Assessment 

6
2. Differentiate virtual reality technology and augmented technology from one another.

Virtual reality (VR) immerses people in experiences, often with a lot of expensive technology
such as headsets. On the other hand, Augmented reality usually starts with a real-life view of
something (such as the camera of a mobile phone), and projects or inserts images onto the
screen or viewer. Both offer an innovative way to immerse customers in an even more
engaging, interactive and personal experience. Virtual reality is a computer-generated
simulation of an alternate world or reality, and is primarily used in 3D movies and in video
games. Virtual reality creates simulations that are meant to shut out the real world and envelope
or “immerse” the viewer using computers and sensory equipment such as headsets and gloves.
Apart from games and entertainment, virtual reality has also long been used in training,
education, and science. Today’s VR can make people feel they’re walking through a forest or
performing an industrial procedure, but it almost always requires special equipment such as
bulky headsets to have the experience, usually in games or avant-garde, movie-like
“experiences.” Augmented reality (AR) makes no pretense of creating a virtual world. Unlike VR,
AR is accessed using much more common equipment such as mobile phones, and it overlays
images such as characters on top of video or a camera viewer, which most consumers already
have, making it much more usable for retail, games, and movies. AR combines the physical
world with computer-generated virtual elements. These elements are then projected over
physical surfaces in reality within people’s field of vision, with the intent of combining the two to
enhance one another. Augmented reality inserts or lays over content into the real world using a
device such as a smartphone screen or a headset. Whereas virtual reality replaces what people
see and experience, augmented reality actually adds to it. Using devices such as HTC Vive,
Oculus Rift, and Google Cardboard, VR covers and replaces users’ field of vision entirely, while
AR projects images in front of them in a fixed area.