Unit 16
Science and Technology
Are You Ready for Extended Reality? The Internet came into existence in the 1990s. Cellphones were not common until the early 2000s. So, what’s next? It is believed that extended reality will have the next big technological impact on human society. “It’s not an ‘if ’ ― it’s a ‘when’,” says Amy Peck, an extended reality (XR) expert and entrepreneur, at 5
Lethbridge College. Extended reality is an umbrella term referring to all real-and-virtual combined environments and human-machine interactions generated by computer technology and wearables. 1.
Virtual reality (VR) provides a fully digitally
immersive experience where you enter a computer-generated world that 10
blends in with the real world. Augmented reality (AR) overlays digital objects onto the real world via smartphone or computer screens. And mixed reality (MR) is the result of blending the physical world with the digital world. With this technology, users can interact with digital objects placed in the real world. 15
So far, these technologies have been mostly confined to the world of entertainment and smartphone features. 2.
Extended
reality is making a huge difference in a number of industries as businesses get to grips with the exciting possibilities offered by XR. To begin with, XR brings immersive experiences to the 20
entertainment world, and offers consumers an opportunity to virtually experience live music and sporting events from the comfort of their VR headsets. 3.
What’s
more, extended reality also opens new avenues for training and education. People who work in high-risk 25
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conditions ― like chemists and pilots ― can train in
