Mixed reality in education, entertainment, and training

Transferring research from the laboratory to mainstream applications requires the convergence of people, knowledge, and conventions from divergent disciplines. Solutions involve more than combining functional requirements and creative novelty. To transform technical capabilities of emerging mixed reality (MR) technology into the mainstream involves the integration and evolution of unproven systems. For example, real-world applications require complex scenarios (a content issue) involving an efficient iterative pipeline (a production issue) and driving the design of a story engine (a technical issue) that provides an adaptive experience with an after-action review process (a business issue). This article describes how a multi-disciplinary research team transformed core MR technology and methods into diverse urban terrain applications. These applications are used for military training and situational awareness, as well as for community learning to significantly increase the entertainment, educational, and satisfaction levels of existing experiences in public venues.