Those crazy kids at Georgia Tech. In the last couple of days, we have seen augmented reality used to make you laugh, amazed and uncomfortable, so naturally someone, somehow had to make you scared. That’s where Georgia Tech comes into the picture –
… we are interested in how to create systems where the user loses the sense of mediation, and begins to respond to being immersed in a blended physical/virtual as if it was a single “world.”
Our approach to exploring AR and Presence has been to develop an AR presence questionnaire in parallel with a physiological presence experiment analogous to the UNC VR “pit” experiment, which leverages a strong physiological reaction (fear of heights) to measure presence.
The experiment asked the participants to preform certain tasks around that pit, while their heart rate, galvanic skin response and skin temperature were measured. By doing so, the researchers hoped to develope a quantitative measurement of how immersive was the AR experience. Sadly, they don’t report on their results yet, but you can tell from the video that some participants were shaken by the event.
Next time, they’ll confront volunteers with an approaching virtual train and have paramedics on stand-by.
Eric Gradman dropped me a note about an art installation he presented two weeks ago at an event named Mindshare:
So says Eric:
Live video captured by a camera and is re-projected on the wall behind the camera, functioning like a “magic mirror.” But the CLOUD MIRROR software alters the images on the way to the screen. It runs an algorithm that tracks faces from frame to frame and also examines each frame for 2D barcodes printed on attendee badges. By pairing each face with a badge, and each badge id with a database row, the CLOUD MIRROR can identify by name whoever is standing in front of the installation.
It’s very similar to this Squidder’s video, but adds more ways to embarrass yourself and others. More (mostly technical) details can be found here, but in a nutshell it’s based on ARToolKitPlus, OpenCV for face recognition, and lots of python.
(Remember, you can too drop me a note about any AR related news by sending a mail to rouli.net ~a~t~ gmail.com)
When I get sick of all that marker-based novelty augmented-reality, I protest and complain. But it seems that when Anatoly Zenkov had the same feelings, he created the first (?) comedic clip about AR, entitled “Me Too”:
It’s time again for another weekly linkfest, but first, let’s take a moment to a recognize a historic event. This is the 100th post here at Games Alfresco. Last week featured this blog’s 500th comment. Let’s hope that by the 200th post, AR will take a more substantial part in our life.
Now, without any further ado, here are some other AR news from around the web:
Georgia Tech’s has a new infomercial for their mixed reality design class.
Study finds that when it comes to in-car navigation, augmented reality is better than 3D egocentric view aids (such as plain old GPS devices). Who could have guessed?
Geocaching using augmented reality is such a neat idea, I’m surprised no one before Jacob at Trimagination thought about it.
Looking for an AR primer? Rusty Henderson has one covering the basics (with many videos), and Tom Carpenter has some more details.
My team has figured out how to build most of Rainbows End. Just matter of time and funding now… /evil scientist cackle/
I guess that if they really achieved that feat, funding will not be a problem.
And finally, the weekly video comes from GeoVector (which I previouslly covered here). It’s a concept video from 1995 and contains some interesting ideas. It just shows that even
if you think that you have a novel idea, someone has thought about it before. Jump to 4:51 for a really cool augmented frogger:
Geisha Tokyo Entertainment’s ARiS, the augmented reality maid featured in the clip above that Ori covered here, is on her way to become the first virtual AR celebrity. No only does she appear in primetime tv, she now got her own book deal.
The new “official guide book“, is 64 pages of ARiS goodness. It features ARiS’s secret till now biography, tips and tricks, her development process and an interview with her voice actor. Apparently, also included are some markers for ARiS’s living room and shower so after buying the book she will no longer need to live on your desk. You can see a video of her new rooms at the book’s site.
Alas, you can order the book only if you live in Japan. It will be available starting from early June. Via CScout Japan, where you can find some more details and pictures.
My name is Rouli (pronounced like wooly) . For the last couple of months, I’ve been blogging on augmented reality over at Augmented Times, where I cover the coming “AR revolution”. When I first became an AR enthusiast, over a year ago, I’ve found Games Alfresco an incredible source of goodness. That’s why I was honored when Ori approached me with an offer to combine forces, in hopes of creating a central AR hub, a place for AR fans and proffesionals alike.
This post is the first step in creating such a hub, and in the following weeks I’ll be publishing some of my posts both over here and on Augmented Times. Please leave a comment and tell us what you think about this collaboration!
Once a week I write a post detailing all the news that didn’t get their own post, a “Linkfest”. So, for the first time on Games Alfresco, here’s this week’s linkfest:
Finally, the following video was doing the rounds this last week –
It’s iVisit‘s SeeScan, an application under development for Windows Mobile that intends to help the visually impaired, but could have other uses for AR (a bit more information here).
Games Alfresco 