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Changing the World through Creative Research

Augmented Reality

Integrating information and imagination into the real world

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Overview In history, humans have made an endless effort to improve the sensing ability by drawing figures, taking pictures, recording sounds and images, and transmitting data over a long distance. Now we can even experience non-existence objects very realistically by the latest computer graphics technologies. Every time we encounter a new technology, our world has become more spacious, more precise, and more abundant.
In this respect, Augment Reality (AR) is being considered a next generation multimedia technology that can empower our perception capability even more. We could identify unknown objects readily by looking at the inserted information in the world. We could also buy the goods seen in the movie without knowing the exact names. Knowledge and complicated explanations in books and computers could be intuitively understood in the integrated way.

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Technology Trend AR is a multidisciplinary research topic that includes image processing, computer vision, information processing, computer graphics, applied optics and human perception system. AR requires several complicated processes such as analyzing the real world, computing depth information, and generating high-quality 3D graphics models.
Computer vision is an emerging technology that analyzes images, extracts geometrical information and identifies objects from the images. AR utilizes computer vision technologies in various ways to create more realistic scene.
A research for new displays such as see-through wearable displays, automotive head up displays, light field displays and hologram displays which can express 3D visual and real objects simultaneously, is another active area.
Researchers in computer graphics area are facing new challenges. For more realistic AR visualization, the illumination condition and the material properties of objects should be taken into consideration in real time. Adding to that, all the computing processes have to be done fast enough not to be recognizable by our delicate sensing organs.

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SAIT Technology SAIT has been developing core technologies for investigating AR and application technologies in the mobile, wearable, and automotive markets. AR HUD is one of the innovative technologies and can change automotive navigation systems dramatically. Current car navigation systems have already made a big impact on our daily driving lives. We can go anywhere without worrying about being lost in a strange place. However, it's not convenient nor safe to look down on the navigation screen. Occasionally, we take a wrong turn even with the navigation system. AR HUD can overcome these problems by providing the navigation information directly over the driving roads. It could also visualize unclear lanes more clearly and provide detail moving information of nearby cars such as sudden braking situation or abrupt cutting in line.
SAIT has been developing the human augmenting technology on empowering intelligence, perception and physical capability of humans though AR technologies. It will contribute to enhancing the quality of our life.