Unlike Virtual Reality which replaces the real world with a simulated one, augmented reality (AR) is a live direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer- generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is modified by a computer. As a result, the technology functions by enhancing one's current perception of reality. That is basically a definition at wikipedia.
Without realising my 5 year old son is playing Augmented Reality game from Ipad. It seems that the current fad now are augmented reality games. He's favourite are Nerf - below are the picture.
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As you can see, the background of the game is reality, meaning our home and the nerf gun, the blasting sounds and are the elements which are augmented by computer. It requires you to seek targets by the guidance of the radar on the left corner. So you can picture my son turning around and around, up and down, holding the Ipad. But there's more to augmented reality than games, there a few categories :
Desktop-based AR
Desktop based AR are applications that you use on your PC. Usually you would need to install it on the PC. This is very useful if you are trying to deliver heavy graphics AR applications or on a kiosk setting.
Web-based AR
Web-based AR
As the name suggest, the Web-based AR is accessible via a website. One of the engines suitable for this is the Flash based AR solution such as FLARToolkit.
Mobile AR
Mobile AR
Mobile AR is an AR that you can view through mobile phones. More specifically smartphones. At the current time of writing, not all smartphones are smart enough to support AR but the powerful ones do. There are solutions for smartphones such as iPhones and Android. One of the solutions that can be used is Vuforia by Qualcomm.
Location-based AR
Location-based AR
Location-based AR is another AR that would have to be viewed using a smartphone. It senses the GPS location and accelerometer data to pinpoint exactly where you are, based on the data information about the location is displayed in your screen.
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Augmented Reality in Malaysia
There are lots of research being done in the field of Augmented Reality from every university in Malaysia. UKM, UM, UNIMAS, MMU, you name it. I have yet seen many technical researches but i hope there will be a lot more of it. We need to always improve the technical advances as this will pave the way ahead for AR. I even come across an augmented reality lab from Universiti Teknology Petronas. Too much for me to comprehend, hence will leave that to the IT people... ;)
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