# Symmetrical Reality: Toward a Unified Framework for Physical and Virtual Reality

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.02723 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.02723/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 7 Mar 2019.

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [On the Emergence of Symmetrical Reality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.15132/) (2024)
- [TongSIM: A General Platform for Simulating Intelligent Machines](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.20206/) (2025)
- [Body Discovery of Embodied AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.19941/) (2025)
- [Learning Long Short-Term Intention within Human Daily Behaviors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.07597/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In this paper, we review the background of physical reality, virtual reality, and some traditional mixed forms of them. Based on the current knowledge, we propose a new unified concept called symmetrical reality to describe the physical and virtual world in a unified perspective. Under the framework of symmetrical reality, the traditional virtual reality, augmented reality, inverse virtual reality, and inverse augmented reality can be interpreted using a unified presentation. We analyze the characteristics of symmetrical reality from two different observation locations (i.e., from the physical world and from the virtual world), where all other forms of physical and virtual reality can be treated as special cases of symmetrical reality.