Augmented Reality Post

Article Summary

The article I chose to analze is called "Interaction in a Collaborative
Augmented Reality Environment" by Holger T. Regenbrecht and Michael T. Wagner. This article describes ways to view objects in an augmented view. When researching the different articles for augmented reality, the authors make mention of the difference between augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality ( VR), in which the VR is all considered to be in a virtual world and AR combines the virtual world with the real world. In this article, the authors show how one can experience virtual objects in real life. They show a "cake platter" model where makers are place on a turn table type object that marks where the 3-D object will appear. The only way to see the 3-D object is to place on special viewing glasses that allow you to see the objects. They also show how one could view an actual computer desktop (2-D object) along side the 3-D object with similar markers. The idea of this type of AR would be for meetings or presentations. The presenter could show an object or presentation in a meeting and allow users to turn the table to view the object or presentation. They could also see details about the object with the 2-D desktop right next to the object.

In education, I can see this being a tool in art classes, biology classes, physics classes, anatomy, engineering, and so much more. This tool could be used to show groups of biology students a species that they had never seen before. The object could be viewed from all angles and explored by students with the 2-D desktop right next to the object as you are looking toward it. In an anatomy class, students could explore different tissues and organs in a much different way. What if anatomy students had an augmented skeleton that had bones that could be analyzed right from the viewing glasses? Engineering students could view a robot model they had been working on before they actually build it. I think the list could go on and on for how this technology could be used in the classroom right now.