www.readMETRO.com february 2018
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New tech will erase the lines between virtual and real worlds Metro examines what is behind the technology that combines the best of VR and AR and has the potential to revolutionize many industries.
Q&A Julia Tokareva
software development consultant at rubygarage.org
Daniel Casillas
Metro World News
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are technologies have become very popular in the last couple of years, with hundreds of companies developing devices and software for their usage in different situations. However, a new technology could become much more trendy this year. It is called Mixed Reality. Mixed reality (MR) or hybrid reality is the combination of VR and AR. This combination allows to create new spaces in which real and virtual objects and/or people interact. It has already become trendy in the field of technology. It could be used to create a whole new world with dozens of applications ranging from entertainment, workplaces, health care, even battlefield and military training. The potential of this new technology is so huge that tech giants as Facebook, Google, Samsung, Sony, Nintendo, Huawei, Microsoft, among others, are working on it. Experts agree that Mixed Reality has dozens of applications and could even revolutionize some industries. “It can have lots of applications. In manufacturing, mixed reality can provide workers with real-time assistance and therefore improve productivity and quality. In education, mixed reality can create immersive educational experiences for students of any age. Doctors can even get assistance thanks to mixed reality. In communications, mixed reali-
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ways Mixed Reality could be used |photos: istock
|istock
VIRTUAL REALITY (VR)
AUGMENTED REALITY (AR)
• Fully artificial enviroment • Full immersión in virtual reality
• Virtual objects overlaid on real-world enviroment • The real world enhanced with digital objects
ty can help people collaborate more efficiently. When shopping, mixed reality can provide customers with prices and product descriptions. As you
can see, this technology isn’t only for fun – it can revolutionize many industries,” Julia Tokareva, Software Development Consultant at RubyGara-
Reality Technologies, a specialized tech website, defines mixed reality as: “Entire spectrum of situations between actual reality (i.e. real world) and virtual reality, attempts to combine the best of both virtual reality and augmented reality. When both real and virtual worlds are merged together, new environments and visualizations become possible where physical and digital objects can coexist and interact in real time.”
Education Mixed reality device can enable students to experience immersive learning by allowing people to see both the real world and holograms interacting in the classroom. With this technology students can wear a headset and motion controller, while also interacting with real objects located in their class room.
MIXED REALITY (MR)
• Virtual enviroment combined with real world • Interact with both the real world and the virtual enviroment
ge, explained to Metro. In addition to having the potential of revolutionizing many industries, mixed reality could also modify the way people interact, especially in work environments. Accenture global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, report on the benefits of this new trend. It highlights that Mixed Reality has the potential to change how people work, communicate and relate to the world. The specialized firm
Manufacturing
Communications
This is one of the most important applications for this new technology, because mixed reality devices facilitates manufacturing processes by providing workers with real-time assistance reducing the risk of human error and substantially improving quality. Workers can see holographic instructions while interacting with real objects.
Communication between people could reach a next level with mixed reality. In this sector mixed reality tries to enhance interaction in the real world or bring elements of the real world into VR environments with benefits such as enabling people to get help from remote users on real world tasks, or bringing remote virtual people into a user’s real space.
Is mixed reality better than AR and VR? Better isn’t the right term. Virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality technologies create different experiences. Mixed reality in both its forms is a more advanced technology, but this doesn’t mean it will replace VR and AR. Virtual reality is the perfect choice for fully immersive video games or 360-degree videos. Augmented reality is the most accessible technology, as people can experience it with smartphones or tablets. In fact, you can use your smartphone and experience AR whenever you want. Mixed reality is the best option for the most advanced reality experiences. What is the potential of MR technology? Mixed reality is the most up-todate and advanced reality technology and has huge potential. Mixed reality is going to set a new level of interaction between humans, computers, and environments. Probably the best way to find out whether mixed reality is going to be a big thing is to see how the world’s leading tech companies are treating this technology. Microsoft – one of the world’s leading companies – has been heavily investing in mixed reality, and more companies are likely to follow suit.
argues that as an immersive technology and the one requiring specialized hardware, they need to consider topics such as etiquette and socially acceptable uses when it comes to this new trend. “How does a worker with a mixed reality device interact with others around him? How do groups of people work to-
Entertainment As with all reality technologies, entertainment could be the main application for mixed reality, with an immense number of possibilities, ranging from video games, streaming services with a new form of interaction, up to movies made exclusively for this platform.
What are the main challenges of mixed reality? In a nutshell, this technology faces two major challenges. First, advanced mixed reality experiences require special wearables that are equipped with more sophisticated hardware than VR or AR headsets. Needless to say, mixed reality headsets are quite pricey. They’ll need to become more affordable to grow popular among a wide audience. Second, there’s a software problem. Few companies provide software for developing mixed reality applications. Microsoft is probably the leader in adoption of mixed reality – its Windows Mixed Reality platform allows developers to build versatile applications. Could you give some examples of MR usage? Mixed reality isn’t just a theoretical technology. It’s already being applied in a variety of industries. Take the Skype app for the Windows Mixed Reality platform, for example. With Skype, a user puts on a headset and can start an immersive conversation with family, friends, or coworkers. Microsoft also built HoloTour, an amazing educational application for the HoloLens mixed reality headset. This app allows users to take an immersive tour of Rome or Machu Picchu. Renault, one of the world’s largest auto manufacturers, uses mixed reality to control quality at one of its factories; production workers wear Microsoft HoloLens headsets and receive instructions in front of their eyes. This helps immensely improve quality and reduces the risk of human error.
gether in mixed reality? How will social norms change to accommodate mixed reality holograms that can only be seen by some people,” Accenture asks in the research. However, like any new technology, MR faces very important challenges to consolidate itself as a new market that significantly impacts people’s lives and even the global industry. According to Tokareva, the biggest challenges facing mixed reality are related to the hardware and software needed to run this type of technology. On the one hand, Mixed Reality requires headsets that are quite pricey, and there are few companies that currently develop specialized software. The nascent mixed reality industry would have to overcome these challenges to grow and become more affordable and popular among a wide audience. Despite the fact that it is still too early to see the full potential of Mixed Reality, reports and specialists agree that it can become a disruptive and revolutionary agent.