VR, AR, and MR in Our Daily Life

The introduction of digital reality has opened up numerous possibilities to modern-day humans. VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality) have been in use since the ’80s in the warfare and military field. It only was then adapted to gaming and other such entertainment industries. The technology has been upgraded a lot since inception and has now become an integral part of our day-to-day life. There are several uses to these digital reality technologies that we may tend to overlook. Among them, MR or Mixed Reality is an innovation to the digital reality field. It is still being developed, to be used and integrated into our real-life at its full range.

Let us take a look at how Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality and the newest in the set, the Mixed Reality, and how they take part and play many roles in our daily life.

AR or Augmented Reality is a technology that adds digital elements to real-life situations by the use of smart devices. Any gadgets, like smartphones, tablets, or such can be used to experience augmented reality. AR makes use of the camera on the device to live feed real-life scenes and then add digital elements through a preset code that allows its working. All of us are very familiar with AR in our day-to-day life like the Instagram or Snapchat filters we use or the AR games we play like Pokemon Go. Even though AR is a cool technology that we interact with every day, there are many setbacks to it, like limited interaction opportunities and a less immersive experience. The interaction we have with augmented reality is too limited compared to other digital realities. And the experience is completely isolated from our real senses, making it less immersive.

While in VR aka Virtual Reality, the experience promises a greater range of immersive experiences. It can create a completely new world, both real and imaginary, with the use of various gadgets combined. The experience is fully immersive according to the hardware that is being used. From vision to sound to even touch is all possible in VR with the right hardware. Users can interact with the virtual world and a more whole experience is ensured. VR thus completely cuts off real-world senses and takes us to what is being displayed. Gadgets like Oculus Rift, Sony Playstation Glasses, Google Cardboard, and HTC Vive are making use of this cool technology for the optimum experience. Although VR is such a great experience there are some drawbacks, like limited free-range movement and having to use complete sets of special accessories for a fully immersed experience.

MR or Mixed Reality is the latest addition to digital reality. Promising all the best features of AR and VR. MR combines the real world and virtual world seamlessly and allows them to interact with each other and the user to a wider range. Full interaction without limits and a wide range of free movement is also possible with MR. This technology is still in its developing stages and Google HoloLens and Magic Leap are some of the early gadgets that make us aware of MR’s possibilities.

All of these hold immense possibilities not only in normal life but to a greater amount in other core fields like medicine, engineering, research, education, and so on.