Two ways in which technology is changing our vision of the world

Nowadays everybody has heard about “augmented reality” and “virtual reality” and the great support that are bringing to everyday life.

Thanks to these up-to-date technologies, we have the chance to create parallel realities and modify our perception of the world.

But let’s clarify what AR and VR actually are and in what they differ.

Augmented Reality: an enhanced version of your surrounding

When we are talking about augmented reality, we are referring to a version of the real world that is “augmented” through the addition of digital and virtual content, overlaid on the physical environment that is already in front of us.

The idea behind the AR technology is very simple: developing an App that uses a camera in a smartphone or a tablet to overlap the augmented content (e.g. images, sounds) on the subject of the camera and directly on the screen of our device.

In recent years, many App were created following this elementary idea, starting from the entertainment field (Pokemon Go) to business application.

Some companies, in fact, use AR technologies to provide a new kind of experience to costumers (directly from your phone, IKEA App allow users to see in their kitchen the table that they want to purchase).

Moreover, augmented reality has a lot of industrial applications too. Specific devices have been developed to increase the productivity in various industries, such as constructions, safety inspection, engineering and business logistics.

For example, our AR system is a unique tool formed by a set of hardware (an helmet equipped with a head camera, a binocular visor, a handcam and a headset) connected to a software, that companies can use remotely in order to increase the industrial operation.

This is just one of the many ways in which augmented reality is now changing our approach to everyday tasks.

Virtual Reality: an immersive experience in a virtual scenario

Virtual Reality, instead, is a different technology that brings you to a totally different reality from the one you are living in. Why is it called virtual?

Because the new environment is 100% computer-generated, whether it is a real-life location, caught on 360° cameras, or a new scenario created via 3D technology.

Once you put on a VR headset, you will lose any perception of the surrounding. What you will see and hear, instead, will be virtually created by the chosen software.

This happens because usually the headset is connected to a computer, console or smartphone that support the virtual reality experience.

In recent years most of the biggest IT companies have created their own version of a VR headset, to meet the increasing market demand. Sony Playstation VR, HTC Cosmos, Oculus Quest are just a few of the latest models. 

Read also: Augmented reality for quality inspection? Yes, we have a solution

Virtual reality has proved to be a game-changer in each of its application fields. Let’s consider, for example, how the gaming experience has changed for the VR users.

Now you will take part of the video game as if you were actually one of the characters.                                                                

Tourism itself has been turned upside down by the VR technology. People, in fact, can now travel virtually to different places and experience them without leaving their couch.

In addition, virtual reality is considered to be the future of education, military, architecture, healthcare and engineering – just to name a few.

In conclusion

Considering all the above, we can easily see the differences between these two new technologies.

• Augmented Reality uses our own world as the framework in which digital objects, images or similar are places. Therefore, it is just partially fictional, and it is not necessary supported by a headset.
• Virtual Reality is fully immersive and needs a specific headset to work. Everything that the user can see and perceive is artificially created and do not correspond to the environment in which the user is living in that moment.

Whether we are talking about AR or VR, we can surely assert that industries are now looking for new products with these technologies, such as our unique device, in order to make any business more competitive in a market in constant development.