Mixed reality: future dreams seen at the border between real and virtual worlds

Abstract

Mixed reality (MR) is a kind of virtual reality (VR) but a broader concept than augmented reality (AR), which augments the real world with synthetic electronic data. On the opposite side, there is a term, augmented virtuality (AV), which enhances or augments the virtual environment (VE) with data from the real world. Mixed reality covers a continuum from AR to AV. This concept embraces the definition of MR stated by Milgram and Kishino (1994). We describe some technical achievements we made in the Mixed Reality Project in Japan.