Mixed Reality




Mixed Reality










Mixed Reality

by James G. Barr

Copyright 2023, Faulkner Information Services. All
Rights Reserved.

Docid: 00018048

Publication Date: 2301

Publication Type: TUTORIAL

Preview

Technology is a vital tool for advancing human awareness, understanding,
and capabilities, not just that aimed at computation or communications,
but the technology to improve human perception. From eyeglasses to hearing
aids to virtual reality headsets, making the world better by enhancing
people’s perception better is a universal goal. Over the past several
decades, advancements in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)
have enabled individuals, as well as enterprise work teams, improve their
productivity and enrich their lives. More recently, scientists and
engineers not satisfied with the gap between digitally-oriented VR and
physically-oriented AR have been working to affect mixed reality (MR)
environments, which combine VR and AR technologies allowing physical and
digital entities to interact in real time.

Report Contents:

Executive Summary

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Technology is a vital tool for advancing human awareness, understanding,
and capabilities, not just technology aimed at computation or
communication, but technology aimed at improving human perception. From
eyeglasses to hearing aids to virtual reality headsets, making the world
better by making people’s extra-sensory perception better is a universal
goal. Over the past several decades, advancements in virtual reality (VR)
and augmented reality (AR) have enabled individuals, as well as teams, to
improve their productivity and enrich their lives.

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More recently, scientists and engineers – not satisfied with the gap
between digitally-oriented VR and physically-oriented AR – have been
working to affect mixed reality (MR) environments, which combine VR and AR
technologies to permit physical and digital entities to interact in real
time.

Definitions

Mixed reality can be a confusing concept, as it exists along a spectrum
of alternative reality types. Hence, a few definitions are in order:

Virtual Reality – “Virtual
reality (VR) is a simulated 3D environment that enables users to explore
and interact with a virtual surrounding in a way that approximates
reality, as it is perceived through the users’ senses.”1

Augmented Reality – Augmented
reality (AR) is the superimposition of graphics, audio, video, and other
sensory enhancements over a real-world environment, in real time, thus
presenting an enhanced or augmented view of that environment.

Mixed Reality – Mixed reality
(MR) is the merger of VR and AR technologies to permit physical and
digital entities to interact in real time.

Hybrid Reality – Hybrid
reality (HR) is a synonym for mixed reality.

Extended Reality – Extended
reality (XR) is an umbrella term for virtual reality, augmented reality,
mixed reality, and any other future immersive sensory state.

Mixed Reality Spectrum

Mixed reality is an “in-between” technology, which serves a role somewhat
analogous to that of edge or fog computing – data processing models that
fill the vacuum between on-premises and cloud computing. 

The Mixed Reality Spectrum, as shown in Figure 1, illustrates the space
occupied by mixed reality, which ranges from physical reality (or
“reality”) on the left to digital reality (or “virtuality”) on the right.

Figure 1. Mixed Reality Spectrum

Figure 1. Mixed Reality Spectrum

Source: Wikimedia Commons

The term “mixed reality” was coined in a 1994 study titled “A Taxonomy of
Mixed Reality Visual Displays” by Paul Milgram and Fumio Kishino. In the
intervening decades, the technology of mixed reality, which borrows from
AR and VR systems and devices, has found common use, both by consumers and
enterprise adopters.

According to analyst Chiradeep BasuMallick, “Millions of Internet users
across the globe have experienced mixed reality using their mobile
devices. Mobile AR provides the most prevalent mixed reality solutions on
social media today. Users may not know that Instagram’s augmented reality
(AR) filters represent mixed reality experiences.”

BasuMallick adds that “developments in computer vision, graphical
implementations, audio and visual technologies, input methods, and cloud
computing are responsible for this new reality.”2

The Metaverse Connection

While mixed reality features in a wide range of industries and
applications, particularly education and healthcare, today’s interest in
MR is being fueled by our current fascination with “the metaverse,” which
Info-Tech Research Group describes, from a technological perspective, as
the “convergence of mixed reality, artificial intelligence, immersive
digital space, and real-time communications.3

Mixed Reality Prospects

As a critical measure of mixed reality’s influence, Market Research
Future predicts that the MR market will expand “substantially” between
2022 and 2030, achieving an astonishing compound annual growth rate (CAGR)
of 43.28 percent during the forecast period, eventually reaching $9.21
billion.4 

The Technology

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Although augmented reality systems typically rely on smartphones and
their cameras as their principal form of instrumentality, mixed reality
systems, like virtual reality systems, are normally “experienced” via
headsets, like the Microsoft HoloLens or HoloLens 2 (as shown in Figure 2)
or the Magic Leap headset.5

Figure 2. Microsoft HoloLens2

Figure 2. Microsoft HaloLens2

Source: Microsoft

As explained by analyst Rebekah Carter, mixed reality technology
encompasses:

“Environmental understanding
– The ability to map a space and superimpose information onto that space
in a way that merges virtual and real-world content.

“Human understanding –
Technology, enabled by sensors and cameras, which track the movements,
speech, and inputs of human users.

“Spatial sound – 360-degree
audio experiences designed to make digital experiences feel more immersive
and realistic.

“Locations and positioning –
The ability of [MR] technology to understand both its own position and the
position of the user in any given moment.

“3D assets – Fully
three-dimensional content, accessible in the real world. Often, these
assets are referred to as ‘holograms’.”6

Mixed reality programming allows:

  • Digital objects to interact with physical environments, and
  • People to interact with digital objects, as though they were real.7

The Market

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The Numbers

Market Research Future predicts that the MR market will expand
“substantially” between 2022 and 2030, achieving a astonishing compound
annual growth rate (CAGR) of 43.28 percent during the forecast period,
eventually reaching $9.21 billion.8

Maximize Market Research is similarly optimistic, projecting a CAGR of
44.5 percent between now and 2029.

Drivers & Restraints

Market Research Future attributes the growth of mixed reality to several
factors, including:

  • The popularity of MR in:
    • Education and Training
    • Manufacturing and Industrial Operations
    • Healthcare and Medicine
    • Retail and E-Commerce
    • Architecture and Construction
    • Entertainment and Gaming
  • The “controlled collision between [the Internet of Things (IoT)] and
    [current] VR/AR trends,” which favors the visualization and manipulation
    of complex, multi-element environments

Constraining the growth of mixed reality could be:

  • A general economic downturn
  • A loss of enthusiasm for metaverse-related initiatives9

Prominent Players

Major participants in the mixed reality market space include:

  • Facebook
  • Google
  • HTC
  • Intel
  • Sony
  • Magic Leap
  • Accenture
  • Seiko Epson
  • Microsoft
  • Samsung10

Use Cases

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Mixed reality features in a host of enterprise applications, most notably
workplace training, remote working, and healthcare delivery.

Workplace Training

Researchers report that “MR-based training is increasingly used to train
employees inexperienced in certain assembly tasks, which vary more
frequently and more quickly due to the increasing variety and complexity
of products compared to the long prevailing mass or flow production.”

While not providing a universal solution for industrial training demands
– some results have been “partly contradictory” – MR still offers
considerable promise for lowering organizational costs and improving
personnel productivity.11

MR can also aid in missions as diverse as:

  • Childhood education
  • Enterprise safety and health training
  • Industrial maintenance and repair instruction12

Remote Working

Analyst Chiradeep BasuMallick foresees the value of MR in facilitating
remote or hybrid working environments, which exploded during the pandemic
and are now being institutionalized.

“Using mixed reality, employees of any organization will be able to work
with customers or other coworkers even if they are not in the same area.
Language barriers will be eliminated without difficulty with the help of
translation tools that can translate in real time. If video conferencing
or Skype calls impress you, mixed reality sessions will be much more
revolutionary. NASA, for instance, collaborated with Microsoft to develop
the OnSight program, which enables scientists and engineers to be
virtually present on Mars.”13

Healthcare Delivery

Researchers have revealed the profound effects of MR on surgical training
and practices:

  • “MR technologies have been deployed in the context of surgical
    education, enabling surgeons to more rapidly expand their skill sets to
    ensure career growth.
  • “New AR, VR, and MR tools are also used with increasing frequency to
    ensure that patients and their families understand pertinent surgical
    procedures, reducing the potential for doctor-patient miscommunication.
  • “VR, AR, and MR tools are … being used with increasing frequency in
    clinical surgery in disciplines such as neurosurgery, orthopedics,
    plastic surgery, otorhinolaryngology, thoracic surgery, and urology.”14

The Future

While mixed reality is presently embraced by enterprise interests, who
are willing to sacrifice some level of workplace comfort for productivity,
the future of MR, especially for everyday consumers, will be determined by
the ability of technologists to develop safe, comfortable, and relatively
invisible extended reality interfaces.

Perhaps glimpsing the future, analyst David Lindlbauer predicts that “we
will have access to a see-through head-mounted display that is
lightweight, unobtrusive, and has a large field of view. It will sense the
environment through object detection and semantic segmentation
[(‘associating a label or category with every pixel in an image’15)]
… and [displaying] virtual contents that appear to be embedded in the
physical world.

“We need to build the technology in a way that puts an emphasis on being
accessible, privacy-aware, explainable, and ultimately beneficial for
users. This means that even though we need optimization-based and
learning-based methods to adapt to users’ ever-changing context, we need
to make sure the systems we develop are predictable, avoid distraction,
and blend into the physical environment in a way that is superior to
current technologies such as phones, tablets, or smartwatches.

“Most current technologies constantly demand our attention. The goal of
‘adaptive’ MR is to take away attention from the virtual world but embed
virtual elements seamlessly into our physical environment, making them
less intrusive and more beneficial for us.”16

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References

    1 Robert Sheldon. “Virtual Reality,” TechTarget. August
    2022.

    2 Chiradeep BasuMallick. “What Is Mixed Reality? Definition,
    Working, and Applications.” Spiceworks Inc. December 6, 2022.

    3 “Tech Trends 2023.” Info-Tech Research Group. 2022:5.

    4 “Mixed Reality Market Report: Information by Component,
    Vertical, Product, and Region – Global Forecast till 2030.” Market
    Research Future. 2022.

    5 Rebekah Carter. “What Is Mixed Reality?”  Today
    Digital. December 14, 2022.

    6 Ibid.

    7 Ibid.

    8 “Mixed Reality Market Report: Information by Component,
    Vertical, Product, and Region – Global Forecast till 2030.” Market
    Research Future. 2022.

    9 Ibid.

    10 Ibid.

    11 Lea M. Daling and Sabine J. Schlittmeier. “Effects of
    Augmented Reality-, Virtual Reality-, and Mixed Reality–Based Training
    on Objective Performance Measures and Subjective Evaluations in Manual
    Assembly Tasks: A Scoping Review.” Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
    2022.

    12 Chiradeep BasuMallick. “What Is Mixed Reality?
    Definition, Working, and Applications.” Spiceworks Inc. December 6,
    2022.

    13 Ibid.

    14 Jing Zhang, Na Yu, Bin Wang and Xin Lv. “Trends in the
    Use of Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Mixed Reality in Surgical
    Research: a Global Bibliometric and Visualized Analysis.” Indian J Surg
    84 (Suppl 1), 52–69. 2022.

    15 “What Is Semantic Segmentation?” The MathWorks, Inc.
    2023.

    16 David Lindlbauer. “The Future of Mixed Reality Is
    Adaptive.” David Lindlbauer. September 2022.

About the Author

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James G. Barr is a leading business continuity analyst
and business writer with more than 40 years’ IT experience. A member of
“Who’s Who in Finance and Industry,” Mr. Barr has designed, developed, and
deployed business continuity plans for a number of Fortune 500 firms. He
is the author of several books, including How to Succeed in Business
BY Really Trying, a member of Faulkner’s Advisory Panel, and a
senior editor for Faulkner’s Security Management Practices.
Mr. Barr can be reached via e-mail at jgbarr@faulkner.com.

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