Have you ever seen a film like Minority Report or I-Robot? You know, where it’s set in a futuristic utopia that’s light years ahead of us now yet strangely similar to our everyday life? What interests me about these sort of films is the little things, the details they show us. In the science-fiction world, the computers of the future all share one common detail; they’re not computers.

They’re windows or a pair of glasses or a watch that projects something onto the wearer’s wrist. Believe it or not but we have similar technologies today, albeit in a less sophisticated state. Augmented Reality is the term given to pieces of technology that integrate information (commonly found on a computer or mobile device) into our every day lives.

I can give you a good example of this kind of technology in use. Remember when the world cup is on and Eamon Dunphy draws all over the image of the pitch during his pundit sessions? Augmented Reality. Researchers are now bringing this kind of integration of technology onto the mass market through the use of smartphones, games consoles and outdoor stunts.

The “Wikitude AR Travel Guide” for the Android platform uses a number of different technologies to give the user a tour of any given area. The GPS in the phone first asses where the user is and (using a Wi-Fi or phone network) communicates with a server to pull in map data. So far, just like Google Maps. Well this next part is the impressive bit. The camera of the phone is used as a window that is over-laid with information about landmarks and directions to other areas. The user sees what the camera sees, along with the information they choose to view. This method has also been used to develop an iPhone app that shows the London tube network over-laid onto the iPhone’s camera view.

This technology can also be used for entertainment purposes. The Sony PlayStation 3 has a camera available (called the PlayStation EYE) that is used for video chat between users. The camera has also been used to create the worlds first console Augmented Reality game, The Eye of Judgement. This is a card game where players battle it out using a deck full of collectable monsters. The difference here is that each card has a special symbol that is read by the camera. After some complicated processing, the console shows a view of the player’s cards and places three-dimensional models on top. The models move on screen in three dimensional space and can rotate however the user wishes.

The most interesting application of this type of technology was a research project/flash mob/alternate reality game know as Human Pacman. This was an event that was run in Singapore in 2004. Players wore special goggles and a backpack that showed the route the game took and the object the players were supposed to collect. This project was developed by the University of Singapore with backing from the military. The military can benefit greatly from this kind of technology as it would allow soldiers to have an overhead map of a battlefield, keep track of the ammunition and supplies and have a “picture-in-picture” view of what their fellow soldiers can see.

While it is still in it’s infancy, Augmented Reality has great prospects to change how we consume information and how we interact with computers and networks. I, for one, can’t wait until the window in my bathroom tells me the weather reports or when we can all play Human Pacman but I guess I’ll just have to be patient.