Augmented Reality is a new and exciting concept that brings an ingenious technology, only possible in sci-fi epics, to life. The possibilities are endless – from becoming a part of our favorite video games to equipping our military with essential data flooding technology. Augmented Reality is going to be a big part of our lives in the near future and is greatly going to affect our art, business and entertainment culture.
Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with (or augmented by) virtual computer-generated imagery-creating a mixed reality. The augmentation is conventionally in real-time and in semantic context with environmental elements, such as sports scores on TV during a match. With the help of advanced AR technology (e.g. adding computer vision and object recognition) the information about the surrounding real world of the user becomes interactive and digitally usable. Artificial information about the environment and the objects in it can be stored and retrieved as an information layer on top of the real world view. The term augmented reality is believed to have been coined in 1990 by Thomas Caudell, an employee of Boeing at the time.
The list is organized from # 10 to 1 (1 being the most innovative concept design). The list is comprised of video games, applications, devices and concepts. I also included a list of honorable mentions that didn’t make it into the list. But without further delay, lets get on to the list.
10. ARhrrrr Zombies
ARhrrrr is an augmented reality shooter for mobile camera-phones. The phone provides a window into a 3d town overrun with zombies. Point the camera at the special game map to mix virtual and real world content. Civilians are trapped in the town, and must escape before the zombies eat them! From your vantage point in a helicopter overhead, you must shoot the zombies to clear the path for the civilians to get out. Watch out though as the zombies will fight back, throwing bloody organs to bring down your copter. Move the phone quickly to dodge them. You can also use Skittles as tangible inputs to the game, placing one on the board and shooting it to trigger an explosion.
9. Yelp!
Yelp’s Monocle is the first iPhone App with augmented reality. It takes a lot of Yelp’s database of information and data and overlays it onto the real world.
Once activated on your iPhone, the application will pull up your phone’s camera which you can then direct at a street scene in front of you as you walk or drive. The overlay that pops up will then begin to show the names of restaurants and bars and provide you with reviews, store hours and all the other pertinent data Yelp has been known to provide its users.
8. iphone
The iPhone is an Internet and multimedia enabled smartphone designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPhone functions as a camera phone (also including text messaging and visual voicemail), a portable media player (equivalent to a video iPod), and an Internet client (with email, web browsing, and Wi-Fi connectivity) — using the phone’s multi-touch screen to render a virtual keyboard in lieu of a physical keyboard.
7.Car Finder
Car Finder is a navigation application that lets you mark exactly where your car is. Close the application and everything saves. When you’re ready to find your car, open it up, and follow the directions. You can also look at it on the map so you can find out where it is in relation to where you are.
6. I-Tag Action Figures
Mattel is using the same type of 3-D imaging and augmented reality in its “i-Tag” action figures for James Cameron’s new movie Avatar. The toys include a card containing a marker, which then projects as a 3-D action figure onto your computer. This allows children to battle each other’s virtual characters as if they were real.
5. AR Business Cards
Many business cards are basically boring calling cards. Most list your name, rank and contact info. James Alliban has decided to used augmented reality to put a new spin on the traditional formula. The cards printed at moo.com contain a coded graphic that when recognized by a webcam, a cool 3D grid pops up and a video can be played back displaying the business card owner delivering a message that was pre-recorded.
4. Roku’s Reward
- A handheld camera device,
- live video overlaid with 3D graphics,
- computer recognition – identifying real life objects,
- positioning and acceleration sensors,
- virtual objects interacting with reality,
3. Human Pac-Man
When Dr. Adrian David Cheok wanted to create an exciting augmented reality game, he chose to remake the first video game to ever introduce a character – the legendary Pac Man. Cheok literally stepped into Pacman’s shoes in this first-person-shooter-like real world game.
2. AR Art Graffiti
This is the “Tagged in Motion” project, which builds a bridge between real graffiti art and its virtual depiction. The centre of attention is the graffiti artist DAIM, who co-created the nextwall. Equipped with the appropriate technology, DAIM sprays graffiti into empty space. In a large hall, three cameras using Motion Capturing record DAIM’s position and the movements he executes with a virtual spray can. The assimilated data is shown to him in real time in a pair of video glasses — as free-floating 3D graffiti in space. In this way he can decide how and where to apply his strokes, and via a Bluetooth controller can also determine the colours, strength of brushstrokes and textures of his work.
1. “A Twinkle in the Eye” Contact Lenses
Called “A Twinkle in the Eye,” these lenses have been fabricated with an LED, a small radio chip and an antenna.The unit is powered wirelessly by the RF electrical signal and represents the start of research that could eventually lead to screens mounted onto contact lenses inside your eyes.
With AR technology moving at lighting speed, it looks like once this lens technology is perfected, we will no longer need smartphones any longer, as augmented reality chips will eventually be able to be implanted into our eyes and ears, making humans the extension of their own reality.
There You have it! My top ten augmented reality. Don’t you feel super excited for the development and implementation of this technology? I know I do.
*Honorable Mentions
PIT Strategy
PIT Strategy is an Augmented Reality Game that uses a game board, cards to determine your pit strategy, a webcam to look at the board and a screen to show the 3D objects.
Rainbow’s End by Vernon Vinge (Book)
Rainbows End is a 2006 science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge. It was awarded the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The book is set in San Diego, California, in 2025, in a variation of the fictional world Vinge explored in his 2002 Hugo-winning novella “Fast Times at Fairmont High” and 2004’s “Synthetic Serendipity”. Vinge has tentative plans for a sequel, picking up some of the loose threads left at the end of the novel.
The many technological advances depicted in the novel suggest that the world is undergoing ever-increasing change, perhaps destined for a technological singularity, a recurring subject in Vinge’s writing (both fiction and non-fiction).
Mike Frangos 
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