Have you ever imagined taking photos by simply gesturing your fingers to form a rectangle, or drawing a circle on your wrist by your fingers to pop up a virtual watch? These are no longer sci-fi plots. Scientists have been developing different augmented reality (AR) devices to help superimpose virtual imagery on top of the real world.

Credit: Lynn Barry

What does that actually mean? Unlike virtual reality, augmented reality takes place in the physical world, except that there’s a transparent screen between you and the scene in front of you.  On that screen could be any type of information you wish, from GPS route planning to online information related to what you are seeing. So you could look at, say a book in a bookstore, and your AR goggles would overlay information (popup, floating screens) such as reviews of the book or price of an online version in front of you.

Augmented reality will change the ways we experience and interact with the physical world by blending real and virtual seamlessly. Here are some exciting ongoing AR projects.

This seemingly omnipotent device called SixthSense, developed by Prana Mistry, a MIT graduate student. It allows users to interact with intangible digital information via natural hand gestures in the tangible world. For example, with this AR device and four colored markers on your fingers, you can take pictures by simply doing hand gestures, or make a phone call by dialing the virtual keypad projected on your hand – just anything you can think of. It comprises of a camera – to recognize and track a user’s hand gestures – and a pocket projector for projecting the information onto various surfaces.

The next video shows a head-worn, motion-tracked AR device for maintenance and repair (ARMAR), which was developed by researchers from Columbia University. The virtual displays augment the user’s physical view of the machine that needs to be repaired – a motorbike for example – with information such as guided maintenance steps, real time diagnostic data, and safety warnings. Put your AR goggles on, time to get rid of the long-winded manual!

This looks less sci-fi, but more likely to be available soon. With the multiple-object-recognition software created by Oxford University professor David Murray, you’ll no longer struggle reading the tiny texts beside the art pieces in a museum. The system automatically recognizes, reconstructs and localizes known objects such as paintings. And the information (painter, date, explanation) relating to the objects is shown on the user’s display.

Contact Lens as a health monitor

Credit: University of Washington

Scientists from the University of Washington have been developing a digital contact lens that has miniature antennas, control circuits, and an LED integrated in it, aiming at in-eye health monitoring, since 2004. This electronic contact lens can read your cholesterol level, blood sugar, body temperature, and more–all from your eyeball, because scientists have found the surface of the eye contains a surprising amount data about our body, and the lens is a non-invasive way to get real-time health data. Live rabbits have been tested wearing these contacts for 20 minutes at a time and without being hurt.