augmentedreality

While the narrator voice harkens back to old 50s ‘Technologies of the Future’ videos, the actual content IS actually from the future.  As much as I’d love to have this technology in my Toyota plant, I just can’t see making the ‘how-to’ videos for simple tasks as they suggest.  This kind of augmented efficiency improvement activity is only suited for highly complex tasks that are performed regularly by amateurs.

So I think the Maker culture would find better use of the technology when it actually becomes available to the masses.  Or it could work as a maintenance guide for short-run products that don’t have a large repair station base.  This summer I had to replace a pulley belt on a 70 inch zero-turn mower and the explanation sheet left a lot of steps out.  It took four neighbors to figure it out.

Here’s the description from VVT (Finland):

Customer specific and individualised products, small batch sizes, as well as increasing product complexity set higher demands for assembly work. Augmented Assembly is a research project at VTT, where AR technology is applied to increase assembly efficiency. In augmenting assembly work, the assembly worker is guided by virtual objects of components and assembly tools, and visual assembly instructions. The worker sees the augmented view through light weight head mounted devices (e.g. data glasses),and sensors provide feedback from the performed operations.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: augmented reality, VVT

One of the hurdles in the future of augmented vision is avoiding sensory overload. In Tish Shute’s latest interview, Will Wright notes (and he is far from being the first one to allude to this problem):

our senses are set up to know how to filter out 99% of what is coming into them. That is why they work, and that is what is beneficial. I think that is why AR needs to focus on… You look at what I can find out on Google or whatever, the amount of information is just astronomical. The hard part, the intelligent part, is how do you figure out that one tenth of 1% that I actually care about at this given second?

Researchers from Tokyo’s Meiji University, haven’t quite figured out how to build that filter but they do have a neat way to avoid overloading your senses. In the F.A.R.vision system project, the level of augmentation is determined by your eyebrows. Bend them inward (that is, frown) to make virtual objects more visible.

You may look silly, but that explains why terminators always had an angry face when hunting down Sarah Connor. More information can be found here, in Japanese.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Meiji University, Research

One of the hurdles in the future of augmented vision is avoiding sensory overload. In Tish Shute's latest interview, Will Wright notes (and he is far from being the first one to allude to this problem):

our senses are set up to know how to filter out 99% of what is coming into them. That is why they work, and that is what is beneficial. I think that is why AR needs to focus on… You look at what I can find out on Google or whatever, the amount of information is just astronomical. The hard part, the intelligent part, is how do you figure out that one tenth of 1% that I actually care about at this given second?

Researchers from Tokyo's Meiji University, haven't quite figured out how to build that filter but they do have a neat way to avoid overloading your senses. In the F.A.R.vision system project, the level of augmentation is determined by your eyebrows. Bend them inward (that is, frown) to make virtual objects more visible.




You may look silly, but that explains why terminators always had an angry face when hunting down Sarah Connor. More information can be found here, in Japanese.

In December I predicted that Oprah will have an AR item on her show during 2010. My prediction is getting one step closer to becoming (augmented) reality today, as Martha Stewart has some sweepstake that involves FLARToolkit

You can try it yourself here, I didn’t bother going through the questionnaire to see exactly what it’s all about.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Marketing and Advertisement, web camera

In December I predicted that Oprah will have an AR item on her show during 2010. My prediction is getting one step closer to becoming (augmented) reality today, as Martha Stewart has some sweepstake that involves FLARToolkit


You can try it yourself here, I didn't bother going through the questionnaire to see exactly what it's all about.

Maybe you are sick of iPhone or android augmentations for the moment? I can definitely relate, since they are eating up your battery and it not yet socially accepted to scan your RL chat buddy with your smartphone all the time. ;-) With HMDs out of consumer reach for the time being, there has always been an alternative to weak portable devices or glasses: projected augmented reality - or spatial augmented reality (SAR). Like Oliver Bimber I’m a big fan of this approach, since it really augments your real life objects without the need of special glasses, an extra screen to look up to or any kind of handheld device. The augmentation really appears where it should be: on top of the real furniture, etc.

I’ve posted a couple of examples before (e.g. on animating buildings or the augmented GO game (posted on augmented.org’s facebook page last friday)), but here again is another great example of how to enhance a given existing scenario nicely with AR.

Samuel Jordan and Michael Greenspan from Queen’s U did a project on spatial AR showing a neat AR pool assist.

Of course this is another use case than a location based approach of the mobile devices. But I always enjoy these projector approaches, for the simplicity and the non-visibility of technology. In a controlled environment it is easy to augment - even without a marker in front of a webcam. So, if you play pool not often enough to remember the physics or rules, this could help you out a lot… but then again it’s just theory and hopefully the cushions work well to get the angle right.

I’d love to collect some more projects that are heading this direction of SAR. So, if you have something up your sleeve (or your University Lab) please let us know in the comments or by mail! I’d love to compile an overview of good spatial AR 2010 for you guys! :-)

Hey David, this one is for you

…and Lola gets a tons of augmented animations straight from the pages of the book directly to your webcam.

This unique picture book for children uses original torn-paper illustrations to tell the fun-filled story of the glamorous Lola the Leopard, who is incredibly vain, and her friend Monty the Meerkat, whose clumsy antics don’t add up to the purrrrrfection Lola is looking for. This book features an amazing bonus feature: Book, Webcam, Action! Just hold the last page of the book up to a web-cam and you’ll see Lola and Monty burst vibrantly to life in full 3D animation, accompanied by music! These are the first books to use augmented reality technology for very young children. “What Lola Wants, Lola Gets!” teaches children about different aspects of growing up in an amusing way that they can relate to.

While using the AR portion of the book sticks you to your computer when you might normally be reading the book to your kids in bed, it’s still a fun way to read a kids book.  I suspect we’ll be seeing a lot more of these markerless book products in the near future as publishers, desperate for revenue, latch onto the “next big thing.”

The augmented reality kids book “What Lola Wants…Lola Gets” comes out on April 1st by Scribblers, a division of Book House.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: augmented reality, Book House, Markerless, webcam action book

It's Sunday, and it's time for another weekly linkfest:

• Tish Shute has a short interview with Sims creator (though I'll always remember him for Simcity) Will Wright. Highlights:
  
  • "our senses are set up to know how to filter out 99% of what is coming into them. That is why they work, and that is what is beneficial. I think that is why AR needs to focus on"
  • "definitely one of our strong interests is AR."
• And there's a short video interview with Christine Perey.
• Mydeco.com and Dassault Systems launched a new iPhone app to let you try out virtual furniture in your home (see my AR in 2010 - a look indoors post for similar applications).
• Now that you have found the right furniture, you can look for the right partner, using AR, of course.
  
• Gizmodo dug out a nostalgic "mobile" AR implementation.
• Doritos Brazil has another AR campaign, but this time it features the largest marker ever.
  
• Infiniti uses old AR tricks to sell its G model.

The weekly video is not exactly a demo of an augmented reality system, but it relates well to other projected interfaces we have featured previously. It's made by Microvision, and it's pretty cool (as long as you don't have any furniture, rugs or ceiling lamps in your room) [via ecademy.com]:


Have a nice week!

It’s Sunday, and it’s time for another weekly linkfest:

• Tish Shute has a short interview with Sims creator (though I’ll always remember him for Simcity) Will Wright. Highlights:
  • “our senses are set up to know how to filter out 99% of what is coming into them. That is why they work, and that is what is beneficial. I think that is why AR needs to focus on”
  • “definitely one of our strong interests is AR.”
• And there’s a short video interview with Christine Perey.
• Mydeco.com and Dassault Systems launched a new iPhone app to let you try out virtual furniture in your home (see my AR in 2010 – a look indoors post for similar applications).
• Now that you have found the right furniture, you can look for the right partner, using AR, of course.
• Gizmodo dug out a nostalgic “mobile” AR implementation.
• Doritos Brazil has another AR campaign, but this time it features the largest marker ever.
• Infiniti uses old AR tricks to sell its G model.

The weekly video is not exactly a demo of an augmented reality system, but it relates well to other projected interfaces we have featured previously. It’s made by Microvision, and it’s pretty cool (as long as you don’t have any furniture, rugs or ceiling lamps in your room) [via ecademy.com]:

Have a nice week!

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Dassault Systemes, linkfest, Projector based AR

Normally, I'll wait with this kind of news till the weekly linkfest. But, hey, then I'll miss on this scoop (and I'm really hoping this will get me a Pulitzer!). Zugara, makers of the Fashionista application and ZugSTAR, have just released an iPhone application aimed at providing you with the latest augmented reality news.

Named ARWire, this app gives you access to major augmented reality blogs and AR related twitter users (yes, I'm there :)), as well as to zugara's AR group over at Facebook.


They offer an ad supported free version, and a premium version that I can't quite locate on the appstore. Now, where are my royalties?

Normally, I’ll wait with this kind of news till the weekly linkfest. But, hey, then I’ll miss on this scoop (and I’m really hoping this will get me a Pulitzer!). Zugara, makers of the Fashionista application and ZugSTAR, have just released an iPhone application aimed at providing you with the latest augmented reality news.

Named ARWire, this app gives you access to major augmented reality blogs and AR related twitter users (yes, I’m there :)), as well as to zugara’s AR group over at Facebook.

They offer an ad supported free version, and a premium version that I can’t quite locate on the appstore. Now, where are my royalties?

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: ARWire, Zugara

Hello everybody,

we are still quite overwhelmed by the quick release of Junaio 2.0 in the Appstore. Many people have approached us about the new LLA-marker-functionality and the server to create your own markers is only ready, next week. Until then, you can play with this marker and post things to San Francisco. Just print it out here: http://bit.ly/aTmjno

How does it work? The LLA-Marker was created to replace or improve the GPS-signal, where it is inaccurate (mostly indoors). When you scan the marker, junaio will know exactly where you’re at (your position is here: http://bit.ly/9bgkKt) and will keep this position for 60 seconds. This allows all kinds of new AR-browser experiences. You can take pictures and you can post them to San Francisco. And the best thing about it: it’s just one of the many technical features that will make Junaio the most advanced AR-tech-platform.

The Swiss Kooaba just keeps on innovating. In January Kooaba was behind the first daily newspaper that was fully augmented. Now it is the first (as far as I can tell) that offers a public, free (though limited) to their image recognition capabilities.

Using the api, one can send up to 50 daily image queries to Kooaba’s servers that cover “close to ten million” movie poster, books and cd covers. They were even nice enough to provide sample code in several programming languages to get you started writing your own application. So basically, you can make your own SnapTell (or a simple Google Goggles clone).

You can find more details about it over at Kooaba’s blog. It’s an interesting move, but I fear that in the long run it won’t suffice to fend off Google. Google has the largest image database, and I would like to see Kooaba open up their “image uploading api” (the one that lets you enter new images to the database) in order to compete with them.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Kooaba

The Swiss Kooaba just keeps on innovating. In January Kooaba was behind the first daily newspaper that was fully augmented. Now it is the first (as far as I can tell) that offers a public, free (though limited) to their image recognition capabilities.

Using the api, one can send up to 50 daily image queries to Kooaba's servers that cover "close to ten million" movie poster, books and cd covers. They were even nice enough to provide sample code in several programming languages to get you started writing your own application. So basically, you can make your own SnapTell (or a simple Google Goggles clone).
You can find more details about it over at Kooaba's blog. It's an interesting move, but I fear that in the long run it won't suffice to fend off Google. Google has the largest image database, and I would like to see Kooaba open up their "image uploading api" (the one that lets you enter new images to the database) in order to compete with them.

Want to fire your imagination right before the weekend? The movie below gives you a glimpse into the workflow engine of Unifeye Design and the interaction possibilities arising with multimarker logics and multimedia functions. There`s an image as optical reference for the TV and one for the button. Tracking both and recognizing the orientation of the augmented reality remote control, you can seamlessly switch between channels which are broadcasting movies on a movie texture. What more ceoncepts come to your mind seeing this? Let me know… and have a nice weekend!

The new, all singing, all dancing Junaio application appeared on my iPhone a few days back. I was expecting more of the same but with more 3D images to chose from, what I got was a pleasant surprise.

Junaio is no longer just an augmented reality 3D photo/social networking tool, thanks to new functionality Junaio is now an augmented reality browser similar to the likes of Wikitude, Layar, or WhereMark. With the new channels feature you can browsers for nearby services like Shopping, Games, Nightlife, nearby tweets etc. Live view, the augmented reality view of the world now gives you a wikipedia view so you’ll be able to see where the nearest tube station is located as well as any pictures that have been uploaded by other users.  In Junaio 2.0 everything revolves around the notion of channels, as a user you get your own channel that you can share with friends, or you can subscribe to their channels and  overlay and view their content.

It’s such a big step forward that I was surprised that Metaio didn’t make more fuss about the release. Normally Metaio release a cool video and send over a copy of the press announcement, but I was unable to find anything.  The website doesn’t reflect the new branding or reference the 2.0 release and the general lack of fanfare makes me feel like 2.0 escaped in to the appstore rather than being released, I raised an eyebrow for sure when I first loaded it and saw Junaio 2.0 Alpha on the splash screen.  I searched through the twittersphere and found nothing other than a few users complaining about the new UI, which I have to say I like. The concept of channels is a little confusing at first but it doesn’t take long to figure it out and everything is easily accessible from the home screen.

I’m not sure about backwards compatibility as the pictures I added with the first version seem to have disappeared, but I am using a new account and think they might be in a channel somewhere. Incidentally you can now work with pictures in your phones gallery rather than having to take new pictures. Great if you have the perfect picture and are feeling creative.

On the home screen there is now an option to take pictures of augmented reality markers, in the screenshot you’ll see an AR marker with the trademark Junaio dragon flying above it. We’ll just have to see what that feature is for once we get a bit more news.

Like all good applications, Junaio have an open SDK for developers who want to build content and extend the platform. If you are looking to build content then take a look here:

Android users relax, Junaio is comming soon iPhone users download from here:

Related posts:

1. Layar and Junaio News Catch-up
2. Junaio Hits The iPhone
3. The Worlds First Audio Augmented Reality Browser

Gesture based computing will open the doors for other creative endeavors. Not sure if this is a concept or the real deal, but who cares, I was entertained by this invisible (augmented reality) synthesizer for ninety seconds.

Playing music with guitars will seem primitive when interpretive dance becomes conceptual music.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: augmented reality, music

Go. A game with such simple rules, that is surprisingly hard to master. It’s the last bastion of humanity against the rising power of game playing artificial intelligence. And now, there’s a cool projected AR board that will help you hone your skills in the game. Presented by a group of researchers from Japan and Finland, ARGO uses a projector to show game situations, concepts and problems on top of a regular Go board.

As shown in these modes, the advantage of our approach is to allow players to get information through the original interaction offered by the Go board and the stones. By superimposing information onto the board, players can concentrate on the match at hand or self-training without fragmenting their attention towards an instructional book and etc. This is important to make it possible for the players to allocate enough cognitive resources for recognizing the situations in the game. Using original game items as the basis preserves Ma and traditional look-and-feel, such as distance between players, touch of a wooden board and sound of stones.

I really like they used the stones to control the menus. Nice touch, and a cool project as a whole.

More information here.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Games, Projector based AR, Research

Go. A game with such simple rules, that is surprisingly hard to master. It's the last bastion of humanity against the rising power of game playing artificial intelligence. And now, there's a cool projected AR board that will help you hone your skills in the game.
Presented by a group of researchers from Japan and Finland, ARGO uses a projector to show game situations, concepts and problems on top of a regular Go board.

As shown in these modes, the advantage of our approach is to allow players to get information through the original interaction offered by the Go board and the stones. By superimposing information onto the board, players can concentrate on the match at hand or self-training without fragmenting their attention towards an instructional book and etc. This is important to make it possible for the players to allocate enough cognitive resources for recognizing the situations in the game. Using original game items as the basis preserves Ma and traditional look-and-feel, such as distance between players, touch of a wooden board and sound of stones.

I really like they used the stones to control the menus. Nice touch, and a cool project as a whole.
More information here.