What Is Extended Reality Technology: All You Need to Know
The line between the virtual and real worlds becomes blurrier and blurrier, and “The Matrix” seems less like fiction. With developers from all over the world working on the creation of new technologies, it’s no wonder that we’re now talking about Extended Reality.
You’ve probably heard a lot about VR (Virtual Reality) or AR (Augmented Reality), but not so much about XR – Extended Reality. Well, Extended Reality is the term used for all immersive technologies. As of today, we have augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality.
Let’s take a look at each of the existing technologies.
What is Extended Reality?
XR is the collection of all existing immersive technologies and those that are yet to be created. It’s called “extended,” as all immersive technologies extend our reality by mixing virtual and real worlds or creating a fully immersive experience.
Since it’s a catchall term, it can cause some confusion. All you need to know is that all devices that use AR, VR or MR are considered XR devices. If you have used Google Maps for navigation or played Pokemon Go, you’ve used XR tech.
The confusion around the term exists because it’s overused. Tech companies tend to refer to their recent developments as “XR technologies.” However, XR refers only to AR, VR, and MR (yet, new immersive technologies can be created in the future).
Augmented Reality
The idea of augmented reality is overlaying virtual information and objects like graphics and sounds in the real world in real time. It enhances the real world with digital objects like images, animation, sounds, and text. You’ve seen the use of augmented reality many times on your smartphone or TV. Many games and apps are created with augmented reality technologies.
Have you played Pokémon Go? It best describes augmented reality technologies. The game was incredibly popular a couple of years ago. It allowed players to project game items, like onscreen icons, scores, and ever-elusive Pokemon creatures, into the real world through a smartphone camera. It seemed like the game items were right in front of you.
Augmented reality technologies don’t isolate us from the real world. We can still interact with the real world and see what’s happening there. AR simply adds more elements to it and helps us experience something we couldn’t have only in the real world.
But don’t think that AR is only for entertainment. It can have so many uses in other industries like healthcare or the military. The U.S. army uses AR technologies in their training missions for soldiers. Army has even given an official name to one AR program – STE or Synthetic Training Environment.
AR technologies with smart glasses and helmet-mounted displays may even be able to help commanders to make better battlefield decisions (hopefully, we won’t need to use them in wars in the future).
Despite all these technological developments in AR with image-recognition technologies, soon we’ll be able to point out our smartphones to people and see information about them from their social media platforms. This is a huge privacy issue, which we’ll have to solve.
Though, AR is still a great technological advancement. Imagine doctors putting digital X-rays onto a mannequin and diagnosing diseases more easily. Architects and builders can design and construct buildings without wasting materials or making any construction mistakes
Virtual Reality
As opposed to augmented reality, virtual reality is about a fully immersive experience in the virtual world. VR technologies make users feel like they are in a different environment. If by an app on your smartphone, you can experience AR technologies, it won’t work for VR. In most cases, you’ll need a helmet with a screen or glasses to be immersed in the VR experience.
Unlike AR, virtual reality fools your brain and makes you believe that you’re in a different place. With VR headsets, you can walk on the moon, dive into the ocean, and do many other things that would be impossible in our everyday lives.
VR is a simulated reality, and it creates the illusion of being there. Usually, a user wearing a VR headset or glasses would feel like he/she is present in that virtual world and can experience changing viewpoints when the user walks or turns her head.
There are also data gloves that provide the sensation of touch, and users can even pick up objects from the virtual world. And all these movements are happening in real-time in the real world.
Virtual Reality Uses
VR is becoming very useful in business. You can simulate any process you need to carry out in the real world with VR technologies. Many brands are extensively using VR to build better products. Airbus and Boeing use it to design and test the new features of their models. Architects show entirely constructed buildings to their clients, allowing them to explore the design.
Naturally, one of the first adopters of this technology was the gaming and entertainment industries. Now, with a headset, you can play a game in virtual reality and experience it like you’re in that virtual environment. VR devices have their own apps and games, which you can download and play by wearing the VR device.
With VR, the need to create prototypes is completely eliminated, and businesses can save a lot of their resources, including time and money. Besides, it also helps to eliminate mistakes. If something goes wrong in the virtual world, you can just reset and start over as if nothing happened. This is particularly important in healthcare, as doctors can do simulated operations without risking the patient’s life.
Another great use of VR we can see in customer service. It can help customers fully explore the product before buying it. Virtual test drives, trying out the furniture, kitchen utensils, and any other products, customers can do all of these without even leaving their homes. It can also provide valuable data about customers and how they interact with the product.
Along with its benefits, VR has its downsides. One of the major downsides is the price. You can only experience VR with headsets which are quite expensive. Besides, high-end VR headsets require expensive computers to power them. Though, as technologies continue to develop, one day, VR can become affordable for everyone.
Mixed Reality
As the name suggests, mixed reality or MR is the combination of the real and digital worlds. In MR, real-life and digital objects co-exist and can interact with each other in real time. MR is the latest immersive technology and requires even more processing power than AR or VR.
As the name suggests, mixed reality or MR is the combination of the real and digital worlds. In MR, real-life and digital objects co-exist and can interact with each other in real time. MR is the latest immersive technology and requires even more processing power than AR or VR.
One of the best applications of MR is in education. As a mix of virtual and real worlds, students can learn while interacting with virtual objects. A great example is Microsoft HoloLens, which was used at Case Western Reserve University to teach anatomy. Microsoft HoloLens allows one to place a virtual object into the room and interact with it.
MR can also help in training the workers. They can visualize the whole working process and improve productivity. And, of course, MR can give an unforgettable experience for entertainment purposes. For example, a football game can go down to your living room, and you can watch all players’ actions more closely.
And that’s not all. MR can be a great help in healthcare. Imagine, doctors can take medical scans out of computers and move around to plan better patient treatment and surgeries. Students can learn more interactively and make fewer mistakes in the future.
To experience MR, you’ll need wearable MR devices. You can start your MR journey in the real world as well as in the virtual world. Unlike AR, with MR, you can interact with virtual objects.
MR is still in its first stages of development and is not available for mass consumption. But considering its technological developments, we’ll see its use more in a couple of years.
Virtual Reality Uses
One of the best applications of MR is in education. As a mix of virtual and real worlds, students can learn while interacting with virtual objects. A great example is Microsoft HoloLens, which was used at Case Western Reserve University to teach anatomy. Microsoft HoloLens allows one to place a virtual object into the room and interact with it.
MR can also help in training the workers. They can visualize the whole working process and improve productivity. And, of course, MR can give an unforgettable experience for entertainment purposes. For example, a football game can go down to your living room, and you can watch all players’ actions more closely.
And that’s not all. MR can be a great help in healthcare. Imagine, doctors can take medical scans out of computers and move around to plan better patient treatment and surgeries. Students can learn more interactively and make fewer mistakes in the future.
To experience MR, you’ll need wearable MR devices. You can start your MR journey in the real world as well as in the virtual world. Unlike AR, with MR, you can interact with virtual objects.
MR is still in its first stages of development and is not available for mass consumption. But considering its technological developments, we’ll see its use more in a couple of years.
Challenges of XR
As with all new technologies, XR has its challenges to overcome. Particularly, the cost of immersive technologies is quite high. For now, as we’ve seen in the examples only big companies can afford to implement XR in their business processes. Besides, the development of XR technologies requires a lot of investments and resources.
There are also technical and hardware issues to be solved. Wearable XR devices should be comfortable, fashionable as well as intelligent, and immersive. The display, power, connectivity, and motion tracking are only some of the issues that need to be improved.
Another big challenge of XR is personal data protection. All immersive technologies are using a big amount of personal information about what people do, what they look at, and what emotions they show. All this data need to be protected.
Final Words
Despite all challenges, XR technologies are developing quite fast. Every day we are closer to solving these issues and seeing the use of XR technologies in our everyday lives.
XR technologies can be used in different industries, from entertainment to engineering and healthcare. Thanks to XR, fewer lives would be at risk during surgeries, and more valuable resources will be saved.