--Helios Interactive Develops Augmented Reality Game for Best Buy
Portugal-based augmented reality company, YDreams, and Canesta, a Silicon Valley-based provider of "electronic perception" technology (note: the company offers single-chip CMOS 3D sensors, which it says enable "fine-grained, 3-dimensional depth perception in a wide range of applications," thus allowing devices to "react on sight to the actions or motions of individuals and objects in their field of view, gaining levels of functionality and ease-of-use that were simply not possible in an era when such devices were blind"), said Monday that they are partnering to "redefine augmented reality and bring it to the broad market."
YDreams claims to have been working on Natural User Interfaces (NUI) with some of the largest corporations in the world for over nine years. In order to do this, it says, it has developed a proprietary software platform that combines multiple advanced technologies, including computer vision, physics simulation, and artificial intelligence, among others. According to the company, one of the most difficult aspects of designing NUI applications has been the question of how to create a sense of real-world interactions: "We envision consumers naturally browsing through digital catalogs, adding to the user experience of ecommerce or being inside movies, delivered by IPTV platforms," its director of research and development, Ivan Franco, explained.
Until now, YDreams and Canesta claim, augmented reality has delivered limited applications to the general public, "mostly offering 3D objects on top of visually obtrusive markers." However, by using Canesta's 3D vision sensors, the companies say, YDreams' applications can perform real-time capture of any object in 3D, without the aid of any special markers or enhancements, which, according to Franco "completely changes the scope of where and how augmented reality can be used." "YDreams is among the world's leading organizations in developing augmented reality experiences," Canesta president and CEO, Jim Spare, said in a prepared statement. "By combining our mass-market 3D input sensors with YDreams' expertise, we will see broad uses of these formerly very specialized applications. This will change how immersive and realistic so many kinds of communications and interactions will become."
A demo video of YDreams' AR technology working in tandem with electronic perception/depth-sensing technology is embedded above.
In other augmented reality news: Helios Interactive Technologies has announced that it has provided an augmented reality game for electronics retailer Best Buy's "Best Buy Live" tour. The game, which will be housed in a trailer, is based on Total Immersion's D'Fusion software. "Into the fall, the Best Buy Live trailer will visit cities across the country to introduce consumers to the retailer's latest products and services, and offer them a chance to win prizes by participating in the game--the first augmented reality installation ever to be used in a sweepstakes," Helios explains in its press materials. "Shadowing the NASCAR circuit, the trailer will also stop at air shows, fairs, festivals and other community events. The game offers participants a chance to win a Best Buy gift card by interacting with a 3D display that features the Best Buy Racing Team's #43 car, driven by A.J. Allmendinger. Here's how it works: a visitor approaching the display is given a free card. When held in front of the display, an image of the #43 car appears in the center of a screen, with logos from various Best Buy brands, including Geek Squad, Best Buy for Business, Insignia and Best Buy Mobile surrounding the car. Logos appear to help further showcase the brands as part of the Best Buy Live Tour experience. Consumers are able to move and spin the 3D image to get a 360-degree view. The display itself lets the user know if he or she is a winner. Winners receive a $10 gift card good at any Best Buy store or online at BestBuy.com."
