Published: Oct 12, 2019 by Ivana Žemberi
As time is slowly passing by, augmented reality is becoming more and more tangled in our everyday lives. You can almost say that it’s just reality now.
So, what is augmented reality? Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information. Unlike virtual reality (VR), which is a simulated experience that can be similar or completely different from the real world.
Its origin dates back to 1968. when Ivan Sutherland created the first head-mounted display (HMD), called The Sword of Damocles. Even though it is widely considered to be the first virtual reality head-mounted display system, it is also a precursor to augmented reality technology as well.
Since it was made in 1968., the device was primitive both in terms of user interface and realism, and the graphics, including the virtual environment, were simple wireframe rooms. The perspective that the software showed to the user would depend on the position of the user’s view, which lead to head tracking being necessary. Furthermore, the device was quite heavy and because it had to track head movements, the HMD was attached to a mechanical arm hung from the ceiling of the lab. The horrendous look of the device inspired its name: The sword of Damocles.
Twenty-two years later, the term “augmented reality” was coined by Boeing researcher Tom Caudell. He and his colleague, David Mizell, were asked to come up with an alternative to the expensive diagrams and marking devices then used to guide workers on the factory floor. Tom Caudell developed a software which displayed the position of key cables during construction.
In 1992. Louis Rosenberg created the first fully immersive AR system at the U.S Air Force Research Laboratory.
In 1998. NASA’s X-38 spacecraft used augmented reality for navigation for the first time.
The year 2000. was the year when AR Quake launched — the first augmented reality game.
In 2005. was developed a two-player game for Nokia phones — AR Tennis.
Soon, AR started spreading much faster. In 2008. BMW used AR for commercial purposes with its AR-enhanced print ads. In 2009. Esquire published the first AR-enabled magazine which let readers scan the cover to make Robert Downey Jr. come to life on the page. In 2012. Blippar launched the first cloud-based AR app, then in 2014. it developed the first AR game for Google Glass, which was demoed at the Mobile World Congress.
Then, in 2016. Niantic and Nintendo launched Pokemon Go. The hugely popular location-based AR game that put AR on the mainstream map.
And this year, in June 2019. was released another location-based AR game, Wizards Unite.
Conclusion
A lot of time has passed from developing The Sword of Damocles to these fun location-based AR games we have today. Now, wherever we look we have a bit of augmented reality.
Every other app you have on your phone, in some way, consists of augmented reality; Google Maps, Messenger, Facebook, Instagram, even your basic phone Camera… They all have some kind of filters and effects that enhance the real-world objects, for example, our faces, or the background of the picture and so on.
To sum up, fifty years ago augmented reality was just a concept, it didn’t even have a name yet, now, we carry it in our pockets every day and it makes our lives easier and more fun.
