User:Sightestrp/Transreality (computing)

Transreality is a generic term for − and a common denominator in − mechanisms that create an overlap between an existing reality (physical) and a digitally simulated counterpart of that reality (virtual), either visibly or invisibly.

Visibly applying transreality means the carrier or user of a device encounters and processes something on-screen in a visible, virtual environment (like in a computer simulation, a role-playing game, an embodied agent or, for example, in an online thermostat app) and responds to it or adapts to it in real life. Or, the other way around, if something human or real is actually added to that virtual environment like educating an avatar or using real life data feeds in virtual gameplay.

Invisibly applying transreality means that software (like an autonomous, intelligent agent) assists the carrier or user of a device in performing a task in real life by invisibly adding virtual intelligence to the physical process performed by that device,without any interference of that carrier. Or, the other way around, if humans dynamically (and unconsciously) add new intelligence to an invisible, self learning multi-agent system.

Transreality is not a one-way representation of something virtual in the real world (like 3D printing) or something real in the virtual world (like in virtual reality). Transreality implies that multiple types of reality actually exist interdependently, creating an environment in which both physical and virtual objects not only coexist but maintain a certain level of interaction. This can either be achieved by interactively connecting separated realities or by creating an overlap between these realities, meaning they are experienced as one single mixed reality (or interreality, or hybrid reality).

Current implementations of transreality are included in at least nine existing fields of application (which also exist in different combinations):

Applying sensor technology
Becoming part of an Internet of Things.
Using a GPS navigation device.
Online banking.
Playing mixed reality games.
Using augmented reality apps.
Setting up adaptive robotics, nanorobotics and domotics.
Raising intelligent agents, bots and reasoning systems.
Exchange of property, capital or assets using cryptocurrencies.

Transreality in sensor technology

Sensors are built into many objects and processes, measuring a certain physical state of time, space and matter, converting it into an electronic signal and sending it to a device. Sensors can perform something transreal in case of monitoring a habitat ^[1] in order to change real world behaviour, i.e. if the signal is converted into a virtual counterpart of the measured state, trying to motivate the carrier of the device to respond to this state by adapting his behaviour in the real world. A basic example of transreality in this context would be an electronic traffic sign showing a sad face to a driver who is exceeding the speed limit, thereby motivating the driver to slow down. Another example would be a smartphone picking up signals from body and environment sensors, and advising the carrier to alter his choice of activities accordingly.

Transreality in the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a network of objects and organisms existing both physically and virtually, all becoming social actors in a networked environment.^[2] The IoT is the result of minuscule identifiers, sensors and actuators which are integrated into every one of these objects or organism which enables all of them to connect to each other and, perhaps more importantly, interact with each other, without the need for human interference. The most common example of transreality in this context is adding an identifier to every product in a physical stock − thereby creating a parallel, virtual stock − in order for a stock management algorithm to automatically place new orders for products running low. The consumer version of this example would be a ‘thinking fridge’ which interacts with all products inside it and orders new ones if the old ones are letting it know they are almost finished.

Transreality in GPS navigation

GPS navigation, in which a screen on a device shows a map of a landscape and a pointer dynamically indicating the actual geographical position of the carrier, is an application that has probably become as natural as a paper map or a human guide. This could be considered an implementation of transreality as the physical movements of the carrier would be reflected on the GPS screen right away and the picture on the screen would guide the carrier into following certain directions in the real world.

Transreality in online banking

Online banking as a concept is different from online shopping, online booking or online dating. These last three examples are basically ways to make real life processes somewhat more comfortable and efficient. In the end, however, people just want to receive the goods they have purchased, go out to the place they have booked and meet the person behind the dating profile. Online banking is transreal, not because it is digital, comfortable and efficient (although it is all of these), but because it is completely virtual (based on trust only) and at the same time it is directing and virtually fuelling almost any process in the physical world in almost every direction.

Transreality in mixed reality gaming

Game developers may use pervasive, ubiquitous, or wearable computing as wel as new social infrastructures to deliver new modes of game play in which the different contexts are integrated into a unified game environment that crosses over physical borders.^[3] Some examples are:

Transreality in console gaming

Transreal console game devices are Wii or Kinect. Game that are based on these platforms directly interact with the player or players’ movements directly interact with the same movements in the game. The same is true of a steering console starting to shake when a virtual racing car − operated by that console − crashes into a virtual wall. This could be considered one of the first game implementations of transreality.

Transreality in social network gaming

A basic example of this is a situation in which players receive real messages (by mail or through social networks) from game characters which only exist in a virtual game environment. Responding to these real life messages subsequently changes the behaviour of these virtual characters in the game. This could be considered an implementation of transreality as a virtual game uses the actual contributions to an existing social network as parameters for its gameplay, and makes some targeted contributions to these networks to boost the player’s engagement.

Transreality in serious gaming and computer simulation

Serious games and simulations could use real time data feeds and real life objects, problems or personas to be integrated into a game environment. A basic example might be a business game in which the actual data from a stock exchange influences the results and decisions of the players. Or an experimental simulation in which a population of sample individuals search a real-world optimum in a virtual problem space, driven by virtual forces, which simulate the process of a system continually evolving until an optimum is reached.^[4] Or a professional and advanced adventure game in which an actual person from the real world makes an appearance as a game character, providing the participant with guidance or with icons that represent certain ‘achievements’. These examples could all be considered implementations of transreality as entities from the real world either interact with the player or influence the player to respond to them and change the player’s perception towards these entities.

Transreality in metagaming

If a game symbolises a ‘real life game’ such as those we can see happening in politics, in complex organizational settings or in competitive markets, it coounterpart. This could be considered an implementation of transreality if dynamics or outcomes in the game were to be interactively connected to decisions in the real life situation and vice versa.

Transreality in augmented reality

Augmented reality means a setting in which the carrier of a device takes a view on certain objects in a physical, real world environment (using the camera of that device) and actually sees data, information or images being added to these physical objects as if they existed in that real world environment. For example, if the bar code on a supermarket item can be read using a smartphone, the “augmented reality” can be used to display helpful additional information on the product, for example a personally tailored allergy warning.^[5] This could be considered an implementation of transreality as an object transfers certain data to the device, informing the carrier about a certain context and the carrier is then able to change his behaviour (movements, direction, decisions). Sometimes this technology is also used to gamify an environment in which a carrier uses pieces of information to win a game, for example by revealing a secret in the real world, or finding virtual rewards by actually following a physical path based on virtual clues pictured on his smartphone.

Transreality in robotics, domotics and nanorobotics

A robot is a computer-programmed machine that automates physical tasks (including speech) that are normally assigned to (groups of) humans. Robots can be made to look like humans (humanoid), but most robots share the characteristics of an animal (particular insects) or are constructed like little cars, drones or industrial machines. They can be directed by a human or function completely autonomously. They can work alone or as flocks of collectively programmed boids or swarm robots and simulate real world behaviour of human crowds.^[6] They can be very big or be the size of a microscopic, magnetically actuated nanorobots propelled into the human body for targeted drug delivery, diagnostic imaging, insertion of implants, biopsy and tissue ablation.^[7] Other applications are to be found in heavy-duty industrial performance, military operations, household support (domotics) and healthcare. The transreality aspect of robots lies not only in the fact that they tend to mimic a fysical, lifelike appearance in their operational performance, but in the invisible, interactive overlap between the human mind and the neural networks in an artificial (i.e. virtual) robot brain. Examples include robots learning from and responding to humans by applying natural language processing and processing or capturing facial motions and expressions to recognize human emotions. The other way around, research suggests that even a primitive social interaction between people and a robotic pet makes people perceive these robots like real pets, actually attributing animal-like emotions ^[8] to what is basically a machine.

Transreality in intelligent agents, bots or reasoning systems

Intelligent agents (IA’s) are robots without a physical presence, operating invisibly as an artificial intelligence programme in hardware or in other software. Almost any complex electronic device (e.g. a camera or a car) possesses IA’s invisibly assisting the carrier of the device. If an IA has a more generic profile, i.e. it is able to automate a task without being tied to certain hardware or software, it can be classified as a bot. Bots have a strong presence on the Internet: as search bots, game bots, chat bots and service bots. If an IA acts as a human, like for example in IBM’s Watson, in a Turing test in which a computer tends to learn from conversations,^[9] or in an intelligent tutoring system in which trainees generally learn faster and translate the learning into improved performance better than classroom-trained participants,^[10] it can be classified as a reasoning system or a cleverbot. IA’s are transreal by nature as they are virtual and adaptively perform tasks which were originally done by humans in the real world. The other way around, these systems learn from their encounters and interaction with humans, making them become more and more natural as the learning process moves forward.

Transreality in cryptocurrencies

A cryptocurrency is a virtual currency supporting a fragmented exchange of property, capital or assets by representing these entities as virtual units of value. An example of this is bitcoin. Bitcoin basically involves an open source cryptographic protocol that operates on a peer-to-peer, decentralized network, using cryptography to implement a distributed, decentralized and secure economy. As bitcoins are often compared to gold or money, the use of bitcoins can be considered to be an application of transreality as people literally exchange their physical property rights for virtual bitcoins and vice versa.

References

^ Wireless Sensor Networks for Habitat Monitoring, Alan Mainwaring, Intel Research Laboratory, Berkeley Intel Corporation;Joseph Polastre EECS Department University of California at Berkeley;Robert Szewczyk College of the Atlantic Bar Harbor(2002).
^ An Architectural Approach Towards the Future Internet of Things, Dieter Uckelmann, LogDynamics Lab, University of Bremen, Mark Harrison, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge, Florian Michahelles, Information Management, ETH, Zurich (2011).
^ Trans-Reality Gaming, Craig A. Lindley, Institution Technology, Art and New Media,University of Gotland, Visby, Sweden (2004).
^ Using artificial physics to solve global optimization problems, Liping Xie; Jianchao Zeng; Zhihua Cui, Cognitive Informatics, 2009. ICCI '09. 8th IEEE International Conference on , vol., no., pp.502,508, 15–17 June 2009
^ From the Internet of Computers to the Internet of Things, Friedemann Mattern and Christian Floerkemeier, Distributed Systems Group, Institute for Pervasive Computing, ETH Zurich (2010).
^ Autonomous boids, Hartman, C. and Benes̆, B. (2006), Comp. Anim. Virtual Worlds, 17: 199–206. doi: 10.1002/cav.123.
^ Magnetically Actuated Multiscale Medical Robots, IROS 2012 FULL-DAY WORKSHOP, Friday October 12th 2012 Vila Moura, Algarve, Portugal;
^ Synthetic Personality in Robots and its Effect on Human-Robot Relationship, Shelly Park, Ehud Sharlin, Ellen Lau, Interactions Lab, Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, Yoshifumi Kitamura, Human Interface Eng.Lab, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka (2005).
^ Software tricks people into thinking it is human, Jacob Aron, http://www.newscientist.com (2011).
^ Issue on Real World Applications of Intelligent Tutoring Systems, C. Ramos, Institute of Engineering—Polytechnic of Porto, Knowledge Engineering and Decision Support Centre and Department of Informatics, Porto; C. Frasson, Departement d’Informatique et de Recherche Operationnelle, Universite de Montreal, Montreal; S. Ramachandran, Stottler Henke Associates, San Mateo (2009).