We have experienced augmented reality and virtual reality in various forms. When we talk about the augmented reality we can understand the concept by using applications like Google maps and games like Pokemon Go. Augmented reality encompasses an experience of a real-world environment. Here, the objects residing in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information.
In contrast, virtual reality is a way to develop simulations and duplicate a real-world situation through computer technology. But there is another upcoming concept called Mixed Reality which promises the best of augmented reality and virtual reality.
What is Mixed Reality?
Mixed Reality is a blend between physical and digital worlds which unlocks the links between human, computer, and environment interaction. This new concept uses advancements in computer vision, graphical processing power, display technology, and input systems. The term Mixed Reality was introduced in a paper by Paul Milgram and Fumio Kishino in 1994. The paper is called a taxonomy of Mixed Reality visual displays.
You can understand the concept of Mixed Reality by visualization of a room that consists of both real furniture and virtual objects. It gives a picture such as a digital world globe or a real person who suddenly turns into a digital avatar of himself.
Mixed Reality utilizes two different types of gadgets which include holographic devices and immersive devices. Holographic device develops digital objects and places them in a real-world environment which gives you an illusion that that object is there.
On the other hand, the immersive devices conceal the elements of the physical world and replace them with digitally created objects. Smart glasses are an example of holographic devices which may have AC through display with digital content projected onto it.
An immersive headset like VR goggles may block a user’s vision in the physical world. So that he can only see digitally created objects. Microsoft was the first company to bring the holographic device and immersive device together too much both of them and give birth to the concept called Mixed Reality.
How is it different between virtual reality and augmented reality?
To better understand the concept of Mixed Reality it is important to first understand the properties of virtual reality and augmented reality.
-
Virtual Reality:
Virtual reality is the most popular and familiar concept. When the user puts the head-mounted display on, he is completely immersed in a digital world controlled by the technology. Everything that he experiences which includes sounds, objects, and settings is a virtually developed experience. The users can use special gloves and controllers that enable them to interact with the 360-degree world while receiving haptic feedback and response.
-
Augmented Reality:
Augmented reality is also dependent on a head-mounted display. But here the difference is that the user invasions digital information objects that are laid out in real-time into the real world. The mobile game called Pokemon Go is the most recognized concept of augmented reality into implementation. There are applications that you can use to virtually try out the home decorations by applying various wall paints or furniture is also a form of augmented reality.
-
Mixed Reality:
Mixed Reality is a more immersive and interactive form of augmented reality and can be considered as its advanced version. When the digital or information and objects are overlaid in augmented reality they become anchored to the environment. Also, they are spatially aware, responsive, and interactive with the real world in the real-time environment. The difference is subtle yet very powerful in terms of technological advancement. There is also a form of Mixed Reality where digital objects are painted over real objects. The experience that results out of this is virtual reality but it is based on the real-world space in which humans operate.
How is Mixed Reality helpful to businesses today?
Even though Mixed Reality is a very fresh concert and still in the infancy stage, various applications and industry usage are going on currently that make use of Mixed Reality. These days various domains like gaming, city planning, education of doctors and patients, can efficiently make use of Mixed Reality.
When it comes to the education domain, the concept of Mixed Reality can be used to increase a student’s ability to learn, understand, and process the given piece of information. When you offer them the virtual objects which they can manipulate, the process of education and experience becomes entirely immersive.
Popular companies like Renault trucks are integrating Mixed Reality to help employees determine issues in the quality control phase easily and help them through the most complicated control operations and procedures. Considering the healthcare industry, Philips is using Mixed Reality for image-guided minimally invasive procedures. As far as patients are concerned this technology enables smaller incisions which bring faster recovery and a better experience.
For hospitals, such a form of treatment enables them to treat more people with significant cost reduction and elimination. When it comes to the protection of the country’s boundaries, Mixed Reality can prove to be a great help in the long run. The military troops can use cameras and sensors such as IR and LiDAR (Light detection and ranging).
Ground troops wearing Mixed Reality goggles can digitally be notified about the enemies or landmines. Normally, these are impossible to spot with the naked eye. Mixed Reality can also be used to help forces with firing on unseen enemies while avoiding firing upon allies and civilians.
Benefits of Mixed Reality:
The concept of Mixed Reality comes with a lot of benefits. Following are the benefits that you can experience:
-
Quick quality assurance:
With Mixed Reality, the onsite teams can verify the task’s quality, reduce errors, and encourage tiny communication loops within the team. It can also help with quality assurance during the production process by enabling the real-time visual inspection of the resultant product. For instance, the production environment has adopted Mixed Reality with the Airbus company. They have announced a reduction in the time required for the inspection of A380 fuselage brackets where the timing has been reduced from three weeks to three days. This is a significant reduction of the time window.
-
Elimination of maintenance calls:
The organizations have worked with outdated manuals for a very long period of time. Gradually they have started to eliminate the outdated manuals and have implemented Mixed Reality to reduce call-out times for maintenance. For instance, elevator producer ThyssenKrupp equipped its engineers with Head-Mounted Displays which provide the engineers with the latest information. Also, the engineers can work with the hands-free method. Hence succinctly put, the engineer can call all the assistance team and express the same view with the remote expert on the other end. This kind of flexibility allows the experts to offer instructions and solutions without being misunderstood.
-
Advancement of employee training:
We all know that flipping through the manual pages is the most boring thing an employee has to do while attending the training sessions. If Mixed Reality is implemented successfully the employees can collect instructions and attend training sessions while being on the job. This reduces the time to create the training models and training costs significantly. As an example, a coaching expert can record a module beforehand and it can be stored in the training library for the new employees.
-
Cut down on the skilled labor shortage:
Statistics say that the skill gap leaves 2.4 million positions unoccupied between the window of 2018 and 2028. With such a scenario, employees can act immediately and retain valuable skills by using remote support through HMD. While hiring new talent and recruiting new people the employers can integrate new to get familiar technologies to a younger demographic. They can fill available roles without worrying about under-skilled or less qualified employees.
Mixed Reality devices that you can buy from the market:
Even though the concept is still afresh in the market, some devices have embraced the concept and let you receive the experience through the following devices:
-
Microsoft Hololens 2:
This device has been built on the design of the original Hololens and remains untethered and highly mobile. It has also increased the field of vision. The Hololens 2 comes enables the users to pinch and pull the objects in a way that seems natural. This device also understands voice commands through natural language processing.
The device comes with 64 GB of storage, 4GB of RAM, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 compute platform. It also contains four visible light cameras for head tracking along with two IR cameras for tracking the eyes. It can also capture 8-megapixel images and record 1080p30 video. Currently, the device comes at a price of $3500.
-
Magic Leap:
This device has been the best-kept secret of the Mixed Reality concept. Today, Magic Leap One Creator Edition has been launched which incorporates a sweet of senses. It makes digitally created objects “spatially aware” of their surroundings. If you are trying to catch a Pokemon with your Magic Leap best not let it duck behind the television. Magic leap has been developed by keeping creativity gaming and entertainment on the center stage. But the device comes with powerful processing capabilities and a unique operating system that holds the potential for real-world business applications too.
Magic Leap One comes with an Nvidia Parker SOC and to Denver 2.0 64 bit code plus 4 arm cortex a57 64-bit cores. The GPU is an Nvidia Pascal 256 CUDA core. The device comes with 128 GB storage capacity and 8GB of Ram. The device is priced at $2295 currently.
-
Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2:
If everyone is busy developing a Mixed Reality device why would Google stay behind? Google has launched a Glass Enterprise Edition 2. It is a lightweight wearable device and looks similar to an ordinary pair of glasses. It streamlines hands-on work by providing contextual information on the job site. As far as accepting the training videos and instructions is concerned it directly connects the coworkers in a real-time environment and also streamlines the common workplace processes and functions.
Currently, you can buy this device only through selected partners. If you have an interest in using Glass in your workplace you will have to visit the company website. The cost may vary based on software customization and the training requirements.
The change will bring in the industry:
Certain industry experts are working hard to blend Mixed Reality with finance. Thus, these platforms can be ready for widespread adoption and can have a lot of content to explore. The researchers are trying hard to use artificial intelligence and machine learning with the concept of Mixed Reality. Such a combination brings and anticipation of a breakthrough to result when it would be implemented in various fields and industrial sectors. Many processes would be easier to handle and would cut down the costs significantly.
Who knows? It may open revenues and domains that we never knew would exist in the future. Mixed Reality could prove to be a path-breaking concept if the research is headed in the right direction.
Conclusion:
Even though the concept of Mixed Reality is still under development, it is easy for tech-savvy users to be fascinated with the concept. It is obvious to forget about the business angle and perspective of the Mixed Reality implementation. But I would say that Mixed Reality can become a very capable and promising concept if it is merged with artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities.
