GMW3: The history of augmented reality (AR) is longer than you might realise. Indeed, while the term “augmented reality” was only coined in the early 90s by Boeing employees Thomas Caudell and David Mizell, we can retrospectively apply the moniker to a long list of technologies that existed before that date.
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Augmented Reality is a term that I think is almost everywhere now. We hear about it all the time and even encounter it without being aware. Having this said, how AR actually works still remains unclear to me. This article, although not really explaining the mechanism behind AR, does give an interesting historical context to the technology. I was really shocked to find that the technology existed in the 70s because I always thought that it was a technology that only came out in recent years. The article mentions the popular game Pokemon Go as a successful example but I think the use of virtual replacement technology in sports broadcasting is most exciting. Now as I’m thinking back to any sports live stream, I can’t help but wonder if all the advertisements I saw were using VRT and be amazed by how seamless my viewing experience was. I wonder if there’s also a possibility to implement VRT into live entertainment broadcasts.
It's cool to see that some of the origins of AR include immersive entertainment, as that's where I most commonly see it used nowadays. For example, there's a ride at Super Nintendo World called "Koopa's Challenge" in which riders are given AR headsets to feel like they're in the Mario Kart world. As they ride, they see the animated Mario characters driving around them, taking turns, and getting hit by objects. As they ride, they can still see the track before them, and the ride has a full track in the first place, making it AR rather than VR.
It was also interesting to learn about some of the earlier games and experiences that used AR. For example, I had played Kinect-based games myself, but I never would've thought of them as AR. Having read the article, though, I can see why those games would be called AR. The way you move your whole body in those games often influences what actions you can do, or else what high score you receive. In Dance Central, there's even a segment in which you can see yourself dance in real time as a bright, 2D character. It's cool to think of the different ways that AR's been used that I hadn't even realized.
I actually did a paper on this! Not specifically this, it was the history of Virtual Reality, but the details and milestones of both of these topics actually line up pretty well. For an example, the "Sword of Damocles" was an important milestone in the development of AR and VR, as it was the first usage of HMD (head mounted display) technology that both AR and VR uses today. Something interesting that I've noticed that the article talked a bit about though, is that like VR, AR's history with public opinion has been mixed due to the attempts to bring them into the mainstream being kinda botched. Microsoft's Xbox Kinect was actually pretty good technology-wise, but the initial games offered for it were unable to make proper usage of the technology. Due to the initial commercial flop, game designers never really got a chance to find their footing with the Kinect. Roughly the same thing has happened with VR, but luckily, game designers found their footing quickly, and VR has become somewhat of a commercial success thanks to headsets like the Oculus Quest and Oculus Go.
Augmented reality has changed so much since it’s inception and it’s interesting to see what that means for experiencial design. I usually only think of augmented reality as a modern thing, usually activated by our own cellphone devices or other technology that is pretty new in the span of human progress, but the article taught me that the phrase augmented reality is actually much more encompassing since augmented reality refers to any technology which affords users the ability to simultaneously interact with both real and virtual elements within an environment—unlike virtual reality which consists of entirely virtual elements. I found the history of the Sensorama so fascinating and how it served as almost the first “4-D” experience by combining 3-D film with smells and wind directed at the viewer. It’s sad to see how monetization helped change the uses of AR in the 21st century like with the uses for virtual replacement technology in advertisements for sports games and other events. I loved the game of Pokemon Go the summer of 2016 and thought that was one of the best modern uses of AR.
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