Augmented Reality (AR) is a "Mixed Reality" technology where the virtual and real worlds appear together in a real time system. An augmented reality system generates a composite view for the user that is a combination of the real scene viewed by the user and a virtual scene generated by the computer that augments the scene with additional information. This technology of movies like Minority Report is no longer science fiction, but has been for a while science fact. Even though AR has been developed in research labs and used by the military ( Office of Naval Research ) for decades, it is only until recently that hardware and software is making it more accessible for the mainstream. In order to superimpose graphics over a real environment in real-time, one needs mobile computing, a tracking or identification system, and a display. Now with more powerful cell phones, Iphone, and other hand-held computing devices, AR is primed to move into the mainstream. Google's Android ...
