Difference Between Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, and Extended Reality
Virtual Reality (VR) is a closed loop system that places the user inside a simulated world with computer generated imagery rendered in 3D, that the user can interact with. It takes the screen viewing experience one step ahead and transports the viewer into the world on the screen, making it an immersive experience, such as walking through the ocean bed. A VR headset is the most widely used and easiest way to experience an artificially created reality or simulation. Google Cardboard and Oculus Rift are popular VR headsets used worldwide.
While gaming is at the forefront of VR adoption, it also finds widespread applications in such diverse fields as:
- Military — Flight simulation, battlefield simulation, virtual boot camps.
- Construction — Architectural design simulations, fine tuning construction.
- Medicine — Robotic surgeries, non invasive diagnostics.
- Sports — Biomechanics for polishing performance.
Augmented Reality (AR) on the other hand brings elements of the virtual world into the real world by adding a layer of computer generated graphics to the live picture, thereby enhancing the viewing experience. This additional layer of graphics, sound effects, or other sensory stimuli, combined with the real world, result in an augmented reality, often experienced via a camera screen, or audio equipment. Snapchat filters that add bunny ears to faces, beauty filters that add virtual makeup, and Pokemon Go, are a few examples of AR. Unlike VR, AR isn’t a closed system and the user isn’t shut out of the real world.
AR finds application in fields such as:
- Archeology — Facilitates archeologists in recreating historical sites with augmented features.
- Construction — 3D mapping of structural designs, improving GPS accuracy.
- Manufacturing — Improved personnel safety with remote operations facilitated by AR.
- Retail — Home Decor apps that allow users to set up furniture virtually in their homes before buying.
Mixed Reality (MR) is a hybrid of VR and AR. MR facilitates the interaction of the virtual and real worlds without shutting the user from the outside world. It provides an immersive experience where in the user can interact with the layer of virtual components placed over the real world. This interaction between the digital and real worlds is what makes MR distinct from VR and AR. Popular examples of MR include Holograms of deceased pop stars being used in live arenas in music festivals and the Microsoft HoloLens that’s being put to a wide variety of uses.
MR finds application in the following fields:
- Healthcare — Rendering patient data into interactive 3D models for better treatment and diagnosis.
- Engineering — 3D modeling of machines, structures, and more and using live feedback to make changes on the go.
- Space — Simulating VRs and interacting with these worlds from remote locations, for e.g., experiments designed to simulate conditions for living on Mars.
Extended reality (XR) encompasses all the simulatory, interactive, and immersive technologies that are currently in use. It covers the entire spectrum from AR on one end to MR on the other. Any technology that alters our perception of the real world comes under the umbrella of ER. It could be as simple as an app that adds emojis to a live streaming video, or as advanced as performing a remote surgery via AR.
And what would the real world feel like once it’s fully integrated with altered realities? Here’s a glimpse…
