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English Augmented reality headsets: the next one could be by Amazon!
The next brand entering the market of augmented reality headsets? It could be no less than Amazon!
It seems that, after Facebook, Microsoft and Google, the e-commerce American colossus will make its entrance in the world of augmented reality, or that at least they are thinking on it. The update comes from the US Patent and Trademark Office, that about a week ago published the news of a patent application by Amazon related to a pair of glasses that seem perfect to be used for augmented reality. From the project it seems that these glasses will be connecting, we still don’t know if wireless or not, to a smart device (a tablet or a smartphone?) and they will be able to superimpose images to what we see through the lenses in front of our eyes. Also there will be a functionality that, with a simple tap of the device screen, would make the augmented images transparent again, so we don’t have to take the glasses off of our face when we don’t need them.
“On the one hand, a large screen is beneficial for watching movies, playing games and even reading email comfortably,” reads the patent, which was originally filed more than two years ago. “On the other hand, the larger the screen, the bigger the device, which may be less desirable for a light and portable product. Another problem consumers experience with portable devices, like tablet devices, is the lack of ability to immerse themselves in a tablet experience, such as watching a movie on an airplane.”
This explains the importance of having a device that can make us live an experience but that is also light and portable. And which one better than a pair of glasses?
Imagine the potentiality of a device like this in the case of Amazon and their service Prime Instant Video: it’s easy to understand why, after the flop of the Fire smartphone, the company decided to continue anyway its research in the hardware field, isn’t it? 😉
- Pubblicato il Augmented reality @en
PolyEyes 2.0: augmented reality gives us the vision of a chameleon
Augmented reality, for its own nature, can easily become an upgrade of the human body; among the many avant-garde projects, this is confirmed also by the new headset created by University College London’s Interactive Architecture Lab, that will make possible to see what we have around without moving our heads.
Its name is PolyEyes 2.0 and, in its bizarre shape, it reminds of an hammerhead shark but lets you see as a chameleon: this headset features a Raspberry Pi camera module on each side, able to rotate close to 180-degrees, so the wearer can have a wider view than the normal one. The view field inside the helmet is separated in two half, and every of the two parts shows the projections of what the two cameras are shooting around us: this is how the wider vision is made possible.
PolyEyes 2.0 is part of a bigger and more ambitious project, that aims to the creation of a complete suit that will make possible for a person to feel what another person is experiencing. This suit is called “Polymelia Suit” and it’s made of many prosthesis: the idea is that, once wore all this, it will send to another person what we are feeling, doing or seeing; the other person will experience the emotion of being us.
Saying it with Interactive Architecture Lab’ words: “We think of the body as the original prosthesis we all learn to manipulate, so that any replacement or extension becomes part of a continuing process of upgrading the human entity.”
- Pubblicato il Augmented reality @en
Disney augments coloring books
There were no doubts about the fact that Disney understood the potentialities of augmented reality: here on Experenti’s blog we talked already about their new projects related to this technology, e.g. the collaboration with Hasbro for the development of the line of toy accessories Playmation and the creation of Star Wars official app.
Now Disney returns to the children world with a project that will be very appreciated also from moms and dads; ask yourself which is one of the most loved activity by your children and you’ll be close enough to what we are talking about: say goodbye to felt tips stains on their clothes or drawings on the walls, because the revolution of coloring books is near!
Disney’s project has been presented on 29th September at the International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality by the Research & Development team stationed in Zurich; it doesn’t have a name yet, but it was possible to see it in action…and it was awesome!
Thanks to a software based on Unity game engine and to the mobile app available for iOS and Android, looking through a tablet or smartphone display, it will be possible to see our character come to life while we color it, with the hues we choose. Pretty a revolution in the world of children’s creativity, isn’t it? Also a way to give a good use to the mobile devices that every day are used more even from the youngest ones.
This isn’t the first project that tries to merge augmented reality and coloring books: earlier there has been the experience of Color Alive series, a collaboration between Crayola and the AR developers DAQRI; however this project was different, since it was possible to augment the drawing once it was finished, not while coloring it.
- Pubblicato il Augmented reality @en
Marines take augmented reality to the military field
The possible applications of augmented reality are growing, extending day after day to new, important fields, and it’s not really difficult to believe the previsions of an exponential advancement of this new technology (together with virtual reality) during the next years. Today we enter the military field and we talk about Marines, who started to test augmented reality live during their training.
The first tests related to AR started in August for the Infantry Officer Course: the Marines who took part to this course were able to try the augmented reality headsets developed by ONR, the Office of Naval Research, during a live-fire training. This system is called AITT, Augmented Immersive Team Trainer, and, as easily understood by the name, uses augmented reality to immerse the soldier inside a battle environment.
The AITT system works thanks to a laptop, a software and a battery pack, and of course a display mounted on the helmet of the soldier, who will see images and objects superimposed to reality to virtually recreate any kind of environment and scenario.
Brig. Gen. Julian Alford, vice chief of naval research and commanding general of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, said: “This affordable lightweight system can be taken anywhere—turning any environment into a training ground—and could be used to prepare Marines for real-world situations and environments they will face.”
Some benefits of this system are practicality, lightness and live training assistance, but, as Brig. Gen. Julian Alford highlighted, a big advantage is also convenience, both economical and time related: soldiers’ training is generally pretty expensive since it uses munitions, virtual ground vehicles and aircrafts, and also it is often interrupted by bad weather conditions; thanks to augmented reality this won’t happen anymore: “The system makes the training easier and eliminates the maintenance issues or weather-related restrictions that can pare down or cancel training,” confirmed Maj. George Flynn, director of the Infantry Officer Course.
- Pubblicato il Augmented reality @en
HoloLens will be “a five-year journey”, revealed Microsoft’s CEO
The saga about the development of one of the most applauded and waited headset of these years is continuing: as probably you understood we are talking of Microsoft’s HoloLens, that from revelation to revelation doesn’t stop teasing the curiosity of augmented reality’s fans.
Between developer’s versions and consumer’s market release hypothesis, finally it seems that the development team wanted to make a bit of clarity talking about the future of this device at the Salesforce Dreamforce Conference Q&A where Satya Nadella, CEO of the project, talked.
Unluckily all those that, after the news of HoloLens working with Windows 10, thought the release was coming shortly will have to change their minds: the device, at least for the consumer market, will not be released so soon, since Nadella said that he imagines the full development of the gadget as “really a five-year journey.” It is sure, on the other hand, that in 2016 will be available the developer version.
With this kind of communiqué, it is clear how Microsoft is aiming to release the best HoloLens version possible, and this, of course, needs a certain amount of work, tests and time. Other than the news about videogames and applications linked to culture and study, one of HoloLens goals is surely to be used in the business world; knowing this, it’s clear why they don’t want to release in the market just a prototype, as it is at the moment since the version presented in April had problems with commands recognizing and some glitches. Nadella and his Team seem to know very good the high potential of a project like this: “it is such a different type of computer, and the industrial and enterprise scenarios are huge”, and surely it is worth to invest in it to make it the better possible.
- Pubblicato il Augmented reality @en
Make up and augmented reality meet in ManiMatch, the new app by Sally Hansen
Varnish lovers, read here: have you always wanted to see the effect of that marvelous nail polish before being home and try it on? Now it is finally possible!
The nail varnish experts at Sally Hansen, #1-selling nail color and nail care brand in the US, know your problem and decided to help you with a new app…and augmented reality, of course!
The app is named ManiMatch, it’s available for free download for iOS (you can find it here) and has been launched in a pop-up bar in SoHo just some days ago. It works in a pretty simple way: you just have to put your hand on a neutral color surface, as white or another thin shade, and to focus it with your mobile device on which the app is installed; ManiMatch then will scan the hand and your skin tones and it will choose the perfect varnish tone for you.
“Everyone of course has different undertones and contrasts with the colors, so it’s important to be able to try it on,” Madeline Poole, Sally Hansen’s global color ambassador and trend expert, said. “You might try on a shirt. It looks amazing on a rack, but when you try it on, it washes you out, or it doesn’t bring out the color of your eyes or your hair or whatever, so it’s the same kind of concept.”
If for you the app’s advice is not enough, you can anyway freely surf the catalogue of products, in which you will find around 200 different shades; the products can be found even browsing them for categories or characteristics and then they can be purchased directly from the smartphone.
It will be also possible to try the colors while in the shops scanning the barcodes on the varnish bottles and to enjoy fabulous nail art tutorials directly on your hands.
“The fact that you see exactly how a color will look on your own hands is just pure fun—and incredibly useful. People end up experimenting with shades they’d never normally try.”
Fun, technology and sales grow: elements getting along pretty good when we talk about augmented reality in retail.
- Pubblicato il Augmented reality @en
Augmented reality and geology: Leapfrog AR is here
It seems that Geology is one of the fields in which augmented reality is fated to be a big success. Just one month ago we gave the news about UCLA’s project for teaching geological science to children and adults (do you remember it? It’s a sandbox that a projector and augmented reality transform in a way to see live the changes in earth, you can find the article here).
Today we report another good news related to this field: Aranz Geo Limited, developer of Leapfrog , a 3D geological modelling software, has released a beta version of the Leapfrog AR augmented reality tool.
Leapfrog AR makes possible for its users to see geological data and models in the real world; as Leapfrog’s product manager, Patrick Hollenbeck, said: “Imagine standing on the edge of a mine pit and seeing the geological model superimposed over it”
“The geologist viewing the model can use their knowledge of the deposit and the terrain to give a contextual visual check and collaborate in the development of the very best model solution. This also gives field geologists the opportunity to see what the resource geologist deems important, and provides a basis for further discussion.”
“Field geos, resource geos and consultants can take the model into the real world of the mine and see it in context” added Hollenbeck.
We can imagine the importance of a project like this in a pretty difficult field as the geological science one and how this can help the specialists in enhancing studies and works related to this topic. At the moment Leapfrog AR is going through field tests with selected clients to collect feedback that will help building the next release of the tool.
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Announced Pokémon Go, the app to catch Pokémons in the real world
Are you a Pokémon fan? From next year you will be able to catch your favorite pocket monsters in the real world!
Few days ago The Pokémon Company, production company of the famous videogame, announced that from 2016 will be released the new mobile game “Pokémon Go”.
This new version of the game has been developed by the company together with Nintendo and Niantic, and it will have incredible game features: Pokémon Go will be a mobile-based game, available for iOS and Android, and it will use augmented reality. With the help of a GPS and of the smartphone’s camera it will make possible to catch Pokémons in the real world: our mobile device will work as a radar, notifying us when one of the most famous collectable little monsters will be near us.
As for other videogames featuring augmented reality, even in this case we point out the importance of this new technology combined with gaming dynamics to break the bad habit, every day more normal for children and adults, of passing too much time in the house in front of tv and consoles. Applications as Pokémon Go or Ingress (yes, the other game created by Niantic) are working in double ways: one is to deliver fun to the users, while the other one is to help them going out of the house to interact with the outdoor spaces.
The Pokémon Go app will be available from next year in free download with some in-app purchase features, but Nintendo announced also another device that will add to the smartphone experience other elements, as the information on the presence of other players near us; the name of this second gadget will be Pokémon Go Plus and we don’t have a price yet, but probably it will be soon announced.
Watch the incredible presentation video:
It seems that 2016 will be a year full of augmented reality news; continue to read our blog to get constant updates!
- Pubblicato il Augmented reality @en
Enchanted creatures in Angus Park thanks to augmented reality
To have a walk in an enchanted forest among fantastic creatures: how many times we dreamt of this when we were little? Now we are adults and we have a possibility of making this dream true, thanks to the play “Dark Wood Dragon Quest”, the first theatrical event with augmented reality elements of UK.
In fact, from 7th October to 1st November in the Monikie Country Park of Angus, Scotland, it will be possible to take part to this incredible event: downloading an app on their smartphones, the participants will be able to walk in the park, lighten up and decorated for the occasion, among fantastic creatures as fairies, goblins and trolls thanks to augmented reality. Basically, focusing on the various parts of the wood, it will be possible to see and take pictures of magical creatures and then to share them on social media with family and friends. All this is part of a wider story: the participants, through clues and solving puzzle and riddles, will have to find the ancient Dragon.
The app was ideated by Vision Mechanics and created with the help of of animation graduates from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee, who took 3D models and placed them in the real world thanks to the augmented reality technology; anyway, the show will be enjoyable even for those who don’t have a smartphone, as even Symon Macintyre, Vison Mechanics’ artistic director, said: “We were keen to tap into local talent to develop the technology side of things but, even without a smartphone or tablet, audiences will be able to enjoy a whole host of impressive, interactive physical installations and lots of traditional, theatrical creations to see and explore on the night.”
This event will be for sure one of the most anticipated events in UK, and also Jim Clarkson, regional partnerships director at VisitScotland, seems pretty enthusiastic: “Every year, Angus welcomes visitors from all across the globe but I’m certain this is the first time we’ve played host to so many different mythical creatures.”
We are enthusiastic as well: we can’t really wait to have a peek to the pictures of the play!
- Pubblicato il Augmented reality @en