What actually is ... mixed reality?
To use the term Mixed Reality (MR) to explain the terms virtual reality and augmented reality. Under Virtual Reality (VR) is an artificially created world that you visit with glasses (or a head-mounted display). In contrast to conventional media, content is not viewed through a window (i.e. a screen), but immersed in it. In front of the viewer's eyes are displays that represent the virtual world. You also wear headphones for realistic surround sound. As soon as you are immersed in virtual reality, the actual reality is completely faded out and your brain is tricked into believing that you are in a virtual world. Not only can you look around in it, but with advanced VR systems you can also move around in it and interact with objects or other people. This so-called immersion allows you to experience content much more intensively. Well-known VR systems include the GearVR from Samsung, the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Playstation VR.
At Augmented Reality (AR) reality is not hidden, but augmented with digital content. With modern smartphones, digital content is inserted into the environment as if through a magic window. For example, Facebook can be used to add virtual masks to faces or virtual furniture can be placed in the home in the Ikea AR application. The technology suddenly became popular in the summer of 2016 when the AR game Pokémon Go conquered the world and many people hunted virtual Pokémons in the real world.
So while virtual reality teleports people to all possible and impossible places, augmented reality brings all kinds of digital content to people.
Mixed Reality Finally, augmented reality is closely related to augmented reality and can be defined as a subgroup of it. However, the difference to "augmented" reality lies in the fact that, thanks to powerful sensors, MR systems can recognize the real environment as a 3D environment and thus embed digital content precisely. In the long term, it will therefore be possible to
be to merge digital content with the real world to such an extent that it is no longer perceived as such.
The market is currently still in the early stages of development with devices such as the Hololens from Microsoft and the Meta glasses. Magic Leap, another pair of glasses, will be launched on the market this year. However, modern smartphones such as the iPhone X already have the technology and computing power to merge the real world with the digital world, or to "mix" real and virtual realities.
Term explained by: Urs Langenegger, co-founder of the AR and VR service provider Bandara.
