Ty and I decided to research more on Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, and the differences between them. Furthermore, we decided to research more on how they are each helpful for our ever-changing world.
Virtual Reality (VR) is an artificial digital environment that completely replaces the real world. You experience artificial sounds, sights, and feel as if they are in the digital world. You can move in this environment and interact with it. There are two main types of VR headsets: PC-connected headsets or standalone headsets. The gaming industry has already embraced VR. For example, you can connect the PlayStation VR headset to a PlayStation console. The field we feel would benefit the most from VR is healthcare. By being more immersive, VR can give you can in-depth look into human anatomy. A platform built by “Medical Realities “uses 360-degree videos and virtual anatomy to train future surgeons.
Augmented Reality (AR) is the overlay of digital content on the real-world environment. Virtual objects can be in various forms: images, videos, or interactive data. If you can see the real world supplemented with digital objects, that’s AR. The two main ways to bring AR to life is through portable devices and smart glasses/AR headsets. Unlike VR headsets, AR glasses and headsets don’t immerse users into a fully virtual environment, but just add digital objects to the real world. Pokémon Go is the best example to show how AR apps work. The best way AR is now used in this day in age is through E-commerce and retail. Customers are able to see what a piece of clothing could look like on you. Or, if you are buying furniture, you can put the piece in your home.
Mixed Reality is the most recent development in reality technologies. In mixed reality, virtual content is not only overlaid on the real environment but is anchored to and interacts with that environment. You can see virtual objects just like AR, but these objects can also interact with the real world. Mixed reality is a more immersive and interactive form of AR. There can also be a different form of mixed reality- when users see and interact with a completely virtual environment overlaid on the real world around them. Say you are interacting with a completely digital environment, but you are in your room. What if you physically trip over something. To avoid this, a headset must be able to track the real world and adjust the virtual world accordingly. Different types of devices are required to experience these two forms of mixed reality, such as holographic devices or immersive devices. We feel that the field that makes the most use of MR is education. Through MR, you are able to see both real life and holograms. This is now used to enhance textbook materials for school education and medical training.
Essentially, VR is a technology that immerses users in a fully artificial digital environment. A virtual object is overlaid on a real-world environment through the use of augmented reality. With MR, virtual objects are not just overlayed on top of the real world, they are actually anchored there.
