Keynote 1: Internet of Things(IoT) and augmented reality for e-learning

Abstract

With the advent of the Internet of Things (IOT) technology, we will be expecting all the smart devices around us to provide various services in real-time. When this IoT technology is combined with Augmented Reality (AR), it will provide end users with real time as well as real world information. One of the prime advantages of AR combining with IoT is the bridging of the gap between the real and digital worlds around us. The ease of downloading features and scope of dynamic usage which AR brings to the smart devices and is expected to bring to the IoT is beyond human imagination! The education sector is expected to gain significantly using these technologies. The goal of technology in education is to make, learning easier, faster and more engaging for the students and to equip the instructor with powerful tools to provide more relevant courseware to their students. With introducing AR in education, we shall be able to provide contextually aware, more relevant, engaging and interactive courseware to the students, which would keep them interested in subject. Also, through IoT, the physical devices can provide context that the AR ecosystem would use for contextually aware rendering of multimedia content. Medical education domain is expected to gain significantly using IOT and AR. It is also observed that the training in the areas of equipment maintenance could gain significantly by applying these technologies judiciously. For eg. The conventional software virtual lab solution does not provide a real feel of performing an experiment. However, using IOT and AR technology, a sensor enabled Hardware based real lab environment can be created for performing the volumetric analysis experiments in chemistry by using WATER instead of Chemicals. C-DAC has developed few AR products in education domain — AR Board, AR Book and AR Game. AR Board is a virtual writing board on which a user can write with a laser pointer. It uses projection based AR Technology by creating a virtual environment for contextual information presentation, and facilitates real-time interaction with the content. AR Book is a standard book that has been instrumented with AR markers printed, which when scanned would show augmented, 3D interactive content, videos, audio and animations contextually, on a printed book, thus adding new dimensionality to it. AR Game is a game based learning mobile application that can be used by students for learning through playing, and for evaluating their knowledge. The technology of these products has been transferred to industry for their further development and proliferation to various educational institutes.