A talk from the Intro Classes Track at AWE USA 2018 - the World's #1 XR Conference & Expo in Santa Clara, California May 30- June 1, 2018. Steve Feiner (Columbia University): The Future of AR ​​What is AR and where is it going? This talk will provide an introduction to AR in the many forms that it has taken, from its birth 50 years ago until now. Along the way, I will provide some insight into the welter of terms, both old and new, that are currently being used and abused to refer to AR. And I will discuss what's to come, as AR researchers and practitioners explore collaboration, mobility, and context, in the march toward ubiquity. http://AugmentedWorldExpo.com

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The Future of AR
Steven Feiner
Computer Graphics & User Interfaces Lab
Department of Computer Science
Columbia University
New York, NY 10027
Supported in part by NSF, SEI, and gifts from
Google, Meta, Verizon
Augmented World Expo USA 2018, Santa Clara, CA 30 May–1 June 2018

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Virtual Reality (VR)
 Computer-generated world of
virtual media
 3D
 Interactive
 Tracked relative to user
Oculus Rift

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Augmented Reality (AR)
 Computer-generated world of
virtual media
 3D
 Interactive
 Tracked relative to user
 Registered in 3D with the
perceptible real world Meta 2 Dev Kit

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What’s in a Name?
1968 Sutherland: “Head-mounted three
dimensional display”
…
1992 Caudell & Mizell: “Augmented reality” (AR)
1994 Milgram & Kishino: “Mixed reality” (MR)
continuum, from AR to “augmented
virtuality”

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What’s in a Name?
1997 Mann: “mediated reality”,
“diminished reality”
2015 Microsoft: “mixed reality” [marketing-driven
redefinition to make it sound better than AR]
2016 Intel: “merged reality” [to avoid sounding
like Microsoft]
Many researchers continue to use AR for all

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AR Displays for visual AR
 Optical see-through
 Video see-through
Virtual
Graphics
Virtual
Graphics
Camera(s)
Combined in
computer
 Projection
Virtual
Graphics
Combined in
optics
Display
Display
Display Combined in
environment
 Display can be
 Worn
 Held
 In environment
Optics
Computer

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Why AR?
BBC Civilisations AR, 2018
Interact with virtual world at scale
Walk around
Manipulate in handWhy VR?

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Why AR?
Experience in context of real world
Maintain situational awareness
O. Oda & S. Feiner, ISMAR 2009

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Why AR?
Experience in context of real world
Maintain situational awareness
G. Loeb, S. Sadri, A. Grinshpoon et al., vasAR, 2017

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Why AR?
M. Sukan, S. Feiner, B. Tversky, & S. Energin, ISMAR 2012
Integrate virtual and real worlds

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Why AR?
S. Henderson & S. Feiner, ISMAR 2011
Integrate virtual and real worlds

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Why AR?
Columbia Touring Machine Backpack, 1996–
Integrate virtual and real worlds

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“The future is already here—it's just not very
evenly distributed.”
—William Gibson (variously during the 20th C.)
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/01/24/future-has-arrived
What’s Next?

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Engelbart
FJCC 68: Doug Engelbart
“The Mother of All Demos”

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Sutherland
FJCC 68: Ivan Sutherland
Head-Tracked VR and AR

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Collaboration: Remote Task Assistance
C. Elvezio, M. Sukan, O. Oda, B. Tversky, S. Feiner, SIGGRAPH 2017
Local Tech in AR Remote SME in VR

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Lower Latency
C. Elvezio, F. Ling, & S. Feiner, 2018

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Greater Mobility: cm-level outdoor AR
C. Elvezio, F. Ling, S. Feiner, et al., 2017

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 Taking advantage of the head-worn
form factor
 Eye tracking
 Expression tracking
 Brain–computer interfaces
Using our Heads

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The Price of
Precise Tracking
S. Feiner, Augmented Reality Event 2010
E.g., Google “Visual
Positioning System”
What happens
when you become
a walking sensor
suite?
And offer your
sensor data to
others?

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Acknowledgments
 Carmine Elvezio
 Alon Grinshpoon
 Hiroshi Furuya
 Steve Henderson
 Frank Fong Ling
 Jen-Shuo Liu
 Gabrielle Loeb
 Daniel Miau
 Ohan Oda
 Shirin Sadri
 Samantha Siu
 Mengu Sukan
 Barbara Tversky
 Supported in part by NSF, SEI, and
gifts from Google, Meta, Verizon
 Any opinions, findings and conclusions or
recommendations expressed in this material are
those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect
the views of the National Science Foundation or any
other sponsor. Feiner is Lead Advisor to and has
equity in Meta.