Augmented reality or AR involves the addition of digital elements such as graphics, audio, haptic feedback, and other sensory information to the real world, thus creating an immersive and interactive user experience.
The Pros of Augmented Reality: Benefits and Applications
The applications of augmented reality or AR come from the fact that it augments or supplements the real world with sensory information generated by the computer. The following are specific benefits and applications
1. Best of Both Worlds
An essential characteristic of AR is that it combines the real world with the virtual world. Thereby, one of its advantages is that it improves the experience with the natural environment by overlaying it with virtual information. Some applications include new gaming experience, interactive navigation, and tourism.
2. Immersive Communication
AR improves digital communication by making it more immersive with virtual information. This has applications in interactive and participative learning, distanced instruction, and remote collaboration in the workplace, among others. AR improves human-to-human interaction coursed through digital communication devices.
3. Supports Business Activities
Another advantage of augmented reality is that it can be used in enhancing business practices. Retailers can use AR to showcase or demonstrate their products. As noted earlier, employees can take advantage of the technology to promote remote work. AR can also be used in product development, especially in design and testing.
4. Extends Smart Devices
The capabilities or features of devices such as smartphones increase with AR. There are now several apps using AR such as real-time text translators, filters on camera apps and social media applications, and interactive maps with detailed street and terrain information. Note that AR also improves how humans interact with computers.
The Cons of Augmented Reality: Drawbacks and Limitations
1. Privacy and Security Concern
A significant disadvantage of augmented reality is that it requires the collection, generation, and analysis of large sets of data. Thus, similar to the drawbacks of Big Data, it is also haunted by issues concerning privacy and security.
2. Issues About Intrusiveness
Still, about the topic of privacy and security, there are AR systems that record the environment in real time. This can raise legal issues the same way capturing images of random individuals and their private properties, as well as recording their conversations, are illegal in jurisdictions with strict privacy laws.
3. Can Promote Risky Behavior
The game Pokémon Go demonstrated the drawbacks of AR. Because it adds virtual information to the natural environment, AR can hide cues in the real world. Some of these cues naturally help individuals avoid dangers. Nevertheless, the technology can make an individual less vigilant about his or her surroundings.
4. It Can Be Costly
Remember that AR has characteristics or features that can benefit individuals and organizations. Businesses can use it to improve their services or processes. However, implementing the technology requires technical expertise, as well as financial costs. As of the moment, it is only available to large or financially capable organizations.
