Augmented Reality


In 1991, Robinett proposed the idea of seeing directly into the human body ("medical X-ray vision") using VR goggles linked to ultrasound scanners.

"Electronic Expansion of Human Perception," Whole Earth Review magazine, Warren Robinett, pp16-21, Fall 1991.

This 1991 paper contained one of the first descriptions of the concept of computer-graphics imagery superimposed onto the real world: the idea now called "Augmented Reality" (AR). In Robinett's paper, the idea was called "medical X-ray vision" and "real-space imaging". The term "Augmented Reality" was coined by Tom Caudell the following year (1992), in:

"Augmented reality: an application of heads-up display technology to manual manufacturing procsses", Caudell, Thomas P., System Sciences Conference, pp. 659-669 vol. 2, 1992.