A brief history of Augmented Reality (AR) and names of key researchers associated with AR.
Timeline in brief: A Sampling of Innovations and Research Regarding AR:
- 1962: Morton Heilig, a cinematographer, creates a motorcycle simulator called Sensorama with visuals, sound, vibration, and smell.
- 1966: Ivan Sutherland invents thehead-mounted display suggesting it was a window into a virtual world.
- 1975: Myron Krueger creates Videoplace that allows users to interact with virtual objects for the first time.
- 1989: Jaron Lanier coins the phrase Virtual Reality and creates the first commercial business around virtual worlds.
- 1990: Tom Caudell coins the phrase Augmented Reality while at Boeing helping workers assemble cables into aircraft.
- 1994: Milgrim defines a continuum of real to virtual reality environments. AR is placed as a mixed reality on the continuum spectrum.
- 1997: Azuma published a survey paper which defined the field of AR.
- 2002: Steven Feiner is the leading pioneer of augmented reality, and author of the first paper on the subject. Feiner, S. K. "Augmented Reality: A New Way of Seeing: Computer scientists are developing systems that can enhance and enrich a user's view of the world". Scientific American, April 2002.
- 2002:Bruce H. Thomas is the inventor of the first outdoor augmented reality game ARQuake. His current research interests include: wearable computers, user interfaces, augmented reality, virtual reality, computer supported cooperative work (CSCW), and tabletop display interfaces.
- 2005: Horizon Report: Profile Augmented Reality as New technology trend to watch. The Report predicts that AR technology will emerge more fully within 4-5 years.
- 2005: Camera system developed that can analyze physical environments in real time and relate positions between objects and environments. This work has become the basis for AR systems to integrate reality with virtual objects.
- 2005: Daniel Palanker, Alexander Vankov and Phil Huie develop a "bionic eye".
- 2007: Facial feature tracking to allow for greater control of perspective. For example, a conductor could command a certain set of virtual instruments with the movement of his eyes.
- 2007: Medical applications for users. Sending visual cues to help MS patients better keep their balance.
- 2008: A multiple new innovations and examples of AR now exist across a multitude of areas.!
As a next step, view the Wiki page: “Current Applications of AR” for
examples of AR usage across industries.