Being an avid science fiction fan (read: geek) I often turn to an old classic when people ask me what I’m researching; as it ultimately prompts the question: what is augmented reality? The classic from which I draw my analogy is Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 walks stark naked into a biker bar and we the audience see its surroundings as it does, through the first-person perspective. His perspective is a different one; it’s futuristic. As he makes his way saliently through the bar and analyses its dumbfounded inhabitants, he sees not only images of people and objects, but contextual information relating to each one. The height and weight dimensions of everyone he passes appear beside them, as if each individual was holding up a placard full of his or her vital signs. Only it’s not a placard, of course, but an overlay of digital information on the T-800’s surroundings. This ultimately brings him to a biker deemed to match his own dimensions, prompting Arnie to utter one of many iconic lines in the film:
“I need your clothes, boots and your motorcycle.”
Now I’m not claiming we’re about to see the very real uprising of Skynet, but the unique way in which the T-800 sees the world around him is no longer confined to the scope of science fiction. Granted we cannot scan our surrounding objects and generate such information internally as the T-800 did, but we have devices that allow us to do so. A foreign visitor may not be able to look at a historic building and generate information about its history, dimensions, and so on; but a number of applications will allow him to do so on a mobile device. What is truly remarkable is just how accessible these applications and these devices are becoming.
To supplement a long-winded analogy with a more academic reference, augmented reality (AR) systems integrate virtual information into a user’s physical environment so that the user will perceive that information as existing in the environment (Höllerer et al., 2001). It is therefore distinct from virtual reality, where the user is fully immersed in a synthetic environment (think of the ‘lightbike’ race in Tron). There are only elements of virtuality, which are projected onto real, tangible objects.
Origins
The origins of AR can be considered somewhat fragmented; the first AR interface (a head-mounted display) was developed by Ivan Sutherland in the 1960s, though the term augmented reality was later coined in 1992 by Tom Caudell. Caudell described AR technology as a way to simplify an industrial manufacturing process in a Boeing factory (Behringer et al., 1999). Indeed, many of the early uses of AR revolved around manufacturing, where manufacturers would use very large, unwieldy head gear. But nowadays the facilitating technology is becoming more accessible; we are witnessing a continuous miniturisation of devices with the hardware and computing power necessary to make AR a more widespread phenomenon; perhaps demonstrating the influence of Moore’s Law in the evolution of augmented reality. The concept is not new; however we are seeing increasingly new methods of delivery which has opened up AR to the mass market. We are not at ubiquitous levels just yet, but enthusiasts hope and believe that augmented reality threatens to permeate our daily lives as broadband once did.
How are we consuming AR?
By observing the most prominent uses of commercial AR, it appears that three delivery methods currently dominate: the use of kiosks, the use of webcams, and the use of smartphones.
Kiosk Applications
Kiosks are generally used for in-store or on-location demonstrations of augmented reality. A front-facing camera effectively turns a section of the kiosk into a mirror, in the same way one would see themselves on a computer monitor with a webcam. The user will typically hold some sort of visual cue (for example, the packaging of a product, a printed sheet, or in some cases the individual themselves). The kiosk in turn recognises the cue and generates contextual, digital information which is overlayed onto it; for example, the kiosk might display a 3D model of a product on its packaging, or generate a virtual video demonstration of the product in use.
The LEGO Group would appear to be somewhat of a proponent to AR technology, setting up AR kiosks across its LEGO brand stores (in addition to a webcam AR application which will be examined later in the article). The purveyor of the classic toy teamed up with technology firm Metaio to create the in-store AR experience in 2009. Consumers hold certain LEGO boxes included in the promotion to the kiosk and watch as an animation, superimposed onto the box, unfolds on the screen before them showing the finished 3D model. See it in action below:
French firm Total Immersion is fast establishing itself as market leader in AR technology, offering solutions ranging from marketing applications and entertainment, to utilities such as education applications. The company has developed a number of AR kiosk units for various companies and industries, two of which we can examine in use here.
The first is a kiosk which was developed to promote the film Coraline outside theatres in the US. Interaction with the kiosk was based on plot elements from the film, in which the protagonist Coraline finds herself in an alternate universe whose inhabitants have buttons for eyes. The kiosk was decorated as a mirror in which passers by looked; the gag being that their reflection showed them what they looked like with buttons for eyes:
In contrast to the somewhat novel Coraline project, and perhaps demonstrating the diversity of AR technology, Total Immersion created a kiosk in partnership with Exhibit Engineering for the Gulf Coast Exploreum, Alabama. The kiosk gave visitors a chance to engage in an educational AR experience by generating 3D images of a beating heart into their hands. See it in action:
Webcam Applications
Augmented reality webcam applications are similar conceptually to their kiosk counterparts. As noted, consumers look at kiosks as though they were large mirrors, displaying the user’s environment onto which it overlays the virtual data. With webcam AR, the users interact in a similar way with the application; using their webcams to see themselves and their surrounding environment on a computer monitor, in real time. As with kiosks, the user holds a visual cue (or sometimes acts as the cue itself) which the application recognises and is prompted to generate the relevant data. For a number of these applications, the visual cue is a printed piece of paper. While the kiosk examples are restricted to video examples (unless you happen to find yourself on the premises of one) anybody with a webcam and a printer can try out the following applications for themselves.
As mentioned earlier, The LEGO Group offers a webcam AR experience for those who don’t have the good fortune of being in close proximity to a LEGO brand store. Users print out a companion page; activate their webcam; give the website permission to access the camera when prompted; hold the printed page up to the webcam; and marvel as an animated 3D model of the chosen product is generated in front of them (currently the application is only available for use with one line of products in the LEGO catalogue). The web page can be found at:
Two further demonstrations of webcam AR come once again from the works of Total Immersion, in partnership with two French retail firms. The first is an application developed for French mobile telecommunication company Bouygues Telecom through which users can effectively browse a 3D brochure of the latest available handsets. The mechanics appear to be similar to those involved in the LEGO webcam AR application; the user prints a companion page, gives the Bouygues website permission to access their webcam, and holds the printed page to the camera to activate the augmented reality experience. The printed page is in fact the brochure itself that ‘comes alive’ once the application is launched; a series of 2D images of various handsets available from the retailer. By holding the single-page brochure up to the camera, the application transforms the 2D images into 3D working demonstrations of the handsets in use. Again, as with the LEGO example, all you need is a webcam and a printer to try this. Find the application on the Bouygues website here:
If you cannot or do not want to try it, take a look at the video of the impressive AR experience in motion:
The final webcam AR app to be explored in this article again comes from Total Immersion, this time partnered with French optician Atol. This is perhaps one of the most well-known applications, particularly since an iPhone version has been released making use of the iPhone 4’s front-facing camera. In this example, the user does not need to print any form of companion page, as the application scans the human face rather than an image-based print-out.
The concept is simple; how does one effectively shop for glasses online when they surely need to be tried on first? Atol attempts to bridge this limitation of virtual shopping for eye-wear by allowing users to try on its range of glasses on its online store. Once the user goes through the familiar preamble of having to turn on their webcam and grant access, the application scans the user’s face and generates an image of a pair of glasses over it. The user can then scroll through a side-panel of various frames, ‘trying on’ different pairs. Again, the application can be tested by anybody with a working webcam here:
Some basic French is needed to navigate the website to the desired location, however, this video runs through a demonstration of the application in action:
Part 2 of the article will explore the phenomenon of smartphone augmented reality applications.
References:
Behringer, R., Klinker, G., Mizell, D. (1999) “Augmented Reality: Placing Artificial Objects in Real Scenes”, Proceedings of the international workshop on Augmented reality (ISWAR ’98), San Francisco, USA, 1999.
Hollerer, T., Feiner, S., Hallaway, D., Bell, B., Lanzagorta, M., Brown, D., Julier, S., Baillot, Y., and Rosenblum, L. (2001) “User interface management techniques for collaborative mobile augmented reality”, Computers & Graphics, Volume 25, Issue 5, pp. 799-810.
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