Think you know everything there is to know about augmented reality?  Well, prove it and take the augmented reality pop quiz. 

If you’re proud of your score, post the results on twitter with the hashtag #arpopquiz or in the comment section if you don’t use Twitter.  Thanks to Rouli who helped me with some of the questions.  The answers are further down the page, so you’ll have to scroll down to see them.  No peaking!  And if you quibble with the answer, just give yourself the points because this quiz is on the honor system. 

One point per correct answer.

The AR Pop Quiz

1) Who coined the term augmented reality?  

2) Name three “reality browsers”? 

3) Name four companies in the AR consortium. 

4) What three components does AR need to function?

5) Within how many meters is GPS accurate on an iPhone? 

6) Who created the ARToolKit? 

7) Who’s augmented reality magic trick created tons of buzz?

8 ) What was the first iPhone AR app to be available on the app store with OS3.1?

9) What types of companies have used AR in marketing the most?

10) What is the yearly AR conference?

11) How many years has it been happening under its current name?

12) Where will it be next year?

13) Name a fictional book that used AR?

14) What article of clothing should you wear when making an AR video?

15) Who developed the first AR interface? 

16) What well known anime show features AR? 

17) Who owns the patent on AR? 

18) Which company did the AR consortium write an open letter to?

19) Name three HMD companies?

20) What’s the name of the AR game from Georgia Tech?

The AR Pop Quiz Answers

1) Tom Caudell

2) Wikitude, Layar, Juniao

3) Int13, Metaio, Mobilizy, Neogence Enterprises, Ogmento, SPRX Mobile, Tonchidot, Total Immersion, YDreams, and Zugura.

4) Sensor, overlay and tracker

5) 3m

6) Hirokazu Kato

7) Marco Tempest

8 ) Yelp / Monocle

9) Car companies

10)  ISMAR

11) Eight

12) South Korea

13) Rainbows’ End, Halting State, (see this post for more)

14) Pink Hoodie

15) Sutherland

16) Denno Coil

17)  No one (trick question!)

18) Apple

19) Vuzix, Microvision, Lumus

20) Arhrrrr

Inspired by Joe’s “50 Things I Learned at ISMAR“, I’m going to take a crack at 25 things since I was only there for half the conferance. 

1. Participation in ISMAR doubled from 2008 to 2009.

2. In the next six months it’s important that a few AR companies have success so funding will flow for the others. 

3. Projections should be used in big interactive spaces to allow for a shared augmented experience.

4. The Disney Imagineers showed us how AR can make a difference right now.

5. HMDs will bring stripper poles to every corner.

6. Magic lens is or isn’t the answer for AR.

7. Lots of great research isn’t making it to commercial usage. 

8. Apple must open up their video API, now!

9. Don’t wait.  Use the technology at hand to make the killer AR app.

10. Place is the new social networking. 

11. Augmented reality is NOT following Moore’s Law (but it can with enough money.)

12. Disney teaches us that the technology has to be invisible. 

13. Sell the experience not the technology.

14. Stop trying to reinvent old games using AR.  Create your own category. 

15. Augmented reality should be about 4D (don’t forget about time!)

16. We need indoor locative solutions.

17. History can be reborn with the right magic telescope.

18. Light-weight, fashionable HMDs aren’t ready yet.

19. Conferances at the same hotel at the Mountain Dew Tour makes for interesting people watching. 

20. I’m excited about the future of AR.

21. I saw at least five applications for AR on my factory floor, but no one is developing a commercial product for me to purchase.

22. Leverage the military to fund development for commercial.

23. I learned as much in conversations outside of the conference rooms than I did in them.

24. Don’t forget to tell a story.

25. Augmented reality pets don’t chew on the furniture (unless you want them to.)

The biggest barrier to true augmented vision is an HMD that can handle all the requirements.  I had the oppertunity to experience what Microvision, Vuzix and ORALab/EvoOpticks had to offer.  I’ll try to relate their talks and my experiences with their products and let you know if any of them have achieved augmented vision. 

Microvision – Ben Averch

Ben started the presentation during the Industrial section of Workshop Monday.  The first AR-style model Microvision tried was the Nomad which tried to be a hands-free automotive maintenance model.  The unit was plagued by poor ergonomics and eye strain.  It only used the red spectrum and they retired the product line in 2006 only two years after release. 

Microvision then changed their plans to achieve an AR enabled HMD by leveraging their military contracts.  The plan is to sell their Urban Warfare model (Ultra-vis) to the government and then use what they’ve learned to create a consumer model. 

They see a big market for a consumer HMD display but need to solve the remaining issues before its ready for the public.  I had an opportunity to try out their prototype HMD.  It wasn’t a full unit, but a bulky monocle on a stick.  While it didn’t give me an idea how it would function as a pair of sunglasses, it did give me a feel for the graphics.  I was impressed by the clarity of the color in the monocle.  The big problem I see for the first generation of HMDs will be the field of view.  This prototype only had a ~25degree field of vision.  The limited view will mean our early HMDs will only mimic our computer screens and not release the full spectrum of hands-free AR. 

Ben has written about his experience on his official Microvision blog and has said they expect a commercial product by 2011. 

It’s clear from the discussions I had with various industry members that a see-through wearable display that meets people’s expectations from both ergonomics and display performance is the big, obvious missing link in the AR solution story. We at Microvision are working hard to fill in this gap and create a technology solution that can allow this new market to take shape.

Ben also showed off their projector which at the time didn’t excite me much from an AR point of view.  However, after the key note speech from Mark Mine from Disnery Imagineering, I learned that the projector had a lot more going for it than I realized. 

Vuzix – Paul Travers

Paul gave us a nice history of HMDs including the failed hype of VR which has made getting money for HMDs harder to come by.  On a good note, Vuzix has a good track record of selling video glasses which gives them a good base to work from once they master the AR HMD.  Currently they’ve sold around 200,000 video glasses by marketing them the same way a HD TV would be sold.  This might mean that augmented reality’s best bet for widespread use is to be a Trojan horse within another accepted technology (similar to how Yelp gained AR eyeballs through their Monocle easter egg.) 

Unfortunately, Paul had to apologize a few times for misleading on the AR community about the “see-through AR HMDs” everyone thought were right around the corner with the 920Wrap.  He hopes they can reach market by 2010, but like Microvision they still have challenges to solve. 

I did get to try their video glasses, which were interesting, but I would have preferred to try out the glasses Ori tried at GDC.   Paul did say that see-through AR glasses would be priced from $199-349.  This sounds like a great price point that would help gain wider audiences.  I know I would buy one. 

ORALab/EvoOpticks

This presentation delved into more historical and technical realms rather than commercial usage.  Not a lot to pass along, but I did get to try their see-through HMD.  The view port was around 20 degrees and seen through two reflected mirrors on the screen rather than a laser created image.  They have no current plans for commercial production.   

And for the history buffs, the first patent for an HMD was by Albert B. Pratt in 1916. 

I wish Lumus had also attended ISMAR, but no such luck. 

Overall, I was disappointed that no HMD maker had a surprise announcement that they had a product ready for release Q1 2010.  Release dates of 2011 sound more like appeasement than real schedules.  Having experienced the products myself, I also realize the field of view will be a problem for early developers.  Don’t get me wrong, I’d be happy to have a HMD right now, even with a 15 degree field, but the small width will limit creativity.  Hopefully when they solve the lighting and weight issues they’ll also figure out how to achieve a 40 degree field of view. 

This past May, I predicted true Augmented Vision would occur around 2015.  After the demonstrations on Monday, I’m not going to change my prediction.  While I heard many quote Moore’s Law in regards to AR, I’m not buying it yet.  Moore’s Law is fed by billions (with B) of dollars which pushes the technology as fast as it can go.  AR is still languishing in VR’s dead space and has to catch a few wins of its own before it can start generating real cash to take advantage of Moore’s Law.   

Even if Microvision or Vuzix or Lumus release a commercial product in 2011, the software and apps to make the experience fulfilling won’t be available.  I also expect the first versions of the AR HMDs will only be bought by the early adopters.  It will take a few tries to make them lightweight, eye-strain free and with enough field of vision to keep people from having to rotate their head constantly.  I’m all for being wrong on this one, but I expect the road to widespread acceptance will be paved with a few missteps.  Cellphones took twenty years to go from the bag phone to the ultra-sleek smartphone, and while technology moves faster these days, I’m still sticking with my year 2015 prediction.

Today marks the first day of ISMAR09 which has been the Workshop Day.  I participated in the Industry Workshop which was chaired by Noora Guldemond from Metaio.  I’m not going to go into a ton of detail today because there’s not much time until the next event, but the presentations and discussions were excellent.  The section with the HMD makers, Microvision and Vuzix, drew the most interest as our room population doubled during their part.   I plan on doing a whole post later this week or next devoted to the information gleaned from the HMD discussion.

I also got to participate in a wonderful discussion last night with Programmer Joe, Noah Zerkin, Robert Rice and Ori Inbar.  The topics flew and so did the time as we went way later than I had planned to stay up.  It would have been nice to have Tish (who was in her room working on a presentation) and Rouli (who could not make it) there too.  I think I owe a round of drinks for the next round-table. 

That’s all for now.  Looking forward to tonight’s keynote speaker with Mark Mine from Disney Imagineering and then tomorow for another day of augmented reality goodness.

The augmented world will exist as a shadow to the real one. 

Rouli from the Augmented Times posted on Friday about the ACME project (Augmented Collaboration in a Mixed Environment.)  Leave it to a group of researchers to suck the life from a wonderful tool by giving it such a drab name as ACME.  And I disagree with Rouli’s assessment that it’s a form of telepresence, its much cooler than that.  My point is not that their descriptions are lacking (and I have nothing better to offer).  It’s more that the technology deserves sexier nom de plume. 

The video demonstrates the idea that presence need not be tied to our geospatial location.  Nor does our awareness.  An augmented world will allow us to move the focal point of our being to a different location. 

Though the word demonstrate has limitations.  The Mixed Reality Teleconferencing (see english website for more details) ACME project shows us how we can mix reality and the virtual in a boring conference room using Second Life.  Their skill at manipulating these two environments is commendable but unfortunately, Second Life is a not platform that I believe will be a part of the equation in a real open AR world. 

The reason I think Second Life doesn’t work is because it is a seperate world, similar, but unlike ours.  It has virtual ground, trees, buildings, and people, but not in the same location as our own.  Google Earth gives us a 3D representation of our world in the exact proportions we need it.  A GPS position on Google Earth is the same on the real Earth.  Second Life doesn’t have that symmetry with our world. 

Another connection between the augmented and real world can be made using the technology demonstrated by the researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology as they use cameras to integrate real world activity onto Google Earth.  They will also be attending ISMAR09 in a few weeks (maybe these two groups should collaborate?)

The combination of these technologies and a lightweight HMD can give us a way to project ourselves to another location and be aware of changes in that environment.  This will create a world in which time and distance have less meaning.  And while its not going to replace the feeling of walking the streets of Shanghai or exploring the sand dunes around the Great Pyramids, it will certainly make the world feel smaller. 

This augmented world will connect people and places in ways never considered.  Space will be layered with the human spectrum, games will exist across imaginary dimensions and the reach of awareness will be pushed out to a global scale. 

Some may scoff at such thoughts and believe that an augmented world will only create a populous lost in an unreal world suffering within its own delusions.  I offer the doubters this video as proof that “reality” is just a trick of our monkey brains.

ISMAR09 is less than a month away and I’m getting excited about attending (though I wish I could be there for the full week.)  This year’s conference looks to be the best one yet. 

While the industry is gazing longingly to the future, there’s still a lot to learn from past ISMAR conferences.  The conference organizers have been uploading old videos from past events and it’s interesting to see how the concepts haven’t changed, but the technology has gotten better.  

I won’t even begin to claim that I understand the abstract titles, so just look at the pretty pictures and don’t try to make sense of all the fifty cent words.  Consider that most of these videos hail from the year 2004. 

Augmented Reality Room Design

AR Visualization of an Archaeological Excavation

Tinmith-evo5: Interactive AR Techniques for 3D Geometery Construction at a Distance

Embedding Imperceptible Patterns into Projected Images for Simultaneous Acquisition and Display

Component-based Approach to Immersive Authoring of Tangible AR Applications

Video See-Through AR on Consumer Cell Phones

Augmented Surfaces: A Spatially Continious Workspace for Hybrid Computing Enviroments

The AR Apprenticeship by Replication and Omnidirectional Viewing of Subtle Movements

Deformable 3D Lungs Superimposition

Distribuited AR Training Tool

The ARC Display for 3D Visualization

In-Place Augmented Reality

In comic books, Superman had all his powers naturally and Batman got his through gadgets and sheer force-of-will.  Using the equipment (altogether not very portable for superheros) shown in the video, you can have Superman-like powers with Batman-like gear. 

This amazingly cool gadget comes from Yoshinari Kameda, Taisuke Takemasa and Yuichi Ohta from the University of Tsukuba.  To pull off the trick, they use wireless LAN, cameras, GPS and an inertia sensor.  It does require a little setup, but as more data collectors (i.e.  cameras) are made digital and hooked to the Internet, this becomes a possibility without all the prework. 

It appears (though someone could confirm for me) that this group will be presenting their paper at ISMAR09.  If they do, I’m sure it’ll be a fascinating presentation. 

The Georgia Instituite of Technology will be presenting at ISMAR09 on “Augmenting Aerial Maps with Dynamic Information from Videos.”  They have released a video and a website on their project.  Their stated their goals are:

Abstract

We introduce methods for augmenting aerial visualizations of Earth (from tools such as Google Earth or Microsoft Virtual Earth) with dynamic information obtained from videos. Our goal is to make Augmented Earth Maps that visualize the live broadcast of dynamic sceneries within a city. We propose different approaches to analyze videos of pedestrians and cars, under differing conditions and then augment Aerial Earth Maps (AEMs) with live and dynamic information. We also analyze natural phenomenon (clouds) and project information from these to the AEMs to add the visual reality.

I find this paper and the video absolutely fascinating and altogether troubling.  As we start bringing live camera views into the datasphere, we open ourselves up to many wonderful possibilities and also to new problems.  The technology, as presented in the paper, is a long way from a ubiquitous environment of cameras being translated to the datasphere (to be then analyzed), but it shows we are on that path. 

I may be overstating the dangers, because when it comes to collecting data, what can be measured can be improved and improving society is generally a good thing.  But as cameras can begin to identify individuals and that can be tracked to social media, we have to make decisions about the ownership of personal data.  I don’t mind if this data is used in an aggregate sense, but if my individual tastes and habits are tracked, then I think a line has been crossed. 

This is a topic that will need more discussion as the technology improves.

If you want to hear more on the project and you are attending this year’s ISMAR.  They will be presenting their paper on Tuesday afternoon between 1:00-1:50pm (subject to change).

ISMAR09 Sympsium & Expo is right around the corner and I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be not only attending ISMAR09, but I will be presenting during the Manufacturing section on Monday and joining the panel discussion as a representative of Toyota.  I’ll be reviewing the possibilities of augmented reality in an industrial setting, including a project that I’m working on with Metaio.  Hopefully I can enlighten participants on the constraints and challenges of implementing augmented reality on the factory floor. 

I’m announcing this on my blog, so if anyone has any requests for topics during the discussion, I can be sure to bring them up.  I was only able to confirm attendance last week, so there’s still plenty of time to update my presentation. 

Not only am I excited about presenting, but I’m more excited about getting to meet a lot of the people I’ve interacted with throughout the AR world.  I’ll be there from Sunday until Tuesday afternoon, so if you’re going to be there then, I’d love to meet up, chat and maybe, share a drink.

To reach me before or to contact me during the conferance, email me at tom.carpenter (@) tema.toyota.com or twitter to thomaskcarpente.  (Yes, the name is missing the ‘r’ since my name was too big for twitter.)  I’ll be tweeting updates during the conferance (as well, I use it regularly for posts and other augmented reality related news.)

Yesterday UgoTrade posted a discussion of Thomas Wrobel’s proposal called, “Everything Everywhere: A proposal for an Augmented Reality Network system based on existing protocols and infrastructure.”  If you’ve been following along recent AR debates , you’ll know that Thomas is a frequent contributor to the discussion under his moniker – Darkflame. 

Thomas has been offering his insight into the direction of AR in the form of IRC-like systems for some time so I wasn’t surprised at all when I saw the interview.  I’m glad he took the time to put his thoughts down into a comprehensive paper to help guide the industry forward. 

Personally, I find this discussion fascinating.  Especially given the potential of augmented reality.  It feels like sitting at the dawn of the Universe, at the original singularity, debating how quarks should interact to form atoms.  Maybe my metaphor is a bit overdone, but future events hinge on these little details. 

Back to Thomas’ paper, which Tish has covered quite nicely.  I do want to try to answer a question he posed in the later half of the interview:

I think, that just like the remote channels, local software should also be blended into the same list of layers.  People shouldn’t have to “Alt+Tab” out of one view of the world, to see another.
They should be able to see both at once, if they wish.

For instance, if your playing a AR game, why shouldn’t your chat window be viewable at the same time?

If you have skinned your environment with a custom view of the world, why shouldn’t you also see mapping or restaurant recommendations?

So local data and remote data should be blended in the same view.
How can AR software – of which I hope, there will be  thousands – seamlessly be expected to layer their graphics, not only with the real world, but with each other, and with online data too? Will games and software makers need to co-operate to allow their graphics to be integrated together with correct occlusion taken into account? A tall order, no?

I must confess though, my technology knowledge fails me here.

I would offer that these types of applications have already been worked out in the modifiable user interfaces contained within many online games, and especially World of Warcraft.  While this isn’t a true 3D environment, I believe that the way we interface with the AR world, can be customizable to suit our needs.  We won’t be able to control occlusion between layers, but we can control the way our personal data looks in relation to that world.  I explained as much in a post about the Human User Interface (HUI) a few months back, so hopefully it adds something to the discussion. 

Overall, I think a lot of the ideas proposed by Thomas are valid discussion points to the unfolding AR world.  The question is how do we move ideas like this from concept to reality?  Hopefully, ISMAR and the AR Consortium will help facilitate this discussion, and when they do, I hope they include Thomas Wrobel.