me, it would show a simpler model, while for a medical student it could show a detailed one. The experience could also show me an engineer’s perspective on the frog anatomy where it uses familiar terminologies to label organs and systems. The system adapts itself to my learning style and maybe uses what I learnt about frogs when teaching me about dinosaurs.

Context would be key in the next wave. Your AR experience would be defined by the information that the system collects/refers to via social media, wearables, sensors, Internet of Things (IoT), physical and internet history. This would enable a deeper sense of immersion with our machines, our environment and other humans.

Early AR experiences were centred around 3D objects being placed on printed patterns known as markers. These were mainly used for motion capture in films. From there we moved to face recognition where our faces became the target (thanks Snapchat!). Microsoft’s Kinect enabled our bodies to become the target. A lot of recent smartphone camera-based AR removes the need for a multitude of sensors. A horizontal or vertical surface becomes the target of these AR experiences. In a matter of a few decades, we moved from patterns on paper to the environment as the target for our AR experiences. Soon these environments will become intelligent and the world will be our target.

The other side

The most common ideas around AR have been centred around visual systems in smartphones or smart glasses. They still require us to experience the augmented world through these glass windows. But that’s not how you interact with the real world. In the real world, you can open these windows and touch, hear, smell or even taste what’s on the other side. The next stage of AR evolution would be enhancing and augmenting all our senses or even discovering new ones. We have already begun doing this with voice interfaces enabling us to interact with computers much more naturally. Thereby interweaving the physical and digital so seamlessly that it almost feels like magic.

References:

https://uxdesign.cc/the-future-of-our-augmented-worlds-d43d334e0118