Augmented Reality in the past

For many years, the idea of Augmented Reality impacting our day-to-day lives was something that would remain bound to our imaginations and the sci-fi-themed media we consume – an artificial luxury from our distant future.

However, looking at where we are today, that future might be upon us. In the past few years, we’ve seen numerous startups and products as the fields of VR (Virtual Reality) and AR have expanded. Many of these companies promise to change many aspects of our lives like gaming, education, how we interact over long distances, and even the medical profession.

Surgery and Augmented reality

In many cases, those promises are being kept. In one of the most groundbreaking surgeries in recent history, AR went beyond helping to train surgeons – as per the usual notion of AR in medicine. Instead, they use of Augmented Reality played a pivotal role in the success of the medical procedure.

“We’re going to a place in medicine that has just never existed before,” Dr. Steven Murphy – an orthopaedic surgeon at the New England Baptist Hospital – said of the results of the breakthrough hip replacement procedure.

Dr. Murphy is also the founder of Surgical Planning Associates and developer of Hipinsight, the intra-operative Augmented Reality guidance system that was used throughout the procedure.

How does it work?

The platform dubbed ‘Hipinsights’ works by loading a set of 3-dimensional images of the patient’s exact anatomy onto a pair/s of suitable headsets – specifically Microsoft’s HoloLense 2 Mixed Reality headset.

A specialized tracking system is then attached to the patient. Once ready, the lenses are synchronized with the tracking system, giving Dr. Murphy and his team a 3D view of the patient’s anatomical details as they operated.

“What this does is it takes all the critical three-dimensional information of that patient and puts it right where you want it, when you want it, in real-time,” Dr. Murphy said.

One could think of it as giving doctors a real-time X-ray view of the patient which gives them a whole new level of exactitude.

“Little differences turn out to be big differences for the patient. Being able to lock in and be sure that everything you’re doing is exactly what you planned and you’re accomplishing exactly what you’re setting out to do, is a difference-maker for surgery,” Murphy added.

Dr Murphy’s system was approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) as early as January 28 and it did not take them long to get to work. North Atlantic Surgery Suites in Salem, New Hampshire, used the system to assist with a hip replacement procedure only a month later. Dr. Murphy hopes that the system can be adapted for other procedures like knee replacements in the near future.

The post Augmented Reality Debuts As An Assistant In Live Surgery  appeared first on Bizznerd.

As sci-fi film inspired as that may sound, it actually works.

“I’d have thought the idea behind Cognixion One was merely wildly imaginative if it weren’t already a reality,” noted the thoroughly impressed founder of Apple’s Worldwide Disability Solutions Group, Alan Brightman.

Having been in development since 2017, the Cognixion One was conceptualised and brought to life by a team of bio-signal engineers, neurologists, and speech-language pathologists to target the needs of those living ailments that disrupt their communication. By using a brain computer interface (BCI), the team behind the ONE AR headset look to tackle the challenge of speech impairment experienced by those who struggle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), and Cerebral Palsy.

How Does it Work?

First of all, we can all thank our lucky stars that the BCI technology is nowhere near the point of being able to read the user’s thoughts. Instead, it uses its set of six non-invasive electrodes – which are mounted to the wearer’s head – to establish a live connection between user and device. Once a connection has been forged, the Ine’s BCI is able to recognize brain activity that is associated with pointing and looking – this enables the wearer to type out messages, or pick items from a list. A small feature that goes a long way in making life easier.

The Cognixion One’s other features include a dual display lens – which gives those around the wearer a quick and easy means of viewing what is being said to them. The system also comes equipped with an eight channel bio-signal streaming that happens in real time via BLE5.

Working to be as up to date as possible, the Cognixion One is 4G compatible and also supports both local and USB-C data transfer. It’s very – probably inevitable – likely that 5G integration will soon follow.

“In my opinion, this product will prove to be truly, fundamentally life changing for people young and old with varying levels of ability.” said Alan Brightman.

Well, What About Gaming?

For now, Cognixion have made the One’s potential in the medical field their main focus, however, this does not rule out the possibility – if not inevitability – of this device being used recreationally. So one can expect the regular bits from an AR experience like, gaming, controlling your computer remotely, movies, music, etc. Let’s think about this for a second, which “technophile” wouldn’t want to own one of these.

That said, there has been no official pricing given and details around the actual release date have been rather vague (at the time of writing) – giving up no more information than “sometime” in 2021. Until then, we’ll all have to wait, keeping our fingers crossed that there aren’t any unexpected delays or cancellations.

The post Cognixion One; An AR Headset You Can Control With Your mind appeared first on Bizznerd.

Virtual Reality (VR)

Virtual Reality, is a  form of technology that fully immerses the user in a digital environment. In more advanced forms of VR, the user is able to interact with the computer generated environment in which they find themselves, by moving around the three dimensional world. In many cases, users are even able to hear sounds and manipulate object in the virtual environment, by wearing hand controllers.

To experience the virtual environment, users are required to wear a VR headset, designed to deliver the interactive environment to the user. Some headsets, like the Oculus Rift, are connected to a computer, or to a gaming console (much like PlayStation’s VR, offering). Others come as standalone devices, which either work independently or require the insertion of a smart phone to deliver a virtual experience to the user. Stand alone VR devices are becoming increasingly popular for the affordability.

VR is increasingly used to deliver immersive videos for the purpose of entertainment, or marketing, while interactive VR experiences have been used for education and training.

Augmented Reality (AR)

Augmented Reality, unlike VR, applies virtual images and objects to a real-world environment. With AR technology, computer generated images, video, objects data will be layered over existing environments, as in the globally popular smartphone game, Pokemon Go.

For further clarification, if a user would like to purchase a piece of furniture, the retailer or manufacturer could, through an AR enhanced app, allow the user to view the object (chair, bed, table etc.) and see where they might place it in their home before purchasing it. In that way, enhancing the user’s shopping experience while adding a degree of convenience.

AR is currently the most accessible form of reality technology as it allows users to run augmented reality enhanced applications from their personal devices (smartphone or tablet). Users can also experience AR through special headsets like Google Glass, which won’t immerse a user in a virtually generated environment but layer virtual objects over an actual environment.

AR technology has been used in marketing, retail, manufacturing, and navigation, with other applications for the technology still in the development stage.

Mixed Reality (MR)

Mixed Reality, or Hybrid Reality is the most recent development in the Reality Technology field. MR not only overlays a virtual object onto a real environment, but anchors the object onto the real-world environment and enables the object to interact with said environment. MR is, in a sense, an advanced form of Augmented Reality.

Another form of Mixed Reality applies a virtual environment to a real-world environment, this usually requires sensors, to enable users to interact with the virtual environment, without disturbing the actual environment or accidentally harming themselves while navigating the hybridised environments.

Holographic devices that deliver MR experiences have translucent lenses that allow users to see their real-world environment while holographically overlaying the virtual environment onto it. Examples of this can be found in Microsoft’s Hololens 2 product.

Immersive devices, on the other hand, totally block out the real world view, and employ cameras to track it while delivering a virtual experience to the user. Computer firm’s Acer and HP have Windows Mixed Reality headsets which operate in this manner.

Conclusion

Reality technology, which used to be stuff of science fiction, has come a long way in recent times. The technology, though largely still in its development stages, may become a big part of our lives in future. VR, AR, and MR may enhance how we interact and communicate with each other, our environment, and other technology in a, not so distant, future.

The post VR, AR, and MR, What’s The Difference? appeared first on Bizznerd.