BEYOND

I think “beyond” and belief are closely connected: beyond implies belief in the existence of *something* outside a perceived boundary. When there are multiple pieces of evidence of things existing in this “beyond”, belief solidifies and is reinforced by our experience. Augmented Reality by nature is dependent on “beyond” and belief — it’s what makes magic, it’s what seduces, it’s a promise of some payload (information or other). When augmented reality is a window to this “beyond”, what could solidify the belief that something is there more than the ability to have multiple synchronous windows?

I really like this idea. It’s saying loudly and clearly “The data is here! The objects are really here! You don’t believe me? Take a look at all these other windows!”

“Beyond” is a driving force; a siren. The data we cannot see creates a new Manifest Destiny calling us to stretch our territory from the real into seemingly uncharted augmented land… an untapped source of some awesome potential.

Well? Maybe it’s not that exciting. The augmented land so far *is* charted, carefully crafted to maximize its utility, maximize brand loyalty, maximize tourist information, or maximize my social media presence. Even so, I like where this is going. To infinity… and beyond!

Event Program Outline and Information (Dec 4th, 2009)

Here’s a “teaser” video of the event. Perhaps more video content is on the way? (Please?)

Layar and Wikitude are special guests at first ever Ecosystem event for people in Augmented Reality. Hosted by V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media and PortalToYourDreams. Artists mingled with developers, city planners and industry in this interactive cross-sector gathering. Special talks on fashion business, aura recognition, AR storytelling and the magic couch :-)

For more intellectual and creative stimulation, visit the V2_ website.

A virtual pit by Georgia Tech’s Augmented Environments Lab

“This video shows an augmented reality application we have developed to use as an experimental testbed for evaluating what components of an AR experience contribute to a user feeling “present” or immersed. In this experiment the participants are presented with a virtual hole that drops three stories and are asked to perform tasks around this “pit.” Their heart rate, galvanic skin response, and skin temperature are measured while the participant is shown different versions of the pit. The goal is to develop quantitative and qualitative methods for measuring how immersed a user is in an AR experience and to develop guidelines for people building AR applications.”

This is really cool. I’m always interested to see experiments related to the psychological effect of AR and mixed reality in general. Their website contains a little library of publications related to their research in AR as well.

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vFrame, a stop-motion concept video for outdoor AR social gaming.

vFrame is ‘yet another’ concept video for an AR social gaming platform, but their decision to use stop motion for their concept video made it unique enough to set it apart from the rest.

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“Augmented Reality as a Tool for Improving the Utility of Information” by Prof. Bruce Thomas (University of South Australia)

A reasonable introduction and ‘matome’ of augmented reality technology.

Augmented Reality Car Window, Fujitsu (c)2009

I’m not sure when exactly this page was put up (last-modified date is in October), but this is the first time I’ve come across this page from Fujitsu Japan’s website. In the about section of their site, Fujitsu overviews several design concepts and areas of research they intend to cover for the year. 2009 was the AR-heavy “New Generation Experience” proposal which consists of 3 topics of research, 5 key concepts, and 20 sample scenarios. I’m sad to say I didn’t catch this before, because they put a lot of effort into slick diagrams I would have loved to see about 6 months ago. The research topics are pretty broad, bland, and what you would expect of any consumer electronics company, but the key concepts and scenarios are pretty fun. Let’s dive straight in, shall we? (I don’t see any English version of this page so I will do my best and translate and summarize.)

5 Key Concepts

01 Intersection of the real and virtual worlds: Seamless transitions between the virtual and the real through a collective of technologies called augmented reality.

02 Becoming 2D, 3D: Product design has previously been focused on 3D objects, but now is concentrating on being thin and simple like the iPhone, flat and functional like the Suica.

03 Data Becoming Objects: While industries work towards paperless offices and digital documents, there is a need for a materialization of data in some form: widgets, or digital photo frames.

04 Aesthetic balance of Digital and Analog: Although we are a society in pursuit of convenience, our instinct for human experience is inescapable. Retailers will need to provide new services and forms of human experience to fulfill the needs of digital society; balance of digital convenience, and analog warmth.

05 Value Created by Green [Eco] Movement: “Eco-activities” used to only be a part of efforts towards Corporate Social Responsibility. Now, there are efforts to be a source of direct solutions, products and services to solve these eco-related problems, such as 3D hologram technology to replace business related travel.

Following this are the 20 sample scenarios. In my next post, expect more in depth discussion of these scenarios, plus translations of some of their diagrams. Scenario titles link to their respective pages on the Fujitsu website (in Japanese).

20 Sample Scenarios

01 : Augmented Reality (Car) Window

02 : Supermarket

03 : Rural Supermarket

04 : Explorative Storybook

05 : Magnet (Slow Communication – Home)

06 : Magnet (Slow Communication – Office)

07 : Media Store

08 : Street (Street Media Store)

09 : Interactive Museum

10 : Map (Seamless Urban Transport)

11 : Trade Fair Ticket

12 : Family Restaurant (Simple Objects – Restaurant)

13 : Dining Room (Simple Objects – Home)

14 : Travel Cafe

15 : Travel (Augmented Reality Travel)

16 : Work Desk (Remote Presence Office)

17 : Contextual Meeting Room

18 : Fitness (Virtual Fitness Training)

19 : Aerobics (Virtual Air Bike)

20: Security Camera (Smiley Catch)

I’m going to be honest here and openly admit that my ideal mash-up is sort of aiming for a Dennou Coil-esque augmented reality platform, and why not? Dennou Coil‘s augmented reality world was such a delightfully playful yet fairly fleshed out vision of AR, and has been a source of inspiration and excitement for augmented enthusiasts everywhere.

Let’s jump right into the list…

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Computer Vision: Georg Klein’s PTAM (Parallel Tracking and and Mapping)

“PTAM (Parallel Tracking and Mapping) is a camera tracking system for augmented reality. It requires no markers, pre-made maps, known templates, or inertial sensors.”

PTAM is a very nice markerless tracking method. While I can easily imagine QR and other 2d barcode systems remaining active in an AR world, most of the augmented media should be markerless, using a combination of PTAM and GPS/compass data.

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Menus and object creation: wah_wah_hawah’s ARDeskTop (ARToolKit)

In this augmented reality world, we need menus and interfaces to customize, build, and interact with the media around us. ARDeskTop, built with ARToolKit, is one example of a feasible model of menus and interaction. This demo is stellar, but the markers and cellphone are pretty clunky for mainstream use, and I can’t imagine anyone wanting to wear a tracking marker taped to their finger all the time. This is where the next example fits in…

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Input devices: Taehee Lee and Tobias Höllerer’s HandyAR

I know, the pun just kills me. So now that we’ve set up a few technologies for computer-vision, and laying down the ‘virtual space’ into which we can add AR objects, we need a few modes of interaction. Using computer-vision, HandyAR looks for hands in the live video image, and allows a user to utilize said hands as a mode of input or interaction in an augmented reality environment through gesture and position.

This is one possibility for the future of interface for the next augmented reality world. Caveats: closed fists, unintentional gestures, etc.

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So, can anyone arrange a little lunch party for Klein, WahWahHawah, Lee and Hollerer? … Pretty please?

Stay tuned, coming soon: Let’s Squish Our Fruits Together Part 2 – Devices, frameworks, community.