Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality’s Older and More Forgotten Brother

History

Augmented Reality is far from a new concept, first popping into the heads of innovators and developers as early as the beginning of the 20th century. It saw a great amount of progression over the years, yet wasn’t actually given the title of “Augmented Reality” until 1990. In recent years, its major usage has been through gaming and education. Despite seeming to lose wind over the decades, tons of people and professions still use augmented reality in a multitude of ways.

During the earlier years of augmented reality, most applications looked similar to this.

Augmented Reality can be used in many more ways than first thought.

Just like virtual reality and tons of other technologies in the world, augmented reality can benefit a multitude of professions and areas. A few examples of these would include:

Education

There is a large number of applications and programs out there that utilize augmented reality content for education purposes. The majority of them use paper embedded with specific coding to correlate with compatible software. These types of apps and programs can range from math, reading, science, history and many others that specialize in education areas.

Education apps that use augmented reality:

Anatomy 4D: A free application that uses special, code embedded, printed pictures to displays different 3D anatomy structures. Some of these include the human skeleton and heart, both in great detail.

AR Flashcards: AR Flashcards has a range of apps (Animal Alphabet, Shapes and Colors, Space) that implement flashcards to bring to life core education fundamentals for elementary level students. These include basic math problems, numbers, letters, shapes and even animals.

FETCH! LUNCH RUSH: A free application that uses AR flashcards and an AR game to teach students basic math skills. The app is targeted for students in both 1st and 2nd grade.

Star Walk™: Star Walk™ is an application that uses GPS tracking services to display constellations and dozens of other celestial bodies based on the user’s device location. *Star Walk™ does NOT offer a free version, full version of the app costs $2.99 USD.*

Marketing

In recent years a vast amount of companies have been implementing augmented reality technologies into their marketing and advertising campaigns.  Said companies are using this technology to enhance the traditional advertising methodology. The hope behind this, being to further expand upon the “norm” of advertising, by going with a more current landscape. Using this to achieve the goal that all advertisers work towards, reaching a wider consumer base.

Entertainment

For years, augmented reality has been used in the entertainment world to add to the overall experience of the user. An area that has seen extensive use and most likely the most compared to others, has been video games. Tons of titles across a variety of different platforms have created games and programs that center around augmented reality or use its key features.

Microsoft Hololens

Recently, Microsoft has announced the development of a device geared towards implementing augmented reality into daily life, the Hololens. The Hololens, a headset used to display augmented programing, looks to impact all facets of entertainment and many others. Although the device is still in it’s early stages, it looks to be the most advanced and prominent augmented reality device since the concept was first created.

 

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Augmented Reality Vs. Virtual Reality

While the general concept of augmented reality and virtual reality are very similar, they differ in a few key details. The biggest differentiating factor being the “world” in which their programs and content are presented. Augmented reality takes the real world and adds content to it, using cameras and other display devices to give that image. Virtual reality on the other hand, puts the user into a computer generated “world” with the use of many varying technologies both hardware and software. Yet the most impressive trait that the two technologies share is the impact and uses it provides to varying professions and areas. Both have extensive uses for areas including education, marketing, entertainment, transportation, training, medical and so many more.

 

A Venn Diagram showing the contrasts and comparisons between augmented reality and virtual reality.

Images courtesy of: Microsoft, Google, Apple, DAQRI, AR Flashcards, Cohlab, and SOILDWORKS.
Content courtesy of: Microsoft and Aurasma.

Duolingo

If you’re looking for an efficient, quick and free language learning program, Duolingo should be your first stop.

Duolingo is a free website and application that can be used to learn various different languages. The languages that Duolingo currently provides for English speakers includes Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Irish, Swedish, Danish, Turkish and Norwegian (Bokmål). Duolingo also provides lessons and languages for Non-English speakers. Plus they have many other languages that are either in beta or being worked on to be released in later years. Some of these languages include Russian, Polish, Vietnamese, Hebrew and even Klingon.

Just a few of the languages that Duolingo offers for English speakers. 

A small description of one of the languages offered. Also shown are a few of the users who contribute to the course. 

Duolingo works very similarly to how a game would. It is able to not only be a fun experience but also a vast learning one as well. It uses exercises such as flashcards, matching words to pictures, translating direct text, and any combination of those mentioned. Also used is an experience system where users earn experience points as they progress through the course to show their progress. Being able to see the progress that you are making will make it that much easier for users to not only enhance their learning but also to review for when memory starts to fade.

One exercise includes translation while using pictures. The user identifies the English word with its picture and language translation.

Experience is gained throughout the completion of lessons in the course. Progress is shown over time.

Two huge features that go beyond just learning languages are Discussion and Immersion.

Discussion: Discussion allows users to see what others (Contributors and active users) are talking about in regards to the language that is being taught. Topics can range from many various things including help for the website, learning advice and tips or even just general language discussion. This will allow users to branch off from the teachings of Duolingo and increase their knowledge and understanding of the language and the topics that are involved. Users can use discussion to ask any questions in regards to their language.

Immersion: Immersion is a tool that gives users the opportunity to work together to translate various forms of text. Included are thousands of documents that either need to be translated, need to be checked or ones that are finished and can be used as review. These documents can include stories, articles and even wiki pages of all different categories and genres. Duolingo also allows users to upload their own documents that can be translated by other users as well.

The types of documents can range greatly in Immersion. Experience is also rewarded for correct and helpful translation.

Agnieszka Karch, of Fluent in 3 Months, writes in her review of Duolingo:

Duolingo is not a stand-alone language course, but it’s an excellent addition to a language learner’s toolbox. It’s easy to use, it’s fun and it works. Don’t forget to do the homework, though. If your aim is to achieve real fluency, remember to read, speak, and truly live the language that you’re learning!

Overall Duolingo is one of the best, free language learning programs offered on the internet. In a short time Duolingo has made many great improvements and looks to do so even more as the years go on.

Image Screenshots courtesy of Duolingo. 
Quote courtesy of Agnieska Karch and Fluent in 3 Months.