Mobile Augmented Reality Systems
Steven Feiner
Department of Computer
Science
www.cs.columbia.edu/~feiner
Abstract:
As computers grow ever smaller and faster, the
option of wearing them, rather than carrying or sitting in front of them, is
rapidly becoming possible. One
especially promising approach for wearable user interfaces is augmented reality. This alternative form of virtual reality
augments, rather than replaces, the physical world with additional information.
For example, a see-through and hear-through head-worn display can be used to
overlay relevant graphics and audio on what the user normally sees and hears.
I will provide an overview of the research
problems that must be addressed for wearable augmented reality systems to play
a major role in our future computing environment. These issues include: physical and aesthetic
barriers to mobility and wearability (e.g., size,
weight, durability, run-time, comfort, and appearance); tracking and
registration of heads, hands, bodies, and other objects; and display quality
(e.g., brightness, contrast, field of view, focus, and interaction of real and
virtual material).
Equally important is the design of user
interfaces that are well suited to mobility. Wearable systems will need to
support collaboration among mobile users, and coordination across a wide range
of heterogeneous displays and devices.
Key here is the volatile nature of mobile interactions---users
continually move into and out of the presence of other users and devices, and
rapidly change tasks. Furthermore, augmented reality makes it possible for real
and virtual objects to share the same display, creating the potential for a
variety of visually confusing spatial relationships as objects overlap and
occlude each other. Avoiding these problems will require that virtual material
be redesigned and laid out on the fly to maintain desired spatial relationships
between virtual objects and other real and virtual objects.
Brief
Biography:
Steven Feiner is a
Professor of Computer Science at