VIP

The AEL is running a Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) team focused on Augmented Reality Experiences.  You can see our VIP Team page here.

The long-term goal of our team is to work on all aspects of the AR Experiences being done in the lab, however the current focus is on the Argon AR platform. The work ranges from building enabling technologies, creating media and other AR content, and helping create support infrastructure (documentation, tutorials, examples) for Argon. VIP students could also get involved with other lab projects if they would like, such as helping to design, run and test AR experiences.  For this project, “experience” is broadly defined to include things like future visions of AR experiences in our lab, through games and educational projects, through cultural heritage and artistic and expressive media forms.  We hope to have students from across campus involved in the team, both from computing and engineering through digital media, design disciplines, history and policy and management, so that we can create experiences that are culturally situated from various perspectives.

Many of the projects for 2015 are based around our Argon Web-based AR development tools. While the exact projects the team works on will be based on the skills and backgrounds of the students on the team, examples of the kinds of projects we are thinking about  include:

• Building AR head-worn displays using technologies like the Oculus Rift, stereo cameras and high-performance 3D tracking systems in our lab.  These displays will enable us to prototype future AR experiences, interaction techniques and interfaces
• Create an experimental AR “space” (a futuristic “AR design studio”) in the lab, using the above-mentioned AR displays and other technologies to explore new kinds of immersive AR authoring and editing tools.  This may include construction of the physical space, installation and calibration of various technologies, and creation of software tools
• Enhance Argon will a full-featured audio library, and create an example AR audio experience.  This will be initially used in a AR tour we are creating on Historic Auburn Avenue in collaboration with Central Atlanta Progress
• Explore how we can leverage various advanced web technologies with Argon on iOS8 and desktop browsers.  These include low-level capabilities such as caching with manifest files, up through integration of advanced client and server-side toolkits (such as Meteor, Node.js, Famo.us and so on)
• Create samples, documentation and support materials for our upcoming Argon3 release.  Samples can include simple examples (e.g., showing how to use different Argon AR features), and more complex examples like games, browsers for location-based content, and tutorials of how to integrate Argon into existing web applications
• Adding new computer vision tracking libraries to Argon.  Argon currently uses Qualcomm’s Vuforia library, but we would also like to support other libraries such as Metaio’s AR SDK, OpenCV, and iOS Face Tracking
• Porting Argon to other platforms (Android, WindowsPhone, desktop operating systems)
• Update our panorama maker website to support addition features, and work with Argon3
• Create authoring tools for different kinds of AR experiences
• Explore design strategies and alternative presentation schemes for different user scenarios on an AR tour.  For example, if someone is taking a tour of Auburn Avenue on foot, in a car or on the new street car, the way the tour presents information will change
• Explore technical, policy and social issues related to security and privacy of future AR applications
• Integration various engineering, architecture and geospatial standards, data-representations and conceptual architectures into Argon

If you have questions, please contact Blair MacIntyre, or leave a question in the comments below.