A

REPORT

ON

MIXED REALITY

Submitted By,
What is Reality?
The state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of
them.

Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that can be similar to or completely

different from the real world. Applications of virtual reality can include entertainment
(i.e. gaming) and educational purposes (i.e. medical or military training). Other, distinct
types of VR style technology include augmented reality and mixed reality.
Currently standard virtual reality systems use either virtual reality headsets or multi-
projected environments to generate realistic images, sounds and other sensations that
simulate a user's physical presence in a virtual environment. A person using virtual
reality equipment is able to look around the artificial world, move around in it, and
interact with virtual features or items. The effect is commonly created by VR headsets
consisting of a head-mounted display with a small screen in front of the eyes, but can
also be created through specially designed rooms with multiple large screens. Virtual
reality typically incorporates auditory and video feedback, but may also allow other
types of sensory and force feedback through haptic technology (any technology that can
create an experience of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user).

Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience of a real-world environment

where the objects that reside in the real-world are enhanced by computer-generated
perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including visual,
auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. The overlaid sensory information can be
constructive (i.e. additive to the natural environment), or destructive (i.e. masking of
the natural environment). This experience is seamlessly interwoven with the physical
world such that it is perceived as an immersive aspect of the real environment. In this
way, augmented reality alters one's ongoing perception of a real-world environment,
whereas virtual reality completely replaces the user's real-world environment with a
simulated one. Augmented reality is related to two largely synonymous terms: mixed
reality and computer-mediated reality.

Mixed reality (MR) is the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new
environments and visualizations where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact
in real time. Mixed reality takes place not only in the physical world or the virtual
world, but is a hybrid of reality and virtual reality, encompassing both augmented
reality and augmented virtuality via immersive technology.
The first immersive mixed reality system, providing enveloping sight, sound, and touch
was the Virtual Fixtures platform developed at the U.S. Air Force's Armstrong
Laboratories in the early 1990s. In a study published in 1992, the Virtual Fixtures
project at the U.S. Air Force demonstrated for the first time that human performance
could be significantly amplified by the introduction of spatially registered virtual
objects overlaid on top of a person's direct view of a real physical environment.
Virtual Reality vs Augmented Reality vs Mixed Reality
 Virtual reality (VR) immerses users in a fully artificial digital environment.
 Augmented reality (AR) overlays virtual objects on the real-world environment
with spatial registration that enables geometric persistence concerning
placement and orientation within the real world. Prior technologies that overlaid
data or images not spatially registered to real-world geometries are referred to
as heads-up display technologies.
 Mixed reality (MR) not just overlays, but anchors virtual objects to real-world
objects and allows the user to interact with combined virtual/real objects.

Devices and experiences

There are two main types of devices that deliver Windows Mixed Reality experiences:
1. Holographic devices. These are characterized by the device's ability to place
digital content in the real world as if it were really there.
2. Immersive devices. These are characterized by the device's ability to create a
sense of "presence"--hiding the physical world, and replacing it with a digital
experience.
Characteristic Holographic Devices Immersive Devices
Acer Windows Mixed Reality
Microsoft HoloLens
Example Device Development Edition

See-through display. Allows user Opaque display. Blocks out the

Display to see the physical environment physical environment while
while wearing the headset. wearing the headset.
Full six-degrees-of-freedom Full six-degrees-of-freedom
Movement movement, both rotation and movement, both rotation and
translation. translation.

Note, whether a device is connected to or tethered to a separate PC (via USB cable or

Wi-Fi) or self-contained (untethered) does not reflect whether a device is holographic
or immersive. Certainly, features that improve mobility lead to better experiences, and
both holographic and immersive devices could be tethered or untethered.
Technological advancement is what has enabled mixed reality experiences. There are
no devices today that can run experiences across the entire spectrum. However,
Windows 10 provides a common mixed reality platform for both device manufacturers
and developers. Devices today can support a specific range within the mixed reality
spectrum. Over time, new devices will expand that range. In the future, holographic
devices will become more immersive, and immersive devices will become more
holographic.

Where devices exist on the mixed reality spectrum

Often, it is best to think what type of experience an application or game developer

wants to create. The experiences will typically target a specific point or part on the
spectrum. Then, developers should consider the capabilities of devices they want to
target. For example, experiences that rely on the physical world will run best on
HoloLens.

Towards the left (near physical reality). Users remain present in their physical
environment and are never made to believe they have left that environment.
 In the middle (fully mixed reality). These experiences blend the real world and
the digital world. Viewers who have seen the movie Jumanji can reconcile how
the physical structure of the house where the story took place was blended with a
jungle environment.
 Towards the right (near digital reality). Users experience a completely digital
environment, and are unaware of what occurs in the physical environment
around them.
Microsoft HoloLens
Microsoft HoloLens, known under development as Project Baraboo, is a pair of mixed
reality smartglasses developed and manufactured by Microsoft. HoloLens was the first
head-mounted display running the Windows Mixed Reality platform under the
Windows 10 computer operating system. The tracking technology used in HoloLens can
trace its lineage to Kinect, an add-on for Microsoft's Xbox gaming console that was
introduced in 2010.
The pre-production version of HoloLens, the Development Edition, shipped on March
30, 2016, and is targeted to developers in the United States and Canada for a list price of
$3000.

Samsung and Asus have extended an offer to Microsoft to help produce their own
mixed-reality products, in collaboration with Microsoft, based around the concept and
hardware on HoloLens. On October 12, 2016, Microsoft announced global expansion of
HoloLens and publicized that HoloLens would be available for pre-order in Australia,
Ireland, France, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. There is also a
Commercial Suite (similar to a pro edition of Windows), with enterprise features, such
as bitlocker security. As of May 2017, The Suite sells for $5,000. Microsoft has decided
to rent the HoloLens without clients making the full investment. Microsoft partner with
a company called Abcomrents to give the service of HoloLens rental.
HoloLens 2 was announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on
February 24, 2019, and is available on pre-order at $3500.