Innovation

Augmented Reality: the real world through different eyes.

What is augmented reality?

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that allows virtual elements to be superimposed on our vision of reality. Increasingly in demand, in 2021 it will become a business that is close to 120,000 million dollars worldwide.

The term was coined in 1992 by scientist and researcher Thomas P. Caudell while developing one of the most famous aircraft in the world: the Boeing 747. Caudell observed that the operators in charge of assembling the new aircraft were wasting too much time interpreting the instructions and thought: What if they had access to a screen to guide them through the installation? The invention did not succeed, but at that precise moment the concept of Augmented Reality was bornExternal link, opens in new window. (RA).

It arose then and not in the summer of 2016, as many of us believe, when we were infected by the Pokémon GO fever, a video game that consisted of searching for and capturing different characters from the Japanese saga and that, at its peak, reached the astronomical figure of 45 million daily active users.

Pokémon GO popularized AR, brought it closer to the general public - to all audiences - but at that time there were already many companies from very diverse sectors (health, education, architecture, services, retail, etc.) that were beginning to use it with the aim of creating valuable experiences for your customers.

 TEN APPLICATIONS OF AUGMENTED REALITY

Can you imagine enjoying a cocktail seasoned with a touch of AR? Recently, the first museum-bar with this technology in the entire US was opened in Washington in just six months, more than 100,000 visitors have passed through its door. And it is that in 2018 the applications of AR are as innumerable as they are surprising: from allowing us to know what the architectural style of the building in front of us is, to giving life to a Monet painting or, on a different plane, being able to view the report of a patient in full operation. If these know you little, do not miss any of the following Augmented Reality examples:

AR has also not gone unnoticed in the eyes of the big tech giants. Through glasses, smartphones and tablets —the last two have turned out to be their two great allies—, they compete with each other to invent the platform, the toolkit, the wearable or the app that will definitely hook us.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AUGMENTED REALITY AND VIRTUAL REALITY

Despite being intertwined, they pose different revolutions. While Virtual Reality allows us to create a virtual world from scratch with everything we want, but a fantastic world, what Augmented Reality does is add virtual elements (additional information in the form of graphics or images) to our real environment.

The CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, is very clear: "Augmented Reality (AR) encompasses more than Virtual Reality (VR) because it gives us the possibility of being present and communicating and, simultaneously, enjoying other things on a visual level. It will be the next revolution, as the smartphone was at the time ".

To this day, the scope of AR both in the work environment and in the personal is unquestionable, but will 'another Pokemon GO' arrive that definitely guarantees the future of this technology?