Tag: augmented reality

New moms can use Google Glass to monitor their babies

Newborns that have been moved into the intensive care unit can still be watched by their mothers.

A hospital in the United States is going to begin using Google Glass to make it possible for new moms to remain in contact with their newborns when the babies have been transferred to an intensive care unit (ICU).

This has been designed as a wearable technology experiment that is occurring within the Boston hospital.

The pilot is being conducted in Boston’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital, according to a report from one of the top Google Glass enthusiast websites, which is called Glass Almanac. The idea for this experiment using the wearable technology was first raised by Stephanie Shine, a nurse at the hospital whose own baby had to stay in the ICU for a total of 101 days. It is common for babies to be sent to ICU for certain amounts of time when either the mother or the baby (or both) is in need of immediate care. However, throughout that time, the mother and baby are primarily separated.

The Google Glass experiment allows participating mothers to view streaming images of their babies.

Google Glass baby monitoring - Mother and ChildTo do this, participants that visit the ICU can use the wearable technology and the images that they see will be streamed live to tablets that are given to the mothers. Therefore, the mothers will be able to view the video of their babies when the participating nurses visit their babies.

Certainly, watching video over a tablet computer is not the same as actually seeing and holding the baby in person, but it is far superior to the separation that is currently occurring. This also gives the mother the opportunity to be able to hear the nurses as they discuss the baby, while it also provides her with the chance to ask questions. It gives the mother the virtual experience of being in the room.

The purpose of the experiment is to discover whether or not using Google Glass can help to ease the stress that is felt by a mother when she is required to be separated from her new baby.

Augmented reality comes to events and trade shows through Foto Master

AR technology is aiming to make things more interesting for planners and exhibitors who want to share their messages.

The event attraction industry has been undergoing some changes that involve technology, over the last few months and years in order to better reach people in ways that they will find new and exciting, and Foto Master is hoping that augmented reality will dramatically improve the results that exhibitors are seeing.

Planners and exhibitors already face a considerable challenge in the delivery of their brand messaging.

Driving this effort to bring augmented reality to trade shows and other events is a company called Foto Master, which has already established itself with a substantial product line. Its specialty is already in the interactive entertainment, family entertainment, and event attraction fields. Recently, at the IAAPA 2014 expo, the company launched three additional products, which were presented there.

Clearly, the company is turning its attention toward augmented reality and other unique interactive technologies.


The three new products that take advantage of interactive entertainment and AR technology include the following:

• The AR Foto Booth – this creates party favors that have been generated within the augmented reality environment. This allows users of the booth to wear three dimensional props that will move around with them, making it appear as though the guest is in an exotic location or is within a branded image, interacting with the prop.
• The MiniMe Foto Booth – this is a similar idea to the AR Foto Booth, only it allows two participants to use it at a time, and it will shrink one of them to a miniature size. This makes it possible to make it look as though one participant is in the palm of the other participant’s hand.
• The Interactive Story – an augmented reality environment designed for children by running animated stories. The child can interact with the various characters as the story runs on a screen.