What Is Augmented Reality (AR)?

Augmented reality is a technology that allows you to project digital information into the real world. While virtual reality gives you the sense of leaving your physical environment and entering some other digital space, augmented reality brings the virtual world to you. It allows you to experience it simultaneously with your physical reality. 

Many different professions use AR for specific industry uses, including health care, education, retail, and more. In this article, discover more about augmented reality technology, including some of the use cases for AR and careers to consider in the field. 

What is AR?

Augmented reality, or AR, is a technology that lets you add digital information, such as text, images, or animations, to the real world. For example, you could use your smartphone to project an image of an item you are thinking about purchasing onto your bedroom floor. This would allow you to visualize how the object would fit into your room virtually. 

Augmented reality makes it possible to enhance the physical world with digital information while still interacting with the physical world. This is a distinction from virtual reality, which is related but very different from augmented reality. With virtual reality, you leave the physical world and enter another space, either by using a VR headset or another device. AR is different because it’s a step between the real world and the virtual, where the physical reality is enhanced by digital information. 

How does AR work? 

To understand how augmented reality works, it’s helpful to understand the different parts of technology that come together to make it possible for AR to function. Most augmented reality programs require cameras, sensors, a method of projection, and processing power. Let’s take a closer look at each of these pieces. 

• Cameras: The first requirement for AR is a camera so the program can use computer vision to understand the existing environment. 

• Sensors: Next, an AR system needs sensors to process and understand the data collected by the camera. Sensors help augmented reality programs understand where things are relative to other objects and other kinds of data. 

• Projection: For AR to project information onto visual fields, some projection technology is needed to show that data visually. 

• Processing power: Like any computer system, you need processing power for your AR system to function.

• Artificial intelligence: AI technology can help augmented reality systems offer more functionality, such as the ability to control your AR with voice commands. 

What is augmented reality used for? 

As AR technology becomes more refined, different uses for augmented reality emerge. For example, drivers could use AR technology to project a route directly onto the road, eliminating the need to look away from the road and consult a device or a map. You could use the same technology while trying to find a product in a large store, using an app to locate the item you’re looking for and projecting your route to find it. 

Other examples of how you can use AR technology include: 

• Preview what products will look like in your house: Some retailers offer AR programs where you can project a true-to-life image of a product you’re considering purchasing. That way, you can view how the object looks and fits in your space. 

• Create 3D prototypes: If you are designing or creating a product, you could use AR technology to visualize what it will look like without having to create or print one yourself. 

• Create interactive learning experiences: Augmented reality can be used to create more immersive and experiential learning activities. Students can use AR to connect with resources they might not have otherwise, such as " reconstructing” ruins at historical sites or virtually dissecting a frog. 

• More accurate health care: Medical professionals can use AR to provide better, more accurate care. Surgeons may use augmented reality while operating on a patient to help them visualize the work in front of them, or a nurse might use AR to map a patient’s veins for a more accurate blood draw. 

• Enhance national security: Pilots can use augmented reality to project critical information, such as altitude and speed, into their field of vision so they can focus on flying without looking down at their instruments. Soldiers and other military personnel have also developed uses for AR, such as mapping an environment and providing additional situational awareness to operatives. 

Types of AR

Augmented reality can be marker-based and markerless AR. These labels refer to what triggers the AR system is trained to respond to. Here’s a more in-depth explanation of these two types of AR: 

Marker-based

Marker-based augmented reality relies on a preprogrammed object the AR system learns to respond to. For example, you could use augmented reality to recreate a virtual image of what a historical site might look like. The developers who create that experience could place a QR code on a signpost explaining the AR. Users would scan the QR code with the AR app and the preprogrammed AR experience would begin. 

This is an example of marker-based augmented reality because the AR responds to the QR code prompt to generate the AR experience. 

Markerless

Markerless AI is different because it can respond to organic environments without preprogrammed cues. This type of algorithm needs to understand environmental patterns to make appropriate AR decisions. For example, when you use a shopping app to project an image of an object you’re considering purchasing, the AR system will need to understand your current environment to position the object on a flat surface. 

Who uses augmented reality? 

Many different professions can use AR for different industry-specific purposes. If you are considering a career with a more direct tie to augmented reality, you could consider working as an AR software developer, research scientist, or architect. 

AR software developer

Average annual salary in the US: $108,115 [1]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 25 percent [2]

Education requirements: To become a software developer, you will most likely need a bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field. You may need additional non-degree training or a master’s degree to specialize in a field like augmented reality. 

As an AR software developer, you would help design and create software that focuses on augmented reality technology. You will likely work with a team and may specialize in one role, such as testing, developing the front end, or developing the back end. In other situations, you may assume a more general role and support more than one area of development. 

AR research scientist

Average annual salary in the US: $119,460 [3]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 23 percent [4]

Education requirements: To become a research scientist, you will typically need to complete a master’s degree in computer science or a related field, although starting your career with a bachelor’s degree may be possible. 

As a research scientist focusing on augmented reality, you might work to discover new ways to approach AR technology and improve user experience. In this role, you may work to improve AR technology directly, or you may develop research specific to an industry like education or health care. You might collaborate with other researchers and publish your findings. 

AR system architect 

Average annual salary in the US: $124,867 [5]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 25 percent [2]

Education requirements: A bachelor’s degree is the most common requirement to become a systems architect, although some employers may require you to earn a master’s degree, typically in computer science, electrical engineering, or a related field. 

As a systems architect, you might design and build the computer systems required to support AR systems. You could conduct research to understand the needs of your project, and then build a roadmap to demonstrate how your team will meet those needs. In this role, you might direct a team and be responsible for communicating between those working directly on your projects and the more senior stakeholders of the company. 

Challenges of AR

Despite its many benefits, AR tech also comes with challenges. Consider some of the following downsides:  

• Bulky equipment: The equipment needed to create an AR experience can be large and hard to store. 

• Not user-friendly: When people have trouble using the augmented reality program or don’t enjoy the experience, it’s difficult for them to gain the benefits of AR. 

• Cost of the technology: When cost is a factor, purchasing AR equipment or developing AR technology can be cost-prohibitive for many organizations. 

• Technical issues: AR experiences hinge on working properly, and when users encounter technical issues, they are less likely to use the AR.  

Learn more with Coursera.

If you want to learn more about augmented reality, consider Introduction to Augmented Reality and ARCore, offered by Google AR and VR on Coursera. This course takes approximately 10 hours to complete and can help you understand how AR works and what you can do with it.