Lesson 217

AR / VR / XR & Spatial Computing

XR spectrum · 6-DoF tracking · presence · motion-to-photon

1:00

How augmented, mixed, and virtual reality work — from the reality-virtuality continuum through stereoscopy, head tracking, SLAM, latency budgets, and the techniques that make it all feel real.

By the end, you can

  • Place AR, MR, and VR on the reality-virtuality continuum and explain what XR encompasses.
  • Describe how stereoscopy and head tracking together produce the feeling of presence.
  • Distinguish 3-DoF from 6-DoF tracking and explain why 6-DoF is needed for spatial computing.
  • Explain how inside-out visual-inertial SLAM works and why it needs no external base stations.
  • Describe what a Kalman filter does when fusing IMU and camera data.
  • List every stage of the motion-to-photon pipeline and state the ~20 ms comfort target.
  • Explain the vestibular-mismatch mechanism that causes cybersickness.
  • Describe three techniques — high refresh rate with low-persistence displays, foveated rendering, and accurate low-latency motion tracking — and explain how each reduces motion-to-photon latency and the motion sickness it causes.
  • Explain AR registration, world anchors, occlusion, and lighting estimation.
  • State what problem OpenXR solves and name its core API concepts.
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