ABSTRACT
Augmented Reality (AR) is the blending of computer-generated content with the perceived reality. Traditionally, virtual reality (VR) has existed to provide an alternative to reality. Virtual presentations provide users with a view of the world that may not exist for them elsewhere. However, a criticism of VR has been that it cannot hope to completely supplant reality given the incredible power of human senses. And, disconnecting the user from reality is not appropriate for a wide variety of applications. For this reason, researchers have begun to explore the vast range of possibilities between actual reality and virtual environments. Milgram and Kishino proposed a virtuality continuum, illustrated in Figure 13.1, to describe concepts beyond these simple ideas of reality and virtual reality [1, 2]. At one end of the scale lie real environments, the world with no computer augmentation. At the other end lies conventional virtual reality, the world replaced by the synthetic. Augmented reality dwells between the two extremes, typically closer to the real than the virtual, modifying the real world by adding virtual elements.
