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Augmented Reality

March 31, 2003

CNN is running a story today on the Jet Propulsion Lab's excitement over an 'invisible' coat that works by projecting an image from the back of the wearer onto the front of the coat (this page has some discussion on the coat - some mundane comments, some clever points, and plenty of interesting images in people's sigs).

The CNN article mentions one scientist's idea for a potential medical use of this - a surgeon can wear gloves that project MRI scans of the patient, showing what lies beneath the skin. This is a type of augmented reality, the scientist says.

Augmented Reality [really good link!] is like virtual reality, but set in the real world instead of a computer screen. It's about creating composite images in real time. The yellow first down marker line that you see watching football games is a basic type of augmented reality. Hockey games also highlight the puck as it speeds across the ice, and some sporting events are shown with overlaid advertisements that do not actually exist in the stadium.

I have an idea for augmented reality: you're looking at the stars, and you're trying to find the constellations. With a flick of a switch, you could project a map of the constellations over the starts you're viewing. Instant backyard planetarium.

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