Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

Imagine a world in which the physical objects surrounding us could be constructed or destructed on a whim, tinkered and adjusted to fit the demands of the user. Such a world may never exist in the physical domain, but the worlds of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) allow us to do just that. In this chapter, we examine this frontier of immersive multimedia and explore the enabling technologies and their impacts to the field, including graphics processing unit (GPU), Global Positioning System (GPS), and network support for multi-party interaction. We then closely examine the modern augmented reality systems and applications, in particular, Microsoft’s HoloLens. Finally, we discuss the challenges and restrictions of AR/VR, in terms of color and depth perception, localization, information presentation, and social acceptance.