The term virtual reality is commonly used by the popular media to describe imaginary worlds that only exist in computers and our minds. Virtual is defined to be being in essence or effect but not in fact. Reality is defined to be something that constitutes a real or actual thing as distinguished from something that is merely apparent; something that exists independently of ideas conceiving it. Virtual reality is based upon a complete simulation of a real world environment which the user can explore and interact with by means of a head mounted display (HMD) and input device, e.g. data glove. The user loses or immerses themselves in this environment.
While instead of replacing reality, augmented reality adds cues onto the already existing real world. Computer graphics are embedded into the real world and ideally the human mind would not be able to tell the difference between computer-generated images and the real world.
Today’s virtual and augmented reality systems are typically implemented in one of three ways: head-mounted displays, world-fixed displays, and hand-held displays.
Augmented reality is available via mobile phones in particular smartphones such as the iPhone. These phones have GPRS which obtains information about a particular geographical location which can be overlaid with tags etc. Images, videos etc can be superimposed onto this location.
Handheld devices such as smartphones and the iPad are other ways to use augmented reality. They contain software, sensors, a compass and small digital projectors which display images onto real world objects. Another option is a head mounted display (HMD) which is often used in virtual reality applications.
An important issue is that of successfully integrating computer generated images within the real world. They need to be realistic and useful to be of real benefit to the user.
-Shubhangi Sharma
B.Tech (1st year)
CSE-BDA
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