Tag: ar tech

Kids with Crocs can interact with AR-enabled Jibbitz charms using a smartphone.

Augmented Reality company, Zappar, has teamed up with Crocs, the makers of the popular rubber, slipper-like shoes, to provide children with an interactive experience via Jibbitz shoe charms, which use AR tech that is activated through a smartphone app.

Via mobile technology, the charms can be transformed into interactive pets and games.

There are four different Jibbitz charm packs for girls and boys. After purchasing a charm pack, the next step is to download the free AR app that has been created by Zappar. Using the app, children can use the camera lens of a smartphone to enjoy different activities with the charm. For instance, they can play with and pamper a kitten playing “Pet Salon”, take customized photos in “Fairy Land”, engage in “Battlefield” a paint ball tank game, or play “Racing Car’ a racing game.

Caspar Thykier, the CEO and founder of Zappar said that “Crocs is a great partner to showcase Zappar content in new and fun ways.” He added that “This ground-breaking new range of Jibbitz is an excellent example of the ways in which children’s charms are becoming more interactive. Add a bit of magic to your shoes by turning them into a game, whenever and wherever.”

The senior director of global licensing, Jibbits, and the children’s footwear division at Crocs, Matt Lafone, also commented on the partnership with Zappar, saying that the company is always on the lookout for fresh ways to create interactive moments for children and Zappar has enabled them to do that.

Children respond well to augmented reality, a technology that is also showing promise as an effective educational tool.

AR technology has been featured in museums and is appearing more and more in schools. In addition, this type of technology is also being used in school textbooks and has gained positive results.

Due to the fact that augmented reality is interactive, it has the potential to really capture a child’s interest and enhance learning experiences. The Jibbitz AR charms are available in the United States and the United Kingdom via Corcs stores and at Crocs online.

A new type of wearable technology could redefine the AR experience.

Andrew Maimone, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill PhD student, has developed augmented reality (AR) glasses that would allow users to digitally interact with the real world, except Maimone’s glasses are sleek, compact, and light and are realistically wearable and less of a “gimmick” in comparison to conventional AR devices.

The new AR glasses provide a wide field of view.

Maimone commented that while it is possible to utilize a tablet or a even a smartphone to call up a virtual place and character and superimpose it on the real world via a small mobile screen, this experience is not “very compelling” because the experience does not occur through a person’s vision. The smartphone or tablet only allows the user to look at the virtual place through a small window.

On the other hand, traditional augmented reality glasses are bulky due to several components that are required to make the technology work, such as lenses, waveguides, reflectors, beam splitters, and additional optics that relay a digital image to the eye and place it at a distance where it can be focused on by the eye. Unfortunately, all of the bulk this tech creates can limit a person’s field of view.

Maimone’s device is called a Pinlight Display and he has been working on this device in collaboration with three researchers from the University of North Carolina and two from Nvidia Research. The Pinlight Display does not rely on standard optical components. Instead, it utilizes an array of “pinlights”, which are essentially bright dots.

Maimone explains that “A transparent display panel is placed between the pinlights and the eye to modulate the light and form the perceived image.” He added that “Since the light rays that hit each display pixel come from the same direction, they appear in focus without the use of lenses.”

Early prototypes of the augmented reality Pinlight Displays have demonstrated 100 degree fields of view.

Currently, the best commercial augmented reality glasses only offer a field of view of up to 40 degrees, while Maimone’s glasses have demonstrated fields of view of 100 degrees or higher. While this is no doubt impressive, the present prototype is not without its problems. It currently has image quality and low resolution issues. Maimone says that the next step is to work on improving these elements. He firmly believes, however, that with the proper engineering and research, the technology could be made into something realistic for use in everyday life.