Anirudh Modi

10/3/2000
5:00 PM
 OUTLINE

What is AR?
Motivation
Applications
Characteristics
Registration
Conclusion
Questions?
 What is AR?
 Augmented Reality (AR) is a variation of VE/VR.
 VR technologies completely immerse a user inside
a synthetic environment. While immersed, the user
cannot see the real world around him.
 In contrast, AR allows the user to see the real
world, with virtual objects superimposed upon or
composited with the real world.
 AR supplements reality, rather than completely
replacing it. It creates the illusion that the virtual and
real objects coexisted in the same space.
 AR can be thought of as the "middle ground“ between
VE (completely synthetic) and telepresence
(completely real)
What is AR?

e.g., Real desk with virtual lamp

and two virtual chairs
(ECRC)
 What is AR?
 AR systems have the following three characteristics:
 Combines real and virtual
 Interactive in real time
 Registered in 3-D
 This definition allows other technologies besides Head
Mounted Displays (HMDs) while retaining the essential
components of AR.
 Does not include film or 2-D overlays like "Jurassic Park"
featuring photorealistic virtual objects seamlessly blended
with a real environment in 3-D, as they are not interactive.
 2-D virtual overlays on top of live video can be done at
interactive rates, but the overlays are not combined with the
real world in 3-D. Hence, they are not AR.
 Motivation
 AR enhances a user’s perception of interaction with
the real world.
 The virtual objects display information that the user
cannot directly detect with his own senses.
 The information conveyed by the virtual objects helps
a user perform real-world tasks.
 AR is a specific example of what is known as
Intelligence Amplification (IA): using the computer
as a tool to make a task easier for a human to
perform.
 Applications
 Main classes of applications:
1. Medical
2. Manufacturing and repair
3. Annotation and visualization
4. Robot path planning
5. Entertainment
6. Military aircraft
 There are several miscellaneous applications.
Applications: Medical

Surgeon X-ray vision: Real-time stereo HMD display

Minimally-invasive brain with ultrasound volume
surgery display of needle inserted into
(AI Lab, MIT) the breast
(Andrei State, UNC)
Applications: Manuf & Repair

Augmented view of River VR HUDset used in the wire

Wear in Sunderland, shop to connect the wires by
Newcastle (U.K.) with a showing an image of the
planned footbridge circuit and information about
(UK) type of wire to be used
(Boeing, US)
Applications: Annotation

Virtual lines help display Engine model part labels

geometry of shuttle bay as appear as user points at them
seen in orbit (ECRC)
(U. Toronto, Canada)
Applications: Robot path planning

Virtual lines show planned motion of a robot arm

(U. Toronto, Canada)
Applications: Entertainment

Screenshot from the movie“Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” blending

the real character and background with computer generated
cartoon characters
Entertainment: Virtual actors
Entertainment: Virtual actors

Real-time facial expression recognition and animation of the clone’s face

(MIRALab, University of Geneva)
Applications: Aircraft

Boeing 737 cockpit with Head- Head Up Guidance System

up Display (HUD) (HGS)
(Flight Dynamics Inc.) (Flight Dynamics Inc.)
Applications: Nightvision

Nightvision system in the 2000 Cadillac DeVille

(Cadillac.com.)
AR: Applications

Table-Top Spatially-Augmented Reality:

Bringing Physical Models to Life with
Projected Imagery
(Ramesh Raskar, UNC)
 Characteristics
 Discussion on the characteristics of AR systems and
design issues encountered when building an AR
system.
 Two ways to accomplish this augmentation: optical or
video technologies.
 Blending the real and virtual poses problems with
focus and contrast and some applications require
portable AR systems to be truly effective.
Characteristics: Augmentation

 Besides adding objects to a real environment, AR also

has the potential to remove them.
 Graphic overlays might be used to remove or hide parts of the
real environment from a user. e.g., to remove a desk in the
real environment, draw a representation of the real walls and
floors behind the desk and "paint" that over the real desk,
effectively removing it from the user's sight.
 Has been done in movies. Doing this interactively in an
AR system will be much harder, but this removal may
not need to be photorealistic to be effective.
 Blending the real and virtual poses problems with
focus and contrast and some applications require
portable AR systems to be truly effective.
Characteristics: Augmentation

 AR might apply to all senses, not just sight.

 AR could be extended to include sound.
 The user would wear headphones equipped with
microphones on the outside. The headphones would add
synthetic, directional 3D sound, while the external
microphones would detect incoming sounds from the
environment. Thus, one can cancel selected real incoming
sounds and add others to the system. This is not easy, but
possible.
 Another example is haptics.
 Gloves with devices that provide tactile feedback might
augment real forces in the environment. For example, a user
might run his hand over the surface of a real desk which can
augment the feel of the desk, perhaps making it feel rough in
certain spots.
Characteristics: Optical vs Video

Optical see-through HMD Video see-through HMD

conceptual diagram conceptual diagram
Characteristics: Focus & Contrast
 Focus can be a problem for both optical and video components. Ideally
the virtual should match the real.
 Depending on video camera’s depth-of-field (DOF) and focus
settings, parts of the real world may not be in focus.
 In computer graphics, everything is rendered with a pinhole model,
so regardless of distance, everything is in focus.
 To overcome this, graphics can be rendered to simulate a limited
DOF, and the video camera can have autofocus lens.
 Contrast is a big issue owing to its large dynamic range in real
environments.
 The eye is a logarithmic detector simultaneously handling contrasts
varying by 6 orders! Most display devices do not even come close.
 Thus optical devices are usually made dark-tinted to reduce this
range. For video, everything must be clipped or compressed into the
monitor’s dynamic range.
Characteristics: Portability
 In most VR systems, the user is not encouraged to walk around much.
 Instead, the user navigates by "flying" through the environment,
walking on a treadmill, or driving some mockup of a vehicle, etc.
 Whatever the technology, the result is that the user stays in one
place in the real world.
 Some AR applications, however, need support for a user who will walk
around a large environment (usually move to the place where the task is
to take place).
 "Flying,” as performed in a VR system, is no longer an option. If a
mechanic needs to go to the other side of a jet engine, she must
physically move herself and the display devices she wears.
 Therefore, AR systems will place a premium on portability, especially
the ability to walk around outdoors, away from controlled
environments. The scene generator, the HMD, and the tracking
system must all be self-contained and capable of surviving exposure
to the environment.
 Registration
 One of the most basic problems in AR.
 Objects in the real and virtual worlds have to be
properly aligned with respect to each other.
 Some applications demand accurate registration.,
registration e.g.,
virtual surgery where error can be fatal!!
 Registration errors can also cause motion-sickness.
 AR requires much more accurate registration than VR.
Even tiny offsets in the real and virtual images is
usually easy to detect.
 Errors are difficult to control. Static errors are not a
big-issue, but dynamic errors for devices like the HMD
is a major source of problems.
 Conclusion
 AR is a relatively new field (since 1993) and is far behind VR in
maturity.
 Several vendors sell complete, turnkey VR systems.
 No commercial vendor currently (??) sells an HMD-based AR
system.
 First deployed HMD-based AR system will probably be in the
application of aircraft manufacturing (Boeing is currently exploring
this technology extensively).
 A breakthrough is required in real-time HMD tracking in the
outdoors at the accuracy required by AR for this technology to
move ahead rapidly.
 AR has a great future as it promises better navigation and
interaction with real and virtual world in ways which has
previously been unimaginable.