An XR Primer - Demystifying Augmented, Mixed, and Virtual Reality Technologies [AR, VR, & MR - (XR Technologies)]
With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, XR Technologies have gained mainstream attention due to their advantage in enabling connectivity while maintaining social distancing. However, XR technologies are not entirely new and have been here for a while. This article provides a bird's-eye view on the entire spectrum that constitutes XR - Extended Reality. What exactly is XR Technology? XR Technology or Extended Reality Technology is the basket term used to refer to Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Mixed (or Merged) Reality. The Reality-Virtuality continuum (sequence) is used to denote the range of possibilities and structures between total virtuality and total reality. While XR originally denoted the superset of the above spectrum, it has a practical connotation to refer to Virtual Reality on one end of the spectrum, Mixed (or merged) reality in the middle, and Augmented Reality at the other end of the visual spectrum. Having defined XR technology, let us have a worm's-e