5 Things I Want Kinect To Do

Posted on January 27, 2011 by thomaskcarpenter

The Kinect has become an indie revolution, open sourced and hacked to provide a wealth of effects we haven’t had access to for augmented reality.  The Kinect Hacks site is doing a terrific job covering the revolution, but I want to make my bid for what I want the Kinect to do outside its comfort zone.

The Kinect so far has been wedded to the TV, mostly because it’s a gaming device.  But the company behind the technology, PrimeSense, recently raised $50 million.  We can only suspect they’re going to turn their hot new commodity into a device that can work with more than just the PC or an Xbox.

When that product hits the market, understanding the world will be much easier for computers and therefore, will make augmented reality more advanced.  Now I know most of these ideas aren’t AR in the strictest terms (I know my friend Rouli wouldn’t deem them AR,) but they exist in the same spectrum and they’re important for the overall development of the technology.  Without better sensors, AR is doomed to stay stuck in the smartphone.  Plus, sensing the world is one-half the AR equation (see the RIM scale for more details.)

Here are five things I want the Kinect to do:

1) I want the Kinect to drive my car, at least on the highway, while I’m busy doing something else.  Google wants to do the same thing and I think the Kinect could help them.
2) Conveyance in a factory setting takes a lot of manpower and is woefully wasteful.  Utilizing cheap sensors that can see people and sense their environment would make getting widgets from one place to another easy.
3) Mapping indoor locations would allow building AR environments in your local Walmart so mapping out your shopping route can be done with a simple app.
4) Telepresence robot, 3D glasses, and a computer screen could give people with massive physical disabilities a way to explore the world around them.
5) Sensing system for the blind that could give them clues to what was happening around them.  The system could use facial recognition and whisper what it saw in your ear.

These are just a few possibilities with the Kinect sensor as it gives computers a window into our world.

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Why Sports Enthusiasts are the Future of AR

Posted on January 26, 2011 by rouli

There are a few topics that I’ve been planning to write about for months (if not years). One of them is the role sports enthusiasts (joggers, swimmers, bicycles fanatics) may have in the adoption of augmented reality head up displays. The recent onslaught of hi-tech ski goggles was the push I needed to finally do something about it.

Instead of writing a long post (which many won’t read), I’m trying something new here. I’ve created a short presentation with only a few words that describes my views. I would be very happy to hear your comments on this format. If you like it, I’ll create more presentations on other subjects.

What do you think? Am I completely off my mark here?

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Augmented Scavenger Hunt At Sundance Film Festival

Posted on January 25, 2011 by thomaskcarpenter

** These AR scavenger hunt games are fantastic.  I just wish they would make them where us common folk could play.

GoldRun, an augmented reality mobile application, is working with Sorel, a premium footwear brand, to turn Park City into a rewarding social media experience during the Sundance Film Festival. Consumers can embark on a virtual scavenger hunt through augmented reality, QR codes and Facebook to win some of the most popular boots from Sorel’s Fall 2010 collection, hats and more, including access to VIP areas in Park City during the Sundance Film Festival, January 20 -25.

Sorel has an exclusive partnership with GoldRun that will host the virtual scavenger hunt during the first six days of the festival. Ten virtual Sorel bears will be placed in high traffic areas around Park City. The GoldRun app, available free from the Apple iTunes store, lets people track down, interact with and collect the virtual Sorel bears. People who pose with the Sorel bear can email a picture via the GoldRun app for a chance to win Sorel boots, like the popular Joan of Arctic, for women, and the 1964 Premium, for men, access to VIP-only events, including Sorel happy hours, and cool prizes. Participants are encouraged to upload their photos from the festival to the Sorel Facebook page.

“In the past, our boots have been on the feet of celebrities and festival-goers, but this year we wanted to do something innovative and unexpected,” said Linda Reese, Sorel’s director of brand and marketing communications. “Working with GoldRun to place our virtual Sorel bear logo around town is a new and exciting way for us to interact with consumers.”

“Sponsorships are an essential part of effectively marketing a brand. It’s exciting to partner with Sorel to extend their promotional reach throughout Park City during the festival,” says GoldRun’s vice president of business development, Shai Rao. “GoldRun isn’t simply about bringing people to products. It’s just as effective in bringing products to people.”

Sorel has a dedicated Facebook tab with information about all of its activities during the festival, including opportunities for consumers who aren’t attending to get in on the action and win prizes. The virtual Sorel bear scavenger hunt and QR code contest runs from Jan. 20 through Jan. 25. For the official Sorel at Sundance contest rules, please visit http://sorelatsundance.com/contest_rules/.

About Sorel
For 50 years, Sorel boots have been engineered to provide outstanding warmth, comfort and durability in the most extreme cold-weather conditions. They have accompanied explorers to the North Pole and earned a legendary reputation among winter outdoor enthusiasts as well as those who work outdoors in harsh winter conditions. While the brand’s Caribou style remains a winter classic, Sorel now offers an exciting range of comfortable, luxurious, all-weather products that merge high-quality materials with outstanding design to produce durable, fashionable warmth. Sorel boots can be found in specialty outdoor stores, as well as upscale department and footwear stores around the world, reflecting growing appeal among discerning consumers who trek the most demanding urban jungles year-round. Sorel is a wholly owned subsidiary of Columbia Sportswear Company, based in Portland, Ore. For more information about Sorel, please visit http://www.sorel.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sorel or @SorelFootwear on Twitter.

About GOLDRUN
Download the App: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/goldrun/id396800792?mt=8
GoldRun is a new augmented reality app that enables users to locate, interact with and take photos of GPS-linked virtual objects positioned in the real world. A powerful promotional tool tailored for the mobile environment, the app hosts AR-driven social media games, guides, virtual photo booths and loyalty programs designed to drive traffic to physical and online destinations, increase product sales, enhance brand engagement and bolster viral impact.

GoldRun users take pictures alongside virtual objects and can immediately post these photos to Facebook. By helping brands tap into this image sharing impulse, the app turns social networks into even more effective distribution channels as GoldRunners share images of themselves interacting with everything from scenes in blockbuster films, to iconic sports figures and the season’s must have fashion items.

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Weekly Linkfest

Posted on January 23, 2011 by rouli

It’s Sunday, and here are some links from around the augmented sphere:

Ever played Duplo (the big blocks version of Lego) as a toddler? Worried that your kids will only want to play with things that have touch screens on them? Worry not, legoplatformer.com will turn your old bricks into a mobile augmented reality platform capable of running computer games. On a serious note, that’s one example of the power of Qualcomm’s AR SDK:

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Goldrun Augmented Window Shopping

Posted on January 17, 2011 by thomaskcarpenter

This article is a contribution from Arvind Ramachandran, a second year MBA student at the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta.

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The World Wide Web has become passé. Now I know that’s a big statement to make, but just hear me out. Nowadays, marketers around the world are tuned into the World Wide Web on an unprecedented scale. Most brands today have a website and significant presence on social media forums. The brands which don’t are fast playing a game of catch-up, with ever increasing contests, events and other forms of consumer engagement online. So, if most of the competition has already started occupying the digital space, then what next for marketers?

In steps augmented reality. Augmented reality (AR) platforms offer marketers the unique opportunity to enrich and enhance the consumer’s brand experience. It helps integrate the potential benefits offered by the internet with the consumer’s real environment. Sounds confusing? Let me explore this in a bit more detail.

Augmented reality, as the name suggests, attempts to augment or enhance your physical environment by adding computer generated input and content to the world around you. It would allow marketers to place virtual products, markers and other forms of brand promotion in the consumer’s environment. How would the consumer be able view this content? Generally, augmented reality projections can be viewed through head mounted displays, spatial displays or using handheld devices. Handheld devices are certainly the most convenient of the lot.

Now imagine being able to use the most ubiquitous handheld device of all, the mobile phone, to view augmented reality content. A host of AR platforms and mobile apps are now available which allow you to do just that. And going by how they are being used today, they may just be the next big thing in promotional campaigns.

One such campaign that I came across recently was carried out by fashion-retailer H&M in partnership with GoldRun (http://www.goldrungo.com), an AR platform startup. The mobile app allowed people to view and take pictures with virtual garments placed in their environment and in return, they were awarded with discounts and offers. A promotion of this nature holds immense potential as it takes consumer engagement to a new level and makes participation more exciting and enjoyable. And by allowing you to share your pictures and gifts on Facebook, these apps hold the potential to integrate your World Wide Web experience with your real environment and transform your world into one hyper-connected experience. Basically, you would be able to interact with virtual goods in real surroundings and then share your experience online in the digital space. Sounds cool, right?

The best part is, you can now become part of this experience, just at the touch of a button, by using these apps on your smart phone. Why is this important? For the same reason the World Wide Web and mobile phones have now become integral parts of your everyday life. Augmented reality platforms hold the potential to extend the benefits accrued from the internet to the user’s real world. With marketers cashing in on the opportunities presented by AR platforms, consumers would be provided with better options and thus benefit from promotional activities carried out in this space. Also, becoming part of this exciting new space would provide common folk like you and me with a chance to explore and become part of a truly unique augmented reality experience.

The possibilities and opportunities which the Augmented Reality space offers are limitless. And the fact that this unique experience is now available at the touch of a button, thanks to mobile AR apps like GoldRun, provides a truly compelling reason for you to engage and become part of the AR experience.

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Happy Weekly Linkfest Day!

Posted on January 16, 2011 by rouli

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the links of this week:

Augmented reality t-shirts are cool. Star Wars is cool (as determined by a poll of 500 AR fands). Thus, augmented reality t-shirts, featuring Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker fighting each other must be the epitome of coolness. I don’t have a clue who made those or where can you get them, but you may enjoy the video:

have a great week!

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Pac-Man Augmented Evolution

Posted on January 14, 2011 by rouli

1980, the Japanese Namco corporation develops Pac-Man, making arcade history

2004, researchers from National University of Singapore’s Mixed Reality Lab, led by Adrian Cheok, create Human Pacman, a first person version of the classic game, that lets you play the classic game with an augmented reality twist. This twist also means that you have to carry a laptop on your back and wear a HMD on your head.

2011, now you can play a first person version of Pac-Man by just loading Layar on your iPhone, developed by GamePS

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Kinect: Ultra-Seven Code

Posted on January 12, 2011 by thomaskcarpenter

I’m not familiar with the superhero Ultra-Seven, but wearing a boomerang on the back of your head seems like a bad idea.  The Kinect porn superheros can’t be far behind.  Go here for the code.

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Weekly Consumer Linkfest Show

Posted on January 9, 2011 by rouli

We have got plenty of augmented reality links this week, so enjoy the show:

Here’s yet another amazing AR project utilizing the power of Kinect’s sensor. Tobias Blum and Prof. Nassir Navab of TU Munich used a Kinect to overlay CT data on a person in real time, transforming a big screen into a magic mirror. It’s also a good party trick for Halloween. More info here.

Have an excellent week!

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Kinect Makes Green Screens Easy

Posted on January 5, 2011 by thomaskcarpenter

As we saw by the recent poll on Games Alfresco, the Kinect is the biggest thing in augmented reality right now.  Even since my last review of Kinect, there have been many new innovations.  Using Kinect as a real time green screen is becoming an easy reality and fast.  Dustin O’Connor has transformed his room into a smoky psychedelic head space.  I can only imagine that this setup will become the norm in tripped out raves.

The Kinect also has possibilities as an indie movie special effects tool.  Dustin alludes to this possibility:

I could see a bunch of indie type cg / video movie and effects being made with this camera. the kinect may not be as cheap as a can of green paint but defiantly does produce a similar result without the mess.

 

kinect volumetric fluid occlusion from dustin o’connor on Vimeo.

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