Mixed Reality Explained in 5 Minutes or Less

Mixed reality (MR) technology is set to revolutionize how we experience and interact with the world around us. By seamlessly blending together real and virtual elements, mixed reality creates immersive hybrid environments and enables intuitive, natural user interaction. While still early in its development, mixed reality is gaining momentum with strong investment and innovation across consumer and enterprise applications.

What is Mixed Reality and How Does it Work?

Mixed reality refers to the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce environments and visualizations where physical and digital objects coexist and interact in real time. Unlike virtual reality, which creates a totally artificial environment, mixed reality anchors virtual elements to the user‘s real surroundings.

This effect is achieved using a mix of advanced technologies:

Stereoscopic 3D displays that present sharp, three-dimensional visuals
Motion tracking cameras that track the user‘s position and movements
Spatial mapping algorithms that scan and recognize the physical environment
Spatial sound for lifelike audio from all directions

Specialized MR headsets use onboard sensors, optics and processing to seamlessly blend real-world sights and sounds with virtual holograms and objects. The user can view and interact with digital content in a convincing, multi-sensory experience.

For example, a MR headset could bring a virtual character into your living room. The character sits on your real furniture, and walks behind real objects, merging convincingly into the actual space. This hybrid experience is the unique value of mixed reality.

A Brief History of Mixed Reality

The concept of blending physical and virtual worlds originated in the 1990s with pioneering research into virtual environments at NASA and elsewhere. Early proof-of-concepts demonstrated virtual telepresence applications.

Consumer mixed reality came closer to fruition in the 2010s led by Microsoft‘s innovative HoloLens headset unveiled in 2016. HoloLens introduced advanced optics and sensors to enable mobile, untethered mixed reality experiences using gestures and voice instead of controllers.

Magic Leap One (2018) and Meta Quest Pro (2022) expanded the market with their own mixed reality headsets and operating systems. Large tech companies like Apple, Google, Snap and Tencent have accelerated investment into software tools and applications.

Industry analysts predict strong growth as mixed reality technology improves and costs decline. Grand View Research forecasts the global MR market surging from $4.3 billion in 2022 to $160 billion by 2030, a 38% CAGR.

The Benefits and Use Cases of Mixed Reality

Mixed reality delivers unique value-adds and capabilities benefiting many industries:

Design & Engineering – Manipulate lifesize 3D models in context for efficient CAD, architecture and product design reviews.
Healthcare – Overlay patients with anatomical models during surgery and preview treatments on digital twins.
Manufacturing – Workers can access step-by-step holographic visual aids right on the factory floor.
Training & Simulation – Safely practice hazardous tasks and equipment operation in convincing virtual environments.
Marketing & Sales – Enable customers to preview products and environments with immersive virtual sampling.
Gaming & Live Events – New entertainment possibilities emerge with shared immersive worlds linked to real spaces.

Mixed reality enhances workplace productivity and safety while also providing more intuitive human-computer interaction. It moves beyond flatscreens to 3D visualizations that engage our senses and improve understanding.

Challenges Facing Consumer Adoption

Despite great progress, analysts project it may take 5-10 years for mixed reality hardware and software to mature for mainstream consumer adoption. Remaining technical obstacles include:

Limited field of view – Most current headsets have 50-60 degrees FOV compared to 180 for human eyes.
Visual fidelity – Onboard graphics processors still limit scene realism and dynamics.
Tracking accuracy – Quick motions can cause lags between real and virtual tracking.
User interaction – Controlling MR environments without handheld remotes remains difficult.
Ergonomics – Bulkiness and weight of headsets hurts comfort during prolonged use.
Price barriers – Business-focused MR hardware currently costs thousands of dollars limiting purchases.

However, rapid improvements in display resolution, tracking sensors, wireless streaming, and edge computing will help MR headsets overcome these obstacles just as smartphones evolved in sophistication and accessibility.

Comparisons Between Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality

While the labels can blur, important distinctions emerge between augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality:

	Augmented Reality	Virtual Reality	Mixed Reality
Environment	Overlays digital info on real environments	Replaces real with 100% simulated virtual environment	Blends real and virtual objects in hybrid environments
Immersion	Minimal immersion from overlay effects	Fully immersive escapism in digital worlds	Moderate immersion with virtual elements responding to real environments
Use Cases	Translation, navigation, Snapchat filters, Pokémon Go	Gaming, training, virtual travel, therapy	Engineering design reviews, medical visualization, interactive previews, shared hybrid events
Input	Touchscreens, gestures, voice, spatial mapping of real objects and surfaces	Controllers, body tracking, virtual world completely responds to user	Multiple modalities – gestures, eye tracking, voice, controllers. Virtual objects respond to and integrate with real.

This comparison shows mixed reality‘s balance between virtual enhancements while remaining grounded in physical reality. This promises more adaptable applications across enterprise, consumer and entertainment contexts.

Current and Future MR Technology

Hardware

Present options for experiencing mixed reality include:

Specialized MR headsets – Microsoft HoloLens 2, Meta Quest Pro, Magic Leap 2. More models coming from Apple, Sony, Tencent.
Smartphone shells – Convert smartphones into basic VR/AR viewers like Google Cardboard. Limited mixed reality capabilities.
AR smartglasses – Enable basic overlays only. Don‘t integrate virtual objects with real environments.

Higher-end headsets now in development will expand field of view to nearly match human vision using novel micro-LED displays. Onboard AI processing will reduce latency and boost realistic lighting, materials and physics. Eye and face tracking will enable more natural interaction.

Fully wireless and compact MR glasses are the holy grail, but likely 5-10 years away from consumer viability. Cloud/edge computing support will offset local processing limits as 5G networks expand.

Software

Unity, Unreal Engine, Adobe Aero and other creative suites already provide robust toolkits for developing mixed reality experiences. As hardware performance evolves, content creation capabilities will hugely expand in scope and accessibility.

Collaboration platforms like Microsoft Mesh and Occipital Bridge allow multi-user interaction in shared mixed reality environments. Standardized workflows and interaction paradigms will develop around core use cases in design, training, medicine etc.

A Bright Future Ahead

The benefits of blended realities are too powerful for mixed reality technology not to gain widespread adoption long-term. As hardware limitations catch up to imagination, MR will transform how we create, learn, work and play. It promises to be the most natural and intuitive bridge between atoms and bits, blending digital capabilities with familiar physical reality.

This mix of virtual possibility and real-world presence is precisely what can make extended realities feel comfortable and accessible to the average consumer. The potential is extraordinary, and easy to envision once mixed reality reaches the fidelity and ubiquity of smartphones today. That mixed moment is coming.