Chapter 5: Augmented Reality

When you watch a sports event, say a tennis match, and statistics about the players are superimposed on the screen, you are seeing reality that has been augmented with additional information. When that additional information, in any sensory form, is generated by a computer and at your demand you are engaging with augmented reality. While the reality is what is being perceived by the user, it is the technology that has been given the name augmented reality (AR). AR is a technology that augments the user's view of the world by superposing a computer-generated image on their direct view. An example of AR that caught people's attention and popularized AR is the Pokémon Go app. Pokémon Go allows a participant to view the world superimposed with Pokémon characters through their smart phone camera. AR was defined in a very interesting way by Vivian Rosenthal, who founded an early AR startup called GoldRun (https://www.vivianrosenthal.com/goldrun). She is quoted as having defined AR as