Abstract Augmented Reality Applications Research Articles

Boosting Brands with Augmented Reality: Why and When it Works

Abstract Augmented reality (AR) is gaining recognition among executives as a powerful marketing tool. Unlike virtual reality, AR integrates virtual content into the real world, providing consumers with interactive experiences. AR applications like IKEA Place and Dulux Visualizer allow users to visualize furniture or paint colors in their homes, while AR games like Pokémon Go generate new revenue streams. The increasing availability of AR capabilities in smartphones and the creation of efficient developer tools have contributed to ist breakthrough. AR offers various levels of local presence, ranging from simple overlays to highly immersive mixed-reality experiences. The potential of AR extends beyond virtual reality, as it can create a new form of integrated three-dimensional Internet. AR marketing can enhance brand evaluations and emotional consumer-brand relationships, particularly through inspiration and closeness. Companies should consider AR as a tool for branding, as it has shown positive effects on brand attitudes, product evaluations, purchase intentions and word-of-mouth. Managers are encouraged to experiment with AR to understand ist potential and stay competitive in the evolving digital landscape.

A Global Correction Framework for Camera Registration in Video See-Through Augmented Reality Systems

Abstract Augmented reality (AR) enhances the user’s perception of the real environment by superimposing virtual images generated by computers. These virtual images provide additional visual information that complements the real-world view. AR systems are rapidly gaining popularity in various manufacturing fields such as training, maintenance, assembly, and robot programming. In some AR applications, it is crucial for the invisible virtual environment to be precisely aligned with the physical environment to ensure that human users can accurately perceive the virtual augmentation in conjunction with their real surroundings. The process of achieving this accurate alignment is known as calibration. During some robotics applications using AR, we observed instances of misalignment in the visual representation within the designated workspace. This misalignment can potentially impact the accuracy of the robot’s operations during the task. Based on the previous research on AR-assisted robot programming systems, this work investigates the sources of misalignment errors and presents a simple and efficient calibration procedure to reduce the misalignment accuracy in general video see-through AR systems. To accurately superimpose virtual information onto the real environment, it is necessary to identify the sources and propagation of errors. In this work, we outline the linear transformation and projection of each point from the virtual world space to the virtual screen coordinates. An offline calibration method is introduced to determine the offset matrix from the head-mounted display (HMD) to the camera, and experiments are conducted to validate the improvement achieved through the calibration process.

Effects of Interaction Method, Size, and Distance to Object on Augmented Reality Interfaces

ABSTRACT Augmented reality (AR) technologies are becoming increasingly popular. However, studies regarding the usability of AR interfaces are scarce. This study aims to derive the optimal usability design of the AR interface by analyzing the performance of 12 interface conditions (2 button sizes × 3 distances × 2 interaction types). An experiment was conducted using Microsoft HoloLens, in which participants performed button selection tasks with an array of 3 × 3 virtual buttons. The task completion time and the number of errors were measured along with a subjective satisfaction score. The results showed that a clicker-based interaction was more effective in task completion time, the number of errors and user satisfaction than a hand gesture. Furthermore, large buttons required a significantly shorter task completion time than small buttons. There was no significant difference in the number of errors between the two sizes. A distance of at least 80 cm from the eye to the virtual object is most favorable for a good performance. There was a significant difference in the task completion times between 40 cm and 80 cm and between 40 cm and 120 cm. These results can aid the interface designs for AR applications and devices.

305 Augmented reality supported medication adherence for patients with atopic dermatitis and psoriasis

Abstract Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that enables digital information layers, such as text, image, video and audio, to be positioned in the real environment seamlessly as holograms. The holograms are displayed through a smartphone camera view. AR-specific computer vision algorithms remodel the hologram’s position based on the device’s movement in real-time and create a mediated illusion of projection in reality. As dermatologic diagnosis primarily relies on visual perception, integrating AR can provide novel benefits for patients and doctors. Medication adherence challenges for patients with inflammatory skin diseases, specifically atopic dermatitis (AD) and psoriasis, are many and complex. Nearly one-third of patients with AD do not adhere to the therapy for their lesions. Factors such as lack of understanding, patients’ forgetfulness and dissatisfaction with the healing progress or the complementary therapy are the prominent influencers which lead to treatment interruption. The benefits of AR as an enabler of positive learning experiences have been addressed in various research in healthcare, with a strong focus on medical students. However, in-depth studies have yet to be conducted regarding the impact and opportunities for patients. Our project explores how AR can increase patients’ understanding of the inflammatory skin diseases AD and psoriasis. Since AR can visualize complex information, such as different stages of the treatment, AD patients have opportunities to overcome inadequate treatment compliance without any restrictions of mobility or location due to the nature of AR experiences. The project identifies the factors for integrating a mobile AR application into patients’ daily lives to increase their medication adherence. The characteristics of AR experiences and the existing studies and research results on AR in dermatology underline the value of creating interactive experiences compared to static images or printed information. Subsequently, an AR prototype is developed to investigate and evaluate the concept of AR in therapy understanding and medication adherence. The prototype allows patients to project the different stages of development of inflammatory skin diseases onto their skin as holograms and thus visualize the onset of treatment. The prototype was demonstrated to two dermatologists and four patients. They were asked to test the prototype and were surveyed using a semi-structured interview. AR was reported beneficial in increasing patients’ understanding of their disease and the motivation to adhere to the prescribed therapy. Moreover, AR visualizations of different developments of the affected skin were acknowledged as helpful. Within the analysis framework, the dermatologists and patients described many needs to ensure integration into everyday life. One of the core challenges reported is that the AR visualizations must be adapted to the patient’s skin type as realistically as possible. Henceforth, the interviewed dermatologists and patients critically evaluated that integrating such an application into patients’ daily life requires that the functions and content are valuable at every stage, explicitly mentioning a digital medication plan. A critical success factor is identified as communication between dermatologists and patients. Analysis suggests that an auxiliary function that facilitates sharing images of lesions for initial diagnosis has been specified as helpful by both stakeholder groups. In addition, these images document the course of the disease, which not only has a positive effect on the overall treatment but also helps to document changes in the course of the therapy. As an outlook, we integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques for patients to receive customized support in medication adherence and well-being-related content. AI will enable building a knowledge base about AD and psoriasis, reinforced with AR-supported visual feedback on treatment and references of individual adherence patterns.

Enhancing Engagement and Learning Outcomes in Architectural Computing Design Education: A Study on the Implementation of Augmented Reality

Abstract Augmented reality (AR) technology is being increasingly used in the fields of architecture and design to provide new and engaging ways to visualize and communicate design concepts. Since architectural models are the simplest approach to emphasize a design concept, the tools, materials, and technology used to construct physical models in architecture and design education may vary. This paper describes the implementation of AR technology in an architectural computing design course. The purpose of this study is to ascertain an efficient method of model-making for architectural education through the use of AR. The study involved the development of an AR application that allowed students to visualize their design concepts in a virtual environment. The paper presents the design of the application, the methods used to integrate AR technology into the course curriculum, and the results of a survey conducted among students to evaluate their experience with the technology. Architecture students’ experiences using AR technology in place of physically constructed physical models for design projects are discussed in this study as well. The study concluded that the use of AR technology in the course had a positive impact on student engagement, learning outcomes, and overall satisfaction.

The Use of Augmented Reality for Teaching Kazakhstani Students Physics Lessons

Augmented reality (AR) practices and technologies have the potential to redefine aspects of education, including laboratory work. AR tools provide an easy and cost-effective solution for helping students overcome the constraints imposed by online education. The article demonstrates the use of an AR application in Physics lessons at the Lyceum School No. 85 in Nur-Sultan city, Kazakhstan. The AR application includes an interactive 3D model of circuits and circuit components that can be viewed, manipulated, and explored. The AR application helps students learn about circuits through direct interaction with the circuit components without having to rely on expensive, time-consuming and dangerous experiments and equipment. The authors rely on the assumption that the use of interactive 3D models improves student learning outcomes and evaluate student attitudes towards the adoption of AR technology in classrooms. Students from the 8th grade are divided into four experimental groups based on their academic performance. The results show the effectiveness of the AR application in improving retention and understanding of physics concepts over traditional instruction methods. The experiment is not intended as a prescription for augmentation but shows that AR tools can be an efficient alternative to the risk-prone, costly laboratory environment and that such tools can be employed to enhance learning.

The Elements of Computational Thinking in Learning Geometry by Using Augmented Reality Application

Augmented Reality (AR) technology has now become a growing trend within the education field. It has the capability to combine both digital and reality world that subsequently leads to the emergence of new possibilities in im-proving the quality of teaching and learning activities. The objective of this research is mainly to analyse the Computational thinking elements in solving Geometry topic after the intervention of AR application. Qualitative data analysis was employed as the research methodology of this study that in-volved interview protocol with 10 pupils enrolled in Form 1 Mathematics class at one of the selected schools in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Content analy-sis was then administered using the ATLAS.Ti Version 8 software to identify the codes, themes, and meaning conveyed by the pupils’ answers in the Computational thinking test. Based on the interview and Computational thinking assessment show the pupils’ ability to solve Geometrical problems using Computational thinking elements. The researcher found that Computa-tional thinking elements do exist in problem solving pertaining to the topic of Geometry. However, the order of usage of these Computational thinking el-ements differs among the pupils. This leads to the conclusion that pupils who utilise the AR application with Computational thinking successfully solve Geometrical problems through the help of the Geometrical thinking process that comprises the elements of Abstraction, Generalisation, Decomposition, Algorithmic, and Debugging.

Pengaruh Point Vuforia Object Scanner Terhadap Karakteristik 3D Object untuk Menampilkan Informasi Berbasis Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) applications are one of the current mobile app trends. Its ability to display information as if to make the user merge with the information provided. The specialty of the application is in the marker. One marker that is in great demand is known as markerless, such as 3D Object Tracking. In making this 3D Object-based AR application, one must pass a stage where a real object is taken at points or known as points to be used as markers. The application used at this stage of making markers is known as the vuforia object scanner. From the experience of making AR applications, it was found conditions where markers with a large number of points were not able to display information properly, a small number of points were able to display information well and sometimes the two conditions were opposite or comparable, i.e. a lot of points makes a good marker and a few points make a bad marker. This inconsistent condition becomes a problem in this study. The test results show that the points do not affect the marker's ability to display information, but are influenced by the characteristics of the object used as the marker. Tests conducted on randomly selected objects resulted in 2 parameters to be tested in this study, namely the texture and pattern of the object. Markers with good quality to be used as markers for 3D objects are markers with a hard texture, with a detection angle of 90° and 135° and with a regular pattern

A formative study on the use of augmented reality in technical drawing courses

Augmented reality (AR), a mixture of virtual reality and reality in a computerized virtual object mounted on real environments, has been used extensively in educational studies in recent years. This study analyzed the use of a mobile AR application (AR tool) in a technical drawing course formatively to evaluate its usefulness for 40 engineering students that failed the technical drawing course. The students who took the course a second time in a summer semester used the AR application. The AR tool brought the three-dimensional models prepared in computer-aided design. The markers or trackers where the model can be handled freely from its page were brought to the students to examine the model. The students were able to move and rotate the objects freely, and they were able to look at the objects from many angles. The results indicated that the AR tool used in the course is useful in teaching the subjects of the course. As the use of AR increased, the benefits to the students were quite positive in terms of teaching and learning. This study has shown that AR contributes greatly to the easier comprehension of technical drawings of parts that are quite complex to understand.

Level of Readiness of Daily Secondary School Students for Use of Augmented Reality in Form 2 Science Textbooks

Augmented reality (AR) applications are an agent of change in how students learn by taking the learning process beyond the physical space of the classroom. AR applications have begun to be integrated into high school textbooks to enable students to visualize real phenomena from the textbooks to enhance the learning experience. This study sought to determine the level of readiness of daily secondary school students for the use of AR applications in Form 2 science textbooks. The findings indicate a high level of readiness among students to use AR applications (mean=3.92, SD=.439), and a moderate level of hindrance in AR applications (mean=3.17, SD=.652). Pearson correlation tests of the relationships among all of the variables suggested that the use of AR applications would be acceptable among secondary school students. This study provides an important indicator that the future educational environment in Malaysia must take into account and integrate elements of the latest technology. Educational institutions must move forward innovatively and adapt to aspects related to the curriculum and learning infrastructure creatively.

The Influence of the Device on User Performance in Handheld Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality applications, which were known to require sophisticated hardware, can now be run on handheld devices. Although such devices provide the required computer power, the size or weight of some of them may become a barrier to user performance, mainly when the interaction is by the touch on the screen. Inserted in this context, this research consists of applying a set of subjective experiments in which volunteers use an application that runs on devices with different sizes and weights. These experiments aim to measure how much the type of handheld device influences the performance of the user in Augmented Reality applications. The main contributions of this study are (i) we concluded by subjective experiments that users with previous knowledge of how to interact with a similar AR application or a game are able to improve their performance when the device is larger and (ii) we demonstrated the age of the participant was also a good indicator of the user performance in AR applications.

Impact of Frame Rate in Augmented Reality for Mobile Devices

Augmented Reality applications based on fiducial markers enable real-time interactions between users and virtual/real elements. Since these applications are computationally expensive, they must be carefully designed to run on mobile devices. Developers of applications for mobile platform must be concerned to deal with minimum limits for requirements such as the frame rate. The objective of this paper is to check whether there is a correlation between the frame rate and the ease-touse of the system, in addition to finding the minimum limit for this requirement. The results showed, first, there is a correlation between these factors, and, second, the minimum limit varies according to the type of interaction.

Designing enhanced Augmented Reality Tourism experiences: A Multi-Stakeholder Approach

Augmented reality (AR) has gained increased popularity in the tourism sector, for its ability to create enhanced tourist experiences. This, coupled with the proliferation of mobile technologies has increased pressure for tourism organisations to design enhanced tourist experiences. Whilst much research attention has focused on the potential of AR, exploring areas such as adoption, acceptance and usability, there is a lack in research identifying constructs to inform the design of valuable AR application experiences. Whilst research identifies the need for AR design to adopt a user-centred, rather than technology-driven approach, past studies have failed to address the needs of both internal and external stakeholder groups. To provide a holistic understanding, recognising differences in perception between stakeholder groups, a multi-stakeholder approach was adopted. A small museum in the UK is used to identify key constructs to inform the effective design of enhanced AR tourism experiences. Fifty interviews were held with five stakeholder groups, revealing four AR design constructs; visitor, organisational, stakeholder and economic value, in addition to a number of design themes. Findings reinforce the importance of stakeholder involvement, and outline constructs to inform the design of AR experiences, extending the existing pool of knowledge and bridging a gap in current research.

Implementasi Augmented Reality pada Museum La Galigo

Augmented Reality (AR) is known as an interactivetechnology capable of projecting virtual objects into real objectsin real time. The development of AR technology today hascontributed a lot of various fields. One of AR implementation ineducation and entertainment is AR utilization in museum. ARapplication that tested in this research is AR Mobile. Testing isdone by conducting application studies and user studies. Visitorsare required to use some of the AR applications provided. Then avisitor's reaction is observed to determine the user's needs. Somemethods of this research is the method of tracking the object withthe number of markers and the method of tracking objectswithout markers. This study also discusses other studies oncontent type, visitors' impression when using AR application.From the results of application testing obtained 93% ofrespondents stated that this application is very good and simplifyand help visitors. Testing the questionnaire to 30 respondents onthe aspect of the Application Process on the Catalog with a VeryGood rating 83.35% and on marker less very good with about49.95%.

Video exhibition with adjustable augmented reality system based on temporal psycho-visual modulation

Augmented reality (AR) has been widely applied in our lives. An AR tag is usually used and stacked on products for sake of being detected and recognized easily. With the recognized pattern, the AR system thereby can superimpose the corresponding virtual object on the AR tag. The AR tag, however, distort the perception of products. In this study, we proposed a mechanism that integrates the AR tag with digital screen by applying the temporal psycho-visual modulation (TPVM) technique. The new method utilizes the difference between the human-eye perception and the imaging of digital camera to produce an invisible AR tag on the digital screen. The AR tag can be detected by mobile devices but not yet by the human eyes. Based on the concepts of AR and TPVM, the new mechanism is practical in the related AR applications, such as the commercial, entertainment, and protection.

An automatic image-to-DEM alignment approach for annotating mountains pictures on a smartphone

Augmented reality (AR) technologies enhance users knowledge of their immediate surroundings by presenting contextualized and spatially relevant information. This augmentation is enabled by the automatic estimation of the device's pose with respect to the environment. Many simple AR applications for smartphones are well served by the pose estimate provided by GPS and inertial sensors, while other demand an higher accuracy which can be obtained with vision-based methods. The application presented in this paper, which aims to augment pictures of mountainous landscapes with geo-referenced data, belongs to the latter category. Our application is based on a novel approach for image-to-world registration which jointly relies on inertial and visual sensors. In a nutshell, first GPS and inertial sensors are used to compute a rough estimate of the device position and pose, then visual data are employed to refine it. Specifically, a learning-based edge detection algorithm is used to extract mountain profiles from the picture of interest. Then, a novel registration algorithm based on a robust optimization framework is employed to align the computed profiles to synthetic ones obtained from Digital Elevation Models. Our experiments, conducted on a novel dataset of manually aligned pictures which is made publicly available, demonstrate that the proposed registration method guarantees an increased accuracy with respect to competing methods and it is computationally efficient when implemented on a smartphone.

Mobile computation offloading architecture for mobile augmented reality, case study: Visualization of cetacean skeleton

Augmented Reality applications can serve as teach-ing tools in different contexts of use. Augmented reality appli-cation on mobile devices can help to provide tourist information on cities or to give information on visits to museums. For example, during visits to museums of natural history, applications of augmented reality on mobile devices can be used by some visitors to interact with the skeleton of a whale. However, making rendering heavy models can be computationally infeasible on devices with limited resources such as smart phones or tablets. One solution to this problem is to use techniques to Mobile Computation Offloading. This work proposes a mobile computation offloading architecture for mobile augmented reality. This solution would allow users to interact with a whale skeleton through an augmented reality application on mobile devices. Finally testing to assess the optimization of the resources of the mobile device when performing heavy render tests were made.

Towards Modern Cost-effective and Lightweight Augmented Reality Setups

Augmented Reality (AR) has been widely used in areas such as medicine, education, entertainment and cultural heritage to enhance activities that include (but are not limited to) teaching, training and amusement, through the completion of the real world with viewable and usually interactive virtual data (e.g. 3D models, geo-markers and labels). Despite the already confirmed AR benefits in the referred areas, many of the existing AR systems rely on heavy and obsolete hardware bundles composed of several devices and numerous cables that usually culminate in considerably expensive solutions. This issue is about to be tackled through the recent technological developments which currently enable the production of small-sized boards with remarkable capabilities – such as processing, visualization and storage – at relatively low prices. Following this line of reasoning, this paper proposes and compares five different multi-purpose AR mobile units, running Windows or Android operating systems, having in mind low-cost and lightweight requirements and different levels of immersion: a laptop computer, two tablets, a smartphone and smartglasses. A set of tests was carried out to evaluate the proposed unit performance. Moreover, a set of users' assessments was also conducted, highlighting an overall acceptance regarding the use of the proposed units in AR applications. This paper is an extension of a previous work (Pádua et al., 2015) in which a conceptual architecture for mobile units - complying with AR requirements (including visualization, processing, location and communication) for indoor or outdoor utilization - was presented, along with a shorter set of lightweight and cost-effective AR mobile units and respective performance tests.

Augmented reality usage in business and socio-political scenario

Augmented reality (AR) is an emergent technology which is fast gaining acceptance in varied business sectors and also in the socio–political environment. The purpose of this paper is to present augmented reality as an option to new–age entrepreneurs by providing a holistic overview on practical usages of augmented reality in global and Indian contexts. The paper uses an analytical approach to study various applications of AR from Indian and international business scenario based on secondary data. The paper also includes a case study of innovative AR application in Indian socio–political scenario. The paper identifies the potential opportunities of using augmented reality in business and socio political environment.

Study on Development Techniques of AR Application Program in MFC Environmen

Augmented Reality(AR) technology aims to integrate virtual objects with real scene by using computer technology and to realize real scenes enhancing. This paper presented a research method of using osgART to develop AR application programs in MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes) environment, and discussed some related techniques. Corresponding procedures are given in each section, and a design example for product evaluation and exhibition is presented. This example was developed by the presented method in this paper, and its system ran in good condition after repeated tests. From the results of this paper, it can be seen that by using MFC and osgART to develop AR application programs, the seamless integration and interaction between the real environment and virtual objects can been easily realized, which will be benefit to improve the efficiency of developing AR application programs.